| After many decades' of discussion and experimentations in China, student-centered with learning-focused teaching methodology has already been accepted as the most important praxis to produce communicative facility in English as the Foreign Language (EFL) education. This paragon is essential to Teaching EFL (TEFL) as well as to EFL acquisition, which is crucial in the many phases of Chinese primary, secondary and tertiary education. This thesis concentrates on one burgeoning problem existing in EFL classes: when the class size becomes larger and larger, how to find appropriate coping methods accordingly?The higher education in China has been experiencing an unprecedently large enrollment since 1998. Statistics show that almost every Chinese university and college has greatly increased the number of undergraduates, and along with it comes a great challenge to both of the teachers' capacities and those of the institutions. The author herein gets deeply involved in this developmental stage naturally has attached her full attention to this challenge in her thesis development and composition. This thesis firstly analyzes the historical reasons why EFL education has become so popular and important in foreign language education in Chinese higher education. Then from the economical and social perspective, it furthers on to explain the process how large EFL classes were formed within just several years and their current problematic situation which demands for urgent innovation and improvement. This redesigning of large EFL classes is a huge project concerning many aspects involved such as students, teachers, administrators, schools and Ministry of Education. Thereupon, this thesis focuses on a survey of theories and experiments so as to construct a frame of problem solving spectrum applicable to large EFL classes.Based on resources of the author's personal experiments and related research, this thesis tries to explore the solution to the three categories of large class related problems, which epitomize the difficulties of methodology, management and affective interaction between teachers and students. Although many teachers, educators, and English departments are contemplating redesigning to accommodate the embarrassing situation, not every school is fully prepared practically for the radical change which will involve almost every relevant social entity to cooperate effectively for the modification.Since the role of teachers is greatly changed in the large class situation, the students are central in the classroom instead of the authoritative teachers. (Glaserfeld, 1974) This redirection of focus is, as constructivism proposes that a constructivist learning environment should be, posing another challenge for both teachers andstudents involved in large classes. Constructive teaching and learning theory, strengthened by the globalization of information, provides an optimal approach and solution to the dilemma of large EFL classes.Actually, large classes can be a blessing in disguise because more innovative ideas can be substantialized. Obstacles may be changed into opportunities for both the teachers and the students. This thesis, in the further chapter, schematizes a number of student-centered and learning focused techniques and strategies, which were used successfully in large EFL classes both here and abroad. Even without the help of advanced technology, the students in those large classes were still effectively challenged and highly motivated, as in small classes, to construct their own knowledge systems in English.In addition, with the application of technology, especially computer-centered multimedia-technology, large EFL class can be richly presented, more vivid, interesting and effective. In this way, not only the quantity but also the quality of learning in large EFL class may be augmented. Moreover, the scope of large classes may also be enlarged from mere face-to-face encounters into invisible classes with group dynamics at an Internet distance. The key point in technology aided large classes...
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