Активные методы обучения на занятиях по английскому языку в многочисленных группах студентов

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Шелепина М.В., Смирнова Н.В. Активные методы обучения на занятиях по английскому языку в многочисленных группах студентов // Филологический аспект: международный научно-практический журнал. Сер.: Методика преподавания языка и литературы. 2021. № 05 (08). Режим доступа: https://scipress.ru/fam/articles/aktivnye-metody-obucheniya-na-zanyatiyakh-po-anglijskomu-yazyku-v-mnogochislennykh-gruppakh-studentov.html (Дата обращения: 31.03.2021)

Developer	Development date	Title
D. Johnson and R. Johnson	the middle 1960s	Learning Together
D. Johnson and R. Johnson	the middle 1970s	Constructive Controversy
Sh. Sharan, Ya. Sharan	late 1970s	Group investigation
E. Aronson and others	late 1970s	Jigsaw, Jigsaw II
R. Slavin and others	late 1970s	STAD, Student Teams Achievement Divisions
E. Cohen	early 1980s	Complex Instruction
S. Kagan	the middle 1980s	Cooperative Learning Structures

There is no definitive answer as to what number of students in a class can be a large class as it is a relative term. Teachers generally consider classes to be too large in comparison to what they have already been teaching. If they have been teaching twenty students in a class, thirty students in a class is a large class for them. Similarly, if they have been teaching forty students in a class, fifty will be a large number for them. Another important factor in considering the size of a class is its relation to the subject being taught. For example, Hattie (2005) stated that it will not be a problem for a teacher to teach a large class where the purpose of teaching is to transfer factual information [7, p. 411]. He writes: “For the classes of 80+ it is probably necessary to assume that individual students are already self-regulated to learn and the major task for teachers are to provide content; interpretation of this content; and assess students on the facility to absorb, and (slightly) transform this content into their words and beliefs”.

Problems of Teaching in Large Classes

There is no consensus when it comes to the effects of class size on students’ learning achievements, but  many  language  teachers  hold  a  negative  view  on  teaching  English  in  large classes, teachers say such words as “out of control”, “hard to organize class activities” or “impossible   to   communicate”. Similar   worries   are also shared   by many researchers. Kennedy and Kennedy (1996) feel that it is difficult to control what happens when the number of a group passes a certain number. Hayes (1997) thinks that the ideal size of a language class is 30 at most, because only under such a scale can offer enough chances for the students to communicate with each other [8, p.31-38]. According to many teachers’ views and complaints Hayes classifies the problems associated with teaching in large classes into five categories:  1) discomfort caused by the physical constraints; 2) control problems (discipline aspects); 3) lack of individual attention; 4) difficulty in evaluation; 5) problems of changing learning effectiveness. These problems can be physical, psychological but to a great extent technical [8, p.31-38]. Huang (2006) also finds out in his study that large classes bring difficulties to both teachers and students and process of teaching and learning. It is difficult for teachers to contact with the students sitting at the back and for students to get the individual attention, and it is even impossible to organize dynamic and creative teaching and learning sessions [10, p.122-124]. Most importantly, large classes are especially daunting for inexperienced teachers. This also indicates that teachers need more technical strategies in a large class.

Synthesizing the earlier views, we can summarize the problems of teaching large classes as pedagogical, management-related and affective. While large classes are not definitely a pedagogical disaster. The difficulties arisen from large classes raise more requirements to language teachers compared with those teaching smaller classes. From the late 20^th century, the issues of handling large English classes also aroused the interest of teachers and researchers in China especially in higher education (Chen Dongmei &Tian Jianguo 2002, Liang Ying 2009, Shao Ying 2010, Xiong, Hui 2006, Yang Xingsheng 2008, Yuan Mingxi 2003, Zhu Zhenhua 1995) [3, p.121-123]. Some researchers express concerns over the challenges encountered by the language teachers.  For example, Zhang Jiamin analyzes the large classes in two colleges and identifies the problems as follows: 1) discipline problems; 2) lack of effective learning; 3) weariness, which confirms with those mentioned by some foreign researchers. Zhang Lian (2010) identifies some similar problems of large classes: students’ individual differences are ignored and the classroom environment is worrying.  She also mentions that such classes give a limited chance for students  to  practice  English  and improve their oral  English,  which is  particularly  true  in  foreign  language  context  like  China,  since speaking English in class might be the only chance for students to practice oral English [16, p. 129-131].

