How to Increase Student Motivation to Complete Their Homework - Essay Example

How to Increase Motivation to Complete Their Homework In the learning environment, there are many factors that contribute to students learning engagement both in school and at home. The involvement of both teacher and the parents is key in the performance of students in their academic work especially their homework. Home has been utilized as a supplement to classroom teaching yet studies show that very few students like doing their assignment (Tileston, 2010). Instead, they would prefer watching another episode in their favorite TV program rather than sit down and do their homework. In the recent past, there have been debates on the importance of homework. While some parents and educators firmly believed that assigning homework is an important aspect in academic achievement of the students, some however call the practice in question. According to Khalkhali and Golestaneh (2011), some critics have argued that not all students go home to a quiet and support environment and thus have little chance of being successful with out-of-class assignment. Others argue that homework contribute significantly to students’ negative attitude towards the school and teachers especially if it is a source of conflict between students and parent or is linked to punishment and other consequences either at school or at home (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014). The proponents of assignment argue that the homework serves the students to review and practice what they have learnt and also prepare them for the next class (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014). The present study therefore seeks to establish different motivational approaches that can be used by the student’s teachers and parents to enhance their ability to do homework; and also give responses to what discourages student to like homework. Introduction Student motivation is the student’s willingness, need, desire and compulsion to participate successfully in the learning process (Tileston, 2010). Note worthy, student motivation can be categorized into two: Extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. According to Wiseman and Hunt (2014), a student can be extrinsically motivated when he or she engages in learning basically for the sake of attaining a reward or avoiding some inevitable punishment related to failure to do so. Various institutions of learning have their unique ways of extrinsically motivating their students publicly either by recognizing their academic achievements or giving out rewards (Tileston, 2010). On the other hand; a student is intrinsically motivated internally out of curiosity, interest or enjoyment in order to achieve their intellectual or personal goals. These kinds of students mostly need no external kind of reward in order to complete a task and are mostly interested by the challenging nature of the activity (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014). However, academic environment also provides motivation to students especially regarding the academic progress. A student’s environment is mainly composed of teachers, fellow students and of course parental concerns (Tileston, 2010). The scope of the present study is to demonstrate, therefore, how the student’s motivations can be increased more particularly in doing their homework. This paper focuses on classroom setting, and parental dependence on motivations build up, since parental link can never be detached completely from the student’s performance. Moreover, they affect the general outcome of their children. Literature Review Earlier studies indicate that there are many factors affecting a given student’s motivation to work or learn. These factors may include "interest in the subject matter, perception of its usefulness, the general desire to achieve, self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as patience and persistence" (Jeffrey, 2008). Studies have linked students’ homework performance to both the teachers at school and parents at home (Sen et al., 2009). They emphasize on the way parent’s influence students in doing their homework. The parents’ involvement focus on the student’s homework efforts, completion and accuracy play a pivotal point in the student’s education. This is because it is only through the assigned work that the parents will follow what their children are being taught and his overall performance (Kart et al., 2011). Many literatures have since been published regarding the homework practice, but the scope of this paper will limit the period of the previous studies to recent ones- for the last seven years. The related topic may include teachers’ involvement in motivating the student to do their homework and may what strategies he/she uses to ensure that the students do their homework effectively. Motivational Strategies Motivational approaches to student to do their homework can be categorized under two broad strategies: school Support motivational strategy and Out-of-school Motivational strategy. Motivating student paper however highlights only the former strategy which emphasizes on motivating students in school (Sen et al., 2009). School Support Motivational Strategies According to Khalkhali and Golestaneh (2011), students’ motivation to learning is an acquired competence developed through experience, but stimulated directly through modeling, communication of expectations and direct instructions or socialization by others more particularly the parents and the teachers. Teachers or instructors’ role is to facilitate learning among students and in order to enhance students’ learning and motivation to do homework after class all depend on their relation with the students (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014). Factors contributing to increasing students’ motivation: Reduce the ‘effort’ needed to complete an academic assignment: studies indicate that the amount of effort needed to undertake an assignment activity will play an important role in how the students get motivated to do the work (Kart et al., (2011). This leads us the question of how much homework is enough? According to Wiseman and Hunt (2014), the first step in maximizing the effectiveness of homework is determining the appropriate amount of work to assign to the students. Moreover, the more time taken in doing the assignment does not necessarily lead to higher achievement in the overall performance, and it can be a cause of demoralization among the students towards homework (Tileston, 2010). Connect academic requirements to real-world situation: the media is full of material related to students’ coursework and therefore when the assigned homework should give the students an opportunity to relate what they learn with real-world experiences (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014). This will make the students not feel bored and as such feel demotivated to do the assignments. Communicate your expectation of success: As an instructor, your expectation of the assignment should be communicated to both the parents and the students earlier on in the beginning of the academic year (Sen et al., 2009). This will make the student always to work towards achieving a specified goal. Avoid excessive competition: Tileston (2010) observes that inasmuch as competitions, usually, have a great impact on class overall performance it may also have a negative influence on individual’s motivation especially regarding the out-of-class assignments. Intense and extremely competitive types of classroom settings can induce anxiety which can interfere with students’ learning, thereby, counteracting the teachers’ goal of motivation (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014) Constructive and timely feedback: Everybody wants to be recognized and praised for their achievement. Students as well would want recognition for the hard work and their efforts they put in doing assignment, both within and without the