INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

B.ED TESL

LE 4000: ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

SMALLER CLASS SIZE IN MALAYSIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

NAME: NORADILAH OMAR

MATRIC NO.: 0612036

SUBMISSION DATE: 14 MARCH 2008

TUTOR: MDM UMAIRAH DIAZ

Smaller Class Size

Running head: SMALLER CLASS SIZE

Smaller Class Size in Malaysian Primary Schools

Noradilah Omar

International Islamic University Malaysia

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Smaller Class Size

Abstract

There have been many researches on the effects of smaller class size on academic

achievement in Western countries, yet such studies in Malaysia is significantly lacking.

This paper studies, through library research, how reducing class size in Malaysian

primary schools could boost academic achievement. Findings show that indeed, smaller

class size increases academic excellence on the grounds that it increases student-teacher

interaction, encourages students to become active learners and creates a suitable

condition for teachers to adopt individualized pedagogy. It is hoped that this research will

bring a significant change in the size of Malaysian primary school classes in order to

achieve new heights of academic excellence.

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Smaller Class Size

Smaller Class Size in Malaysian Primary Schools

The 9th Malaysia Plan in 2006 has been revealed to have allocated a whooping

RM4.1 billion to improve the quality of primary school education. The allocation

includes the cost for the construction of 13000 additional classrooms, of which 68 percent

are in the rural areas. The government aims to reduce class size in primary schools from

31 to 30 by 2010 (Peruntukan pembangunan, 2007). This action implies that the

government believes the reduction of class size affects the quality of education.

The debate on class size has been going on for decades, and multiple studies have

been done by academicians in the education field. Most of these studies were done in the

United States, like the Tennessee Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) project

which started in 1985 and Wisconsin’s Student Achievement Guarantee in Education

(SAGE) Program 1996 (as cited in Herdberg, Lourdusamy Athputhasamy, Tan Ai-Airl &

Lee, 2005).

These researches define a small class size as one having 13 to 17 students and 15

students respectively. However, the current average class size in Malaysian primary

schools is 31, although numbers are higher in schools located in big cities like Kuala

Lumpur and Penang where the average class size could reach as high as 40. In Malaysian

context, a small class size, for the purpose of this paper, is defined as a class containing

23 to 27 students.

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This paper is believed to play an important role in improving the quality of

education in Malaysia. As education policy-makers strive to upgrade the level of

academic excellence among students in primary and secondary schools, reducing class

size is seen as one of the best way to do so without overtaxing both teachers and students.

As future teachers, the students of Bachelor of Education also need to be aware of the

advantages and disadvantages of both large and small classes, and the ways in which

these classes could best be managed.

It is better to teach a small class size rather than a large one. Even in Islam, Al-

Ghazali has stressed that the teacher “…must adapt his teaching to the pupil's capacity

and ability, and not to overburden the pupil's capacity, nor give him fright” (Ibrahim

Syed, 2001). It is easier and more practical to teach according to each student’s standard

in a smaller class size. Al-Ghazali also said, from the same article, that the teacher “…

must respect the less gifted pupil, who might if lost, leave safe foundations for standards

he would never reach”, meaning that a large number of drop-out rates could be attributed

to teachers teaching too fast, and students acquiring a feeling of helplessness once they

are left too far behind.

Additionally, in Islamic history, education was carried out in madrassah in the

structure of halqa, meaning study circle. The structure ensures a “one to one relationship

between the teacher and pupil and was conducive not just to the transmission of

knowledge but also the radiance of the Baraka of a learned scholar” (Nazeer Ahmed,

n.d.). This shows that the best way to ensure transmission of knowledge was to have a

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close relationship with the teacher, and the best way to do that would be to reduce class

size.

Indeed, it is strongly believed that smaller class size increases academic

excellence on the grounds that it increases student-teacher interaction, it encourages

students to become active learners and it sets a suitable environment for teachers to

practice individualized pedagogy.

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Smaller Class Size

First Argument: Increases student-teacher interaction

With the reduction of class size, teachers are able to increase direct interaction

with the students in lessons. According to Bohrnstedt and Stechter (2000), teachers in

charge of small classes in their research spend an average of 18.1 minutes on individual

students compared to the 11.4 minutes spent by teachers in larger classes. This view is

shared by Blatchford, Russell, Bassett, Brown and Martin (2006), who, through

observation in their research, found that there is more individual attention in small classes

compared to larger ones.

One of the main reasons for this is because the teacher is able to allocate more

time for each student, since less time is used for class management problems. There are

fewer students to distract each other, and the noise level is lower compared to a larger

class size. This enables the teacher to increase instructional time as discovered through

the SAGE programme.

