ABSTRACT
The study was designed to assess the effect of large class size in the academic performance of student in English in some selected junior secondary school in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State. The population consists of five schools selected as sample. A total of one hundred (100) students were selected in all. A questionnaire was administered to the students in the sample schools. Research questions were formulated to guide the direction of the study. The data collected were analyzed in tables side by side the research questions in chapter four. Chapter five presents findings conclusions and recommendations.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Chapter One
Introduction ‘
1.0 Background of the study
1.1 Statement of problem
1.2 Research questions
1.3 Purpose of the study
1.4 Significance of the study
1.5 Scope of the study
1.6 limitation of the study
1.7 Definition of terms
Chapter Two
Review of related literature
Chapter Three
Methodology
3.0 Research Design
3.1 Population
3.2 Sample and Sampling Procedure of the study
3.3 Research instrument
3.4 Administration of instrument
3.5 Method of data analysis
Chapter Four
Data analysis, result and discussion
Chapter Five
5.1 Summary
5.2 Findings
5.3 Conclusion
5.4 Recommendations
References
Questionnaires
CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
There was no earlier times improvement in the medical field and the paucity of medical personnel within human communities, (especially in the under developing nation of the world) did not make for enhanced health care. This led to the hampered human resource reproduction. The phenomenal decline in death rate over the last three to four decades was not accompanied by a similar decline in the birth rate and hence increase in population become the trend. This manifested itself in an impressive growth of the population size from one billion in the nineteenth century to about five billion in the first decade of nineteenth century.
This population growth rate trend is in accordance with Sadips (1988) findings that everyday the world population increases by three hundred and seventy thousand (370,000) people while the united nations projection shows that the world population will be ten billion (10,000,000,000) in the year 2040. Africa is at the cross road of demographic explosion and unless the population trend is addressed and arrested in the new millennium, man is moving towards self distribution or population trap as predicted by rev. Thomas R. Mathus in 1798. Nigeria is the most populated country in the continent of Africa and the tenth in the world as shown by various post independence population census from 1963 to 2006.
This perhaps influence Sudan’s major general Joseph Lafus declaration that Nigeria is the basis for black Africa solidarity and as such she has great responsibility for being the most thickly populated and wealthy nation in the African Continent. The government of the day is afraid of universal problems associated with population explosion some of which are;
Overpopulation leading to increase in class size in educational institutions. Overpopulation tending to over utilization of resources. Overpopulation giving rise to mass unemployment with associated criminal activity tendencies such as robbery, terrorism, kidnapping, prostitution, premarital sex etc. Overpopulation affects the economy of a people.
The problems stated above give rise to this study of the effect of class size arising from overpopulation. Class size is the number of students in a classroom and the class size may be overpopulated or crowded when the number of students stipulated for a class is twenty (20) by national standard but in contemporary time students number in class has risen to one hundred and fifty (150) plus. With overpopulated class size, there is difficulty in control or management of the class. The teacher cannot know those among his students who need extra attention and besides, the classroom situation makes no room for teachers easy movement round the class and hence unconducive for teaching and learning will find it difficult to have a good rapport with the students. Population is however not static but dynamic just as a country’s population is not static. So it is either increasing depending on certain health factors. Albeit population is not just a question of number, it is also a question of people.