Traditional Qur’anicSchools: An

AnthropologicalStudy.

Anissa DaoudiInstitute of Arab and

Islamic StudiesExeter University

ExeterEX4 4JQ

Abstract

Qur’anic schools are widely recognisedas a classic example of large class school in non-western educational system. This research sheds the light on the pros and cons of such schools and attempts by analysing data collected from an Algerian Qu’ranic School to implement, whenever applicable, their methodologies and management to large foreign classes in the state education system. The problems of large classes in the state schools are also analysed in this research. Finally the findings from the Qur’anic schools analysis are compared with Coleman’s (1990) problems and suggestion in order to come up with a system that could be implemented in any Language classe.

1. What is a Qur’anic School?

The terminology used for thedifferent institutions of learning religious studies is not always an easy matterdue to different dialects that exist in Arabic. In Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, Makdisi (1981) refers to the congregational mosque “the Jamii” and to the every day ordinary mosque as “Masjid” and makes it clear that Qur’anic Schools set out to teach young children the elementary basis of Qur’an, writing and reading skills. In Indonesia as mentioned byGeertz (1960) Qur’anic Schools are referred to as “Pondok” or “Pesantren”. The teacher always male is called “Mudarris” or “Sheikh” in Middle Eastern countries,“Taleb” in Algeria and “Kijaji”in Indonesia and should havea good background in religious studies. The material needed for a Quranic school is The Qur’anbooks, wooden slates, fountain pens, ink (made of burnt wool) and nowadays a blackboard is used as well.

In Algeria, before going to state schools, the majority of children, from the age ofthree until the age of six,

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go to the Qur’anic Schools as a preparatory stage for government schools. There are morning and afternoon sessions. The language taught is Standard Arabic, which is different from the colloquial dialect, used in Algeria. This is felt to be beneficial for children as it paves the way for the standard Arabic to be used later on in later academic studies. The number of students, boys and girls, could reach 60 of different proficiency levels, learningabilities and age groups. InQur’anic Schools, learners go at their own pace and no marking is done. In addition, there is no administration or bureaucratic regulation established i.e. the teacheris solely responsible for his class. Nobody, not even the parents, has the right to interfere or impose rulesor methods of how to teach.

2. Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study was to analyse video data ofa Qur’anic school in Bou-Saada, Algeria and to investigate the possibility of transferring the solutions to the management of a large class in the

state education system wherethe problem of large classesprevails. Most teachers complain about the large number of students, precisely in the language classes due to the assumption that teaching a foreign or a second languageshould be delivered in a small class.

3. Methodology of learning in Quranic Schools

3.1 Memorisation or hafd

As stated by Makdisi (1981),the development of the memory is a constant featureof medieval education in Islam. Memorisation involvesmaterial as an input, its understanding and its retention through frequent repetition at close intervals of time in order to retrieve later the necessary elements instantly. It is known that the more the learner repeatsthe surat (lesson), the better she/he acquires or memorises it. The best time for memorising one’s lesson is early at dawn where the child’s memory is fresh and could record more than late evening when he/she is tired. The afternoon sessionin the Qur’anic School is rather for reciting.

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Memorisation enables the learner to move to the stageof creation, through the intermediary stages of imitation and emulation. Thehabit of memorisation is inculcated from the tenderest age, on all levelsof learning and the difference between the levels of memorisation and creativity is the learner’s ability to digest the materials.

3.2 Revision or mudhakara

Mudhakara, (in English, revision) is the process that follows the learning stage. The teacher usually checks the learner’s abilityto retrieve when needed any surat. Mudhkara is also neededat home. Here comes the important role of the parents by helping and encouraging the child to learn the Qur’an and religious stories about the Islamic history.

3.3 Graduation or khatma

When the child has achieved the first quarter of the Quran, the talib (teacher) sends the learner’s slate tohis /her parents showing them their child’s first achievement. These latter, to show their pride,

celebrate this occasion by sending presents to the talib and sweets to other children. The celebration takes place in the jamii. Achieving the first quarter of the Qur’an, depends on thechild ability to learn his/her surats and generally ranges from few months to one year. Also are celebrated the second and third khatma after achievingthe first half and the wholeQuran respectively.

3.4 Disputation or munazara

“I dispute with you for no other reason than to acquireknowledge” (Makdisi 1990). Munazara is referred to as disputation. It has different purposes such as checking somebody’s knowledge. It is done at a later stage, usually after learning the whole Qur’an and acquiring the Islamic Shari’a.

