CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM
Introduction
Education is a systematic and scientific process of providing knowledge, skills
and experiences to develop a human force as per requirements of society. This is
accomplished by using different methods and resources at different levels of education
for different stakeholders like students, teachers, parents, administrators and others so
that every individual of the society be equipped with the desired change in behaviour to
be social, cultural, sympathetic and helpful to the other members of society and for the
nation. Educational institution is an important component of the system, where key role
is played by the teachers. Teacher is the personality who initiates all curriculum related
activities, motivate students to participate and learn from them and also help them to
use the newly acquired knowledge and skills in practical situations. Teachers fulfil their
obligations with sincere efforts in order to develop the youth of the nation to their full
potential. So, for making an efficient education system, availability of effective teachers
is the prerequisite and therefore on the top of every educational program, there is a
provision of some sort of teachers training and capacity building program. Usually the
purpose of these teachers training programs is to equip them with latest content
knowledge, modern methodologies, use of advance technology or other aspects of
academic or administrative nature, so that they may fulfil their responsibilities to the
fullest satisfaction of students, parents, society and above all their personal
satisfaction as a teacher, guide and facilitator.
1
!n the knowledge driven world of today, the pace of change is so fast that it even
defies "oor#s law. Even to stay at the same place, the organi$ations have to run fast.
Strategic advantages to the organi$ations come only from the core competences, which
are developed by the individuals working in it. Such levels of excellence can be
achieved only by investing in people. !nvestment must not confine to compensation
only, but must entail the inputs aimed at updating the skills of the employees. Training is
one such potion to cure the organi$ations of the sluggishness, which may creep in
because of the organi$ational inertia. Training is important, not only from the point of
view of the organi$ation, but also for the employees. !t gives them greater %ob security
and an opportunity for career advancement. & skill acquired through training is an asset
for the organi$ation and the employee. The benefits of training stay for a very long time.
So, every organi$ation must have a systematic training program for the growth and
development of its employees.
The same applies for the teachers in the schools, although some individuals are
born teachers and do not need much training for learning skills of teaching. Their
sincerity paves the path for self'learning and some times, such self'made teachers have
been found more effective than formally trained teachers. (owever, in case of ma%ority,
teacher learning is facilitated by training programs delivered before entry into teaching
profession and also while continuing in teaching. )rofessional education or training is
more important in teaching, because a trained teacher can teach better and can
progress than an un'trained teacher.
!t is believed that as a result of these training programs, teachers utili$e their
updated knowledge, experience, practices and well managed strategies to satisfy the
2
challenging demands of their profession. !f the teachers are properly educated, rightly
guided, well trained and motivated, give better performance in and outside the
classrooms. *ithout effective instruction and communication, a teacher cannot
accurately deliver the sub%ect content to the students, who in turn cannot correctly
understand and reply in the class, nor write on the answer sheet, so the whole process
of teaching and learning is sabotaged by ignoring and not properly addressing this one
aspect of effective interaction in the class between teachers and students+.
!n view of the above considerations, the proponent of the study wants to know
the implications of various ,epEd service training to the effectiveness of secondary
school teachers in &raling )anlipunan in the ,ivision of -atangas .ity.
Statement of the Problem
!n the )hilippines particularly in the ,ivision of -atangas .ity, there are various
challenges in the field of teachers training. "ost important of all, is the shortage of
sufficient number of trainings for different areas like, curriculum development, teaching
methodology, students# evaluation, classroom management, planning and
administration. !mmediate in this aspect is the /uality of Teacher Training programs.
The better a teacher is trained, the better he or she can educate tomorrow0s generation
of -atangueos. &dditionally, teacher training puts positive impact on teachers and
students0 sub%ect knowledge. !n this way, the information shared by the teachers to
facilitate children improve their knowledge but help to stay in school, and decrease low
scores and dropout rate. !n )akistan in general and province of Sindh in particular,
numerous English language and other training programs were launched at national,
3
provincial and district level, but unfortunately these attempts proved to be only partially
successful and not to the satisfaction of stakeholders.
!n view of this, the researcher wants to know the viability of assigning homework
as a means to improve the academic performance of the students.
Specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions1
2. (ow does assigning homework impact the attitude of the students as
assessed by the respondents3
4. (ow does homework assignment affect the academic performance of the
students3
5. *hat homework approaches and practices can be proposed in order to
improve the academic performance of the students3
Scope !elimitation and Limitation of the Stud"
The study will determine the observable attitude of the students towards
homework assignment and the academic performance of the students in Science as
perceived by 6rade 7 Science Teachers in the ,ivision of -atangas .ity. 8urthermore,
the study will also assess the effects of homework assignment to the academic
performance of the students. 8urthermore, the study will propose various homework
approaches and practices that will improve the learning outcomes of the students.
4
The participants of the study are 49 6rade 7 Science Teachers in the ,ivision of
-atangas .ity for School :ear 4;25'4;2<.
The study is limited to the perception of 6rade 7 Science Teachers in the
,ivision of -atangas .ity regarding their students# academic performance and attitude
towards homework and the students# perceptions will not be included.
