Homework Effort in Grades 5-9

Trautwein, Ulrich, Oliver Lüdtke, and Claudia Kastens. "Effort on Homework in Grades 5-9: Development, Motivational Antecedents, and the Association with Effort on Classwork." Child Development 77 (2006): 1094-1111. EBSCO.

The article “Effort on Homework in Grades 5-9: Development, Motivational Antecedents, and the Association with Effort on Classwork” discusses not only the authors current research on the subject but also previous research and beliefs. The article states previous homework research focused almost exclusively on time spent on homework rather than the actual active time the student spent on the homework. The authors are collectively concerned with the fact that previous homework research has been centered on time spent on homework rather than the amount of effort students put into their homework. The article goes on to explain the patterns of homework behavior as a theoretical framework among students. This section evaluates the expectancy-value theory, or the expectancies of success defined by individuals’ beliefs about how well they will perform on a given task. The next issue addressed in the article is the association between effort on homework and the effort on classwork. To better evaluate the expectancy-value theory and the correlation between homework and classwork effort two studies were conducted. In the first study 2,712 students form 11 schools in a large German city across grades 5, 7, and 9 for differences in children’s homework behavior and motivational antecedents. The authors used a large sample of students to study age-related differences in homework behavior, and to gauge the power of homework expectancy, homework value, and conscientiousness to predict homework behavior. Math was selected as the core subject to use in the study due to the fact that most students claim to believe math will be vital in their future. To determine homework effort a 4-point Likert-type scale was used and internal consistency was satisfactory. To determine expectancy and value components established German inventories were used. Expectancy of success in math was measured by a math self-concept of ability scale and a five item scale was used to assess the intrinsic value of mathematics and both have proved to have significant predictability in achievement gains and academic choices like course selection. Conscientiousness was assessed through a questionnaire with seven useful questions that provided satisfactory results for the study. The results to this study supported the hypothesis that homework effort and the expectancy and value components of motivation will be lower in older students than in younger students. Homework effort was highest in grade 5 and lowest in grade 9. However the pattern of reported homework time increased significantly between grades 5 and 7, but not between grades 7 and 9. The second hypothesis stating that expectancy, intrinsic value, and conscientiousness will positively predict homework effort. To test this hypothesis the authors specified a multigroup model with homework effort as the dependent variable and expectancy, intrinsic interest, conscientiousness and student gender as the predictor variables. Homework effort was significantly predicted by the expectancy component in grades 5 and 7, but not in grade 9. The results supported the hypothesis that a decrease in the motivational antecedents of homework coupled with and increase in conflicting motivations, outside of school, are likely to have a negative impact on homework effort. The second study applies the same framework as that of study one, but goes beyond in two respects. First the homework framework was extended that besides expectancy, value, and conscientiousness; characteristics of homework assignments, stable person characteristics and characteristics of the home environment were also considered. Second, similarities and differences in the prediction of students’ homework and classwork behaviors were also examined. A total of 571 students from grades 8 and 9 participated in the study from 10 schools in or around a major German city. The study consisted of and assessment of basic cognitive abilities and a questionnaire section. Most of the questionnaire items were adapted from previous studies. This study also has a focus in mathematics. Homework/classwork effort was assessed by survey questions concerning investment and concentration. Homework/classwork motivation was evaluated by items evaluating expectancy components and value components. Homework/classwork characteristics were described by two scales which describe the teachers’ approach to homework and class work and the teachers’ adaptability to differences in student achievement was also evaluated. Parental interest in school was the last section of the survey to determine parent involvement with the students’ learning. The Cognitive Ability Test 4-12+R was used to determine basic cognitive abilities and the German version of the NEO Five Factor Inventory was used to evaluate conscientiousness. The results of this study as suspected the motivation to complete homework and the motivation to complete classwork overlap. It was found that students low on conscientiousness reported putting less effort into their homework than the amount of effort applied to classwork. Findings also show that parental behavior can be both supportive and interfering. Another factor in this is that the teacher can motivate and control classwork much more closely than homework. This study’s result basically comes down to school environment verses home environment. This study seems to have been very effective in conveying correct information. It is stated that the student responses on the surveys showed correct correlation to their actual performance on both homework and classwork. Surveys are not always the best way to get accurate information, but in this particular study the results seem to show that these survey answers are very accurate. The study has a large number of students participating in the study, but still does not cover all groups of students. The study has only been conducted in Germany excluding any other countries. The findings may be very different if the study were conducted in a different country due to cultural differences. Also the study was only conducted in large city school. There is no evidence to support the results in a rural school setting. While the article title says that it is a study on grades 5-9 there were no student in the 6th grade that ever participated. There is no research at all in this study on the effects of homework effort and classwork effort trends for students in the 6th grade. The study did include both genders to represent both male and female outcomes in homework/classwork efforts. However the group was not very ethnically diverse. Most of the participants (95%) were Caucasian, not allowing for many strong results for any other ethnic group of students. The study does however cover a fairly large range of ages to show adequate results. These findings cannot be generalized to all. They are pretty generalizable to German student attending intercity schools, but that is really the only group that this particular study is generalizable to. The measures used in this study seem to be pretty soundly supported. Most of the questionnaire items were taken from previously studies. However it does not state whether or not the previous studies that the items were taken form were successful or not. The test that were given to determine basic cognitive abilities and conscientiousness were approved and successful tests that produce correct findings in most cases. The authors’ conclusions are very sound. Many graphs and tables are presented throughout the article to demonstrate the results in not only a summarized form but also in numerical values for the reader. The data shown in these does support and match what the authors’ claim in the results section of both studies. Since this is the first study to evaluate effort applied rather than just time applied to homework and classwork there is much left to be evaluated. This research has many strengths, such as its strong theoretical framework, which can be used for future research. More research need to be conducted to evaluated cultural diversity among students. Future research also needs to cover further age groups. More research is needed to show the relationship between homework efforts verses classwork efforts as the student become even older and could progress in college age groups. Also this study could be used to conduct the same type of studies among younger students to see if the results are the same among all age groups. This study only focuses on math leaving the other core content areas in question. Future research could use this study as a guideline to conduct studies of this same type among a number of different subject areas. Before generalizing across different school subjects, however, more research is needed. The researchers would need to know the way students feel about the vitality of the subject to their futures as the authors knew math was viewed as a vital subject in the students’ mind for success in life later on. The present study was restricted to a limited number of variables. For example, the authors’ concentrated on the facets of intrinsic value in Study 1 and utility and cost in Study 2. The use of different value components in the two studies can be considered both a strength and a weakness of our research. Despite the different variables used, the value component had considerable predictive power for effort in both studies. On the other hand, the use of different constructs reduces the comparability of the results from the two studies. This study just barely touches on the issues of teacher and parental involvement in homework. Much more research can be conducted to determine more in depth the affects of both of these factors. Additional information needs to be gathered from both teachers on students likelihood to complete both homework and classwork and parents on how often their child brings home homework, how long they work on it before becoming distracted, and how well they seem to accomplish the task. Information needs to be taken from more than just the students on their homework/classwork habits, because we may find differentiating answers when others involved are questioned extensively as well. This study gives researchers a very solid stepping stone to build on in the future. Although the studies leave many things to question it is a stable beginning considering no other research has been presented previously on effort applied by student to their homework and classwork. This study opens the door for a lot of further research concerning students’ efforts, but this research does give us vital information that has never before been presented that will be very beneficial to other researchers.