3.5 The learning stages of the Quranic School

In order to have a better understanding of the methodologies used in Qur’anic schools, it would be beneficial to look at thedifferent learning stages. The beginner starts first bylearning the Arabic alphabet

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by repeating orally after the Imam. The learner then moves on to the writing stage, where the Imam draws lines on the child’s slate and then writes the alphabeton the board, reads the letters aloud then asks the learner to imitate what he has written and the same procedure is repeated many times until the learner memorises both the sound andthe shape of the letters. Second, the learner is givena small Surat sentence by sentence until completed, and then moves on to the longer ones. Third, after achieving a certain level that allows the learner to read on independently from the book (Qur’an), the learner is encouraged to rely on her/himself and practice reading directly from the book. Finally, the learner is introduced to dictation or imlaa, which helps memorising the spelling of the words and practising handwriting.

4. The effect of large classsize on teachers and learners

4.1 What is a large class?

Various researchers have defined the large class.

However, due to its complexity there is no clearand precise definition of this term, as stated by Coleman (1989). Spitzer (1954) defines a large classas one that has 300 or more pupils, whereas a small class is considered as the one that has 26 or fewer pupils. Nolasco and Arthur (1984) look at the issue of teaching a large class from the teacher’s point of view,’’teachers who are used to groups of 12 – 14 students might find a group of 20 to be rather threatening. Others may be relieved when they have only 40’’. Shamim (1993) looks at a large class from a qualitative point of view. She argues that both teachers and learners see a large class from another point of view that does not take into consideration the actual number of students in the class but rather by the individual time spent by theteacher. Thus, what could be seen as a large class forexample in Europe could be seen as ideal in African countries? The reason behindthis is the difference of people’s experiences and perceptions.

As mentioned, both teachersand learners claim that

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teaching is better deliveredin small classes. From theteacher’s point of view,teaching in small classesgives them the opportunityto better direct, interactand guide learnersindividually. In addition,the class atmosphere itselftends to be more relaxed.However, teaching in smallclasses, especially indeveloping countries, is notalways achieved. Differentinterpretations have beengiven about whether classsize is really a problem.Coleman (1990) summarisesthe problems of class sizein five different elements:

1. Teachers feel uncomfortable addressing a large number of learners, “they feel they are in the spot light’’

2. They claim that large classes prevent them from controlling and keeping discipline, “they want to be aware of everything that happens in their classroom’’

3. They tend to worry about not being able tocorrect the learners’ work in the class and their homework

4. They complain about their workload, which

usually causes them fatigue and stress.

5. They often have to copewith limited resources,especially in developing countries, such as shortage of textbooks and teaching material.

As argued by Coleman (1990),these problems are not universal; there could be other different interrelatedelements that might influence the teaching/learning process inlarge classes to both teachers and learners. Asking questions, being involved in a discussion andtalking in front of a largergroup is found to be very embarrassing and intimidating to some learners. As a solution to the problemof teaching in large classes, several studies have been carried out. However, there seems to be little connection between the findings of the classes’size and the innovations developed by teachers in their large classes.

The different approaches to classroom management were first classified by Coleman (1989e) into different categories as follows:

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Plenary approachesThere is no alternativeLet the people sing!Interactive approachesCompromise approaches

He also made the following observations about the different approaches identified above: Most positive approaches see large classes as a reason for implementing interactionor other innovative techniques. Both the interactive and compromise approaches indicate that large classes require that more responsibility should be given to learners. In compromise approaches, “the classroom is not seen as a place where learning happensbut, instead, as a place where administration is dealt with, where learners are inspired to go out and do their own learning’’. Therefore, large classes seem to have positive points, despite their constraints and negative effects. What may be needed from the teacher is first toaccept the fact of teaching in large classes and insteadof looking at it as a problem, the teacher could think of ways and methodologies that will helpin coping with the situation.

Shamim (1993) reported “as new ideas and pedagogical solutions begin to arise from the constraints of the large class situation, largeclass are viewed more positively both by teachers and learners’’. Coleman (1990) also suggests the teacher should consider giving more responsibilitiesto learners, asking them to work in pairs and involving them in everything. Furthermore, Hayes (1992) suggested some solutions to the issue of teaching in large classes:

Know your studentsReduce the teacher’s workloadCreate a positive learning attitude amongst studentsGet every student involved in all class activitiesDevelop student’s self confidence

However, this positive view of large classes does not mean to legitimise the existence of large classes. Above all, it should not putthe teacher under the pressure of assuming that the whole responsibility in finding ways to adjust to the phenomenon of teaching alarge class.