Besides that, teachers in smaller classes can facilitate more effective student

learning by assigning work and having more one-on-one interaction with students

without worrying about excessive workload. They are also able to give instant and

constructive feedback to the students, pointing out mistakes and giving suggestions on

corrections (Finn & Wang, 2002).

Krieger (2003) observed that teachers in charge of smaller classes are generally

more positive, in the way that “…they made more positive and generally briefer

comments, use more facial expressions and eye contact, and move around the room

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more”. This means that teachers are generally more positively motivated in a smaller

class size, encouraging them to interact more with the students. Teachers moving around

the room indicate monitoring of students’ work, where they are able to facilitate and

guide students in tasks and assignments. They find it easier to focus on students’

reception of the lesson rather than the actual presentation of the lesson, and there is more

opportunity to interact with the students on a personal level.

On the other hand, the ORACLE study found that although students in larger classes

receive less individual attention, the teachers make up for lack of individual interaction

with increased amount of group interaction. However, it is still emphasized that

individual interaction is more important, as explanations given as a group might not

answer to every members’ questions.

Therefore, it is proven here that smaller class size does in fact increase student-

teacher interaction since it reduces the time spent on classroom management, it

encourages teachers to give instant feedback, it makes teachers become facilitators to

students’ learning and it gives them more chances to interact with students on a personal

level, thus propelling students towards academic achievement.

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Second argument: Encourages students’ participation

High student-teacher interaction would no doubt lead to students becoming active

learners in the classroom. Active learner is defined as a learner who is “involved in

learning activities other than passively listening to lectures” (Khairiyah Mohd Yusuf,

Jamaludin Harun & Mohd Salleh Abu, n.d). Active learning can enhance learning, as

learning is a naturally active process. This view is agreed by Van Amburgh, Devlin,

Kirwin, and Qualters, who said that active learning has been validated as an effective way

to increase student learning, and is being incorporated more in the classroom (2007).

There are lots of advantages of active learning to the students. It results in the use

of information and materials while it is still being presented. If the students were to be

merely listening to lectures and taking down notes, the information would not be used,

but rather stored away to, if there is time, be used later. Amburgh et al emphasized on the

“continuum of engagement, where students are presented with multiple pathways to

engage in learning that must begin with being actively engaged in the classroom” (2007).

When the class size is smaller, students feel freer to voice out opinions, comments

or pose questions to the teacher. This is true especially for shy students who might feel

too overwhelmed to participate in larger classes. Students tend to be less motivated to

participate orally in larger classes and thus feel less free to contribute, and there is also

less incentive to pay attention given the anonymity available in a large number of

students. Blatchford et al’s research findings support this opinion, saying that “the

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systematic observation study showed that two allied behaviours were more common in

large classes: times when the child is simply listening to the teacher and times when they

are not singled out by the teacher; they are one of the crowd” (2006).

Studies also show that students in smaller classes are more intrinsically motivated

to learn compared to students in larger classes. This is because being part of a smaller

group, students feel more involved in the lesson, especially when individual participation

is required. The students feel that they play a significant part in the lesson, and that their

contribution matters rather than merely being one in many (Finn & Wang, 2002). Starke

(2007) underlines “large class size as a main roadblock to active student participation”,

and reducing class size would mean removing this roadblock in order to increase

involvement in the classroom.

We can clearly see from the above arguments that smaller class size brings about

active learning, which in turn enhances students’ academic achievement. This is because

students would be using the information as soon as it is being presented and developing

longer retention span. Students would also be propelled to participate in classroom

activities, motivated to learn and encouraged to contribute to the lesson.

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Counter Argument: Teacher Quality vs. Student Quantity

On the other side of the coin, there are researchers who disagree with small class

size. They believe that however affective smaller class size can be, size is not the only

factor that increases academic excellence. Critics of the Class Size Reduction programme

(CSR) believe that it is teacher quality that plays a more prominent factor in uplifting

academic achievement, rather than class size. One such critic is Ronald Ferguson, a

lecturer at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, who said his

research shows that teacher quality, not class size, is the most important factor in

education. Smaller classes won't have any benefit without accompanying changes in

teaching methods, Ferguson said (Mathews & Strauss, 1997).

The cost to construct more buildings and hire more teachers can also be seen as a

problem. Ferguson believes that it is better to spend money on improving the quality of

teacher training than to waste millions of dollars on reducing class size. Mathews and

Strauss report that it would cost $7 million to lower the average class size in

Montgomery, Washington, by one pupil, which is much more than the $3.5 million to

increase number of qualified expertise in education (1997).

