Ajjan, Mais (2012) Teaching and learning in large tertiary Syrian classes : an investigation into students' and tutors' perspectives. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Teaching and learning in large classes has been an area of educational research interest for some decades now. Much previous research, however, has been largely positivist in nature and based on quantitative designs. Surveys have failed to document the ‘live experiences’ of those involved in large classes: teachers and students. The large class issue has often been treated as a single isolated factor without taking into account the complex interplay of the other contextual factors in classes. Although there is a wealth of speculative suggestion in the literature on how to deal with large classes, there is limited research into tutors’ accounts of good practice in large classes and students’ perspectives and preferences regarding these practices. With the above in mind and being firmly set on a qualitative ground and based on semi-structured interviews, classroom observation and observation field notes, this investigation aims to obtain insiders’ perspectives on the reality of being in a large class with limited resources, by eliciting teachers’ and students’ views in a Syrian university context. Data was collected in two phases within one academic year. Classes in the first phase were observed over a period of six weeks in four different courses taught by different tutors to the same cohort of (400+) students. First phase findings revealed that tutors and students held different views on the same situation. Being in a large class was just one factor among several that shaped their experience. Students did not mind being in a large class as long as they were taught by good lecturers. These findings were the motivation for the second phase of research where classes were also observed over a period of six weeks in four different courses taught by different ‘good’ tutors to a different cohort of (400+) students. The aim in the second phase was to look more closely, from students’ perspectives, at ‘popular teachers’ and at the ‘successful’ teaching practices they have developed to teach in large, under-resourced classes. Findings draw attention to important tutor and lesson characteristics which student interviewees considered the attribute of good tutors and good lessons in this specific context.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Class size, English language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Foreign speakers, English language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Syria
Date:	April 2012
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Applied Linguistics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Richards, Keith, 1952- ; Smith, Richard C., 1961-
Sponsors:	Syria. Wizārat al-Taʻlīm al-ʻĀlī [Ministry of Higher Education] ; Jāmiʻat Ḥalab [Aleppo University]
Extent:	xi, 317 leaves : ill.
Language:	eng
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/49889

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