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5. The Algerian Educational System and the large class phenomenon

Returning now to the classroom system in Algeria,education there is divided into four levels: the primary level, which starts at the age of six for a period of six years, followed by the intermediatelevel for a period of four years for the 12 – 16 age groups. The third level is secondary for three years. To move from one level to another, pupils need to passan exam set at the national level. The secondary level leads to the ‘’Baccalaureate’’ exam, which is equivalent to ‘’A’’level in the United Kingdom.Then, the university level follows where the length of studies depends on the specialism selected by the student.

5.1 The classroom situation in Algeria

Our main point of interest is the teaching of English language in Algerian schools. Thus it is worth mentioning that English Language Teaching (ELT) in Algeria is seen as a ForeignLanguage (FL). French is considered as the Second

Language (SL). From my personal observation and experience as a foreign language student and as an EFL teacher, one notices that different approaches and methodologies have been used starting with the traditional method, where translation was widely used.Textbooks were imported fromBritain without adaptation. Later on, they were replacedby an Algerian version taking into account the student’s needs and at the same time promoting the Algerian identity. However, teachers complain that it isimpossible to adopt any method without the interference of the administration. They are obliged to follow the textbooks “chosen’’ by the Ministry of Education that emphasise the usage rather than the use.

Teachers in Algeria have to deal with large classes, dueto rapid demographic growth,lack of human and financial resources and the limited number of classes. The average class size is about 40. Most teachers have a heavy duty teaching timetable and at the same time have to work with limited resources. These problems are common not only

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in the primary, intermediateand secondary levels, but even at the university level, where teaching is divided into what is known as lecture and practical work (TD: travaux dirigés). The lecture is held in an amphitheatre of more than 150 students. The teacher lectures and students listenand take notes. Therefore, one could say that there is nearly no interaction at all. Attendance is not obligatory. TD are held in classrooms of 15 to 20 students where the teachers discuss the lecture already given in the amphitheatre inmore detail, answer students’ questions and givesome exercises. Attendance is obligatory and there is interaction between the teacher and the students.

6. Description of data

The data presented for this study was video recorded from a Quranic school in Bou-Saada, Algeria when children were in state school term holidays. The videotape shows different sequences of the session which last one hour and half. The sequential events taking place are shown in annexe 1.

The data is analysed in the next paragraph. The analysisdiscusses different elementssuch as interaction, individual attention, students rocking (a movementdone by learners while rehearsing)…etc.

6.1 Description of thesetting

The school is a house donated by the local community for religious purposes. The class is held in a big room (see figure 1)where carpets are put on thefloor for children to sit onand a chair for the Imam in a position where he can havea broad view of the children. Near the door, there are some shelves for keeping shoes as nobody is allowed to go to a mosque orQur’anic School with shoes on, as those places are considered sacred. At the back of the room there are some wooden slates, fountains pens and on the wall a blackboard. On the right hand sight of the roomthere is another shelf for putting Qur’an. The class isdivided into four different groups according to their learning stage and sex. Boysmainly form the first group,located on the right hand

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side, where they use slates for rehearsing (practising aloud the surat in order to memorise it). Behind them isthe front mix, and on the left-hand side (as seen fromthe entrance) is the advanced group of boys usingthe books of Qur’an. Finally, behind them there is the girls’ group also using the Qur’an for rehearsing.

Figure 1

7. Data Analysis

As mentioned before, the analysis of the collected data will discuss deeply different elements. The first part of the analysis will be devoted to what is known as classroom interaction. In other words,what is it? How it takes place? In addition, we will

discuss its patterns and will look at the relationship between them. We will then discuss the issue of individual attention, noise, students rocking and the different stages of learning.