classroom walls (Khalkhali $ Golestaneh, 2011). By returning the assigned homework and constructively communicating positive and negative feedback, one is able to acknowledge the students hard work and at the same time still encourage them to strive for more (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014). However, when students do not receive any feedback, then they would not be in a position to realize whether they are meeting the instructor’s expectation or not. Feedback on the work submitted by the students’ acts as pointers to the students that direction they need to go, and it also provides them knowledge of their point of weakness and how to improve on such. But when the assignments are simply checked off as completed without a feedback in them, the students will perceive them as meaningless leading to a sense of frustration and low-quality work next time (Khalkhali & Golestaneh, 2011). Proper Coordination: the instructor should make an effort to coordinate with other teachers so that the students are not overwhelmed with long assignments for several classes all on one night. This will make the students tend to feel tired and bored with the school assignment allocation procedures (Tileston, 2010). Build on rewarding opportunities for social interaction: A student may find an otherwise tedious and frustrating task to be more motivating when it provides an opportunity for social interaction. Instructors may consider the use of social situations such as Cross-peer tutoring, cooperative learning groups and informal ‘study group’ as motivational tools (Khalkhali & Golestaneh, 2011). These social situations also offer the opportunity for reviewing academic learning skills. Note worthy however, (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014) is that social interaction can be a source of distractions and so the instructor must keep their expectation to be the priority from the outset and they must monitor these social grouping to ensure the students remain focused (Tileston, 2010). Show enthusiasm: the instructor is the major source of stimulation for the academic course content and the overall tone of the class. Therefore, it is of importance that the instructor imposes an attitude towards the course in a similar manner that he/she would want the students to portray towards the same (Jeffrey, 2008). If the instructor appeared bored and less interested in the course then most likely the same attitude will be duplicated in the learners. Accountability: providing learners with a sense of accountability can ensure prompt and appropriate response in doing homework. Tileston (2010) notes that without the idea of a deadline and a grade to be achieved, many students would never have the self-motivation that is necessary for assignment completion. Right from the outset the students should be told their targets and what requirements are needed for them to achieve those targets. From this, the individual student would know that their success is completely dependent upon their efforts (Kart et al., 2011). The teacher should also strive to make the assignment simpler for their students. This can be done by the teacher taking time to explain instructions related to the homework and allow time for questions. Wiseman and Hunt (2014) propose that if possible the students should be given time to start their homework assignments in class so that the teacher can be sure they understood the questions. Creation of a threat-free environment: while students do need to understand that there are consequences for their actions, far more motivating strategies than threats are positive reinforcements. According Tileston (2010) when instructors create a safe and supportive environment for students, affirming their belief in the student’s ability rather than laying out the various consequences of not doing the assignment. Students are likely to get and stay motivated throughout the course. The use of extrinsic reward, nonetheless, sparingly: extrinsic motivators can be used to reward an extra effort accomplish a given task (Khalkhali & Golestaneh, 2011). However, rewards should be given only when they are clearly deserved. And again no prizes or rewards should students for a minimally successful accomplished work since this will send the message that even minimum efforts are allowed, thus rendering reward meaningless(Wiseman & Hunt, 2014). Evaluation: the evaluation of the students should on the tasks done and not in comparison to the other students in class (Wiseman & Hunt, 2014). When students are compared to other students, a sense of inferiority is likely to set in especially if the student is not performing as compared to the other students. Strength and Limitation of Motivational Strategies Strengths: Intrinsic motivations are long lasting; they come from within oneself and thus does not rely on outside factors; minimal cost to educator and parents incurred for external rewards and students are typically more productive (Tileston, 2010). Extrinsic on the other side; quick results are realized and can be very effective means of motivation especially in the short term (Kart et al., 2011). Limitations: Intrinsic motivation can be very difficult to achieve; it often develops over a long period of time thus can be very difficult in short term goals; and again instructor or the educators must have an in-depth knowledge of each individual student in order to promote it. Whereas, extrinsic may be more effective only in short term basis; can also be seen as a bribe or coercion method especially in rewards or prize giving(Kart et al., 2011). Conclusion Motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, is the key factor in the success of students at all stages of their education. Teachers, therefore, play a pivotal balance in seeing into it that students are quite motivated, and the best got from them. Different students are motivated differently, and it takes time and a lot of efforts to learn and to get a classroom full of students enthusiastic about learning, working hard and pushing themselves to excel. Different motivational strategies suit different circumstance and different student, taking into consideration the extrinsically and intrinsically motivated. Conducive environment both at school and home with ready adults to listen to the students needs offer a good environment to boost the students morale in studies, consequently good achievement in homework. Homework provides a pathway to help students become a better learner, and it enhances their understanding of the topic previously discussed in class. The teacher’s feedback, individual evaluation, quality social relationship, threat-free environment, use of rewards and ensuring accountability among the student, are some of the strategies that can be used in a classroom setting. When the right strategy is used, students can get motivated, and so develop a positive attitude towards homework. However, these motivational strategies have their side of weaknesses. Reference List Jeffrey, M. (2008). A Description of Parental Involvement and Its Effects on Students’ Achievement. ProQuest: 77. Kart, I., Kaplan, A., & Buzukashvily, T. (2011). “The Role of Parents Motivation In Students Autonomous Motivation for Doing Homework.” Learning and Individual Difference, 21(4): 376-386. Khalkhali, V., & Golestaneh, S.M. (2011). “Examining the Impact of Teacher Motivational Style and Competition Result on Student’ Subjective Vitality and Happiness in Physical Education.” Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, 2990. Sen, A., Burns, S. & Miller, D.C. (2009). “Teacher Strategies to Help Fourth- Graders Having Difficulty in Reading: An International Perspective.” Statistics in Brief Tileston, D.W., (2010). What Every Teacher Should Know About Student Motivation. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. Wiseman, D.G., & Hunt, GG.H. (2014). Best Practice in Motivation and Management in the Classroom, (3rd Ed.). Springfield. Read More