Teaching Large Classes: What are the Beliefs of Yarmouk University Instructors?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the beliefs of Yarmouk University instructors regarding teaching EFL to large classes. The researchers distributed a questionnaire to 22 instructors at the Language Center. The questions mainly concerned the issues of teaching environment of large classes and instructors' performance in such classes. The results show that instructors' beliefs towards teaching large classes are medium in general and assert that teaching large classes is a problematic area. Moreover, they show that instructors' beliefs towards their performance are high despite the difficulties they encounter. In addition, they show that there are statistically significant differences in their beliefs towards the teaching environment due to gender in favor to females. Lastly, the results show that there are statistically significant differences in their beliefs towards their performance in the classroom due to educational level in favor to PhD holders. The researchers recommend conducting further research in class size context.

Keywords: EFL, Jordan, large class, teachers' beliefs, university education