THE EFFECT OF CLASS SIZE ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives an insight into various studies conducted by outstanding researchers, as well as explained terminologies with regards to the influence of classroom size on academic performance of secondary school students in Nigeria. The chapter also gives a resume of the history and present status of the problem delineated by a concise review of previous studies into closely related problems.
2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The existentialist philosophies of both Glasser and Kohn are the cornerstone of my belief system which states that we are the center of our experience the one who perceives, acts in and reflects on the world and who are internally motivated by everything we do. Teaching the tenets of this philosophy (Choice Theory) to my students would be one of the first pieces of instructions I would give them, bringing them to an awareness of their responsibility to make their own decisions about their learning and behavior in the classroom. My philosophy is based on Glasser’s “Choice Theory” which posits that students must have a choice, and that if they help choose their curriculum and decide on the rules in the classroom, they will then have ownership of their learning, have pride in their participation, will have higher self-esteem and will exhibit greater levels of self confidence and higher levels of cognition. This approach to classroom management creates a safe space to learn, as mainly it is their space--their classroom, they own it, they will decorate it and they will decide the rules. When this sense of ownership is established, they will come to class willingly and with enthusiasm because they want to be challenged.
Kohn’s theories on classroom management are quite similar to Glasser’s. Grades and praise, Kohn says, kills intrinsic motivation and the desire to learn, and this concept is, of course, antithetical to what we’ve always been taught. The punishment/praise grade system that we were all indoctrinated in explains why the system has failed so many students as the competition norms of most classrooms indicates that for every winner/top of the class, there will be thirty-nine losers dealing with the inherent self-esteem issues surrounding their constant failure.
A key component of Glasser’s theory is that the basic need of personal competence is an inner drive that is self-initiating and is unrelated to the need for extrinsic rewards of praise or grades. Glasser’s basic need of competence ties in perfectly with Kohn’s theory that extrinsic rewards destroy a student’s inherent intrinsic motivation by reducing the exchange to a demoralizing, manipulative dysfunctional exchange that reduces their natural interest in a subject. Unfortunately, the traditional appeal has always been to the students’ competitive instincts. Kohn states that extrinsic motivation focuses on what the students do not know, rather than on their possibilities for growth. We must question the traditional assumptions about pedagogy, as right answers are not as important as the process of exploring ideas and understanding the concepts. Helping students tap into and develop their inner authentic selves where they think, feel and care on a deeper level is our primary responsibility; arousing students’ interests in learning is another.
According to Kohn and Glasser, instead of focusing on grades and tests, we must help our students to reason, to comunicate, and help them develop social and personal responsibility, self-awareness and a capacity for leadership. Thinking deeply and critically should be the first goal of education, the second goal is the desire for more education and a lifelong affair with learning.
Kohn and Glasser’s theories are both non-coercive, but most importantly their theories are based on existentialist ideals of free choice and responsibility. Kounin’s theories, however, take a completely different approach, where his practical and hands-on philosophy proves to be an excellent addition to the holistic theories of Kohn and Glasser. Kounin’s management style addresses the fundamentals of classroom theory in concrete language and states that students must be made aware of all expectations, then, if these expectations are not met, some form of desist strategy is required. Kounin’s pragmatic and practical approach blends nicely with the existentialist philosophy of Kohn and Glasser, resulting in the perfect approach to classroom management. Kounin has determined that the mastery of classroom management must include a display of “with-it-ness”, the ability to teach to the learning style of the group instead of the individual, and organizing of lessons and teaching methods. The goal of classroom management is to create an environment which not only stimulates student learning but also motivates students to learn. Kounin’s approach is in line with both Glasser and Kohn as he also posits that the keys to successful classroom management is in preventing management problems from occurring in the first place by putting into place good organization and planning.
2.3 THE CONCEPT OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Students' learning can be evaluated in many different ways, but in a developing country like Nigeria where about 40 percent of the adult population are illiterate, parents use the performance of their children in public examinations to pass judgement on the schools and teachers. To them, the logic is a simple one. The schools are supposed to be staffed by good teachers and supplied adequate facilities and instrumental materials. It is the responsibility of government to ensure through such provisions and regular inspection or supervision that effective teaching and learning go on in the schools. The task of parents is to send children to school and pay whatever fees and levies are charged by the institutions. Though many parents acknowledge shortages of funds, teachers and infrastructures in the schools and their own inability to buy all
the required books and other learning materials for their wards, yet they strongly believe that if the students perform badly in their examinations, the teachers and administrators have not done their job well and should take most of the blame.
