An exploratory study of students’ perceptions of homework at a hanoi high school

Besides, the research indicated that there were not any observable differences in students’ perceptions towards homework in their attitudes, time spent, forms of homework, and their pref

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***********************

TRẦN NHƯ QUỲNH

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

OF HOMEWORK AT A HANOI HIGH SCHOOL (Khám phá nhận thức của học sinh trong việc làm bài tập về nhà ở một

trường trung học phổ thông tại Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

HANOI – 2021

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***********************

TRẦN NHƯ QUỲNH

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF

HOMEWORK AT A HANOI HIGH SCHOOL (Khám phá nhận thức của học sinh trong việc làm bài tập về nhà ở một trường

trung học phổ thông tại Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Dr Vũ Thị Thanh Nhã

HANOI - 2021

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Vu Thi Thanh Nha, who willingly devoted her time to offering me professional guidance and practical comments on my research If it had not been for her detailly valuable critical comments and suggesstions, this study would not have been fulfilled Secondly, my deepest gratitude is extended to my parents as well as friends because

of their support and encouragement throughout my thesis Without them, I may have given up in the middle of doing research Thirdly, I would love to give my sincere aprreciation to The ULIS Post-Graduate Department who creates learning conditions for us to pursue higher education and always willing to be of help if needed Last but not least, this research could not have been conducted had it not been for the cooperation of a Hanoi high school’s students during the process of data collection Because of all of their support, therefore I finally have done the research and felt deeply grateful in my heart

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out in the hope of exploring students’ perceptions of homework In order to seek answers to the big question, a set of questionnaires for 70 respondents were utilized to collect the data The survey consisted of 50 items which were used to gauge students’ perceptions of homework After collecting and analyzing the questionnaire based on SPSS (M and SD are mainly used), the survey ended with three questions in which students were in turn interviewed to give a long and accurate answers about their opinions of components

of a good English homework, influences of homework completion on their academic performance, and skills learnt from homework fulfillment

The findings of this study revealed that the majority of high school students had positive perceptions of homework Although they sometimes felt hatred to homework completion on account of its difficulties and its vast quantity, they still believed homework played an integral part in their accademic performance and formed indispensable study skills Thanks to doing homework on a daily basis, students progressively improved their academic performance and step-by-step shaped their study habit Students also reported that they learnt responsibility, self-regulation, time-management and other skills from the regularities of homework on going Besides, the research indicated that there were not any observable differences

in students’ perceptions towards homework in their attitudes, time spent, forms of homework, and their preferred ways to do homework They mostly reached an agreement that homework should not be too easy as it would make them feel bored

or gruelling to complete it Homework needed to be appropriate to their level Besides, it was all agreed that homework should be completed in approximately no more than two hours; otherwise, it would become stressful and annoying In particular, were homework to be done less than one hour due to its uncomplicatedness, students would feel bored and demotivated But if homework which was too challenging and required more than three hours to be finished, they soon would suffer from fatigue and hostility Furthermore, they all admited that

“Practice knowledge learnt in the class”, “Prepare new lessons”, “Do extended assignment which is related to knowledge learnt in the class and some advanced adds-on” are their favorable well-qualified homework although some spontaneously suggests “make video”, “role play” ,“do on the internet” and “pure exercise, no theory” which excited their learning In short, home academic tasks should be carefully designed in terms of level, variety, authenticity and enjoyment in order to give students a stimulus to get them done Other factors such as parents, friends, peers and other environmental elements should be taken into consideration in students homework completion

It is hoped that this study will bring out students’ perceptions of English homework, therefore in turn can shed some light and provide guidelines for Vietnamese teachers and Vietnamese Education Ministry in planning it as a tool to assist student learning

TABLE OF CONTENT

Page

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Objectives of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Organization of the thesis 4

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Homework 5

2.1.1 History of homework 5

2.1.2 View of homework and working definition 6

2.2 Cooper’s theory: homework’s merits and demerits 7

2.3 Trautwein’s theory 11

The frequency and length of homework 12

The type of homework 12

Roles of parents 13

Roles of peers 14

Roles of teacher 14

Expectancy and value component 15

Environment and concentration 15

Extra-curricular activities 15

2.4 Previous studies 16

2.5 Summary 18

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 21

3.1 Research questions 21

3.2 Research method: Survey 21

3.2.1 Introduction 21

3.2.2 Types of survey research: Exploratory survey 22

3.2.3 Survey research designs: Cross-sectional design 23

3.2.4 Steps in carrying out a survey: 7 steps 24

3.2.5 Sampling: PURPOSIVE 27

3.2.6 Pilot study 28

3.2.7 The outcomes of the pilot study 28

3.2.8 Summary 31

3.3 Setting of the study 31

3.4 Participants 32

3.5 Data collection instruments: Questionnaire & Interview 33

3.5.1 Questionnaire 33

3.5.2 Interview 33

3.6 Data collection procedure 35

3.7 Data analytical framework 36

3.8 Data analysis procedure 36

3.9 Summary 37

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 38

4.1 Introduction 38

4.2 Findings.……… ……… 38

4.2.1 Questionaire data analysis 38

4.2.2 Interview data analysis 45

4.3.Discusion ……… 48

4.3.1 Research question 1: What are high school sudents’ perceptions of English homework? 48

4.3.2 Research question 2: What factors will influence their homework completion practices? 49

4.3.3 Research question 3: What homework benefits do students perceive of? 53

4.4 Other findings 54

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 55

5.1 Summary 55

5.2 Implications 58

5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 59

REFERENCE 60 APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 II APPENDIX 3 IX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESL: English as a second language