The study is further defined by the effects of homework on student performance.
8urthermore, the study researches the benefits and drawbacks of home work from the
perspective of the science teachers only.
8inally as there is no study conducted regarding the effects of homework on
8ilipino students, the study will use mostly foreign literature and studies.
Si#nificance of the Stud"
"any educators have claimed that homework is a valuable tool that strengthens
students# performances on assessments and tests= however, when students perform
low on those assessments, it is necessary to examine if homework is the common
denominator of student success.
Specifically, the study is significant to the following1
To the Science teachers, the aim is to pinpoint the effects of homework at
specific grade levels and help teachers find the most effective approaches to any
homework activity that will benefit students and increase learning outcomes. !t will also
address the necessity of allowing students to maintain a healthy balance between time
dedicated to schoolwork and time participating in extracurricular activities. These
activities teach them the importance of making quality decisions, help them explore
career paths of individual interest, and fit their unique gifts and talents.
5
To the students, the study will determine if homework assignment can help them
improve their academic performance and teach them discipline in learning even outside
the confine of the classrooms.
To the parents and the academe, this study will assist them in determining if the
benefits of homework outweigh the costs, or if homework is detrimental to the learning
needs of students and takes away valuable time that could be used to develop their
unique sets of gifts and talents. The study will also serve as a framework for further
study regarding the effects of homework to 67 students.
6
CHAPTER II
RE$IE% O& RELATE! LITERAT'RE
This chapter presents the literature from secondary sources such as books,
%ournals and internet which are deemed relevant to the present study.
Conceptual Literature
8or over 2;; years, U.S. educators have debated the importance of homework
and the amount of homework students should be assigned. !n the early 2>;;s, many
school districts banned homework, especially at the elementary level, in an effort to
discourage rote learning. !n the 2>9;s, the cold war and ?ussia#s launch of the Sputnik
satellite led to increased homework loads. !n the late 2>@;s and throughout the 2>7;s,
homework assignments again declined, but fears about the country#s economic
competitiveness created pressure on educators to assign more homework. ,uring the
2>A;s and 2>>;s, the ma%ority of the public supported homework. Today, however,
there is increasing disagreement about the value of homework and how much
homework to assign B.enter for )ublic Education as cited by (ayward, 4;2;C
(omework has been defined simply as tasks assigned to students by school
teachers that are meant to be carried out during non'school hours+. -ut definitions of
homework become more complicated when variations in the types of assignments given
are considered1 difficulty level= skill or sub%ect area= completion deadline Bshort' or long'
termC= degree of individuali$ation= social context Bcompleted independently or with other
studentsC= mandatory or voluntary= and if it will be submitted for grading B.ooper,
4;;2;C. 8urthermore, teachers assign homework for many different reasons, although
researchers have noted that most assignments usually serve multiple purposes.
7
(omework is a part of life for students of all ages and grade levels, and has been
a topic of research for some time. ?esearch on homework has focused largely on
interventions related to homework completion and the positive and negative outcomes
that result from homework performance and completion, especially those related to
academic achievement BTrautwein and Dudtke, 4;;>C. .ooper as cited by 6eary B4;2;C
defines homework as tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are meant to
be carried out during non' school hours.+ 6eary B4;2;C further notes that, although
homework can be completed during school hours, for example in study hall, homework
does not include guided work completed during school hours. Extracurricular activities
and home study+ programs are also not considered homework. .ooper0s definition of
homework does not include studying and classroom behavior related to homework
completion, such as writing down assignments. The current study expands upon
.ooper#s definition to include these important components of homework.
)roponents of homework believe it can benefit students when used
appropriately. The most obvious benefit is that it will improve students# understanding of
the material covered. (omework helps students develop good study habits, such as
goal setting, following directions, organi$ing materials, planning ahead, and budgeting
time, as well as strategies for dealing with mistakes, difficulties, and distractions B.enter
for )ublic Education as cited by (ayward, 4;2;C. !n addition, homework also helps
students develop positive attitudes toward school and a sense of personal responsibility
B.enter for )ublic Education as cited by (ayward, 4;2;C.
(omework may also encourage cheating B.anadian .ouncil on Dearning 4;;AC
in a sense that students admitted to cheating by copying other students# homework,
8
downloading material from the !nternet, or having their parents complete the homework.
8inally, homework can widen social inequalities. .ompared to their higher income
peers, students from lower income homes are more likely to work after school and less
likely to have an environment conducive to studying B.anadian .ouncil on Dearning,
4;;AC.
&lthough homework completion may have both positive and negative outcomes,
it can be argued that the positive effects of homework completion outweigh the negative
effects. )ositive effects of homework seem to be greater than negative effects of
homework, and the occurrence of negative effects seems to occur less often. ,espite
which is greater or occurs most often, homework most likely will continue to be assigned
given its long history as part of the education system and curriculum BEralovec, 4;;7C.
