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A study of science teachers' homework

practices

Yasemin Tas Ataturk University, TurkeySemra Sungur Vural Middle East Technical University, TurkeyCeren ztekin Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Abstract

This study investigates Turkish middle school science teachers' homework

practices, the value teachers attach to homework and teachers' communica-tion with parents about homework. One hundred and sixty-eight teacherscompleted surveys. Teachers reported to assign homework frequently: 93.4per cent of the teachers reported that they assign homework either once aweek or at the end of every class. Problem solving and doing research on atopic were the most commonly assigned homework types, while makingsummaries and memorizing information/formulas were the least preferredhomework types. Teachers gave homework for a variety of reasons includ-ing knowledge acquisition, skill development and informing parents about

child's progress. Structural equation modelling revealed that teachers weremore likely to place value on homework if class size was small; teacherswho placed value on homework were more likely to communicate withparents about homework and communication with parents facilitated stu-dents' homework completion.

Key wordsScience homework, Teacher homework practices, Homeworkvalue, Communication with parents about homework.

Introduction

Homework has long been studied by the researchers. More recent home-work research has focused on the role of parental involvement in homeworkprocess. According to Hoover-Dempseyet al.'s (2001)meta analyses, paren-tal involvement in homework process has positive influences on student-related outcomes such as attitudes about homework and perceptions of

personal competence. However, informing parents about the homeworkprocess is important (Ersoy and Anagun, 2009) as not all types of paren-tal involvement may be beneficial for students' learning, such as parentalinterference (Dumont et al., 2012). The present study proposes the valueteachers place on homework and communication with parents about

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Research in Education, Number 91, (May 2014) Manchester University Press

homework as important constructs to be investigated. We hypothesizethat if teachers place more value on homework, they are more likely tocommunicate with parents about their child's homework more effectivelywhich may further increase students' homework completion. Besides, class

size, as a contextual factor, is proposed to influence the value teachers'attach to homework, as large class size may place some restrictions onclass work (Ehrenberg et al., 2001). The study firstly examines Turkishmiddle school science teachers' homework practices (e.g. frequency ofgiving homework and reasons for giving homework) and then tests amodel explaining the relationships among class size, the frequency of giv-ing homework, the value placed on homework, communication with par-ents regarding homework and students' homework completion rate.

Homework is defined as tasks assigned to students by school teachersthat are intended to be carried out during non-school hours (Cooper,2007, 4). Teachers give homework for a variety of reasons. Teachers mainlygive homework to practice skills taught in the class, to prepare students forthe next lesson, to increase students' participation and to contribute to per-sonal development (e.g. developing research skills and building responsibil-ity). Homework may also be used to support parentchild relations (e.g.encourage communication between child and parent about class work), tofacilitate parentteacher communication (e.g. inform parents about stu-dents' learning in class), to support students' interaction with each other aswell as to complete policy requirements for giving a certain amount of

homework (Epstein and Van Voorhis, 2001).Homework supports students' learning of the subject matter (Cooper

2007; Cooper and Valentine, 2001). According to meta analyses results(Cooper et al., 2006; Cooper and Valentine, 2001), the effect of homeworkon students' learning of subject matter knowledge is more pronounced inolder students; the positive relationship between homework time andachievement is stronger for high school students than for elementary schoolstudents. Muhlenbruck et al. (2000) suggested that elementary and highschool teachers' different purposes of assigning homework might lead this

situation. Accordingly, at the elementary level, homework is more focusedon skill development and not so much on the subject material asked inachievement tests. Since secondary school students are expected to have al-ready developed these skills, they are given assignments that are focusedmore on the subject matter. The smaller correlation between achievementand homework at the elementary level may be due to this reason. However,for young students, homework particularly contributes to development ofstudy skills and work habits (Cooper and Valentine, 2001; Corno, 2000).While doing their homework, students arrange workplace, manage time,

monitor motivation, handle distractions and control emotion (Xu, 2008).Stoeger and Ziegler (2008) reported that training on homework activitieshelp elementary school students develop time management skills. There-fore, it seems important to examine teachers' purposes of assigning home-work because if a teacher's goal is to improve students' study skills, then

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homework will serve to achieve this goal; but if the teacher's goal is to in-crease knowledge acquisition, then the students will benefit from the home-work accordingly (Muhlenbruck et al., 2000). Some other benefits ofhomework are helping students engagement in social communication such

as through the Internet and the telephone, which in turn supports students'collaboration, and facilitating parental involvement in students' schooling(Cooper and Valentine, 2001; Corno, 2000).