SD: Standard deviations

SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Science

GPA: Grade Point Average

SILL: Strategy Inventory for Language Learning

LIST OF TABLE

Table 2 Indicates students’ day(s) spent on homework per week

Table 3 Points out students’ hour(s) spent on homework per week

Table 4 Shows students’ rate about the quality of homework (students can

choose more than one option)

Table 5 Describes students’ rate about their favorable style of doing homework

(students can choose more than one option)

Table 6 Illustrates students’ rate about roles of teachers when they do homework Table 7 Demonstrate students’ rate about roles of peers when they do homework Table 8 Show students’ rate about roles of parents when they do homework Table 9 Presents environment having influences on students’ performance when

they are doing homework

Table 10 Clarifies students’ expectancy and value component of doing homework Table 11 Describes other factors during the process of doing homework

Table 12 Shows students’ rate about their skill’s preference (based on four basic

skills)

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

The research consists of three parts: Part A mentions the introduction of the research in which there are seven sub-sections are shown namely rationales, objectives, rearch questions, method, significance and organization of the study Then part B entails the development of the research including three chapters: linterature review, methodology, data analysis, finding and discussion Last but not least, part C is going to mention summary, implications, and suggestions for further studies

1.1 Rationale

Recently, a Vietnamese local newspaper has reported that many students described homework as a boring challenging obsession that they were sometimes afraid of going to school (To, 2016) Moreover, there was some cases whereby parents complained to the school administration about teachers not giving enough homework to their children so that they spent a great amount of time doing trivial matters; while some were not happy as their children were forced to do a sufficient amount of homework which led to depression and sufferings (Le, 2020) Another study highlights that homework was the major cause of misunderstanding and conflicts among relevant parties (Cooper,1991) Although homework was a part of school curriculum or any educational institution’s, issues revolving around it were often voiced out by teachers, parents, administration and students

However, from my teaching experience, I do believe that homework plays an important role in students’ academic achievement as well as their autonomous learning Therefore, I did a great deal of research whether what I was thinking was right or not From what I found out, most all agreed the importance of homework in enhancing students’ accademic achievements and their self-regulatory learning (Cooper, 2007; Bembebutty, 2011; Dettmers, Trautwein, Ludtke, Goetz, Frenzel & Pekrun, 2011)

A study carried out by Yazzie-Mints (2006) polled over 810 students about their overall perception of their high-school assignments The researcher reported

that only seven percent of participants felt homework to be ‘Not at All’ important

while 68 percent felt it was either ‘Somewhat Important’ or ‘Very Important’

Another online survey conducted by MetLife (2007) showed that more than

2000 students graded 3 through 12 asked whether homework helped them learn more and its overall importance The poll uncovered that the majority (77% students and 80% educators and parents) admitted the significance of homework However, when asked whether doing homework helped them learn in more school or not, the number reduced to 69%’ students’ consent The study also found that 75% of students polled felt they had enough time to do all of the at-home assignment while the figure almost getting their homework completed made up 69%

The intent of homework was to provide students with an opportunity to practice the concepts that they learnt in class Thus, if done regularly and with effort, the completion of homework should lead students to be well-performed and a sense

of responsibility and self-regulation (Trautwein, 2006)

Likewise, it is my assumption that homework is an appropriate means of reinforcing ideas what students have already learnt in class as well as form necessay soft skills needed not only for their academic achievement but also for their future career However, what I was wondering is why my high school students seemed unlikely and unwilling to complete all of it Despite using some types of incentives

to get students to complete homework, like a bonus in score or a little reward, it is still a battle to get some students to complete the assignments

There has been a limitation in the number of studies on high school students’ perception of homework in Vietnam since most of the articles and books I have read only focus on primary young age For example, the publication by Tran Tri Dung (2016) mentioned how to give primary students a good amount of homework so as to facilitate their learning Another study by Bao Tran (2020) pointed out the paradox of giving homework for primary students as it, on the one hand, enhances students’ learing and critical thinking while on the other hand, deprives of their playtime and childhood However, there have not been any studies

which were conducted to discover and clarify students’ perceptions of homework in high school With high interest in this area, I decided to do a research with the hope

of finding out “What are high-school students’ perceptions of English homework?”,

“What internal and external factors will influence students’ homework completion practices?” and “What homework benefits do students perceive of”

1.2 Objectives of the study

The objective of the study is to explore high school students’ perceptions of homework according to internal factors such as students’ attitudes toward homework, their time spent on it, their favorite type of homework, the way they prefer to do it or other external elements such as teachers – parents – friends or the

environment when they are doing homework

1.3 Research questions

To serve the above-mentioned objectives, the following questions will be dealt with:

1 What are high-school students’ perceptions of English homework?

2 What factors will influence students’ homework completion practices?

3 What homework benefits do students perceive of?

1.4 Methods of the study

The participants for this study were 70 students at a Hanoi high school A descriptive survey was conducted to achieve the objectives of the present research Data were collected through the analysis of the questionnaire, and student interviews Then, they were compared, analyzed and synthesized both qualitatively and quantitatively

1.5 Scope of the study

The current study was carried out with 70 students who I taught for the first semester in the year 2020-2021 at a Hanoi high school This allowed me to collect data in an easy and convenient way

1.6 Significance of the study

This study should be of potential interest to relevant parties such as parents, teachers, students, and school administrator Through this study, a tri-set of parents-teachers- school administrator could understand student’ expectations about homework so that they can propse a good plan and policy to adapt student’s needs

If the situation improves, students will be more encouraged to fully grasp the importance of homework fulfillment which subsequently triggers their responsibility and self-regulation, two essential skills for subsequent academic performance and future life success

1.7 Organization of the thesis

The study is divided into three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part A is the Introduction which provides information about the rationale, purpose, research questions, methods, scope, significance and organization of the study

Part B is the Development which is sub-divided into three chapters

Chapter 1, Literature review, discusses the theoretical background in the light of

which the research matters

Chapter 2, Methodology of the research, describes the nuclear method used to

investigate the research issues

Chapter 3, Data analysis, analyzes data thanks to survey’s respondents

Chapter 4, Findings and discussions, shows the results of the study and provides

answers to the research questions

Part C is the Conclusion which summarizes the overall study and proposes some implications as well as suggests for other related studies

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter centers around the theoretical background of the study It begins with the history of homework, the misconception and its reality Then, some brief discussions on how previous scholars define homework and its working functions Next, the study will present some advantages and disadvantages of homework proposed by Cooper (1989) and a model of homework favored by Trautwein (2006) including eight factors namely the frequency and length of homework, the quality of homework, roles of parents, roles of peers, roles of teachers, expectancy and value component, environment and concentration, and extracurricular activities that have influences students’ opinions of homework, which I make an use of to lay the groundwork for designing questionaire to answer my three big abovementioned research questions Besides, during the process of digging up related-to-homework information, the study will present some previous studies and its limitations in support of my thesis’s construct and validity

2.1 Homework

2.1.1 History of homework

There has been a long and varied history of homework, especially in the twentieth century In the 1940s, homework fell out of favor and was replaced with the newly concept of problem solving, which meant using one’s intuition instead of rote-learning or facts’ memorization With the launch of Sputnik by Russia in the late 1950s, most of the educational institutions feared that students would be ill-prepared for the rigor of incoming technological advancement ahead (Cooper, 2001), the revival of homework was reconstructed to allow students to rush to learn

at a quicker pace outside of school day However, in the 1960s, many scholars claimed homework placed too much pressure on students and they questioned its benefits (Cooper et al.,1998), which gave rise in homework reverse The 1980s again led to another change in attitudes towards homework The world witnessed the rise of mediocrity and identified homework as a defense against it (Cooper, 2001) Since then, homework became a staple in the classroom and its amount

gradually increased In the 1990s and earlier twenty centuries, some professionals were again concerned about that students were given a great deal of homework but its popularity still remained in school (Cooper, 2001) He continues to say that homework has been seen as a positively way to work and strengthen the brain’s nerves and muscles while at home (Cooper et al., 1998)

Through the history of homework, it can be seen that homework still remains its importance and signficance in students’ learning and later their future career through decades Therefore, views of homework and its working defintions will be discussed next to give a thorough understand of how homework functions in students’ learning

2.1.2 View of homework and working definition

While the definition of homework does not change, there are different connotations of it

According to Cooper (1989), homework was referred as “tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are meant to be carried out during non-school hours” He pointed out a number of its merits such as improvement in factual knowledge, concept understanding, learning attitudes, study skills, self-discipline and problem solving He, in research finding, drew a conclusion that homework improved academic achievement for high school students It developed study habits and made learners autonomous in language learning

Olympia et al (1994) refered homework as “academic work assigned in school that is designed to extend the practice of academic skills into other environments during non-school hours” From getting to the bottom of homework

on a daily basis, children were entwined with necessary skills such as organization, categorization and self-discipline to serve future success

Corno (1996) said that "homework is generally defined as schoolwork brought home” with variedly different form such as workbook, worksheet or essay depending on the subject He also claimed that its purpose was either reminded

students what they learnt or prompted them to consolidate and organize their materials in their own word Besides, homework helped students to prepare for larger units of work or to sprung up many ideas discussed in class Some assigned was believed to foster self-discipline and personal responsibility

Warton (2001) found that older students were likelier to adopt self-study approach than younger students in the interview of study of second, fourth and six graders Second and fourth graders were compelled to get homework accomplished

to avoid getting into trouble with their parents and teachers while six graders knew that it was their own responsibility to get homework done before going to the class

They also understood that their homework should be completed on their own as no one would bother reminding them to accomplish it in high school (Warton, 2001)

Xu (2004) reports that most students view homework as a job, which mean something they may not want to do but must They came to realize the difference between home academic tasks and fun activities that they are supposed to complete these assigned drills before moving on to fun They also admitted its value due to future study habit development

