REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to present already existing views of people on "the effects of class size

on teaching and learning of mathematics. The chapter has been sequentially arranged and

discussed under the following sub-headings

2.1 Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework of this research hinges on the following theories of learning:

2.1.1 Theory of Mental Development by Odiase (1992)

According to Odiase (1992), mental ability is closely related to language ability. As a child

grows older, his vocabulary and word usage becomes the best single indicator of his intelligence.

Sensory motor ability is the basis of intelligence and other ingredients are ability to perceive

situations accurately, to see relations, to remember, to use good judgment and to persist in

solving problems. To learn anything, a child must pay attention to what he wants to learn. It also

involves exploration of the visual field, fixing eyes successfully on different parts, relating these

parts and anticipating phenomenon that are not yet clearly perceived. This study is of the opinion

that teachers should be given adequate class size that will enable them to reach individual

students' needs, that is, teachers should use the materials that will enable students to easily

perceive learning situations in a positive way, especially in teaching mathematics. Overcrowded

classrooms will not permit such.

2.1.2 Theory of Cognitive Development by Piaget (1972).

Piaget (1972) has come to be recognized as a giant of the twentieth century cognition

psychology. He distinguished four stages in the development of cognitive ability or intelligence.

His concept of stage implies that development takes place in unvarying steps like sequence,
regardless of the child's culture or education. According to him, the child begins rudimentary

concept formation at the pre-conceptual stage. The child begins to classify things in certain ways

because of their similarities. Piaget further explains that a child is logical rather than being either

deductive or inductive.

This study is of the opinion that in teaching some concepts in mathematics, the teacher should be

able to present instructional materials that will enable the students to overcome the problems of

transduction. This study focuses on the fact that inability of teachers to control large class size in

order to utilize the appropriate materials to teach certain concepts has contributed to poor

teaching and learning of the subject. The next stage of cognitive development that is of

importance is the period of intuitive thought. The most striking characteristic of this stage is the

child's failure to develop conservation. Conservation is defined as the ability to realize that

number, length, substance or area remain constant even though these things may be presented to

the child in a number of different ways. For example, a child is shown two containers filled to

some level with some water. Next, the content of one container is poured into a tall thinner

container. At this stage of development, the child who observed that the first container contained

an equal quantity of water will now tend to say that the longer container has more water because

the level of water is higher in the container. According to Montessori, as a teacher, one has to

bring oneself very low and clothe oneself with patience before one will be able to successfully

teach some of the mathematical concepts to children at this stage. The teacher can utilize these

containers in the teaching of mathematics, if positive attitude is not cultivated in the child at this

stage, the child will be confused with some concepts. This will go a long way to enhance

effective teaching and learning. This is done for the fact that at this stage, the child cannot

mentally reverse cognitive questions. It means that the child cannot mentally pour the water from
the longer container back into the shorter one and see that the amount of water is the same in

both. For Piaget (1972), conservation is the ability that comes about as a result of the child's

cumulative experience with the environment. Teachers can teach the concepts of volume using

circular tins or containers as teaching materials to improve the concepts of teaching and learning

mathematics. Piaget's concrete operational stage of cognitive development according to Odiase

(1992) determines the origin of the usage of instructional materials for teaching. Here Piaget

explains the ability to deal adequately with classes and variation. The child can arrange things

from smallest to largest and vice-versa with number concepts. During this stage, the thought

processes are directed towards real events observed by the child. The child can perform rather

concrete operations on problems as long as the problems are concrete and not abstract.

Utilization of concrete objects in teaching and learning can enhance better understanding. The

educational implication is that as much as possible, all the 'learning' should be related to real life

experiences. At this stage, teachers can utilize this theory in teaching mathematics in secondary

schools. At the last stage which is formal operational cognitive development, the child can now

deal with hypothetical situations and his thought processes are not tied down exclusively to what

is immediate and real, due to the utilization of concrete objects in teaching/learning situations.

Thinking at this stage is as logical as it shall ever become. This means that the mental apparatus

that a person has is as sophisticated as it shall ever be but the apparatus can be directed toward

the solution of a "never ending array of problems" throughout one's life. This is the period in

which students can engage in logic solutions to abstract problems which is very necessary to

carry out some operations. Teachers in the study area can apply this theory in order to improve

the students' understanding and application in mathematics examination for better results. This

theory is relevant to this study based on the fact that it was able to reveal how teachers can get
the attention of their students through the utilization of instructional materials to teach certain

concepts in mathematics. It also emphasized the need for teachers to help the students to persist

in problem solving. This is possible in an adequate class size.