Unfortunately, there are many factors that help to determine the academic performance of students. However, the level of education and awareness of many parents does not enable them to participate in such complex theoretical arguments or discussions. For such parents and the general public, the students' performances in recent times give cause for ala-m and school authorities more than the students themselves are being accused of lack of dedication, declining productivity and even mindlessness. Nevertheless, the students have not been doing well, and the situation is not improving.
2.3.1 The Concept of Poor Academic Performance
Poor academic performance accord to Aremu (2000) is a performance that is adjudged by the examinee/testee and some other significant as falling below an expected standard. The interpretation of this expected or desired standard is better appreciated from the perpetual cognitive ability of the evaluator of the performance. The evaluator or assessor can therefore give different interpretations depending on some factors.
Bakare (2004) described poor academic performance as any performance that falls below a desired standard. The criteria of excellence can be from 40 to 100 depending on the subjective yardstick of the evaluator or assessor. For example, a 70% performance of University Students in an exam can judged to be an excellent performance and by all standard a very good performance. However, a cursory look at the performance and the individual examined and the standard of the examination he or she took could reveal that the performance is a very poor one. On the other hand, a Level 200 Accounting student’s performance of 37% in business mathematics can e said to be a poor performance. When in actual fact, the performance is by all standards a very good one. This shows that the concept of poor academic performance is very relative and this depends on so many intervening variables.
2.3.3 Factors That Affect Academic Performance of Students
A number of studies have been carried out to identify and analyse the numerous factors that affect academic performance in various centres of learning. Their findings identify students’ effort, previous schooling (Siegfried & Fels, 1979; Anderson & Benjamin, 1994), parents’ education, family income (Devadoss & Foltz, 1996), self motivation, age of student, learning preferences (Aripin, Mahmood, Rohaizad, Yeop, & Anuar, 2008), class attendance (Romer, 1993), and entry qualifications as factors that have a significant effect on the students’ academic performance in various settings. The utility of these studies lies in the need to undertake corrective measures that improve the academic performance of students, especially in public funded institutions. The throughput of public-funded institutions is under scrutiny especially because of the current global economic downturn which demands that governments improve efficiency in financial resource allocation and utilization.
2.3.3.1 Students’ learning preferences
A good match between students’ learning preferences and instructor’s teaching style has been demonstrated to have positive effect on student's performance (Harb & El-Shaarawi, 2006). According to Reid (1995), learning preference refers to a person’s “natural, habitual and preferred way” of assimilating new information.
This implies that individuals differ in regard to what mode of instruction or study is most effective for them. Scholars, who promote the learning preferences approach to learning, agree that effective instruction can only be undertaken if the learner’s learning preferences are diagnosed and the instruction is tailored accordingly (Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork, 2008). “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” (Confucius 551-479 BC) – a quote that provides evidence that, even in early times, there was a recognition of the existence of different learning preferences among people. Indeed, Omrod (2008) reports that some students seem to learn better when information is presented through words (verbal learners), whereas others seem to learn better when it is presented in the form of pictures (visual learners). Clearly in a class where only one instructional method is employed, there is a strong possibility that a number of students will find the learning environment less optimal and this could affect their academic performance. Felder (1993) established that alignment between students’ learning preferences and an instructor’s teaching style leads to better recall and understanding. The learning preferences approach has gained significant mileage despite the lack of experimental evidence to support the utility of this approach.
There are a number of methods used to assess the learning preferences/styles of students but they all typically ask students to evaluate the kind of information presentation they are most at ease with.
2.4 THE CONCEPT OF CLASS SIZE
Class size refers to the number of students in a given course or classroom, specifically either the number of students being taught by individual teachers in a course or classroom or the average number of students being taught by teachers in a school, district, or education system. The term may also extend to the number of students participating in learning experiences that may not take place in a traditional classroom setting, or it may also refer to the total number of students in a particular grade level or “class” in a school (although this usage is less common in public education).
It should be noted that schools, districts, and state and federal education agencies commonly track and report “average class sizes.” While average class sizes are commonly expressed as a ratio of students to teachers, a “student-teacher ratio” is usually different than average class size.
2.4.1 The Role of Teacher in Classroom Management
Teachers play various roles in a typical classroom, but surely one of the most important is the management of their students during lessons. This is so because effective teaching and learning cannot take place in a poorly managed classroom characterize with disorderliness and disrespectfulness, with no apparent rules and procedures guiding behaviour.