In a correlational study,Cooper et al. (1998)explored Grade 2, 4, 6, 8,10 and 12 students' (N=709), parents', and teachers' (N=82) attitudes to-ward homework, what proportion of homework was completed andachievement. Attitude toward homework was measured in terms of partici-pants' feelings about homework (i.e., liking homework); their beliefs aboutthe effects of homework on students' interest in school (i.e., whether home-work increases students' interest in school) and whether they think home-work helps students learn, develop study skills and learn how to managetime. Achievement was measured by both a standardized test scores (Tennes-see Comprehensive Assessment Test scores were standardized by the authorsof the study) and teacher assigned grades (teachers were asked to report agrade for each student if the class ended on the day of questionnaire com-pletion). The results showed that students, parents, and teachers all heldpositive attitudes toward homework. Regarding the amount of homeworkcompleted by the students, seventy-five per cent of the parents stated thattheir children complete all homework while sixty-five per cent of the stu-

dents reported that they complete all homework. A significant correlationwas found between the proportion of homework completed as reported byboth students and parents and students' achievement. Furthermore, for up-per grades, there was a positive correlation between teachers' attitudes to-ward homework and the amount of homework they assigned (r=0.41). Pathanalysis revealed that parents' attitude toward homework had a positive im-pact on their child's attitudes toward homework, which in turn was found toaffect the proportion of homework completed. Furthermore, a positive cor-relation was also found between the proportion of homework completed

and student's grades. The researchers concluded that parents' attitudes to-ward homework had a positive influence on their child's attitude towardhomework and they called on teachers and policymakers to improve parents'attitudes toward homework. They suggested that clear communication ofthe reasons for homework could be helpful in this respect. To this end, itseems important to study teachers' communication with parents about theirchild's homework. Using the same data set as that of Cooper et al. (1998),Muhlenbruck et al. (2000) examined the relationship between homeworkand achievement at elementary and secondary school levels. Most of the

teachers reported believing in the utility of homework (i.e., they thoughtthat homework helps students learn, develop study skills, and learn how tomanage time) and scored high on the utility scale.

Besides investigating teachers' and students' homework practices and theirrelations with achievement, parents' role in homework has been a focus of

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research. In order to investigate parental influences on students' academicperformance,Keithet al.(1993)examined data from a national survey (N=21,814) of Grade eight students. Parental involvement was measured interms of parents' educational aspirations, communication between parent

and child, home structure and parents' participation in school activities.Structural equation analyses were conducted. After controlling for ethnicity,family background variables and previous achievement, parent involvementhad a strong effect on students' achievement (=0.287). This positive effectto some extent seemed to be due to higher homework completion ratesby students since their parents devoted more time to their child's home-work. The researchers stressed the importance of parental involvementand recommended teachers and administrators to take steps to encour-age parental involvement in schooling, particularly with respect tohomework. In their meta-analysis on parental involvement in homework,Hoover-Dempsey et al. (2001) found that through modelling, reinforce-ment and instruction, parent involvement influences students' attributesassociated with achievement. Parental homework involvement was associ-ated with positive attitudes about homework and school learning; per-ceptions of personal competence, ability and academic self-concept;student knowledge of task demands and performance strategies and stu-dent homework behaviours. Therefore, the researchers stressed the im-portance of parent involvement in homework.

In a more recent studyDumont et al. (2012)pointed out a need for dif-

ferentiating parental homework involvement such that not all involvementtypes may be beneficial for student outcomes. The researchers conceptual-ized parental homework involvement as a multidimensional construct.They conducted two studies with Grade eight students (N=1274 and N=1911) and did structural equation modelling. In the first study, parentalhomework involvement was measured by students' perceptions of parentalcompetence to help with homework (e.g. My parents are very good atexplaining things that I didn't understand at school), students' perceptionsof parental support during the homework process (e.g. My parents help

me with my homework if I am having difficulties), and parent-child con-flict (e.g. Homework is a source of stress for our family ). Results revealedthat perceived parental competence was positively related to general aca-demic self-concept and perceived parental support positively predicted stu-dents' attitudes to school work. On the other hand, perceived parentchildconflict negatively predicted mathematics and reading grades, general aca-demic self-concept and students' attitudes to school work. In the secondstudy, two dimensions of parental homework involvement was measured;students' perceptions of parental support (e.g. I can ask my parents for

help any time if I don't understand something in French) and parental in-terference during homework (e.g. My parents help me with my homeworkeven when I don't need any help). It was found that parental support waspositively related to achievement and homework self-efficacy while paren-tal interference was negatively related to achievement, self-concept,

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homework self-efficacy and homework persistence in French as a secondlanguage. The authors suggested that rather than quantity of parent in-volvement,qualityof parent involvement should be focused.

Contrary to the situation abroad, relatively few studies into homework

have been carried out in Turkey. One study, examining Grade 6

8 schoolstudents' (N=426) views about science homework (Aladag and Dogu,2009), revealed that students thought that homework helped them learnthe subject matter and especially group homework helped them compre-hend the material. Moreover, students' responses to the survey revealed thatpreparation type homework motivated students to learn the new conceptswhile practice type homework helped students understand the material cov-ered in the class. In another study, Ersoy and Anagun (2009) interviewedwith Grade five primary school teachers (N=8) regarding their views onscience homework. Qualitative data analysis revealed that the participatingteachers generally assigned homework in order to consolidate subject mate-rial. However, researchers argued that there is a need to assign more differ-ent types of homework in order to support students' development ofscience process skills and study discipline, and also parents' involvement toschooling. Teachers reported that they had problems with parents not beinginterested in their child's homework, with parents not believing in the bene-fits of homework, and in some other cases, with parents doing the home-work instead of the student. The researchers emphasized the need toinform parents about the benefits of homework with respect to students'

learning and how to provide proper help with their child's homework, andthey suggested further studies include a greater number of participants.