In conclusion, most of the researchers admit that homework is at-home task that should be done before going to school They also believe that completing these assignment helps students remind and consolidate what they have already learnt in the class, which in turn have a positive influence on their future academic performance Besides, homework is also believed to construct necessary soft skills such as organization, categorization, self-discipline and personal responsibilities when students completing it on a daily basis Therefore, it is certain that homework

is of a great help to students’ learning, especially academic performance and soft skills’ development

2.2 Cooper’s theory: homework’s merits and demerits

Some researchers argued that homework had negative effect on students’ academic achievements (Bennet & Kalish, 2006; Kohn, 2006) Also, Parker (2014), based on Stanford research, said that too much homework could give a rise to stress

level, physical health problems, lack of balance and even social isolation She also elaborated that due to homework, students tended to drop activities, did not see friends, family members or pursued any hobbies

Besides, Cooper (1989) listed some potential negatives of homework as below:

Potential effects of homework that might serve as outcomes for research

Potential negative effects

Satiation

Loss of interest in academic material

Physical and emotional fatigue

Denial of access to leisure time and community activities

Parental interference

Pressure to complete homework and perform well

Confusion of instructional techniques

Cheating

Copying from other students

Help beyond tutoring

Increased differences between high and low achievers

However, there are several researches which favors giving students’ homework as it has a significant effect on students’ academic achievement Vygotsky (1978) asserted that each student needed to be capable of mastering more advanced skills and concepts if they got scaffoldings from adults or peers Thanks

to guidance and assistance, they would reach Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) In other words, teachers, parents, family members and peers can provide scaffolding for students in doing their homework A well-planned homework is

likely to reinforce what students had learnt in the classroom and promote students’

achievement thereon

The first and foremost advantage of homework is the acquisition of regulation Two studies by Xu (2008) linked homework management and its completion In a 2009 study, there were five subscales of homework management such as setting an appropriate work environment, managing time, handling distraction, monitoring motivation, and controlling negative emotions

self-A study carried out in Queensland (2004) revealed that students who often completed homework generally outperformed ones who were not on some area of academic achievement Readding (2000) also opined that well-planned homework had three times greater effect on learning by comparison with students’ socioeconomic status

A study by the National Foundation for Educational Research (2005) discovered that there was a high correlation between time spent on homework and students’ academic achievement The study also pointed out that female students spent more time in doing homework as compared to males

Several studies also indicated that females’students had more positive attitudes towards homework as compared to male students (Hong & Milgram, 1999; Harris, Nixon & Rudduck, 1993) Similarly, Xu and Commo (2006) highlighted that female students had more initiatives and were better at management strategies

in doing their homework as compared to male students Hong, Wan and Peng (2011) demonstrated that female students have better homework behavior than the male students

Studies by Voorhees (2011), Cooper, Robinson and Patall (2006) indicated positive impacts of homework on students’ achievements Mario and Pickering (2007) also stressed that there was a positive correlation between the amount of homework completed by students and their academic achievement

In addition, homework can be used to measure students’ learning achievement, developed independent study skills, and advance classroom learning

preparation (Muijs & Reynolds, 2011) In terms of non-accademic purposes, Cooper (1994) stated that homework would reinforce self-direction, self-discipline, inquistiveness, independence and better time management

Potential effects of homework that might serve as outcomes for research

Potential positive effects

Immediate achievement and learning

Better retention of factual knowledge

Increased understanding

Better critical thinking, concept formation, information processing

Curriculum enrichment

Long-term academic benefits

More learning during leisure time

Improved attitude toward school

Better study habits and skills

More independent problem-solving

Parental and family benefits

Greater parental appreciation of and involvement in schooling

Parental demonstrations of interest in child’s academic progress

Student awareness of connection between home and school

Cooper does mention some negative aspects of homework such as cheating, depression and even worse study report but it is a problem of work overload With sufficient amount of homework given, students are likely to uplift their skills and potentials, which will serve as the driving force for academic progress and future

life upgrade

2.3 Trautwein’s theory

According to Trautwein (2006), there were eight factors that had influence students’ perceptions of homework: the frequency and length of homework, the type of homework, roles of parents, roles of peers, roles of teachers, expectancy and value component, enviroment and concentration, and extracurricula activities, in which each factor would be detailly descriptive as follow

The frequency and length of homework

The first factor Trautwein placed an emphasis on homework was the frequency and the length of homework He continued suggesting that the study of the relationship between the time spent on homework and academic results had been researched for years in which homework spending time was a reflection of the student’s commitment In such a case, he claimed that the relationship between these two factors tend to be positive However, the results obtained showed that the relationship between the time spent on homework and academic performance was negative: the more time spent on homework, the worse the achievement obtained (Cerezo et al., 2015) These results alluded to the fact that perhaps the problem was

in how effectively the students were managing the time spent on homework, not just how much time they spend on doing homework In other words, the worse time management is, the more time it would take to do a certain amount of homework, which dissuates them from doing any more piece of assignment Thus, rather than the time spent on homework, what is really important is the degree of quality of that time Also, in Trautwein’s finding, he continued mentioning that assignment which was shorter and more frequent seems to be more effective than less and longer assignment; otherwise, students’ motivation decreases by virtue of lengthy period spent on an assignment