In such situations, both teachers and students suffer. Teachers struggle to teach and students likely learn less than they should. In contrast, well-managed classrooms provide an environment which teaching and learning can flourish. But a well-managed classroom doesn’t just appear out of the blue, it takes a good deal of effort to cerate and the person who is responsible for creating it, need a lot of experience (Sanders, 2007).
However, Wright (2009) opined that the general role of teacher in class management include the establishment and the enforcement rules and procedures in classrooms; the teacher is also responsible for disciplinary interventions; the teacher also establish teacher-student relationship as well as maintaining decorum in the classrooms (Lawal, 2007).
2.5 EMPIRICAL REVIEW
Student–teacher ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students for every one teacher. The term can also be reversed to create a teacher–student ratio.
Bayo (2005) opined that smaller classes benefit all pupils because of individual attention from teachers, but low-attaining pupil’s benefit more at the secondary school level. Pupils in large classes drift off task because of too much instruction from the teacher to the whole class instead of individual attention, and low-attaining students are most affected. Students benefit in later grades from being in small classes during early grades.
Longer periods in small classes resulted in more increases in achievement in later grades for all students. In reading and science, low achievers benefit more from being in small classes. The benefits of small class sizes reduce the student achievement gap in reading and science in later grades.
The ratio of students to teaching staff compares the number of students (in full-time equivalent) to the number of teachers (in full-time equivalent) at a given level of Education and similar types of institutions.
However, this ratio does not take into account the amount of instruction time for student compared to the length of a teacher’s working day, nor how much time spend teaching. It therefore cannot be interpreted in terms of class size.
Pupil-teacher ratio, primary in Nigeria was 36.03 as of 2010. Its highest value over the past 40 years was 46.09 in 2007, while its lowest value was 33.88 in 1975. Primary school pupil-teacher ratio is the number of pupils enrolled in primary school divided by the number of primary school teachers (regardless of their teaching assignment). Pupil-teacher ratio, primary in Nigeria was 36.03 as of 2010. Its highest value over the past 40 years was 46.09 in 2007, while its lowest value was 33.88 in 1975.
Primary school pupil-teacher ratio is the number of pupils enrolled in primary school divided by the number of primary school teachers (regardless of their teaching assignment).
Classes with too many students are often disrupting to education. Also, too many students in a class results in a diverse field of students, with varying degrees of learning ability. Consequently, the class will spend time for less academic students to assimilate the information, when that time could be better spent progressing through the curriculum. In this way, student–teacher ratios are compelling arguments for advanced or honors classes. Numerous sources argue that lower student to teacher ratios are better at teaching students complex subjects such as physics, mathematics and chemistry, than those with a higher ratio of students to teachers.
Commonly the schools with lower student to teacher ratios are more exclusive, have a higher attendance of whites, and are in non-inner urban areas and/or fee-paying (non-government) institutions.
Many analysts have found that extra school resources play a negligible role in improving student achievement while children are in school. Yet many economists have gathered data showing that students who attend well-endowed schools grow up to enjoy better job market success than children whose education takes place in schools where resources are limited. For example, children who attend schools with a lower pupil teacher ratio and a better educated teaching staff appear to earn higher wages as adults than children who attend poorer schools.
Longer periods in small classes resulted in more increases in achievement in later grades for all students. In reading and science, low achievers benefit more from being in small classes. The benefits of small class sizes reduce the student achievement gap in reading and science in later grades.
According to Webster Dictionary (2005), quality is the characteristics of anything regarded as determining its value, worth, rank or position. Assurance on the other hand connotes “to make sure, secure, guarantee or make certain’’. Quality assurance therefore implies making sure that the value or worth of anything or service(s) is secured, guaranteed or maintained. Fergabaum in Nwagbara (2008) opines that the word quality is often used to signify excellence of a product, service or action. He asserts that quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or services that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. It is therefore the ability of such products or services to meet the expectation of the recipient or users. This of course involves
Quality Control”, which is the regular process through which products, services and quality performance are measured. Longman (1990) defined quality assurance as all those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality. This implies meeting or even surpassing the minimum standards set by appropriate authority.