To summarize at  this  point,  for  teaching large  classes, it  is  difficult  for  teachers to maintain discipline in the  class,  especially  for  primary and  middle  school  students  who are  lack  of self-control, to satisfy all the needs of students who have different interests, personalities and capabilities, to organize efficient class activities due to the constraints of time and space, to  provide  equal  chances  for  the  students  to  participate  and  practice, to  give  timely  and effective feedback and evaluation. But some foreign researchers as Ur (2000) and Hess (2001) [9], argue that large classes can provide richer human resources and greater opportunities for creativity than a smaller class. Some Chinese researchers also identify some advantages of teaching large classes.  Xu Zhichang (2001) notices that more students give more ideas, and therefore, provide more opinions and possibilities. Qi Li and Wang Jiana [17, p.456] complement three more advantages in detail by saying that large classes can provide more opportunities for students’ interaction, foster an atmosphere of cooperation and encourage creativity and innovation. Therefore, large classes bring not only challenges but also opportunities for teachers, as noted by Lewis and Woodward [13, p.65-86], it is the teaching methodology rather than class size that contributes best to the efficiency of teaching. Such views encourage teachers to take adaptive teaching strategies to cope with the problems arisen from the environment.

Advantages of large classes

Some researchers argue that large classes can bring more opportunities and present much more human resources than smaller classes. They add more students to share in their ideas and provide more details with opinions and possibilities. A large class gives chances for students to cooperate with other students and also, encourage the students to create the new knowledge (Qiang & Ning, 2011) [16, p. 3-4]. Although teaching large classes provides the opportunities for teachers to improve their organizational and managerial skills.  So, teachers try to organize their classroom comfortable and manage many students in a pleased environment.  Likewise, in a large class there are many students with many opinions or maybe different cultural and different experience and learning styles [1, p.8-51].  The students can share their ideas and create an effective discussion or positive classroom atmosphere that only supports language learning with close cooperation to each other. So, in large classes some students learn quickly, and then he/she can be the assistant of the teacher to help the other students.  This useful method can encourage weak students to learn better.

Strategies of teaching in large classes

Many studies have been done regarding the principles and strategies of teaching large classes. These strategies are based on the challenges and advantages of large classes (Qiang & Ning, 2011) [16, p.  3-4]. It is added that challenges are mainly pedagogical or management. The authors give possible strategies to follow. Firstly, get familiarized with students and gather information by using students’ names when asking questions. Secondly, have close contact with the students and establish safe environment.  Besides that, give feedback in time to create better learning situation.  Thirdly, provide equal opportunities for weak and strong students, give them different tasks according their levels.  Fourthly, find out students’ interests and use different teaching methods with multiple activities. Regarding management, which is related to class discipline, first keep the voice lower, walk around the class and create helpful practice, build groups in different ways and  mix  students  according  to  their  levels, check  homework  by different  techniques  such  as  motivate  pupils  to  mark  their  homework  by themselves, motivate the students to mark their homework in groups, give back the homework with  group  feedback. 

Speaking about pedagogical issues, the best strategies are to give the opportunities to students to participate in class activities such as pair, individual work, group work and the whole class work. Secondly, we can use new modes and change traditional teaching objectives. “Organizing cooperative learning activities like think-pair-share, three-step interview, and jigsaw to develop students’ comprehensive language competence and cooperative skills” (Qiang & Ning, 2011) [16, p.5]. Thirdly, we can use different evaluation methods: summative, self-assessment and formative assessment (ibid). Planning lessons is the other strategy in large classes that helps teachers use the time properly. It is very important for teachers because they do not have enough time as in small classes.  In large classes lesson plans are not for comfort, they are   necessary because they help the teacher manage classroom environment. The second point is that teachers should feel free or be comfortable regarding to what they are teaching.  Teaching in large classes is not easy, if teachers are not sure about themselves and   teaching the topic, as they can lose self-confidence. If teachers choose the topic and get ready for class it will help the teacher continue the lecture very well and students will follow the teacher.  It is also important to think of questions the students can ask and find the answers, besides making questions for the students.

The teachers must know the objectives of their teaching, their skills, methods and manners.  The advice may include making clear and specific lessons to the students, arranging the lessons logically, presenting the problems and only after explaining the answers to students.  Teachers can use individual activities, pair work and group work to describe how to do these activities. It is necessary to keep the class silent before the lecture. Before entering a classroom, teachers should think what resources are necessary and prepare the materials. Necessary steps may be to pay attention to the students individually if students need extra help, to arrange the class so that those who need help can sit in front of the teacher. In large classes teachers must teach energetically and emotionally. If teachers feel tired, the students will follow them.