7.1 Classroom Interaction

We begin by discussing the teacher’s interaction. He adopts a set of different interactions to start the class (stages 1 and 2). The learners have already taken their usual places and theirlearning materials. The Imamuses non-verbal interactions(stages 4, 8) to the learners to start practisingthe surat. Learners on the other hand respond and startpractising immediately. Then, he uses another kind of non- verbal interaction (stages 26, 28) to encouragethe children to carry on practising, when he walks around to see how they are doing. He later, interacts with the girl’s group and beginner’s group (stages 19 and 20) but this time orallyby praising and encouraging them. Sometimes he interactsindividually with the learners (stages 9-14). Therefore he uses different ways of interacting with hispupils. In stage 17, where

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he ignores the learner from the beginner’s group and carries on walking around the room, he, may be, is giving time to himself to think of the activity he is going to allocate to this group and at the same time making sure that the other groups are working seriouslyso when he concentrates on the beginners group he will not need to worry about the others

7.2 Individual Attention

Talking about interactionleads us, to discuss theissue of individualattention. As illustrated indifferent stages, the Imampays attention to almost allthe learners when walkingaround the classroom. Healso has the mental abilityto concentrate on more thanone aspect at a time asillustrated in stages 12 and13. As mentioned before,this type of dyad is veryinteresting. This ability ofone person involved in twodyads such as checking onelearner recitation andtalking to another in orderto maintain discipline maybe found acceptable inAlgeria but not in Englandwhere such behavior isconsidered as disturbing and

impolite. The Imam can alsopay attention to the wholegroup and interact eitherverbally or non-verbally(stages 20 and 21). In stage26 he shows attention to thelearner. However, we noticethat the Imam gives moreattention to boys thangirls. When he walks aroundthe girls' group he does nothave verbal contact withthem. The only verbalindividual attention is seenin (stages 34 and 35) when agirl comes along with herbook to recite. From thecollected data, it can besaid that the Imam paysattention to the majority oflearners and this attentionis non-verbal most of thetime.

7.3. Classroom Noise

The noise is considered as part of the convention in the Qur’anic School. Therefore, it is very commonto find a class of 50 learners and sometimes more rehearsing aloud the same surat after the Imam or each learner rehearsing a different one at the same time. The latter, is the case of our study. The noisegoes up at the beginning of the session, and then gradually goes down but whenthe Imam walks around it

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goes up again. The tone of the voice could have significance to the Imam whomay think that when the volume falls then the learners have started to lose concentration. There isan assumption that the louder one is the quicker she/he memorises. From a personal experience as a Qur’anic school learner, theImam would get very upset ifthe volume was low. He wouldwalk around and shout at thelearners and remind them to keep awake and to keep practising aloud. On the other hand, teachers in western schools in Algeria complain that one of the major problems they can not cope with is the noise. Theyargue that it is almost impossible to deliver the lesson if there is noise. Therefore, teachers argue that even the choice of activities is restricted by this problem, for example some teachers claim that theuse of songs in teaching as an activity in a large classis difficult because the noise not only disturbs the teacher, but it disturbs theother classrooms as well. What is found to be interesting is the fact thatwhen the Imam goes to teach the beginners, the other groups do not seem to be bothered by the noise. They

turn round to see what is going on. Another example can be seen (stage 30), whenthe Imam goes and brings theyoung child and asks him to recite a “surat’’ to him. TheImam asks the child to speakup. He also puts his head near the child's mouth to hear what the child is saying. In other words, he does not stop the whole class for the sake of listening to one learner.

7.4. Different Learning Speeds

The Imam is responsible for the four groups of differentlevels. This ability to copewith the different age groups and level needs many skills. In addition, the learner has also the freedomof learning speed. This means that some learners spend more time memorising some surats than others. The teacher is bothered by neither the difference of levels nor the difference oflearning speed. He has the ability to retrieve any suratfrom the beginning or the end of the Qur’an, despite the similarities that exist between some surats. This is another skill as well. Unlike in western schools (as well in Algeria) where the teacher prepares his/her

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plan for one particular lesson and in a situation where the learner asks a question from another topic,it will probably be considered as "off the subject". The possible answer to this issue could be the fact that teachers inwestern school usually do most of the talking and are restricted by a particular curriculum that needs to be finished by the end of the year and also are restrictedby the administrative rules and regulations. This does not mean that the Quranic class has no programme to befollowed. In other words, the Imam has to follow the same pattern of surats in the Qur’an, he cannot change theorder of the surats, as they are arranged according to the length of the surat, starting from the shorter tothe longer and then to the more complicated surats.

