Survey: Maximum Number of Students in Introductory Russian

[Lynne deBenedette]

> Dear Colleagues:
>
>
>
> 1)          We believe that the maximum number of students in an Introductory
> Russian class should not exceed 16.  If 17 are enrolled, there should be two
> sections; if 33 - three sections, and so on.  Based on your teaching
> experience, do you agree or you believe that the cut-off number may be higher
> or must be lower?
In a perfect world...  While I believe in keeping class size under 18 if
possible--and my personal ideal number is 12, effective pedagogy and task
design can go a long way toward making a larger class function more like a
smaller one (in the sense that there can be just as much active
participation and communication of ideas).

However, there are other issues: first, I fear that a university
administrator, even if enrollment is officially capped, might not concede
the validity of your equation, because many institutions also have MINIMUM
enrollments for a section to run at all.  At a school with a minimum
enrollment of 6 (and at many places it's higher) 17 students could become
two sections only if there were at least 6 in each.  So splitting one
section could work, but if you had advertised two, at different times, and
one didn't make the minimum, you'd just have to cancel it.  If the minimum
needed is as high as 10, then the univ. answer to having 17 total is "either
let the extra student into the one section you have, or s/he's out of luck."
Second, even if you're allowed to split the section, administrations can
always say: well, if you want to split it, go ahead, but you'll have to do
it as an overload."  Don't assume that they'll agree that *running* the
section = *funding* staff.

> 2)          Does your school have a rule limiting the number of students in a
> language class?
>
At Brown departments can set rules themselves, but the university is not
obligated to come up with funding for extra personnel if enrollments are too
large.  So Spanish doesn't get $$ for an extra teacher when 35 people want a
section of 1st sem. language capped at 18, although if a faculty martyr
decided to take on that extra section as unpaid overload, they wouldn't fuss
about it.
>
>
> 3)          If it does, what is the cut-off?
>
Spanish limits to 18, not sure about others.  We don't have one in Slavic,
so regular track 1st year has 21 in one section.  Chinese has had numbers in
the 30s in single sections. And the 44 people in 1st year Arabic last year
were not turned away despite there being only one section (although they did
manage funding for a TA to split them some of the time).  The upside is that
one is allowed to run small sections mostly without administrative
complaint; at many schools I'd have to cancel Intensive 1st Year if the
enrollment were six.
>
> 4)          Is it the same or different for "more difficult" languages such as
> Russian?
>
See 3).
>
> Spasibo.
>
> Lev Loseff.
>
--
Lynne deBenedette
Senior Lecturer in Russian
Brown University / Slavic Languages
20 Manning Walk, Box E
Providence, RI 02912
tel 401-863-7572 or 401-863-2689
fax 401-863-7330
lynne_debenedette at brown.edu
SPRING 2004 Office Hours TBA

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------