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Refutation: Creates a suitable condition for individualized pedagogy

There is no denying that qualified teachers and suitable teaching methods are

crucial aspects of developing students’ academic achievement, but one cannot refute the

fact that a smaller class size sustains a suitable environment for teachers to practice more

effective teaching strategies and individualized pedagogy. A larger class would set a limit

to the creativity of a teacher, and also to the range of activities applicable in a limited

classroom space.

A reduced class size would, for one thing, provide the teachers and students with

more activity space, enabling the teacher to carry out a quite a number of activities that

might require physical movements. One such example is conducting role-play in English

or Moral Education lessons, where students might need a certain amount of space to be

used as a stage. Hopkins (1998) supports this opinion by saying that “more freed-up

space enables students to get more actively involved in learning”. Blatchford et al (2006)

agrees by saying that “teachers are more flexible and adventurous in their teaching

styles” when class sizes are smaller.

In a class with smaller student to teacher ratio, the teachers will be able to develop

a personal relationship with each student, rather than just seeing the class as a whole

body. This would enable the teachers to learn the strengths and weaknesses of individual

students, and find solutions to their problems. For instance, a student doing poorly in

mathematics would have a higher probability of catching the teacher’s attention in a

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smaller class than a larger one. The teacher, knowing another student is good in the

subject would be able to assign the good student as a ‘buddy’ to the first student,

allowing peer tutoring to take place. The SAGE programme reported that teachers give

more individualized instructions due to the fact that they are more knowledgeable about

each student (1996).

Feedback, according to Behaviorist theory, is a necessary and important part of

learning. Positive and negative feedback can generate desirable responses from the

students. In a smaller class size, teachers will have more free time to focus on individual

students, opportunity to spot problems and give personal, constructive and meaningful

responses to students rather than just a hastily scribbled ‘seen’ on their homework. More

important is that the feedback has to be “immediate in order for the students to be able to

change or amend their mistakes and avoid fossilization” (Brown, 2000). Fossilization

refers to a mistake that has been ingrained into the learner and would be difficult to

correct.

The teaching of technical subjects, like Science, for example, would be more

affective with the application of the Constructivist learning theory, which encourages

students to construct their own understanding of knowledge. Unfortunately, such an

abstract strategy would be catastrophic in a crowded classroom of 40 students. Reducing

class size to a maximum of 25 students would enable teachers to utilize inquiry learning

techniques and inductive learning strategies which require good classroom management

and close monitoring of students’ activities. Roberts-Miller (2003) claims that “the more

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that one engages in constructivist teaching, the more important is class size; the more that

the goals and practices of a program are objectivist, the less class size matters”,

reinforcing that where constructivism is concerned, small class size is more ideal than a

larger class size.

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Although the debate on class size would undoubtedly go on for some time yet, the

fact remains that reducing class size would solve multiple problems in education, most of

all in increasing academic performance and closing achievement gap. Even though the

cost of upgrading schools and constructing classrooms might be too much for the

Malaysian government to consider, it would benefit the young generation of Malaysia for

many years to come. A little financial sacrifice is worth the upgrade in education, which

ultimately influences the economical, social, and administration of the country.

Indeed, this research has proven that the reduction of class size in Malaysian

primary schools would bring about greater excellence in academic achievement. After all,

there is no question that smaller class size gives students and teachers more opportunity

to communicate, propels students participation in lessons and encourages teachers to pay

attention to individual needs of students.

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References

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class size on the teaching of pupils age 7-11 years: Implication for classroom

management and pedagogy. British Journal of Educational Psychology. 81, 15-

36.

Brown, D. H., (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.). New York:

Pearson Education.

CSR Research Consortium. (2000). Class size reduction in California: The 1998-99

evaluation findings. California, U.S.: Bohrnstedt, G. W., & Stechter, B. M.

Finn, J., & Wang, M. (2002). Taking small classes one step further. Information Age Pub

Inc.

Herdberg, J., Lourdusamy Athputhasamy, Tan Ai-Airl & Lee, L. (2005). Class size and

the quality of educational experience. In Tan Ai-Girl, Cheah Horn-Mun & Chong,

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Hopkins, G. (1998). The debate over class size part 2: The critics have their say.

Education World, 25, 56-58.

Ibrahim Syed. (2001). Islamic education of children. Islamic Research Foundation

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active learning in Universiti Teknologi malaysia: A bottom-up, top-down

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http://www.ctl.utm.my/research/pdf/ral01.pdf.

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Krieger, J. (2003). Class size reduction: Implementation and solutions. ERIC

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Mathews, J., & Strauss, V. (1997). Should classes be smaller? Washington Post Staff

Writers Monday.

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http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~roberts-miller/Classsize.html

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