Abstract
The interest of assigning homework is frequently discussed due to its alleged low impact on student achievement. One of the current lines of research is to emphasize the quality of student homework engagement rather than the amount of time spent on homework. The aim of this study was to determine (a) the extent to which students’ prior achievement affects their homework engagement (i.e., time spent, time management, and amount of teacher-assigned homework done), and (b) how students’ intrinsic motivation toward homework may mediate or moderate the relationship between prior achievement and the homework engagement variables. A large sample of students from the first 4 years of Secondary Education (N = 1899) completed questionnaires. The results showed that intrinsic motivation partially mediates, but does not moderate, the effect of prior achievement on the three variables related to homework engagement (time spent, time management, and amount of teacher-assigned homework done). These results highlight the importance of considering both students’ current level of achievement and their motivation toward homework engagement when assigning homework.
Highlights
Homework assignment is used regularly as an instructional strategy to optimize students’ learning and academic achievement (Cooper et al, 2006; Ramdass and Zimmerman, 2011)
Prior Achievement, Motivation and Homework was significantly related both to students’ subsequent motivation to do homework and to their homework engagement
The present study analyzes the mediator or moderator role of intrinsic motivation regarding the effect of prior achievement on student homework engagement
Summary
Homework assignment is used regularly as an instructional strategy to optimize students’ learning and academic achievement (Cooper et al, 2006; Ramdass and Zimmerman, 2011). For example, when family involvement becomes more controlling and there is lower motivational and emotional support (Núñez et al, 2015c, 2017; Regueiro et al, 2017a), teachers develop low expectations about the students’ engagement and future achievement (Kloomok and Cosden, 1994; Pitzer and Skinner, 2017; Zhu et al, 2018), and the students develop more negative expectations about their competence and future performance, and become discouraged and cease to engage progressively These unfavorable affectivemotivational conditions, in turn, are an added handicap to the already poor personal conditions (low academic achievement) when facing the learning experiences (Ben-Naim et al, 2017). All of this often leads to a new academic failure, either partial (Klassen et al, 2008) or generalized to the entire academic area (Shifrer, 2016)
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