Eventually, a large class or an overcrowded class is never related to a class which teachers are unable to control, manage and have better performance including communication with students. On the other hand, large classes help students share their ideas and learn from each other.  In addition, it is an opportunity for teachers to improve managerial skills and their presentation techniques.

Cooperative Learning in Large Classes

Cooperative learning can be defined as concepts and techniques for enhancing the value of student-student interaction. Cooperative learning has a long history going back at least to the 19^th century (Johnson & Johnson) [6]. Indeed, the ideas that “two (or more) heads are better than one” and that “many hands make light the work” have ancient roots in many of the world’s cultures. In the Philippines, they call it the “Bayanihan spirit”. In the Indonesian and Malay languages, it is called “gotong rayong”. Slavin notes that a wide range of theories support the use of cooperative learning [19]. Theories that underpin cooperative learning are supported by research (for reviews, see Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000; Sharan, 1980; Slavin, 1995) [19, p. 5-14]. Indeed, cooperative learning is perhaps the sub-field of education on which the most research has been done in many countries across all ages of students. What these studies show is that usually, but not always, group activities organized along cooperative learning principles lead to gains on an impressive variety of key variables in education, starting with gains in achievement as measured by standardized tests and other instruments. Other variables on which cooperative learning appears to have a positive impact include liking for school and for peers, self-esteem, locus of control (the idea that we have some control of our own fate), relations between different ethnic groups, acceptance of mainstreamed pupils, such as students with learning disabilities in the same class with other students, and thinking skills. Here are a few examples of such studies. Slavin and Karweit [19, p.11] compared the effects of cooperative learning and mastery learning on the mathematics achievement of secondary school students and found that those students who studied via cooperative learning outperformed those who used mastery learning. Cooperative learning is generally associated with higher achievement in reading among primary school students enrolled in bilingual education programs. As noted above, in addition to achievement, cooperative learning has also been associated with better results on affective measures. For instance, Johnson and Johnson conducted a study of friendships between handicapped and non-handicapped primary school students. They reported that when compared with individualistic learning experiences, working in cooperative learning groups promoted more cross-handicap friendships among students.

 Different approaches to cooperative learning exist, each with a slightly different list of principles (Sharan,1994; Slavin, 1995) [19, p. 5-14]. Below are eight principles we use in our own application of cooperative learning.

1.Positive Interdependence

This principle lies at the heart of cooperative learning. This is what encourages group members to care about and support one another in the learning process. Positive interdependence represents the feeling among group members that they “sink or swim together,” that what helps one member succeed helps all members succeed, and whatever hurts any group member, hurts all (Johnson & Johnson, 1999) [6]. Positive interdependence among group members can be encouraged in many ways. A common goal that they need to work together to achieve, such as understanding a procedure, answering a set of questions, preparing to do well on a quiz, or writing a letter. Another means of promoting positive interdependence is via a common identity, such as a group name or handshake. We can also divide resources that group members need to share in order to complete a task, such as when each group member has unique information. Additionally, there can be a common celebration or reward that groupmates will share if they achieve their goal, such as recognition from the teacher, performing of their silent team cheer, or bonus points. Further, each group member can play a different role in helping the group to function. Some of these rotating roles include a timekeeper, an encourager (who encourages everyone to participate), a checker (who checks that everyone has understood), a noise monitor (who reminds groupmates to use quiet voices), and a recorder (who takes notes on what the group has discussed and decided).

2. Individual Accountability

Whereas positive interdependence involves group members supporting one another, individual accountability is about the pressure on each group member to learn and to help their group mates learn. Individual accountability can be encouraged in many ways. For instance, each student can take a turn to tell their ideas to one or more group mates. Alternatively, one at a time, students can write their ideas on a paper that circulates among the group. Another way to foster individual accountability is for each group member to take an individual quiz or a hand in an individual assignment. Yet another way is for a teacher to randomly select a group member to report and explain to another group or to the class what their group thought or did.

3. Heterogeneous Grouping

Cohen recommends that students usually, but not always, work in heterogeneous groups [4, p. 3-35]. An advantage is that students learn to work with people who are different.  In that way, they are exposed to diverse ideas and perspectives from a variety of people. Heterogeneous groups may be formed using criteria such as past achievement, ethnicity, gender, first language, and personality (for instance, talkative-quiet, hardworking-relaxed).