2.1.3 Gestalt theory of learning by Odiase E.I (1992)

This learning theory was developed by German psychologists Wertheimer, Koffka and Kohler in

the early 20th century. Gestalt means configuration, structure and patterning experience. Gestalt

insisted that all learning consist of the simple connection of responses to stimuli, without

recourse to the existence of ideas or thought process, people attempt to perceive stimuli in an

organized whole, not in the disconnected parts. Some of the characteristics of sensory fields

which influence organization in perception as identified by Odiase (1992) are:

i. Figure and ground: That the things perceived, stands out against a background. The figure

may be complex, but the parts in clear perception are always closely patterned to join a

unified whole.

ii. The stimulus pattern and perceptual organization: The observer establishes the patterning

of the visual field and it frequently happenings that the character of the stimulus pattern

influences or even dictates the way the sensory qualities are organized. The following are

important in establishing the patterns made:

a. Proximity: Patterns which are close together or near to each other tend to be perceived

in groups. Teachers can group teaching materials and use them to teach in the class.

b. Similarity and familiarity: Objects similar in form, shape, color or size tend to be

grouped in perception. Familiarity with an object allows a carryover from previous to

present experiences. Teachers can utilize related materials in teaching and learning
 situations since it can facilitate learning. Thus, the teacher can use group method to

control a large class. This can improve the students' performance in mathematics.

c. Closure: Missing parts or gaps in information tend to be completed or filled in by the

perceiver as individuals strive to reach a satisfactory end state of equilibrium in

complete forms. This form helps in quantitative and local reasoning in mathematics

learning.

According to Kohler in Odiase (1992), Gestalt psychology in relation to learning is best

illustrated in situations in which reconstructing of the field relationships provides sudden

solution to problems. mathematics teachers can utilize these steps in the improvement of

students' performance in mathematics. Teachers need to guide the children to organize their

experiences into effective functional patterns through meaningful arrangements and stimulating

situations. Teaching should start with the things that are familiar each step or those already

taken, facts grouped according to their natural connections. Essential parts should be

emphasized, but irrelevant things avoided. Integration of all the divisions, topics of each subject,

previews, outlines and review are all that revealed relations between the various parts of a

subject and promote the organization of a subject as a whole. Based on the above explanations,

appropriate utilization of teacher instructional strategy will play an important role to enhance the

students' performance in mathematics.

2.2 Conceptual framework

The conceptual framework is discussed under the following sub-headings

2.2.1 Concept of class size

The concept of class size refers to the number of students undertaking a particular course/ subject

or the number of students taught by a teacher in a classroom in a given period.

It is the number of students a teacher attends to during a given period of instruction (Eboatu &

Ehirim, 2018). According to Anderson and Omwirhiren (2016), class size refers to the actual

number of pupils taught by a teacher at a particular time. Class size is thus different from the

student-teacher ratio, which is expressed as the relationship between the student population and

the number of teachers available in the school. The school teacher-to-student ratio may be low

but conceals the existence of a dearth of teachers in some subject areas that lack teachers,

thereby giving rise to few teachers teaching large numbers of students in these subjects. Class

size may be defined as the number of students per teacher in a given class or the population of a

class (Ajayi, Audu & Ajayi, 2017).

Several factors such as inadequate school building, population explosion, inadequate number of

subject teachers, give rise to larger class sizes. In a normal classroom, the teacher is expected to

cater for/ deal with diverse personalities with divergent backgrounds, ideas, interests, attitudes

and abilities. In large classes and overpopulated classes, the result is student disengagement

(Eboatu & Ehirim, 2018). The teacher in such a situation may not be able to give individual

students the attention they need and this may lead to poor academic achievement. FRN (2013)

therefore prescribes a student-teacher ratio of 1:25 for pre-primary classes; 1:35 for primary and

1:40 for secondary schools. Some researchers have maintained that class size is a tool which can

be adopted in measuring performance of educational system (Kedney, 2013).Class size is refers

to as students to teacher ratio per class (Ali, 2012). The class size is becoming increasingly

unmanageable, putting teachers in an impossible position of giving individual student required

attention. In Nigeria public schools, the teachers' eye contact with the students in class has

become so reduced that some of the poorly motivated students can form number of committees

at the back of the class while teaching is going on to engage in non-school discussion. Regular
assignments and home works are dreaded by teachers considering the staggering number of

books to mark and to record (Adimonyemma, Akachukwu & Igboabuchi, 2018).

