Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:1388] IFETS Digest 201 - communication theory links research
From: adamson (adamson@mail.sp.myu.ac.jp)
Date: Fri 16 Mar 2001 - 08:17:39 MET
From: "adamson" <adamson@mail.sp.myu.ac.jp> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:1388] IFETS Digest 201 - communication theory links research Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 16:17:39 +0900
Lilly Evans wrote:
> The central finding was that the nexus of the group should be 8.
> This translates into 8 links in your conversations. However, in
> a message to me Marcial said:
> "I do know that as the group size increases over eight in
> face-to-face groups a lot of people drop out of the active
> interaction.
For many years I have been informally asking language teachers about the
relation between class size and both outcomes and methods. While I have no
formal data, those teachers have reported the following:
--8 is the optimal class size, there is more interaction and most activities
and methods will work effectively
--smaller classes are less effective, probably do to the stress of being 'on
stage' more or the time
--20 seems to be a break point, for both methods and outcomes, the slope
between 8 and 20 is flatter than the slope above 20
--40 is another break point with a steeper downward slope for values above
40
--120-150 is followed by another increase in downward slope
This figures also match my own experience.
It would be interesting to know if these figures are accurate (widely
accepted) and, they would also apply to on-line situations.
Charles Adamson
Miyagi University
Sendai, Japan
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