4. Collaborative Skills

Rather than assume that students already have the skills needed to work together, teachers provide explicit instruction and structured practice in these collaborative skills (Johnson & Johnson). Also, the class discusses the importance of such skills. Many collaborative skills play key roles in effective group function. These include asking for help, providing reasons, disagreeing politely, checking that others understand, using quiet voices, listening attentively, and taking turns.

5. Equal Participation

A common problem in groups is that some group members end up doing most of the work and, as a result, most of the learning. Cooperative learning in the works by Kagan seeks to address this by attempting to structure the interaction in the groups so as to make the participation more equal [12]. Cooperative learning seeks to encourage equal participation in a number of ways. First, in some techniques no one speaks or writes twice until everyone in the group has spoken or written once. Another means is for students to have rotating roles in the group (for example, first they are the interviewer and then they are the interviewee). A third means is for each student to be given a set amount of time to share their ideas with one or more group mates. Also, groups do not have a permanent representative who always speaks for the group. Instead, everyone gets a chance to play that role.

6. Simultaneous Interaction

This principle provides a central rationale for the use of groups, particularly in large classes. In the typical teacher-fronted classroom, the interaction pattern is sequential interaction. In other words, one person talks at a time. The classic pattern of sequential interaction involves teacher talk, then teacher nomination of individual students to talk (often to answer a question by the teacher), student response, and teacher evaluation of the student’s response. In this interaction format, each student has very little opportunity to talk. This is particularly the case in large classes. Group activities radically alter this one-at-a-time scenario, because instead of one person per class talking, now one person per group is talking simultaneously, hence the term “simultaneous interaction” is used by Kagan [12]. Thus, if a class of forty-eight students are working in groups of four, twelve students (one in each group of four) are talking at the same time. If the class is working in pairs, all are talking simultaneously. The principle of simultaneous interaction is one reason for keeping groups small.

7. Group Autonomy

For many people –students, administrators, parents, and teachers –teaching means the teacher talking. So, what are we teachers supposed to do when our students are working in groups? What we should not do is to jump in and take over a group if students face difficulty. Instead, we should encourage groups to solve their own problems. We want to shift some of the power about what happens in the classroom and some of the responsibility for learning and behavior away from ourselves and give it to students in their groups (Cohen, 1994) [4, p.3-35]. By encouraging groups to feel more autonomous, we are not abandoning students. Instead, we are walking around monitoring the groups to see how well they understand concepts, how well they perform skills, and how well they work together. Sometimes, we intervene to help the groups function more effectively, but other times we do not.

8. Cooperation as a Value

Cooperation represents not only a way to learn but also a value to appreciate and to incorporate in all aspects of our lives. This does not mean that competition should be banned or that students should never work alone. By making cooperation a value, we broaden the concept of cooperation beyond what happens in small groups of 2, 3, or 4 students. We extend the concept by encouraging students to recognize and act upon the positive interdependence that exists between themselves and others throughout the class, throughout the school, throughout their community, throughout their country, and around the world, including not just humans but other species as well. We can use man ways to promote cooperation as a value and enhance the positive interdependence of our actions on the lives of all around us. For instance, groups can each do an aspect of a class project. Class and school goals can be used rather than only group goals. When these goals are achieved, class or school celebrations can be held or other rewards can be given. Cooperation can extend beyond the school as well. For example, students can be involved in projects outside the school to help others and to protect the environment. Along the same lines, communication and joint tasks can be carried out with students from different schools in the same country and internationally.

Now, let us return to the specific case of cooperative learning in large classes. The problem of large classes makes cooperative learning even more necessary than it is in smaller classes. Here are three reasons why cooperative learning is particularly useful in large classes. First, in a teacher-fronted mode of instruction, the larger the class, the less each student gets to speak. As mentioned in the principle of Simultaneous Interaction, cooperative learning helps students become more active. The talking that students do in groups pushes them to understand better so as to be able to put their understanding into words. Secondly, in large classes, it is difficult for teachers to provide much feedback to individual students. In contrast, with cooperative learning, group mates are right there to supply feedback. Thirdly, in large classes, students may easily feel lost and anonymous. However, with cooperative learning, each person is a part of a group that cares about whether they are present and how they are doing.

Research Method

Since the research aims at bringing practical improvements in the educational context, the methodology for the research needs to be such that facilitates the practitioners’ research. Action research has provided a suitable framework for ascertaining and developing knowledge through collaboration of colleagues; it is also a suitable methodology for context based and practice-driven research for practical improvement. Therefore, reference to the principle structure and approaches to action research are the dominant features of the thesis. The system of techniques includes the principles of seating students in the classroom, the principles of forming groups in group work, the principle of rotation in pair work, techniques for assessing knowledge.

