Paper Details

The importance of English as a second language learning has been widely accepted in recent years and theEnglish language is now considered as an international language. There is a growing importance of teaching and learningEnglish language in education all over the world. But, there are many barriers in language teaching at higher secondaryschools in the South region of Kashmir. One of the most important barriers in English as a second language teaching isovercrowded classes. In crowded classes, classroom management, getting results from language approaches becomesdifficult. In addition to this, a small number of class hours per week are another barrier in language teaching. Highersecondary schools and colleges in Kashmir have been observing a significant growth in student enrolment for a decadeultimately resulting in overcrowded classrooms with limited resources. A large classroom can be referred to a highersecondary school English language class with the number of students ranging from 70 to 130. Large classrooms presentseveral pedagogical challenges before the teacher. Therefore, it matters how the teacher responds to the challenges of anovercrowded classroom which might necessarily breed morale and discipline issues. This study explores the challenges of theovercrowded classroom in an ESL setting. It attempts to incorporate teachers' and students' perspectives on the overcrowdedclassroom inevitably affecting teaching and learning practices. To achieve these objectives, the researchers used the mixedmethod approach. The population of the study is 10 Higher Secondary (grade 10-12) schools in the South district of Kulgam.The researchers distributed questionnaires to 32 students (20 boys and 12 girls). The researchers distributed thequestionnaires (quantitative tool) and semi-structured interview (qualitative tool) among 17 teachers (10 male and 7 female)to obtain and analyze teachers’ views on the issue. The data was analyzed by using (SPSS). The study assumes to offersolutions to overcrowded classroom problems.

Aadel Yousuf Khanday, Zulfi Syed, “Overcrowded classroom in an ESL Situation: Challenges and Solutions in the South Region of Jammu and Kashmir”, International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development (IJAERD), Vol. 6, Issue 8, pp. 39-50, August 2019.