7.5. Learner's Responsibility of Decision Making

In the Quranic schools,decision making aboutrecitation is the learners'responsibility. The Imamcannot force the learner torecite any "surat” until thelearner himself/herself iscompletely ready. Stage No 8

from the data illustratesthis point "A learner makesthe decision to recite tothe Imam. Reciting is anindividual decision whichenables learners either tomove to another "surat” or tocheck whether they havememorised the lesson. StageNo 12 also illustrates thepoint "Another learnerdecides to recite to theImam, bringing his book(Qur’an) with him.” Anotherexample, stage No 26 "alearner decides to recite".In most cases, it is thelearner who decides whetheror not to go and recite tothe Imam, but the Imam couldask from time to time to seeif anyone is ready torecite. From my point ofview, this freedom ofdecision making can help inreducing the problem oflearners who feelembarrassed addressing alarge group or beinginvolved in individualdiscussions. In other words,the nature of themethodology used in theQuranic schools obliges thestudents to have anindividual contact with theImam for differentactivities such as reciting,reading or writing. Inaddition, the learner in theQuranic School is obliged torehearse and practice this

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activity orally and in frontof the Imam. As mentioned, the learner'sfreedom of learning speed isalso interesting. This ideaabout the learning speedmight give the impressionthat due to the fact that itis an individual matter, thelearner is left to strugglealone and there is nothingthat motivates him/her.However, from my pastexperience as a Qur’anicschool learner, the issue ofspeed is used to involve thefactor of competition tomotivate us. In other words,the learner will work hardto memorise the "surats" inorder to show competence. Inaddition there is what wementioned above about theimportance of "khatma" (when alearner memorises the thirdof the Qur’an). Thecompetition is to achievethis level; where the Imam,peers and family willcelebrate this occasion.

7.6. Self-guided and Peers' Teaching

The Quranic school methodology relies a lot on self-guided and peers' studies. The beginner is first introduced to the Arabic Alphabet, as seen in stage No. 22 "He (the Imam)

writes the Arabic Alphabet on the board". Later, he reads the letters aloud to introduce the sound of each one. Then, immediately he gives the responsibility to a learner to teach his peers. This is illustrated in stage No 25 "He goes to the shelves and gets a long ruler to use it for pointingat letters. He uses the ruler to point at each letter and reads it aloud. After that, he gives the ruler to one learner and asks him to teach his peers.In other words, the learner is asked to teach his peers by reading aloud each letterand asking his peers to repeat after him". The learners from the beginners'group are given slates, pensand ink and are asked to look at the board and try toimitate by writing the Arabic Alphabet many times. They first start with the first few letters, which they are asked to repeat until the Imam approves it. This example explains also importance of habit formation through repetitionin learning which is used inthe Quranic School. Before the beginning of the class, we have seen the learner coming before the others in order to prepare the "surat” of the session. He had his

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slate and he was writing down from book the "surat”. This perhaps shows the degree of the learner's motivation, as it illustrates the idea of self-guidance brought up earlier. It may also show that learners at a certain level are allowed and may beencouraged to use their own initiatives. At an advanced level, the learner does not need to be supervised by theImam. He/she should know from the book which "surat" will follow the one he has completed.

7.7. Testing and Evaluation

Testing the learner's knowledge is a continuous process in Quranic Schools. After each "surat the learneris tested through recitation. In my opinion, this method keeps the learner’s memory active all the time as he/she has to practise daily memorising the "surats". This process makes the task of retrieval easier. The learner is not supposed to sit for exams like in western schools. In other words, the learner is not exposed to the psychological pressure of exams, stress and panic. As previously mentioned, in theAlgerian educational system

the student sits exams in order to move from one levelto another. The exams are set at national level; they are given a great importanceby learners and their environments. Due to the importance of these exams students usually complain that the learning atmospherein the class or at home is often very stressful. Therefore, it is quite common to find some studentswho collapse or fail the exam just because they couldnot bear this stress

7.8. The Learners' Movement

Winder and Kritzeck (1959: 283) argue that: "the methodis that of endless repetition. All the pupils read aloud in a singing tone, bending their bodies back and forth". The learners’ rocking backward and forward is another aspect noticed in our collected data. From the beginning of the session most of the learners start this movement that might have significance. It may help the learner to keep awake and concentrate on what he/she is reading. Thismovement is not something new but it is part of the Quranic schools conventions.