Purpose and significance of the study

The aforementioned literature revealed that homework helps students learnthe subject matter and aids in the development of study skills (Cooper,2007; Cooper and Valentine, 2001; Ramdass and Zimmerman, 2011).Corno (2000) suggested that teachers' homework practices may affect the

way students benefit from homework. However, although homework hasbeen studied over the years by researchers, the role of teachers in home-work process has hardly been touched at all (Epstein and Van Voorhis,2001), and there is limited research on Turkish science teachers' homeworkpractices. In the present study we investigate (a) how often teachers assignhomework, (b) the proportion of their students who complete homeworkregularly, (c) the types of homework teachers assign, (d) teachers' reasonsfor assigning homework, (e) the value teachers place on homework, that iswhether they think homework helps students learn the science material and

also whether they consider it beneficial for other courses and daily life and(f) teachers' communication with parents regarding homework. Descriptivestatistics will be used for this purpose.

Our study proposed to test a range of issues, some of which have beenidentified in other studies. We hypothesized that class size may affect

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teachers' homework practices. We did not encounter previous researchwhich investigated the relationship between class size and the value teachersplace on homework, and frequency of assigning homework. However, stud-ies show that in small classes, disruptive behaviour is less likely to occur

and more time can be spent on class work, making it possible to have moreclass discussions, more assignments and more opportunities to examine stu-dent work (Ehrenberg et al., 2001). We tested the hypothesize that largeclass size may place restrictions on teachers' homework practices; incrowded classes, teachers may place less value on homework and may as-sign homework less frequently. We also wanted to test the hypothesize thatthe value teachers place on homework may relate to the frequency of givinghomework because teachers who believe in the benefits of homework prob-ably assign homework more frequently. Previously, Cooper et al. (1998)found that teachers who had more positive attitudes about homeworktended to assign more homework. We also aimed to assess if teachers whoattach more value to homework may communicate better with parents re-garding their child's homework. Communication with parents is further an-ticipated to affect the proportion of students who complete homeworkregularly because parents' attitudes toward homework was found to posi-tively affect students' attitudes toward homework (Cooper et al., 1998).Thus, we expect that communication with parents may increase parental in-volvement in the homework process and lead students to complete theirhomework. Therefore, we developed a model explaining relationships

among class size, the frequency of giving homework, the value placed onhomework, communication with parents regarding homework and students'homework completion rate. Structural equation modelling (SEM) will beused to explore these various relationships. SEM is a method which enablesto test hypothesized relationships among a set of variables based on theoryor previous research (Schumacker and Lomax, 2004). More specifically,how sets of variables define constructs and how these constructs are relatedto each other (Schumacker and Lomax, 2004, p. 2) is the main focus ofthe analyses. For instance, in our case, value placed on homework (V) items

are hypothesized to define the value teacher's place on homework constructand the construct is further hypothesized to influence communication withparents (C) construct. Through SEM, researchers examine how well theproposed model is supported by the sample data (Schumacker and Lomax,2004). The model proposed in this study is presented inFigure 1.

Method

Sample

The sample of the study consisted of 168 middle school (Grades 68) sci-ence teachers. Convenience sampling was used; teachers who taught at mid-dle schools located in nearby districts in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey,participated in the study. Although convenience sampling eases data collec-tion, it is difficult to generalize results (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006) to the

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population of all Turkish science teachers. However, results may representteachers' homework practices with similar characteristics. The information

about the sample characteristics is as following: thirty-six (21.4 per cent)teachers were employed at private schools while the rest of the teacherswere teaching at public schools. Forty (23.8 per cent) teachers were maleand one hundred twenty-eight (76.2 per cent) teachers were female. Partici-pants' ages ranged from twenty-three to fifty-eight years with a mean of33.08 (SD=8.24) years. Most of the participants (N=111, 66.1 per cent)were graduates of middle school science teacher education programs.Twenty nine (17.4 per cent) teachers were graduates of high school physics,biology, or chemistry teacher education programs; twenty-six (15.5 per

cent) teachers graduated from physics, biology, or chemistry departments;and two (1.2 per cent) teachers did not indicate the program they had grad-uated from. Participants' teaching experience ranged from one to thirty-fiveyears with a mean of 9.88 (SD=7.72) years. The number of students theteachers taught in each class ranged from 6 to 55 with a mode of thirty stu-dents. The teachers taught on average 22.32 (SD=5.31) hours a week.

Context of the study

The Turkish Ministry of National Education made some revisions in science

and technology curriculum in 2005. With these changes, projects andhomework assignments became a more prominent issue in science subject.Homework is considered to be an important aspect of the education pro-gram, because homework consolidates newly learned material, contributesto students' personal development, and instils a responsibility towards

Frequency of

giving HW

Frequency of

giving HW

Value1

Com1

Com2

Com3

Communication

with parents

Value

placed onHW

Class

size

Class

size

Value2 Value3

HW

completion

rate

HW

completion

rate

Figure 1 Proposed model.