The type of homework

The second factor that Trautwein’s theory stated was the type of homework, referring to its purposes so that homework could meet students’ needs He

mentioned three types of instructional homework objectives known as practice, preparation and extention These exercise could be utilized by teachers when

assigning at-home assignments to promote students’ engagement and meaningful

learning Practice homework focused on in-class tasks to increase speed,

demonstrated mastery, reviewed work, study for tests, and retained specific skills

over time Preparation homework centered around preparing students for the next

lesson and encourage them to think about homework topic in advance to discuss in

the next lessons Therefore, students would form abilities to review and summarize main ideas covered in the future lesson, which was of some help to facilitate their

learning Extension homework focused on promoting the shift of previous learning

to new tasks It required higher level or abstract thinking to occur in which students were encouraged to pair work or group work in out-of-school time Therefore, extension homework was often designed to be real-life, hands-on applicable skill assignment to provide a richer learning experience for students

Roles of peers

In the finding, Trautwein also claim that peers play an important role in homework completion Students often ask their friends what type of homework they have to accomplish today and even set up a group to divide homework into small tasks among groups’ members to get it done faster When they see their their friends rushing up to do homework, they feel an urge to do it either It is because education not only involves knowledge and skills but it also engages in motivating forces from interactions with peers, which in turn ignites a profound effect on academics later Latino and Unite (2012) supported the statement the most effective teaching methodology relied on the goals, the students, the content and the teacher but students teaching other students held a credit for successful outcome

Roles of teacher

Similar to the importance of the role of peers and parents, Trautwein went

on with the integral part of teacher influence State educational systems and local school districts generally did not impose any regulations on homework but gave authority to teachers to decide what assigned homework is and why With the escalating pressure placed on teachers for students to manage to nail standardized tests, homework acted as a necessary tool to reinforce students’ learning, thus many teachers often assigned it as a part of daily routine tasks However, teachers can not just asked students to do homework without checking and correction because students would be in the dark to know whether they comprehend the topic given or not If not, students may place less value and effort in the assignment if they considered that their teacher do not hold their assignment in high regard

Wilson and Rhodes (2010) found that 44% of the students surveyed indicated that their teachers rarely returned graded homework by the next day Twenty-seven percent of these students indicated that their teachers sometimes returned graded work within a day or two Without proper or timely feedback, students did not know what they needed to work on or what kind of additional help they needed

Expectancy and value component

Expectancy and value component were confirmed by Trautwein that the perceived quality of the assignment had positive effects on students completing it If students were aware of the value of assignment, this would help them understand the content of assignment, showed greater interest in doing it, and may perform well

on upcoming exams Further, Xu (2011) found a positive relationship between homework completion and expectation of the assignment It meant that students were willing to do the assignment if it by any means pleased students’ academic and

entertaining needs

Environment and concentration

Trautwein (2006) indicated that high school students had greater concentration on their homework when they worked alone or work with another individual or group, leading to greater effort and completion of assignments This same study also showed that having homework completed at home also prompt to greater attentiveness, in comparison with the lower-level effort, interest and meticulousness when working on class homework Besides, they also reported that there were a lot of distractions such as noise, housework and other disturbing activities in the middle of doing homework, which reduced their motivations and hinders their efforts to do it Therefore, the environment in which homework is being done has a large impact on students’ motivations and their level of

attentiveness

Extra-curricular activities

The final factor proposed by Trautwein that needed to be considered is probably the most powerful - outside influences In Wilson and Rhodes (2010), 36% students said that extra-curricular activities were reasons for getting home late, which led to incapability of finishing homework This reported percentage was likely lower than actual due to whether students understood the phrase “extra-curricular activities” as it meant only school- sponsored activities but not a requisite

job However, they believed that participation in extra-curricular activities helped them form time management skills and created long-term relationship among participants in the group, which was well worth than spend time doing a so-called-at-home activities The explanation above would be justifiable if students did not take extracurricular activities as an excuse for unfinished homework

at Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The research showed that students view completion of homework as an important task and were aware of its significance because the assignment were quite intrinsically valuable However, they mentioned that high-school homework was overloaded, which increased negative feelings for college freshman’s management Students wished their homework to be included as part of either a bonus point or their total grade course

Onder (2015) investigated middle-school students’ opinions concerning homework assignments in science courses Researchers came to conclude that students taking more time on homework completion were more positive in their views toward homework assignments in comparison with students who spending less time on science homework Additionally, data showed that students engaging more time reading had more positive viewpoints toward homework assignments than students spending less time doing that Finally, research showed that students prefered to sit in front of TV or to play computer games had less favorable views regarding homework, and vice versa - less time watching TV and less time playing computer games were in favor of homework assignments in science courses

Khan, Ahmad and Begum (2015) revealed a study of exploring students’ perceptions and issues around middle-school studens in Peshawar Main findings showed that most students agreed the importance of interlink between academic work and personal benefits It was recommended that homework should be assigned intermittently which was based on students’ interests and incentives so that it would return to enrich and extend their capabilities and creativities