Class size can affect how students learn and even determine the amount of material covered

during a class period. For example, a large class with a lot of noise may mean less time for the

teacher to cover academic tasks slated for the day. The teacher may also be deterred from

assigning group work, which is a best practice in education, because there are simply too many

groups to manage. Baker, Farrie and Sciarra (2016) argue that there is ample research showing

that elementary school “children in smaller classes achieve better outcomes, both academic and

otherwise, and that class size reduction can be an effective strategy for closing racially or

socioeconomically based achievement gap”. They also emphasize that reductions in class size

may positively influence teacher recruitment and retention.

Mathematics is recognized as an important tool for engineers, scientists, architects and many

other professionals. Hence, mathematics is considered as knowledge indispensable to all fields of

study. Therefore, it needs to be taught in a good and conducive environment. Thus the need for

sizeable classes is prerequisite for effective teaching and learning of mathematics. It is however

unfortunate that in most schools, classes are overcrowded such that effective teaching/learning of

mathematics is difficult under this situation, students device poor attitudes towards learning of

mathematics and they inevitably leave school having only vague ideas about the importance of

mathematics concepts.

Many educationists accept as axiomatic that there is maximum class size which determines the

quality of learning in the classroom. This assumption generally unsupported by researchers, has

been expressed in professional literature and has become one of the criteria of the quality of
education for crediting agencies and for the public at large to use in assessment. According to

Gakure, Mukuria & Kithae (2013), the number of students in a class has the potential to affect

how much is learned in a number of different ways. For example, it could affect the level of

social engagement which may lead to more or less noisy and disruptive behavior, which in turn

may affect the kinds of activities the teacher is able to promote. It could also affect how much

time the teacher is able to focus on individual students and their specific needs rather than on the

group as a whole.

This work is to review silent researches into the complex issues of the effects of class size or

quality of the teaching/learning, and the performance of students in mathematics. It is going to

describe the general attitude of teaching profession towards class size and the performance of

students in mathematics.

2.2.2 Academic achievements in mathematics

Academic achievement is a direct manifestation of learning effectiveness and a valid indicator to

evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and education in higher education as well as the overall

development of students (Zhou & Siti, 2022).

Academic is explained as “academic work” which refers to the results achieved by students as a

result of the accumulation of learning, while achievement refers to the completion and attainment

of a certain level that a student can achieve after a series of education or training, while

performance refers to the result of an examination in a subject or a whole course (Lamas, 2015).

However, some scholars consider achievement to be equivalent to grades, and it is on the basis of

the different understandings of achievement and grades that scholars have differed in their

definitions of academic achievement (Brookhart et al., 2016).

 In general, academic achievement can be divided into two broad and narrow definitions, in

which academic achievement in a broad sense refers to the improvement of students' overall

quality during their school years.

The National Leadership Council on Liberal Education and America's Promise believes that

student academic achievement cannot simply mean admission rates and the percentage of

degrees earned, as it once did, but that the more important question is whether students have

acquired the knowledge and competencies that are essential to their future life, work, and civic

activities. Cai and Cao (2019) argue that academic achievement is not only about students'

academic performance in school, but should also include all aspects of their knowledge,

competence and literacy development. Academic achievement in a narrow sense refers to the

measured performance of students through examinations at a certain study stage. In empirical

studies of academic achievement, a considerable number of researchers adopt such definitions of

academic achievement, especially in empirical studies of primary and secondary school students,

researchers often define academic achievement as students' examination results, for example, Ye

(2013), Chen (2015), Li (2016), Li and Chai (2018) all define academic achievement as a

definition of a learner's the performance of teaching and learning assessments, such as final

examination results, achieved by the person in school.

Broadly speaking, academic achievement is a result of the subjective and objective assessment of

learners through school teaching or self-study, which is a more permanent behavioral outcome,

but which can also accumulate over time. In a narrower sense, academic achievement is defined

as a reflection of the learning outcomes achieved during the schooling period, and it is also a

goal to be achieved by the student in learning education. For teachers, academic achievement

enables them to identify their own shortcomings in the teaching process, to improve the quality
of their teaching, to improve their teaching methods, and to make appropriate adjustments to

their teaching methods (Stabback & Philip, 2016).