Data Collection Procedures and analysis

Primary data has to be collected from teacher’s personal opinion and secondary data was from classroom observation or other written and published documents relevant to this study. For this study, we employed in depth interviews to the participants. We also did classroom observation to gain supporting data. In qualitative study, researcher will be the main instrument.

Collected data should be analyzed simultaneously as the data collection in progress because this is the common practice in qualitative study. O’Connor and Gibson suggest the following steps to analyze qualitative data which include a) organizing the data, b) finding and organizing ideas and concepts, c) building overarching themes in the data, d)ensuring reliability and validity in the data analysis and in the findings, e)finding possible and plausible explanations for findings, and e)an overview of the final steps (O’Connor 2003).

Approbation and implementation of active methods of teaching English in numerous groups of students of non-linguistic specialties

The research is devoted to creation of an effective strategy of teaching English in numerous groups of students through communicative approach and cooperative learning. The tasks were structured in such a way that, completing them, students had to engage in interactive communication. After carrying out the tests, we applied the methods of interactive communication in the process of teaching English in the large group of students for two months (January - March 2021). At the end of the practice, we conducted a second study, after which we compared the results and made certain conclusions, which we set out in the subsequent sections of the thesis.

In this section, we will present the most effective methods of interactive interaction that we used in experimental training, as well as present a methodology for working with them. Thus, we conducted 10 lessons, including 8 lessons using interactive and active teaching methods and 2 traditional lessons based on the theme “University - what’s next”.

The experience training was divided into three stages:

1) Preparatory work with students;

2) Direct implementation of interactive technologies;

3) Summing up.

At the preparatory stage, special attention is paid to the comprehension of target vocabulary, its training in mini-dialogues, mini-discussions that imitate real communication. To do this, we use Strebna interactive methods such as cluster, tic-tac-tense, mini-discussions, PJEC-formula [20].

 Here are some examples. Thus, the cluster method is presented as follows: in the center of the blackboard, the teacher wrote down the keyword, after which she asks the students to think in pairs and write in notebooks around this word everything that they associate with the proposed topic. We should note that working in pairs allow students to exchange their ideas, after which they share them with the whole class and record them on the board and in their notebooks. This way of working allows us to stimulate the cognitive activity of the students, to develop their memory and spatial thinking.

The tic-tac-tense method is used in order to improve grammar skills. We have developed a task that can be conventionally called tic-tac-toe with grammar tenses. The purpose of this activity is to repeat the tenses of the verb, because the correct form of the verb is an integral part of any speech utterance. We highlight that this repetition is carried out before studying the grammatical topic “Reported Speech”. To use this method, we draw a table on the chalkboard in which we present marker words that serve as a signal for students to choose the correct verb tense. Let's give an example of a table:

Table 1.1 Interactive method tic-tac-tense

To complete the assignment, we divided the group into mini teams. A student from one team needs to select a marker word and compose a sentence at the time, the indicators of which he/she sees in the cell, while the sentence must correspond to the topic. The right sentence allows the team to take the corresponding cell with its symbol. If a mistake is made, then the cell remains free, and the turn goes to another team. The teams take turns trying to occupy three cells horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The winning team is the first to do it. Our experience has shown that such an exercise helps students repeat previously learned grammatical material and work it out in speech. Moreover, it contributes to the improvement of vocabulary skills on the topic, and also inculcate a sense of responsibility for their team.

PJEC-formula (position - justification - example - consequence) is an effective method Lomov suggests in the presence of a debatable topic, which in society has at least two opposite points of view [13].

We used this method when studying the topic “Are there traditionally male and female jobs? " For support, we write phrases on the board that will help express our point of view: I think, I don’t think, I imagine, I believe, in my opinion, to my mind, my point is, I reckon, etc. We also write down phrases to help explain what the argument is based on: because, as, that’s why, etc. In addition, we indicate that the following expressions can be used to illustrate your point of view: for example, for instance, such as, so, etc.

We believe the PJEC formula helps students activate their cognitive potential, formulate personal opinion in a clear and concise form, give a logical and succinct answer in accordance with the laws of rhetoric.