Another study known by Madhawa (2015) explored students’ perception of homework, time spent on homework and how they do their homework The finding revealed that the majority of students aged five had positive perceptions toward homework and difference of attitudes based on school type and gender 61% spent between one and two hours doing brought-to-school tasks on their daily basis, 81,2% did homework on their own while the others seeked help from m teachers and family members

Plaikek and Saichofa (2018) published the article about “The perceptions of students, teachers, and parents toward students’ homework” In his research, students’ perceptions toward homework were in the average level while the teachers and parents’ perceptions toward homework were in the high level Students graded

1 and 3 considered that homework supported students’ critical thinking and creative thinking while grade 4-6 students, teachers, and parents said that homework provided students the opportunity to practice and review their lessons Moreover, students believed that they did not need work anymore as lots of homework given per day are too overloading for them

It can be seen that most of the research related to students’ perceptions of homework all focused on the significant avantages of it that brought about or some factors that would encourage them to do it and demotivated them from doing it Besides, most of these foreign previous studies otfen placed emphasis on younger students and middle shool students but not high-school ones, whom I gave much care for Therefore, I spent time searching information on the Internet and in the library to find out whether any Vietnams authors had the same problems as mine

There were some articles relevant to this topic The publication by Tran Tri Dung (2016) mentioned how to give primary students a good amount of homework

so as to facilitate their learning Another study by Bao Tran (2020) pointed out the paradox of giving homework for primary students as it, on the one hand, enhances students’ learing and critical thinking while on the other hand, deprives of their playtime and childhood However, there have not been any studies which were conducted to discover and clarify students’ perceptions of homework in high school, which made me felt motivated to working on this area

2.5 Summary

In conclusion, it dawns on me a lot of issues revolving around homework

In terms of students’ perception of homework, most of the previous studies show that there is a close relation of students’ homework completion and their better academic record On the one hand, students often report that doing homework help them revise and practice knowledge learnt in the class, which may help them to get better grade in future exams Besides, students also highly appreciate the importance of homework as it gives them opportunities to shape some better characteristics for their study habit and future career such as critical thinking, creative thinking, self-learning, better time management and a sense of personal responsibility They would love having their homework checked, corrected, and even graded as bonus points for their learning course Compared to primary students, who often ask parents for help if they have no ideas about their answers, older students often prefer doing homework individually or browsing Internet to find out answers However, students also claim that they feel negative toward homework if

it is overloaded, which deprives them of spending time doing other entertaining activities Before I decided to do this research, I just simply think that they do not complete it because the assignment may be too challenging compared to their current level or they just do not want to do it either However, it gives me a second thought that there are a number of reasons behind students’ homework incompletion

It can be involved in students’ interest For example, they do not see any advantages

of doing the assignment given as it is irrelevant to their current and their future goals Sometimes, they do not do it because they are distracted by noise and other disturbing activities such as watching movies, playing games and chatting with friends

Therefore, it is quite understandable to me that students both feel positive and negative toward homework In terms of good views of homework, students surveyed in previous studies and theory of Cooper (1989) all admit the importance

of homework which is related to better academic performance and skills learn from doing it such as reasoning, self-learning, time management skill and other personal responsibilities In terms of negative views of homework, students are likely to hold pessimistic opinions of homework mostly because of its overload that they do not have time to complete it However, I believe it is not just one reason that discourages students from doing homework Although there are some reasons mentioned in previous studies, I still find that they are not specific and genneralized Luckily, I find out a model of homework proposed by Trautwein (2006) which is the detailed description of eight sub-elements that have influences on students’ perception of homework They are known as the frequency and length of homework, the quality of homework, roles of parents, roles of peers, roles of teachers, expectancy and value component, environment and concentration, and extracurricular activities With the general of two theories supported by Cooper (1989) and Trautwein (2006), I will lay a basic framework to explore my students’ perceptions of homework and guide them to do it willingly because of the great merits it brings about

This chapter has touched upon the literature review related to the topic of the study First, the history of homework, the views and its definition have been clearly discussed in various ways, yet Cooper’s definition will act as a core principle to follow Second, the Cooper’ merits and demerits of homework, combined with Trautwein theory which are well-supported by 8 sub-elements abovementioned will lay a basic ground for designing a set of questionnaire and interview to answer my

big curious questions “What are high-school students’ perceptions of English homework?”, “What factors will influence students’ homework completion practices? and “What homework benefits do students perceive of?” Finally, some

previous studies on students’ perceptions of homework have been briefly reviewed with an attempt to find out suitable methods for gathering data in the current research and to help the researcher to compare and contrast study findings Then, the following chapter will present the research methodology

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

This chapter demonstrates a comprehensive description of the research methodology utilized in the current study I initially provide research questions, which will be followed by the detailed research method Then, the setting of the study and participants are described The subsequent sections deal with the instruments as well as procedure to be used for data collection Finally, the chapter ends with an explanation of data analytical framework and data analysis procedure

3.1 Research questions

As mentioned in the introduction section of the thesis, this study targets at exploring high school students’ perceptions of homework, which acts as a guideline for teachers and school administrators to adjust task requirement to suit students’ needs the most Specially, the following questions are addressed in the study:

1 What are high-school students’ perceptions of English homework?

2 What factors will influence students’ homework completion practices?

3 What homework benefits do students perceive of?

3.2 Research method: Survey

In this section, the following aspects are covered: introduction, types of survey research, its design, steps carrying out a survey, sampling, pilot study, the outcome

of a survey, and summary

3.2.1 Introduction

Nowadays, survey research is more and more widespread among professional

fields Nunan (1992:140) proposed that survey ‘are widely used for collecting data

in most areas of social inquire, from politics to sociology, from education to linguistics’ Kasunic (2005:3) considered that a survey allows ‘the researcher to generalize about the beliefs and opinions of many people by studying a subset of them’ Leedy adn Ormrod (2005) consider that survey research is employed to gather information about population groups to learn their characteristics, opinions, attitudes, or previous experiences Thus, thanks to survey research, researchers can

obtain insight into the thought, ideas, opinions and attitudes of participants to figure out what they need

After several more years of teaching, I have figured out that students sometimes feel hatred doing homework though they do know its importance toward the learning acquisition Therefore, I pursue this survey study in the hope of finding out students’ perceptions of homework, factors having influences their homework incompletion and guiding them to do homework willingly due to enormous benefits that homework brings about

3.2.2 Types of survey research: Exploratory survey

Kerlinger (1986) has identified some specific types of survey studies, including

descriptive, exploratory and explanatory Descriptive survey has been described as

indispensable in the early stages of studying a phenomenon (Dubin, 1978) as it

develops the units that comprise theories (Malhotra and Grover, 1998) In other

words, descriptive study is to focus on describing the distribution of a phenomenon

in a population, thereby discovering events Explanatory research is used for seeking causal relationships among variables Exploratory survey does not have

models Relationships and patterns are explored in exploratory research According

to Cohen and Manion (1985), its research may not need any prior studies as they are quite flexible and can be adapted throughout the process of researching Besides, that type of research is effective in laying groundwork that will lead to future studies It is considerably time saving and acts as a determinant at earlier stage the type of research that are worth pursuing From the three types of research, I reckon that I do not need to find out any distribution of a phenomenon in a population or seek any causal relationships among variables, I just want to figure out my students’ perceptions of homework, which is the reason why exploratory research is suitable Although exploratory research does not require any model or any prior studies, I still mention previous studies to understand students’ overall perceptions of homework, and the two famous theories proposed by Cooper (1986) and Trautwein (2006) to consolidate and strengthen my framework

3.2.3 Survey research designs: Cross-sectional design

According to Kerlinger (1986), research design is a plan, structure and strategy of investigation so as to obtain answers to research questions or problems Likewise, McMillan & Schumacher (2006) points out that the purpose of research design is cater for the most valid and accurate answer as possible to the research questions From this viewpoint, the design describes the procedures for conducting the study, including when, from whom and under what conditions data were obtained

It is essential to clarify the term ‘survey design’ A survey design uses various data collection procedures to enable the teacher, researcher educator or educator to investigate a construct by asking questions of either fact (descriptive) from a sample

of a population for the purpose of generalizing to the population (Griffee, 2012:52) For survey research, there are two basic survey designs They are longitudinal and cross-sectional ones

Longitudinal studies employ continuous or repeated measures to follow particular individuals over prolonged periods of time—often years or decades They are generally observational in nature, with quantitative and/or qualitative data being collected on any combination of exposures and outcomes, without any external influenced being applied Thus, this can enhance validity and reliability in longitudinal-reseach findings Nevertheless, its designs suffer some drawbacks A first and formost disadvantage is that they are time-consuming and expensive because the researcher is obligated to wait data’s growth to accumulate (Cohen et al., 2007:216) Another is securing participation as it involves repeated contact (Cohen et al., 2007:219)

In contrast, cross-sectional analysis is another study type that may analyze multiple variables at a given instance, but provides no information with regards to the influence of time on the variables measured—being static by its very nature Cohen and his colleagues (2007:213) say that ‘a cross- sectional study is one that

produces a ‘snapshot’ of a population at a particular point in time’ It is thus

generally less valid for examining cause-and-effect relationships Nonetheless, cross-sectional studies require less time to be set up, and may be considered for preliminary evaluations of association prior to embarking on cumbersome longitudinal-type studies A further strength of cross-sectional designs pointed out

by Cohen and his colleagues is that they are more likely to secure the cooperation of

respondents

Highly aware of the merits and features of cross-sectional design mentioned above, it is my belief that cross-sectional design is appropriate for the purpose of this study because of some reasons Firstly, it is about the matter of time My research is conducted during the first semester year 2020 and 2021, which I do not need to wait data’s growth to analyze as the longitudinal studies Secondly, my research focuses on exploring students’ perceptions of homework, which means I

do not need to find out any cause-and-effect relationship Last but not least, the set

up of the research is quite easy and convenient as it the subjects are my students I can keep in touch with them with less effort if any problem arises