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learning. Moreover, homework is regarded to be an effective way forteachers to communicate with parents and for parents to understand theirchild's progress in the subject. Besides examinations and class participation,students' homework performance scores are taken into account in student

evaluation (Turkish Ministry of National Education, 2006).In the middle school, the typical school day is seven hours and studentstake three hours of science class in a week. Science is one of the core sub-jects, and other core subjects are Turkish, mathematics, social studies andforeign language. At the end of middle school (Grade 8) and high school(Grade 12), students take nationwide examinations in order to enrol inmore prestigious high schools and colleges, respectively. In addition to stu-dents' performance on these high-stakes exams, students' grade point aver-ages (GPAs) are also taken into account when placing students to higherschool levels. Therefore, Turkish education system is highly competitiveand examination oriented.

Instrumentation

The teachers were given three instruments. The first instrument was Demo-graphic Information Scale, which included items about type of school (pri-vate or public), gender, age, teacher education program graduated from,years of experience as a teacher, number of students in their class andteaching hours in a week. The second instrument was a Teachers' Home-

work Practices Scale. This scale incorporated items requiring teachers to in-dicate whether they think they were given sufficient education abouthomework in their pre-service teacher education programs; whether theyparticipated in any in-service teacher education programs about homework;the frequency of assigning homework, the proportion of students in theirclasses who complete homework regularly; the types of homework theygive (ten items); the frequencies of individual and group homework they as-sign (two items); and their reasons for giving homework (thirteen items).Four of the items related to types of homework and eight of the items re-

lated to the reasons for giving homework were originally developed bySidhu and Fook (2010). These items were translated and adapted intoTurkish while the rest of the items were written by the authors of thestudy. The third instrument was a Homework Value and Communicationwith Parents Scale. The instrument consisted of two subscales: homeworkvalue (three items) and communication with parents (three items). The itemsin the communication with parents subscale were prepared for this studyby the authors. The items in the homework value scale were adapted fromthe value subscale of Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire

(Pintrichet al., 1991). For this study, the items of the subscale were modi-fied to measure the value that teachers attach to homework. Items of the fre-quency of assigning different types of homework and group-individualhomework, and communication with parents about homework were ratedfrom never (1) to always (5) while purposes of giving homework and value

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attached to homework were scaled from strongly disagree (1) to stronglyagree (5). The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients for communicationwith parents about homework and the value teachers give to homeworkwere 0.53 and 0.83, respectively. The reliability coefficient of communica-

tion with parents about homework was somewhat low, but acceptable foreducational studies (Diakidoy et al., 2003; Hatcher and Stepanski, 1994;Pinarbasi et al., 2006; Pomeroy, 1993). In addition, by utilizing SEM, thepresent study allowed for adjustment for measurement error (Schumackerand Lomax, 2004).

In regard to research ethics, teachers were informed about the purposeof the study and deception was not an issue; numbers were assigned to theparticipants in order to set the confidentiality of the teachers' identities andthe study did not constitute any physical or psychological harm for theparticipants.

Results

Descriptive statistics

Descriptive statistics were reported in two main sections: The first sectionconcerns science teachers' homework practices and the second section con-cerns science teachers' communication with parents regarding homeworkand the value they attach to homework.

Science teachers' homework practices

This section presents participants' education in homework, homework as-signment frequencies, homework completion rates, types of homework as-signments, and the reasons for giving homework.

Education in homework practices. The teachers were asked whether ornot they thought they were given sufficient education regarding homeworkpractices during their pre-service teacher education programs. More thanhalf of the participants (N=97; 58.8 per cent) reported that they had

not given sufficient training in how to prepare homework properly whilesixty-eight (41.2 per cent) teachers reported that they had received suchan education. The results also revealed that only twenty (12.0 per cent)teachers had taken in-service training in homework practices.

Homework assignment frequencies. The teachers' responses to the itemassessing the frequency of homework assignments revealed that teachers as-sign homework very frequently (See Table 1). Indeed, the majority of theteachers (N=156, 93.4 per cent) reported that they assign homework ei-ther once a week or at the end of every class.

Homework completion frequencies. The proportions of students whocomplete their homework regularly as reported by the participant teachersare presented in Figure 2. As shown in the figure, four (2.4 per cent)teachers reported that less than twenty-five per cent of their students dohomework regularly, sixty-seven (40.1 per cent) teachers reported that

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2550 per cent of their students do homework regularly, and sixty-one(36.5 per cent) teachers indicated that 5075 per cent of their students dohomework regularly. Only four (2.4 per cent) teachers indicated that all oftheir students do homework regularly.

Type and frequency of homework assignments. The frequencies for givingdifferent types of homework are presented inTable 2. The most commonlyassigned homework types were problem solving (M=3.87) and research(M=3.61). In fact, most of the teachers (96.4 per cent and 94.5 per cent,respectively) reported that they assign problem solving and research home-work sometimes or more frequently. Poster preparation (M=3.05), con-cept maps (M=2.96), project work (M=2.95) and setting up anexperiment (M=2.92) were assigned by the teachers less frequently. Mak-ing summaries (M=2.46) and memorization of information and formulas(M=2.05) were the least preferred homework assignment types. Indeed,

more than one-quarter of the teachers (N=51, 31.3 per cent) reported thatthey never assign homework requiring the memorization of information/formulas and almost 41.1 per cent of teachers (N=67) indicated that theyrarely assign such types of homework.