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We have asked few post graduate students, who were Quranic school learners in the past from different Arab-speaking countries suchas Libya, Egypt, Morocco andPalestine whether this rocking backward and forwards of the students' bodies exists. They all agree that it exists. However, no one has managed to give a precise purpose tothis issue. Most of their answers are about the learners' concentration. This rocking forward and backward of bodies while reading is also seen in the Jewish religion.

8. The Implications of the Quranic School Analysis for Large Class Teaching

8.1. Implications

Based on what has been discussed, the next section will deal with the implications and suggestionsfor implementation in the teaching of English in largeclasses in general and in Algeria in particular. As seen above, Coleman (1990) summarises the problems of large classes in five different elements: discomfort, control, evaluation, individual

attention and learning.

First, it was previously mentioned that in western large classes, teachers feeluncomfortable addressing a large number of students. However, we have seen that the Imam in the Qur’anic School does not seem to be bothered by this issue. The reason behind this lies in the difference of approachesadopted by the two teachers.The teacher in the present (western) school starts withthe idea that he is the one who should do the talking and he assumes that learnersexpect him to do that. Whereas, the Qur’anic Schoolteacher knows that he is notthe one who does all the talking. This does not mean that he does not talk at all, but comparing with the western school teacher he does less talking. The spoken language illustrated in our data description is used for example for correcting errors, guiding sometimes for keeping discipline and for reading aloud in order to be repeated by learners. Coleman (1990) looks at the problem of discomfort from the teachers' point of view,what about the students' side? Do they feel comfortable participating in

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discussion or in asking questions or clarifications in the large class? We mentioned the learner in theQuranic school is expected to stand up in front of the Imam (in the, middle of the classroom) and recite. By doing this a few times the degree of discomfort reducesand this activity becomes part of the other conventions of learning. Coleman (1990) suggests dividing the class into groups or peers. This idea is reinforced in the QuranicSchool. As illustrated, the class is divided into four groups, starting from the beginners group where young boys and girls are sat together, the boys group using the "slates"; which wecalled the "slates group", then another boys group using the books of the Qur’an at a higher level called "the books group". Finally there is the "girls'group".

Dividing the class intogroups can have aninfluence, as all members ofeach group share the sameactivity and the samepurpose. This could be amotivating factor leading tocompetition betweenstudents. We have also seen

that students of each groupdo not seem interested inwhat the other students fromother groups are doing. Onthe other hand, in theAlgerian western schools,classrooms are divided inrows where the shorteststudents sit at the frontand the tallest ones at theback of the class in orderto enable all students tosee the blackboard (at thefront). Most of theactivities are written onthe board and students aresupposed to copy down inorder to ensure that wordsare copied correctly. Froma personal point of view,using the board for thewhole session is timeconsuming as the teacher issupposed to write theactivity then gives thestudents time to copy itdown. Sometimes teachers areobliged to come before thesession to save time bywriting the activity on theboard, but this is notusually possible because therooms are usually used allthe time. The teacher mightneed to divide the classroomcarefully bearing in mindother factors such as thecultural background of thecountry. From my personalexperience in teachingEnglish as a ForeignLanguage, mixing groups of

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different sexes was verydifficult as girls wouldfeel embarrassed workingwith boys (this might notthe case in Europeanschools). In addition, boyswould rely on girls to dothe activities as girls didbetter than boys in English.

Coleman (1990) argues that more responsibility should be given to learners. This reduces the teachers' feeling that they need to beresponsible for everything and need to know everything.In the Quranic School, the student is responsible for the learning speed. I.e. he/she is the only person todecide about the speed of memorisation in order to move to other "surat", this could lead to competition between learners. The learner’s responsibility fordecision making about recitation also backs up Coleman’s (1990) suggestion about the learners' responsibilities. In addition, the method of self-guided learning and peers teaching suggests thatstudents can be trained to rely on themselves to find and to develop their own methods of learning. Peers teaching can also be an interesting method that can be applied in an EFL

classroom, especially at beginner’s stage. The teacher may write down a word or a sentence on the board, read it aloud and then ask learners to repeat and later ask one learner toteach his/her peers. This method was used by the Imam in the Qur’anic School.