Academic achievement essentially applies to what an individual can do or attain in a learning

environment within a specific criterion in a given domain with the teacher's guidance in the

teaching environment. In Nigeria, it is quite alarming to see large number of students learning in

a classroom meant for small students. As a result of the huge expansion in school enrolment rate

in the country, most classes become overpopulated. Mathematics, as a subject in secondary

school, requires the teacher to carefully and critically explain concepts vividly for thorough

understanding of concepts. The importance of Mathematics needs not to be overemphasized

because it is part of the broad-field curriculum that prepares the students for life in the science

field both at the secondary and tertiary school level. In a situation where classes are

overpopulated, lesson becomes boring, thereby affecting the academic achievement of students.

Teachers spend most of their time managing noise and distraction, than teaching effectively.

Several research findings relating to class size studies have concluded that large class sizes are

associated with significant challenges such as poor academic achievement, lack of effective

classroom management and control, inability of teachers to carry out effective continuous

assessment activities (Barde, Ahmed, Mohammed, Bizi, Ibrahim & Uzoma, 2021). Cortes et al.

(2012) highlighted the fact that class size affects student performance, due to misbehavior and

other disciplinary problems in large classes. The learners in the small classes scored relatively

much higher marks than those in the large classes. According to these researchers, learners in

smaller classes learned more as they did not experience disruption during lessons. Participation

in learning activities and group work in the smaller classes contributed to the higher scores, and

resulted in sound discipline, whereas in the larger classes, learners scored lower marks, and
disruptive behaviour made it difficult for teachers to manage these classrooms. From their

findings, it appeared as if learners in one classroom increased the incidences of disruptive

behaviour. If one or more students behave badly, the learning activities of all the learners in the

class are influenced.

Recent researchers all agreed that the effects of class size on academic achievement by

Educational Researcher Services showed that small classes made great difference in lower levels

of education because of self-dependence, while there exists increase in academic achievement in

higher levels of education as a result of introduction of cooperative or group learning in a large

class size. Asqalan, Hijazi & Al Natour, (2016) found that teaching large classes is problematic,

but they recommend conducting further research in class size context. It should be noted that

what happens in the classroom environment does not only depend on how teachers complement

their roles but also we need to know how the students perceive and conceptualize their learning

and the role of their teachers in the teaching environment. The above researchers cited so far

showed that there are still some considerable degrees that class sizes have a significant role in the

teaching/learning and academic achievement of students, thus the researcher is promoted to carry

out this study in an attempt to find out the best class size according to prevailing situation in any

environment.

2.3 Review of Empirical Studies

Kusi and Manful (2019) carried out a study on class size and academic performance of students

in selected Nursing and midwifery training colleges in the central region, of Ghana. The

researcher used quantitative and qualitative methods to collate data from the field.
Notwithstanding, the researcher used questionnaires and interviews specifically semi-structured

interviews to get data from the participants. The findings indicated the relationship between class

size and academic performance was inversely related and thus students in large classrooms

performed poorly compared to those in small class sizes. The scholars argued that overcrowding

of students in a single classroom reduces the effectiveness of the teacher in enhancing an

effective instructional process. It was also noted that truancy, unruliness, noise-making, and

attention of learners especially the slow learners were factors associated with large class size.

Moreover, this study was significantly distinct in its context and case as it focused on midwifery

colleges. The two studies also vary significantly in terms of context and objective variables. The

current study uncovered these aspects and established the influence of class size on teaching and

learning of mathematics in Nigeria and not Ghana, more so respondents were used and it was

experimental in nature.