The participants' responses to the survey revealed that the teachers assignindividually done homework more frequently (M=4.15) than those

Table 1 Homework assignment frequencies

Frequency Percent

No homework 2 1.2Once a month 3 1.8

Twice a month 6 3.6Once a week 77 46.1At the end of every class 79 47.3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

100% 75-100% 50-75% 25-50% 0-25%

Frequency

Completion rate

Figure 2 Proportion of students who complete homework regularly.

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requiring group work (M=2.95). More specifically, 84.3 per cent teachers(N=140) reported that they assign individual homework often or routinelywhile less than one-quarter of teachers (N=40, 24.0 per cent) indicatedthat they assign group homework often or routinely.

Reasons for assigning homework. The teachers were asked about theirreasons for assigning homework. As can be seen fromTable 3, the teachers'reasons for giving homework varied. They mainly assigned homework sothat their students could practice knowledge and skills learned in the class(M=4.67), to improve their students' sense of responsibility towards learn-

ing (M=4.61), to improve their students' study discipline (M=4.54) and tocontribute to the development of students' knowledge and skills (M=4.51).Indeed, more than half of the participants (around sixty per cent) stronglyagreed on the related items. Furthermore, teachers assigned homework toprepare students for the class (M=4.42), to increase academic achievement(M=4.41), to improve students' research skills (M=4.37), to improve stu-dents' time management skills (M=4.36), to help students remedy their de-ficiencies in the subject matter knowledge (M=4.34), to make studentsmore independent in their own learning (M=4.34) and to identify the stu-

dents' deficiencies in subject matter knowledge (M=4.33). The findingsalso revealed that one-quarter of the participants strongly agreed on theitem that they give homework to inform parents about student progress(M=3.73). The least favoured reason for giving homework was to com-plete unfinished school work (M=2.37). The majority of the participants

Table 2 Frequencies of assigning different types of homework

Homework type Never Rarely Sometimes Often Routinely Mean

Making summaries 41 55 32 19 15 2.5425.3% 34.0% 19.8% 11.7% 9.3%

Problem solving - 6 39 92 29 3.873.6% 23.5% 55.4% 17.5%

Memorization ofinformation/formulas

51 67 33 10 2 2.0531.3% 41.1% 20.2% 6.1% 1.2%

Making research 1 8 68 66 22 3.610.6% 4.8% 41.2% 40.0% 13.3%

Poster preparation 7 35 73 46 6 3.054.2% 21.0% 43.7% 27.5% 3.6%

Project work 3 46 81 29 7 2.951.8% 27.7% 48.8% 17.5% 4.2%

Oral presentation 9 46 75 33 3 2.855.4% 27.7% 45.2% 19.9% 1.8%

Portfolio 27 45 43 32 17 2.8016.5% 27.4% 26.2% 19.5% 10.4%

Concept maps 9 44 66 41 7 2.965.4% 26.3% 39.5% 24.6% 4.2%

Setting up anexperiment

11 44 64 40 6 2.926.7% 26.7% 38.8% 24.2% 3.6%

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disagreed (N=51, 30.7 per cent) and strongly disagreed (N=58, 34.9per cent) with this statement.

Homework value and communication with parents. This section presentsdescriptive statistics concerning science teachers' perceptions of the impor-tance and usefulness of homework for their students and teachers' commu-nication with parents about students' homework.

Value placed on homework. Participants were asked about the value theyplace on homework in terms of whether they think doing homework is im-portant and useful in helping students to learn and also whether it is benefi-cial for students in areas that are not part of the science course, such asother courses and in daily life (See Table 4). The majority of the teachers