Quality assurance is regarded as a process and practice primarily concerned with conformance to mission specification and goal achievement within the publicly accepted standards of excellence (Okereke, 2008). It is a strategy for ensuring quality in the school system (Ololobou, 2008). According to Vlasceanu, Grunbery and Parlea (2004), quality assurance refers to an aggregate of actions and measures taken regularly to assure the quality of education products, services, or processes, with an emphasis on assuring that a prescribed threshold of quality is met. Quality assurance means putting in place appropriate structures, legislations, supervision of personnel and materials in order to ensure that set minimum standards are attained, sustained and seen to have meaningful impact on society. Quality assurance is important because it ensures that goods and services produced in a country are of the highest possible standard, as well as protecting buyers from purchasing sub-standard products (Uya, 2008). According to Oriaife in Maduewesi (2005), quality assurance is a baseline standard in education which can be measured on a scale of reference. It is an expression of standard or a means by which a certain set standard in education can be achieved.
It could easily be deduced therefore that quality assurance in education is a totality of the combination of such indispensable variables as quality teachers, quality instructional materials and quality infrastructure (classrooms, seats, tables, chalkboards etc). Others include; favourable teacher/pupils ratio, favourable pupils/classroom ratio and quality instructional supervision. All these and more surely results to quality product (student) who is exposed to a balanced and result oriented education, especially secondary education. He is well prepared to face not just the challenges of tertiary education, but the challenge of providing middle level technical and administrative service in any sector of the Nigerian economy.
STAR project in Tennessee was conducted on the class size effect. It was a longitudinal study (1985-1989) of math and reading achievement. The study included 6,829 K-3 students as the sample of the study.
Students and teachers were randomly assigned to the classes of different sizes from Kindergarten to Class III.
Then students were randomly assigned to smaller and larger classes (Word et al., 1990). STAR recommended the positive achievement effect of small class size during the lower classes or early school years. However, there was no evidence about the class size effects in the later or higher classes.
Many other studies analyzed the STAR data and drew conclusions. According to Mosteller (1995), the effect of class size on student achievement is very large in the STAR project experiment.
Likewise, students out performed in the small classes in the regular and the regular with aid classes by a great margin. However, the students carried out and continued their better performance after returning to the regular classes. Their performance was better than those students who remained in a regular class size with or without a teacher’s aid. Similarly, Krueger (1999) analyzed the STAR project experiment and found that smaller class size positively affected the standardized test scores. With the passage of time, this effect increased.
However, this effect was larger for the beneficiaries of the free lunch program and the minority students. Similarly, Nye, Hedges, & Konstantopoulos (1999) concluded that the benefits of small classes remained significant for at least five years after the students enter regular classrooms.
Mitchell and Davidson (1989) developed six models and six theories of how class size affects student achievement. Three of them emphasize on a direct correlation between larger class size and declining achievement test scores. Furthermore, these theories are “Greater Instructional Overhead,” “Increased Student
Interaction Time” and “Decreased Access to Fixed Instructional”. These theories suggest that addition of more students to a class lessens the teacher effectiveness. However, the other three theories emphasize that the correlation between more students and the altered classroom performance is indirect.
These theories are “Class Heterogeneity,” “Instructional pacing” and “Student Grouping or Achievement Modeling”. There are some other factors rather than the number of students; those are the causes
for effects. These factors are associated with the student assigning to large and small class sizes.
Furthermore, Angrist and Lavy (1999) used a regression discontinuity design to analyze the effect of class size on student achievement. The class sizes was determined by the “Maimonides’ rule” in Israel.
According to that rule, the maximum class size is 40. Two classes are automatically created if the total enrollment is greater than 40. Likewise, there will be three classes if the numbers of students are greater than 80 and so on. The researchers exploited these irregular changes. This study found that class size has a positive and significant effect on student achievement in Reading comprehension and mathematics. Some researchers exposed that students in the large classes desired to spend less time on class assignments (Blatchford & Mortimore, 1994; Klein, 1985). However, students in smaller classes desired to participate more time in addition to spending more time on schoolwork.
Oliver & Said-Moshiro (2007) described that large class size is an inevitable feature of the developing countries.
Furthermore, Finn (2003) concluded that the students became occupied in the small class size, both academically and socially. Therefore, their strong engagement caused academic achievement improved.
Similarly, Lindahl (2005) found the significant effects of smaller class sizes on student achievement. The study examined the effect of class size in natural variation by using longitudinal approach. The teaching and learning process in the developing countries is substandard; this is the key and real issue.
However, this process can be improved by enhancing the capability of teachers and school leaders to handle this setting and identifying ways for students to be successful (Benbow, Mizrachi, Oliver & Said-Moshiro (2007).