An increase in the number ofstudents involves an increase in the teacher’s workload. For example, correcting a large number ofassignments is not an easy task, it is tie and effort consuming for the teacher. In addition, the teacher hasto prepare the lesson for different levels of different age groups in the classroom. Coleman (1990) suggests that teachers in order to reduce the correction of learners ' work can ask them to evaluate their own or peers'work. From our data, we see that evaluation is done by the Imam orally there and then. In other words, he does not need to take written work for correction.In addition, we notice that only a few are evaluated by the Imam when they recite. In fact, the largest number is the learners who did not get the Imam's evaluation but presumably they will be

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evaluated in later lessons. Again this illustrates what Coleman (1990) argues "we may decide that not everything which is producedactually needs to be evaluated." We have also seen in our analysis of the Quranic school that there are in the classroom different age groups and different learning levels. The Imam does not seem to bebothered by these differences, which perhaps is due to the nature of the tradition of teaching. By tradition of teaching, we mean the fact that the teacher does not do most of the talking unlike most teachers of English in largeclasses in Algeria and in other countries.

Individual attention is alsoamong the problems claimed by Coleman (1990). The Imam, as we said uses different kinds of individual attention such asverbal and non-verbal. It was also pointed out that hepaid attention to the majority of the class, and he gave attention to two students at a time as seen in (No 14). "The Imam points out to another leanerand asks him to look at his slate while still listening to the learner reciting".

So, the (problem of individual attention might be solved by using differenttypes of attention (verbal and non-verbal).

7. 2.The Disadvantages of the Qur’anic Schools

We have discussed the advantages of the Qur’anic Schools as a non-western large class. We also mentioned that some ideas from the Qur’anic Schools might be transferred in language teaching in our modern school (Western schools). However, one should ask this question: isthe Qur’anic class a perfectlearning environment? And does the Qur’anic School offer solutions to all largeclass problems? I personally think it is too naïve to claim that. However, one might adopt an approach, transfer an idea or use a methodology that isused in the Qur’anic School.

As mentioned, the Qur’anic School’s teaching methodology relies on memorisation. The child, from an early age starts memorising the different Surats of the Qur’an without really understanding their meanings. The understanding of the contents starts at a

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later stage. The learner's ability to arrange materialsin the memory in order to retrieve the Surats instantlydoes not also guarantee thatthe learner is aware of the content itself. The listening skill is a disadvantage of the Qur’anicSchool. In other words, all the learners are reciting aloud at the same time and there is no room for listening. As seen, the onlytime the Imam listens carefully is when the learner starts reciting the Surats.

In addition, the student is not given the opportunity tocomment or ask for explanation. The Imam is theonly person who has the power of comment. It is culturally not accepted to interrupt the Imam during the lesson and ask for comments or begin a discussion with him. Furthermore, there is lack of coordination between Qur’anic School and the western one. In other words,what the learner studies at the Qur’anic school, is not necessarily reinforced in the western school (in the case of Algeria “state Schools”). Finally the factthat the learners at the ageof 10-12 stop going to the

Qur’anic School is also another disadvantage. Children cannot attend the Qur’anic School at a certainage, which means that there is a risk of forgetting whathas been learned.

8. Recommendations

From our findings from the analysis of the Qur’anic class, we suggest some recommendations. First, teachers should reconsider whether they need to have somuch responsibility and whether they can try to share it with the students. Training students to be involved in the process of learning will help them in developing their own strategies and methodologiesof learning. Second, teaching students how to "feed” themselves rather than waiting to be “fed” is also another suggestion which we think teachers could consider. In doing so, the teacher should show students where and how to get information, starting for example, from showing them how to use dictionaries. Third, in order to avoid the feeling of discomfort the teachers can think of the possibilityof dividing the class into groups bearing certain

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issues in mind. Fourth, dividing the class into groups facilitates the issueof individual attention. In other words, the teacher will be moving from one group to another in order toguide the students. Fifth although the teacher cannot escape the administrative stress of tests and exams, he or she can reduce this stress by testing the students from time to time and giving additional marks on these tests in order to keep the continuity of instrumentally motivated students. Sixth, the Qur’anic school can for example, provides a higher stage that deals with the explanation of the Qur’an for the advanced level instead of stopping them at a certain age. Finally, we recommend that the Algerian government gives more importance and encourages anincrease in the number of Qur’anic Schools and tries to make them more effective.