Idris (2017) carried out a research on the influence of class size on the academic performance of

low ability level senior secondary school III (SS III) students in Mathematics in Zaria. The study

used ex-post facto design and sample consisted of one hundred and fifty (150) low ability level

SS III students whose scores ranged from 0-49 as recommended by Telca using their mock

examination results as index of categorization. These students were selected by purposive

sampling technique from two randomly selected senior secondary schools in Zaria education

zone, Kaduna state. One hypothesis was formulated to direct the study. Students' mathematics

score from their SS III mock examination were collected from examination and record office in

the examined schools. Data collected were analyzed using t-test statistics. The result indicated

that there is a significant difference in the mean performance score in mathematics between low

ability level students taught by teacher in small class size and those in large class size. Based on
the research findings, it is concluded that low ability level students in small class size perform

better than those in large class size in the senior secondary school mathematics. It is therefore

recommended that the full implementation of the Nigeria national policy on teacher-students

ratio of 1: 40 should be encouraged for desired learning outcomes particularly as it affects

mathematics. His study focused on the influence of class size on the academic performance of

low ability level senior secondary school students thereby giving a gap for the effectiveness of

teaching when class size is below 40 students which is intended to be covered by this research.

Anibueze, Ayogu and Abugu (2017), carried out a research on the effect of class size and school

location on senior secondary school students' achievement in Mathematics for technological

development. The study was guided by three (3) research questions and three (3) research

hypotheses which were tested at 0.05 levels of significance using the students’ t-test. The study

was an inferential survey design, which sampled 933 Senior Secondary School 3 (SSS 3)

students in Enugu Education zone of Enugu state. The 2016 West African Senior Secondary

School Certificate Examination (WASSSCE) mathematics objective paper formed the instrument

used for data collection. The instrument was found to be reliable by the reliability coefficient of

0.8 using the Kuder-Richardson formula method (K-R 20). The researchers did not consider it

necessary to determine the validity of 2016 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate

Examination (WASSSCE) mathematics objective paper, since that the instrument is a

standardized test whose validity had already been established by the West African Examination

Council (WAEC). The study discovered that students in large classes perform better than the

students in small classes, there was no significant difference between the mean achievement

scores of senior secondary rural and urban school students in senior secondary certificate

mathematics examination and there was no significant difference between the mean achievement
scores of senior secondary male and female students in mathematics. Hence, the study

recommended that the school authorities, government and heads of school management boards

should improve the class size arrangement. Secondly, mathematics teachers and other

educational stakeholders should encourage both male and female students to work harder in

Mathematics. They should ensure that there is no gender discrimination in Mathematics lesson

class or department. Finally, Ministry of Education should provide adequate and appropriate

resource materials to the schools both in rural and urban areas evenly in order to enhance

students' Mathematics achievement since rural and urban students taught do not differ in their

mean achievement scores. The study relates to the present work as the researcher is trying to find

out if small class size has any effect on pupils achievement in mathematics since students in

large class can perform better than those in small class.

Ahmed (2009) carried out a research on "Effect of class size and ability levels on performance in

mathematics among senior secondary schools in Zaria educational zone. The study tried to

examine some factors responsible for poor performance of students in mathematics and

recommendations and suggestions were made. Mathematics achievement test consisted of a set

of fifty multiple choice test items which was designed and administered on 180 students in three

senior secondary schools and 12 mathematics teachers. Result showed that poor performance in

mathematics in senior secondary school are as a result of overcrowded classroom, poor salaries

to mathematics teachers, lack of in-service programmes for mathematics teachers, inadequate

mathematics teachers. The researchers recommended that allowances should be given to

mathematics teachers, apart from the monthly salaries. They should be assisted financially to

acquire in service training from time to time. Appropriate teaching aids should be made available

for mathematic teachers. Class size of 30 students should be encouraged and supported by
government in Nigerian secondary schools for improvement in poor performance of students in

mathematics at the senior secondary schools. The review work is very much related to the

present studies since both focused on the problems of learners and poor performance in

mathematics. But they differ since the work of Ahmed (2009) is centered on the senior secondary

schools in Zaria educational zone. In the current study, less respondents were used and the focus

on junior secondary schools in Olamaboro Local Government and not Zaria.

2.4 Summary of Literature Review

The review of literature in this chapter indicated that mathematics is a very important subject,

which any nation with positive intention for development in science and technology could not

afford to trifle with (Francis, 2002).

In the review, three theories were reviewed. These theories includes, Theory of Mental

Development (Odiase, 1992), Theory of Cognitive Development (Piaget, 1972) and Gestalt

Theory of Learning (Odiase E.I, 1992). Much work was done on the conceptual framework and

related works were reviewed in the empirical session to conclude that poor teaching and learning

of mathematics by teachers and students has been a major issue and concern to mathematics

educators and educational planners. Hence there is need for the teachers to improve their

competency and strategy in handling the problems of large class size.

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