Managing Large EFL Classes: Strategies for Classroom Management, Discipline, and Formative Assessment

Abstract

Managing large English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes presents significant challenges for teachers, especially when it comes to maintaining discipline, organizing lessons, and ensuring active student participation. The present study aims at investigating how high school EFL teachers in Zakho city address these challenges using classroom management strategies and formative assessment procedures. Following expert validation, a pilot study, and using Cronbach’s Alpha for reliability checking, forty-five randomly selected EFL teachers from different public high schools in Zakho city were given a standardized questionnaire with closed-ended items covering six key categories. The collected data were analyzed using a One-sample t-test in SPSS Software (version 26). The results showed that teachers frequently employed structured lesson planning and positive discipline, and they placed a high priority on fostering a supportive learning environment in the classroom. Teacher-student rapport and student involvement were also addressed to some extent, but formative assessment techniques, especially interactive and peer-based methods were employed less frequently. These results suggest that in order to help teachers employ student-centered strategies more successfully in large EFL classrooms, more support, resources, and trainings are needed.