9. Conclusion

To conclude, teaching in a large class could be successful if the teacher admits its existence and tries to adopt different teaching methodologies. We have seen that the Qur’anic

School as a large non western class that existed and still exists in different countries of the Islamic world. It has its own teaching methodologies which we argued could be implemented in a language classroom. In other words, ideas such as giving the learner some responsibilities, dividing the classroom into groups and introducing peer corrections are to be considered by teachers. We have also seen that individual attention is not a problem for the Imam in the Qur’anic School as he uses different kinds of attentions: verbal and non-verbal (such as nodding the head). Finally, from theclassroom observation of theQuranic School, one notices that it has some approaches and methodologies that couldbe used as solutions to the problems of managing large classes.

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Annexe 1

Sequential events taking place during a Qur’anic School session:

No1- The children come in and sit according to their stage of learning. The Imam closes the door in order to avoid distraction and to officially start the session.No 2- Imam greets the children with ‘’Salamu Alaykum” (commonly used religious greeting meaning peace be upon you).No 3- Children start rehearsing (may be with previous knowledge of the lesson they are going to study for this session). They are all rehearsing different Surat at the same time.No 4- Imam walks round the room to see how different groups are doing.No 5- Nearly all children are moving their bodies (rocking backwards and forwards) while rehearsing aloud.No 6- The beginners' group at the back area is not rehearsing. They are waitingfor the Imam to give them an activity.No 7- A learner makes the decision to recite to the Imam. Reciting is an

individual decision to either move to another "surator to check whether the learner has memorisedthe lesson. He brings his slate to the Immam and then recites.No 8- Imam interacts by nodding his head as a way ofaccepting his answers andencouraging him to carry on reciting.No 9- Imam corrects the learner twice.No 10- Imam asks the learnerto sit down after praising him He does not rehearse after completing his reciting. He could be waiting for the Imam to designate an activity for him.No 11- Another learner decides to recite to the Imam, bringing his book (Qur’an) with him; meanwhilea young child comes in.No 12- Imam asks the young child to take a seat while he is listening to the learner reciting. He nods toencourage the learner reciting and at the same time shouts at another learner and asks him to be quiet.No 13- Imam points to another learner and asks himto look at his slate (still while listening to the learner reciting)No 14- Imam corrects from

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time to time the learner's mistakes. He then praises him.No 15- Imam now moves aroundwhile the rest of the learners are rehearsing aloud. He nods his head, touches learners’ heads or shoulders and points at a child using gestures to say look at your slate and concentrateNo 16- A child from the beginner's group asks for attention. He asks the Imam to allocate some work to him.No 17- Imam ignores him and carries on walking around the room.No 18- Imam goes to a child and tells him to concentrate.No 19- Imam moves round, goes to the girls' group andlooks after them.No 20- He now moves to the beginners group to give theman activity.No 21- He writes the Arabic alphabet on the board.No 22- A learner from the beginners and others from the slates group interrupts him from time to time to askhim questions.No 23- Imam carries on writing the Arabic alphabet on the board.No 24- He goes to the shelves and gets a long ruler to use it or pointing

at letters. He uses the ruler to point at each letter and reads it aloud. After he has finished reading the letters, he gives the ruler to one learner and asks him to imitate him. That is to say the learner is asked to teach his peers by reading each letter aloud and askinghis peers to repeat after him.No 25- Another learner from the books group decides to recite.No 26- Imam goes back to hisseat. He listens without correcting. He praises the learner and asks him to takehis slate outside the room and erase it with mud and water. (It would be appropriate to mention that at the end of each lesson, after listening to the learner's reciting, if the Imam accepts his reciting and finds no major corrections, he then asks the learner to erase his/herslate. This is done by usinga bit of mud on the slate and rinsing it with some water).No 27- The same child (the one who erased his slate) comes back to the room and sits down and is ready to write down a new suratNo 28- Imam takes the learner's slate, draws lines

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on it and gives it to the learner to write a new "surat" under the Imam’s supervision. He dictates andthe learner writes down.No 29- A child from the beginners group comes along with his slate to the Imam and shows him his writing. The Imam praises the child and asks him to repeat the same procedure. No 30- Imam goes to the beginner's group and brings a very young child to his seat and asks him to recite one "surat".No 31- A girl comes in late and is told off by the Imam who warns her not to do thisagain.No 32- Imam asks the whole class: ‘’who wants to recite’’?No 33- Some girls and few boys raise their handsNo 34- A girl comes along with her book to reciteNo 35- Imam corrects her from time to time and finally praises her.No 36- Imam declares the endof the session.No 37- Imam emphasises to the girl who came late the timing for tomorrow's session Children put their material back in the habitual place for tomorrow.

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