Table 3 Purposes of giving homework

Stronglydisagree

Disagree Undecided Agree Stronglyagree

Mean

To complete unfinished

school work

58 51 7 38 12 2.37

34.9% 30.7% 4.2% 22.9% 7.2%To practice knowledgeand skills learnedin the class

- - 1 52 113 4.670.6% 31.3% 68.1%

To identify students'deficiencies in subjectmatter knowledge

1 6 11 68 80 4.330.6% 3.6% 6.6% 41.0% 48.2%

To improve students'sense of responsibilityin learning

- 1 5 52 107 4.610.6% 3.0% 31.5% 64.8%

To increase academicachievement

1 3 11 62 88 4.410.6% 1.8% 6.7% 37.6% 53.3%

To prepare students forthe class

1 3 5 72 84 4.420.6% 1.8% 3.0% 43.6% 50.9%

To help students remedytheir deficiencies in thesubject matter knowledge

4 3 9 66 84 4.342.4% 1.8% 5.4% 39.8% 50.6%

To improve students'study discipline

1 3 1 61 99 4.540.6% 1.8% 0.6% 37.0% 60.0%

To make students more

independent in theirown learning

1 5 9 73 78 4.34

0.6% 3.0% 5.4% 44.0% 47.0%

To contribute to thedevelopment of students'knowledge and skills

- 3 3 66 94 4.511.8% 1.8% 39.8% 56.6%

To improve students'time management skills

2 3 8 74 79 4.361.2% 1.8% 4.8% 44.6% 47.0%

To improve students'research skills

- 3 11 73 79 4.371.8% 6.6% 44.0% 47.6%

To inform parents about

student progress

3 20 37 63 42 3.73

1.8% 12.1% 22.4% 38.2% 25.5%

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agreed or strongly agreed that homework is useful (N=159, 96.9 per cent)and important for helping students to learn (N=154, 93.4 per cent) andalso beneficial for other courses and for daily life (N=73, 93.3 per cent).The mean value for these items was around 4.5 indicating that teachers' re-sponses fell between agreeand strongly agree.

Communications with parents about homework. The participants' re-sponses to items assessing communication with parents revealed that aboutone third of the teachers (N=57, 34.5 per cent) never or rarely talked tothe parents who intervened too much in their children's homework while

the rest of the teachers (N=108, 65.5 per cent) more frequently talked toparents demonstrating such behaviour (See Table 5). Approximately threequarters of the participants (N=130, 77.9 per cent) reported that they in-formed parents about their children's incomplete homework sometimes ormore frequently (M=3.47). The results also revealed frequent use of parentteacher meetings to give information about students' homework completionstatus (M=4.48). The majority of the teachers (N=148, 88.6 per cent)stated that they often or routinely inform parents about their children's

Table 4 Value attached to homework

Stronglydisagree

Disagree Undecided Agree Stronglyagree

Mean

Useful in helping

students to learn

- 2 3 55 104 4.59

1.2% 1.8% 33.5% 63.4%Important for helpingstudents to learn

3 - 8 58 96 4.481.8% 4.8% 35.2% 58.2%

Beneficial for studentsin areas that are notpart of the sciencecourse, such as othercourses and in daily life

1 2 8 65 88 4.450.6% 1.2% 4.9% 39.6% 53.7%

Table 5 Communication with parents about homework

Never Rarely Sometimes Often Routinely Mean

Talk to parents whointervene too muchin their children'shomework

21 36 47 34 27 3.0612.7% 21.8% 28.5% 20.6% 16.4%

Inform parents abouttheir children's

incomplete homework

6 31 39 61 30 3.473.6% 18.6% 23.4% 36.5% 18.0%

Inform parents abouttheir children's homeworkat parentteachermeetings

- 2 17 47 101 4.481.2% 10.2% 28.1% 60.5%

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homework completion at parentteacher meetings. Consequently, it can beargued that in general teachers do communicate with parents about students'homework.

Inferential statisticsThe relationships among class size, frequency of giving homework, value attached to

homework, communication with parents and homework completion rates

The relationships among class size, the frequency of giving homework,value a teacher gives to homework, communication with parents and stu-dents' homework completion rates were investigated through SEM usingLISREL 8.8 (Jreskog and Srbom, 2007). LISREL is a statistical softwarepackage which is widely used by researchers in order to test model fit tothe data (Scientific Software International, n.d.). In evaluating model fit,chi-square test and fit indices of root mean square error of approximation(RMSEA), comparative fit index (CFI) and goodness-of-fit index (GFI)were utilised. A non-statistically significant chi-square test indicates that ob-served covariance matrix and the reproduced implied covariance matrix fitto each other (Schumacker and Lomax, 2004). Another fit index related toresiduals is RMSEA. RMSEA values less than 0.05 is interpreted as verygood fit and values less than 0.10 as good fit to the data (Kelloway, 1998).CFI is used to assess comparative fit. CFI values of greater than 0.90 indi-cate good model fit (Netemeyer et al., 2003). GFI is a measure of amount

of variance and covariance in the observed matrix accounted for byreproduced matrix, and GFI value close to 0.95 indicates good model fit(Schumacker and Lomax, 2004). The results indicated that the proposedmodel fits to the data. The chi-square test was not statistically significant(2=26.740, df=24, p=0.317). Fit indices are given in Table 6.

According to the parameter estimates, class size was a significant and anegative predictor of the value teachers give to homework (=0.22)which means that teachers are likely to give less value to homework if theclass size is large. Findings suggested that the model explained 4.77 per

cent of the variance in the value variable. Furthermore, there was a signifi-cant and positive relationship between the value given to homework andcommunication with parents (=0.23). This finding implies that teacherswho give more value to homework are more likely to communicate withparents about homework. The model accounted for 5.11 per cent of thevariance in communication with parents. Communication with parents sig-nificantly and positively predicted students' homework completion rates(=0.33). The value placed on homework did not have a direct effecton the homework completion rate but its influence is mediated through

Table 6 Fit indices

2 df p GFI CFI RMSEA SRMR

26.740 24 0.317 0.968 0.990 0.016 0.060

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communication with parents. The model was able to account for 10.6 percent of the variance in the homework completion rates. On the other hand,neither class size nor the value teachers place on homework was a significantpredictor of how frequently homework is given. In summary, the model re-

veals relationships among class size, the value teachers give to homework,teacher communication with parents about homework and homework com-pletion rate of students. Teachers seem to attach more value to homework(i.e. think that doing homework is important and useful in helping studentsto learn, and also beneficial for students in areas that are not part of thescience course), if the class size is small. The more value teachers attach tohomework, the more frequently they inform parents about their child'shomework completion and talk to parents who intervene too much inchild's homework. Furthermore, teacher communication with parentsseems to facilitate student homework completion.