Further, we use pair work. When studying the topic “What do you think about studying and working abroad?” we ask one student in a pair to read short texts containing the opinions of people who have worked abroad, and another student - texts about working in Russia. Then we hand out role cards to the students. For example, student A receives the following assignment: You are working in Russia and you want to go to work to the English-speaking country. You have a chance to talk to a person who has just returned from the USA after 5 years of work. Find out all the information that interests you most. Student B receives a card with the following task: “You have just returned to Russian after 7 years of work in the USA and met a friend of yours who wants to go there to work. Tell him as much as you can about advantages and disadvantages of working in a foreign country ".

Next, we did a role play on the topic “Should teenagers work while they are at school?”. Before starting the game, we ask students to watch a video that most American students work after school in order to have pocket money. We offer they will be divided into groups: group A includes students who agree that they need to work during their studies, and group B includes those who believe that all their strength should be given to study. The game boiled down to the fact that students from group B are American students who came to Russia for exchange, who are trying to find a part-time job and cannot, as a result of which they turn to their Russian classmates to explain how they can find a job. Students in Group A are Russian students who believe that it is too early to start working. During the game, we observe the students, as well as their interaction in English and the ways they choose to solve the problem. The results of the game were carried out on the basis of emotional judgments experienced by the students, the reaction of each of the participants was recorded. The main advantage of role play is that it motivates students and provides them with simple, direct and quick feedback on the consequences of their actions.

 

Experiential learning outcomes of interactive communication of students in English lessons

To determine the effectiveness of the experimental teaching of interactive interaction of students in English lessons, we conducted another experiment, in which both the control and experimental groups took part. The form the experiment has remained the same - brainstorming. Next, we present the course and results of the study. Research topic - “University - what’s next?” Our selection is based on the fact that 10 lessons on this topic were conducted using interactive methods. To organize group work, we selected a text that needed to be discussed in groups. The steps of the lesson are following: 1) during a three-minute warm-up, students had to name as many ideas as possible associated with their job search; 2) further, the students had to draw up a mental map, in the center of which was written “Ways of finding a good job”; 3) after that, the students were united in mini-groups to read the text, which was divided into parts. After reading their part, the students need to share information with the group members; 4) then we offered the students a discussion question on the text problem: Is it really easy to find a good job? The task of the students is to express and write down as many ideas as possible on the proposed topic; 5) after that, the members of the groups expressed their ideas and entered into a discussion with other groups. We watched the students during their work and we noticed that the volume of their statements increased from 3 - 5 sentences to 7 - 10, the amount of time required to complete the assignment decreased, the interest and desire to participate in communication enhanced greatly, students willingly asked questions and answered them to their classmates, without any difficulties entered into a dialogue with the teacher. We also observed that it is easier for students to build their statements with the help of interactive communication, because they think less about grammatical correctness and lexical relevance due to the fact that the teacher has been seen as a like-minded person, and not as an estimator. The obtained data indicates that the results of the control group did not change, while in the experimental group there is a clear progress. 36% of students are at an excellent level, 50% are at a good level, and 14% are at a sufficient level. Note that there is not a single student left with an insufficient level. In Picture 1.2, we present the comparison of the development of interactive communication in the control and experimental groups after the experimental training in percentage terms.

Thus, the data received indicate a significant improving of the level of interactive communication among students of the experimental group, as well as improving their grammatical and lexical skills. Over time, students have ceased to be afraid to communicate in English. The most important advantage of introducing active and interactive methods is the gradual accustoming of students to their independence. Interactive communication allows to use various methodological strategies and techniques for modeling situations of real communication and organizing the interaction of students in micro groups in order to jointly solve communication problems.

Conclusion

It can be seen that a large class is a relative concept. Problems and difficulties of teaching associated with large classes can also be found in smaller classes. Teachers need to view large classes from a different perspective and recognize that despite a lot of disadvantages they can also provide many opportunities for teaching and learning. The class size is not the determining factor of teaching efficiency.  Teachers need to enhance their innovative awareness and capabilities for   developing   effective   ways   for   dealing   with   large   classes based   on the characteristics of large classes.

The findings of this study may not shed a new insight on this issue however, this study would provide a good practical feedback to the teacher and to other English teachers especially for those teaching in similar contexts, in large classes. Further, from this study we would assume that large classes might not be the single cause of the learning ineffectiveness, low students’ outcomes or students’ interest in learning English. These could also be caused by the lack of facilities or teachers’ methods in teaching. Therefore, it is worth improving teaching strategies to deal with these issues. Further it is also worth considering a wider study, for instance in one regency, to investigate general issues experienced by English teachers.