3.2.4 Steps in carrying out a survey: 7 steps

Nunan (1992) suggested seven steps in carrying out a survey: define objectives, identify target population, literature review, determine sample, identify survey instruments, design survey procedures and determine reporting procedure Brown (2008) listed six steps including planning the survey, developing the instrument, gathering the data, analyzing the data statistically, analyzing the data qualitatively, and reporting the results Kasunic (2005:3) gives seven steps in the survey process: identify the research objectives, identify and characterize the target audience, design the sampling plan, design and write the questionnaire, pilot test the questionnaire, distribute the questionnaire and analyze the results and write a report The present study applied the Kasunic’s steps because of the appearance of pilot test the questionnaire

Table 1- Seven-stage survey research process (Kasunic, 2005:7)

This current study fully follows Kasunic's seven steps as follows:

Step 1: Identify the research objective

This study aims at exploring high school student’s perceptions of homework by seeking answers to the three following questions:

1 What are high-school students’ perceptions of English homework?

2 What factors will influence their homework completion practices?

3 What are the benefits of homework completion?

Step 2: Identify and characterize the target audience

Selecting target audience depends on the problem the investigators are trying to understand and who can provide that information to the investigators

The students took in the research are the students who I taught at the first semester year 2020 and 2021 They sometime were engaged in doing homework and sometime were not That was reasons why I wanted to explore whether there were any perceptions of homework, any benefits of given homework and any factors influencing homework completion so that I may adjust the future assignment to meet their needs and guide them to do homework willingly

Step 3: Design the sampling plan

In this stage, the task of the researcher is to determine the type of sample and sample size Convenience sample was selected and sample size was 35 The sampling was clearly presented in the next section

Step 4: Design and write the questionnaire

The questionnaire was designed and written after the research objectives were defined and the target audience was identified and characterized (Kasunic, 2005: 33)

In this particular study, the questionnaire is based on two theories known as Cooper’s (1986) and Trautwein’s (2006) that are proposed in the Literature review The objectives and the audience are also abovementioned in chapter B: Development

Step 5: Pilot the questionnaire

In order to conduct a successful pilot study, it is important to determine number of participants, location where the pilot study takes place and calculate reliability of questionnaires

More detailed descriptions of this step are presented in 2.2.6

Step 6: Distribute the questionnaire

There are 50 items for the final questionnaire The questionnaires were distributed

to 70 students in classroom It took them approximately 25-30 minutes to complete

it

Step 7: analyze the results and write a report

This section was presented in detail and carefully in chapter 3 and 4

3.2.5 Sampling: PURPOSIVE

Nunan (1992,p.141) emphasizes that a major task for the researcher is to select a representative sample from the population as a whole because sampling is a key feature of a survey approach (Cohen et al., 2007) Bell (1987) also states that efforts should be made to secure a representative sample, even in a small-scale study Thus, the selecting a sample for the present study should be taken priority In order to ensure that the sample is representative of the population as a whole, there is a great deal of sampling strategies that help the researchers determine suitable sampling for their studies

There are six types of samplings, one of which I believe suiting my research is Purposive sampling The basic idea behind is that the target audience are selected

on purpose by the researcher (Nunan, 1992) The participants in my research are my students who I taught in semester 1 in year 2020-2021 Those students are quite close to me and they are willing to express their own opinions without hesitations I also say that the research is for the sake of their own benefits and I would not judge anything What I want to explore is their’s own thinking so that I can understand their expectations and may adjust my way of teaching to suit their own interests

Because of my sincere and effortness, the purposive sampling’s results become more valid and reliable

It is very crucial to determine a correct sample size If a sample is too large, it becomes unfeasible to engage the survey; if the sample is too small, then the results cannot be generalized to the population (Griffee, 2012, p.60) By combining the insights found in Brown (2001) and Parker (1992), the author can make reasonable estimates of what an adequate sample size would be

Table 3- Three sample size estimates (Griffee, 2012,p.60)

There are 70 students who I taught and therefore were picked up to take part in my research It is considered a small scale of the study so that 35 participants are enough to be the sample size of my study

3.2.6 Pilot study

According to Queeney (1995) the framing of an adequate questionnaire was one of challenges of survey research, thus pilot study of the questionnaire was strongly encouraged to ensure that the questions asked were clear and the response options were comprehensive and appropriate Thus, I decided to carry out a pilot study so that I could get an insightful overview of questionnaire instrument

3.2.7 The outcomes of the pilot study

Pilot study is considered the most effective way to reduce the probability of errors

in the field of research This section reports the outcomes which is the result of

conducting the pilot study

A total of 35 students took part in the pilot study They are graded 10 in one class in

a Hanoi high school All of them had at least seven years of learning English, therefore, these chosen students clearly understood the whole questionnaire With regard to time, it took approximately twenty to thirty minutes for participants to complete the questionnaire This time limit seems reasonable because it was long enough for the researcher to present instruction and explain the items if students find them hard to understand

As mentioned in the previous section, the main goal of the pilot study is related to the calculation of reliability of questionnaires After gathering pilot data, the result will be analyzed and evaluated It is a pivotal step to give a good judgment of generalization for the whole population and also determine which items should remain or be removed to strengthen the study’s validity However, after the pilot study, none of students have problems with the set of questionaire Therefore, I am going to present the table of the questionaire below