Discussion

The present study examined Turkish middle school science teachers' percep-tions and self-reported practices regarding homework. The teachersreported assigning homework frequently with the majority of the teachersassigning homework either once a week or at the end of every lesson. Withrespect to students' homework completion rates; slightly more than threequarters of the teachers (76.6 per cent) reported that 2575 per cent of the

students in their classes did homework regularly and only a few teachers(N=4) reported that all of the students in their classes did homework regu-larly. Since a positive correlation was found between completion of home-work and students' achievement in the relevant literature (Cooper et al.,1998), our findings point to a need for encouraging students to do theirhomework regularly.

Additionally, the results revealed that science teachers tended to assign avariety of homework types without focusing on a single specific type ofhomework. The most frequently assigned homework types were problem

solving and research homework while making summaries and memorizinginformation/formulas were the least preferred homework types. This find-ing is promising because over-reliance on particular types of assignmentsmay limit the benefit students get from doing homework and may also neg-atively influence their beliefs about school learning. If a teacher continu-ously assigns homework that requires students to memorize information,the students may think that homework is all about memorization. On theother hand students should not be lead to think that every piece of home-work requires creativity (Corno, 2000). Thus, it is recommended that dif-

ferent types of homework be assigned. Furthermore, the participantsreported assigning homework which is done individually more than that re-quiring group work. Yet, doing homework in groups contributes to the stu-dents' understanding of the material (Aladag and Dogu, 2009). However,some group homework may require parents' availability and it may be

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difficult for parents to find time due to work commitments (Reetz, 1990).Considering feasibility of group homework, teachers may assign moregroup homework.

The teachers' answers to reasons for giving homework revealed that they

assign homework mainly to help students learn the subject matter (e.g. tomake students apply the information and skills learned in the class) and de-velop study skills (e.g. to improve students' time management skills). In ad-dition, teachers also gave homework to prepare students for the next topicand to inform parents how well their child is doing. Homework is an im-portant tool to involve parents in the school process (Cooper, 1989).Homework provides parents with opportunity to involve in their child'slearning actively, helps parents understand educational program and helpsparents monitor their child's progress in the subject (Turkish Ministry ofNational Education, 2006). Muhlenbruck et al. (2000) suggested that ele-mentary school teachers give homework mainly with the aim of developingstudy skills such as time management while secondary school teachers morefocus on homework's contribution to the students' comprehension of thematerial. According to our results, Turkish middle school science teachersappear to be concerned with improving both their students' skill andknowledge. Turkish teachers' concern for homework's contribution to com-prehension of the subject matter may stem from the nation-wide exam thatstudents take at the end of middle school. Students' scores in this exam de-termine whether students will enrol in a prestigious high school or a regular

high school. Therefore, it is not unexpected to find that teachers assignhomework with the purpose of knowledge acquisition besides skill develop-ment in middle grades in Turkey. In further studies, we suggest comparisonof teachers' reasons for assigning homework in countries where high stakeexams are held and not held at the end of middle school years. Theseexams may include various conceptual questions and presence of nation-wide examinations may lead teachers to assign homework which is subjectmatter focused. On the other hand, in the absence of such examinations,teachers may be more concerned with developing study skills in their stu-

dents and assign homework accordingly.In addition, the results revealed that participants placed high value on

homework. The majority of the science teachers thought that homeworkwas useful and important in that it helped students learn science conceptsand was beneficial for other courses and for daily life, as well. This result isconsistent with Cooper et al. (1998)'s findings, which indicated thatteachers held positive attitudes towards homework and that teachers be-lieved in the positive effects of homework in helping students to learn, todevelop study skills and time management, and also that homework con-

tributed to students' interest in school.Moreover, structural equation modelling results revealed that class size

was a negative predictor of the value teachers placed on homeworkwhich means that teachers seemed to give less value to homework inlarge classes. It might not be feasible to follow up on homework, to go

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over each student's homework or to provide feedback in crowded classes,and thus teachers may find homework less effective. However, further re-search is needed to explain the underlying reasons for this relationship.The SEM findings also indicated that teachers who placed more value on

homework also talked to parents who intervened in their child's home-work and they informed parents about students' completion of theirhomework in parent meetings. This positive relationship between valueand communication with parents was expected because attitudes are im-portant determinants of how individuals behave (Kraus, 1995). Teacherswho believed that homework helped students learn the subject matterand prepared them for daily life also informed parents about their child'shomework practices and how to provide proper help. Therefore, it is im-portant that in-service and pre-service teacher education programs instilpositive attitudes in teachers towards homework. The results further re-vealed that communication with parents positively predicted the propor-tion of students who complete homework regularly. This relationship wasalso expected because teachers' communication may lead parents to bemore interested in their child's homework and provide proper help. Get-ting proper help from parents on homework helps students develop self-regulatory skills such as prioritizing tasks and time management (Corno,2000). Keith et al. (1993) found that parental involvement in students'homework strongly predicts the time students spend on homework.Therefore, as a result of parent involvement, students may show persever-

ance and spend more time while doing homework, which may explainhigher rates of homework completion. In order to increase parental in-volvement, the present study revealed the importance of teacher commu-nication with parents about their child's homework. On the other hand,in the model neither class size nor the value placed on homework was asignificant predictor of the frequency that teachers assigned homework.Further research is needed to investigate the impact of different variableson teachers' homework assignment frequency.

In addition, according to the descriptive findings, more than half of the

participants (58.8 per cent) thought that they had not been given sufficientpre-service training in effective homework and only a small percent ofteachers (12.0 per cent) took in-service education in homework. We suggestthat in-service and pre-service teacher education programs should incorpo-rate homework in their programs and should train teachers how to be moreeffective in homework practices (e.g. how to manage homework in largeclasses). Based on the findings of the study, we suggest these programs tofocus on the positive effects of homework on students' learning and the de-velopment of study skills so that teachers may place more value on home-

work and develop more positive attitudes towards homework. The morevalue teachers attach to homework, the more frequently they communicatewith parents about their child's homework. If teachers ask parents to be in-volved in their child's homework, parents are more likely to be involvedthan they are not asked (Balli et al., 1998). However, it is important that

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parents should provide proper help with their child's homework (Xu, 2004)and should not cause instructional confusions (Cooper, 1989) as parentalhomework support was positively related to academic outcomes (i.e. schoolgrades, general academic self-concept, and attitudes to school work) whereas

parental homework interference was negatively related to the academic out-comes (Dumontet al., 2012). Teachers should guide parents how to provideproper help in child's homework (Xu, 2004). Parents should not behave asinstructional experts or overly involve in homework beyond tutoring, butparents should be prompted to create suitable home environment and assistto facilitate students' homework completion (Cooper, 1989). Teacher train-ing on how to communicate with parents about assisting children with theirhomework is an important issue for teacher education programs to consider.

In conclusion, much is still to be revealed about teachers' homeworkpractice and its relation to student outcomes. The main conclusions andrecommendations which result from the current study are as follows. Therate of students in science classes that completes homework was low. Sci-ence teachers and parents may thus encourage students to do their home-work by communicating the importance of doing homework. Althoughscience teachers reported to assign various types of homework such asproblem solving and research, they were less tended to assign group home-work; most of the time they assigned homework done individually.Teachers may also try to give group homework which is suggested to becontributing to students' learning (Aladag and Dogu, 2009). When reasons

for assigning homework were examined, it was seen that Turkish middleschool science teachers were concerned with improving both students' skilland knowledge through homework. We suggested that Turkish teachersmay be concerned with enhancing students' knowledge acquisition throughhomework due to the central examination students take at the end of themiddle school. In further studies, we suggest comparing teachers' reasonsfor giving homework who teach in the presence and absence of such highstake examinations from different countries. Another finding of the presentstudy was that class size negatively predicted the value teachers attach to

homework. As an extension of this study it would be desirable to investi-gate if teachers had difficulties in large classes such as doing homeworkfollow-up and checking students' homework. Due to those difficulties inlarge classes, teachers may find homework less effective and place less valueon homework. Moreover, the present study revealed that teachers who at-tached more value to homework communicated better with parents abouttheir child's homework which in turn found to be positively related to pro-portion of students who complete homework regularly. Therefore, the pres-ent study points to the benefits that when teachers value homework, they

are more predisposed towards communicating with parents about home-work. It is important for in-service and pre-service teacher education pro-grams to instil positive attitudes towards homework. Furthermore, teachereducation programs can train teachers to have more effective communicationwith parents about homework and how to involve parents in their child's

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homework in a proper way, such as being not interfering but supporting theirchild's homework process. Teachers can be trained how to communicatethose homework involvement strategies with parents more effectively. Fur-ther research is needed to illuminate these issues and to evaluate effectiveness

of such trainings.

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Address for correspondenceYasemin Tas, Department of Elementary Education, Middle East Technical Uni-versity, Dumlupinar Boulevard, No: 1, 06800 ankaya/Ankara, Turkey. E-mail:

[email protected]

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C o p y r i g h t o f R e s e a r c h i n E d u c a t i o n i s t h e p r o p e r t y o f M a n c h e s t e r U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s a n d i t s

c o n t e n t m a y n o t b e c o p i e d o r e m a i l e d t o m u l t i p l e s i t e s o r p o s t e d t o a l i s t s e r v w i t h o u t t h e

c o p y r i g h t h o l d e r ' s e x p r e s s w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . H o w e v e r , u s e r s m a y p r i n t , d o w n l o a d , o r e m a i l

a r t i c l e s f o r i n d i v i d u a l u s e .

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