&s such, it is important to develop interventions that focus on reducing the negative
effects and problems associated with homework and its completion. &n important step
in developing an intervention is to identify specific behaviors and situations that make
homework completion problematic. -ehaviors explored should include those related to
the home setting and situation at the time of homework completion, classroom
behaviors related to homework, and studying, as each of these may affect a student#s
ability to complete homework. The identification of specific problems associated with
poor homework completion can help clinicians better develop and implement an
appropriate intervention for the individual.
Re(earch Literature
&ssigning homework in class has been a long standing tradition in education. &
study performed by *ilson F ?hodes B4;2;C showed that A@G of the students in the
9
study agreed that homework reinforces concepts learned in class and @7G reported that
homework helps them understand the sub%ect matter better. !n this study, @<G of
students disagreed with the statement that homework provides little or no purpose.
These types of results would make one think that homework completion should not be
an issue, and yet it is. So what are the reasons or factors that prevent students from
completing their homework3
Hne reason or factor that may prevent students from completing their homework
is intrinsic motivation. & study performed by ,eci, .onnell, and ?yan as cited by
*atkins B4;24C determined that intrinsic motivation is increased when an individual feels
independent and when information is provided about their competence in exploring their
environment. This indicates that if students feel as though they are learning on their own
and receive feedback from their teacher about what they are doing correctly and what
they need to improve upon, they will be more motivated to complete the assignment.
This study also showed that when an environment that an individual experiences is not
controlled by himIher, individuality and therefore intrinsic motivation decreases. This
indicates, again, that if teachers are controlling every little thing that the students are to
be doing and do not allow for students to learn on their own and show individuality,
students will be less motivated to complete the assignment. ?yan F ,eci in 4;;; as
cited by *atkins B4;24C found that choice positively impacts intrinsic motivation and
people will have an increased intrinsic motivation to complete a task if the task allows
them to make personal choices. & study done by )atall, et al. B4;2;C confirmed the
findings of ?yan F ,eci showing that providing students with choices in homework tasks
increases their intrinsic motivation and performance. )roviding two or three choices for
10
a pro%ect for students to choose from would be one way in which they would have some
control and therefore lead to more intrinsic motivation to complete the pro%ect.
&lthough motivation is a ma%or player in a student#s completion of homework,
there are other factors that may also be contributors. &s alluded to earlier by the study
performed by *arton as cited by *atkins B4;24C, the perceived quality of the homework
assignment by the student is a factor in completion of assignments. & quality
assignment is one students find beneficial, aiding them in their learning, practicing what
has been learned in class with clear directions as to what is to be done. This factor was
confirmed by Trautwein and DJtke B4;;>C which found that the perceived quality of the
assignment has a positive effect on a student completing the assignment. !f the
students believe the assignment is valuable, it will help them understand content, help
them to perform well on exams, and they may show greater interest in the assignment
thus leading to the completion of an assignment. 8urther, Ku B4;22C found a positive
relationship between homework completion and interest in the assignment.
Lust as important as motivation, quality, and interest are to completion of
homework are where and how the homework is being completed, that is, the
environment. Eackar, et al. B4;22C indicated that high school students have greater
concentration on their homework when they work alone versus working with another
individual or group therefore leading to greater effort and completion of assignments.
This same study also showed that doing homework at home also led to greater
concentration contrasted with lower levels of concentration, effort, and interest when
working on homework in class. This study indicates that the environment in which
11
homework is being done has a large impact on the interest, concentration, and effort of
a student.
)erhaps the most interesting factor in homework completion regarding what a
teacher can do is feedback from teachers pertaining to the homework assignments. Ku
B4;22C has indicated that teacher feedback has a positive effect on homework
completion. *ithout feedback, a student is in the dark as to knowing whether or not they
comprehend the topic being studied. & student may also feel as though the teacher
does not place much value in the assignments and thus the student starts placing less
value and effort in the assignments. *ilson and ?hodes B4;2;C found that <<G 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. *ithout proper or timely feedback
students do not know what they need to work on or what kind of additional help they
need.
Understanding of what an assignment is asking a student to do is another aspect
of homework completion. )erhaps not as surprising, <5G of the students in the survey
by *ilson and ?hodes B4;2;C indicated that they do not complete their homework
because they do not understand it. Understanding how and what to do for the
assignment is crucial in the completion of the homework which leads back to the
importance of having a quality homework assignment to encourage and motivate
students.
The final factor that needs to be considered when it comes to homework
completion is probably the most powerful as seen by teachers like the researcher '
12
outside influences. Extra'curricular activities like %obs and time management skills are a
few of these outside influences. !n *ilson and ?hodes B4;2;C, 5@G of the students said
that extra'curricular activities caused them to get home late and be unable to finish their
homework. This reported percentage is likely lower than actual due to whether students
understood the phrase extra'curricular activities+ to mean only school'sponsored
activities and not %obs. )articipation in extra'curricular activities leads to a student
needing to have time management skills and students may need help in learning those
skills. Ku B4;22C found that the management of time to do homework is positively
related to homework completion.
Hne of few papers using non'US data is, who find for 6ermany that homework
frequency is more important than the time students# use on mathematics homework in a
cross'section framework. Using data from T!"SS 4;;5, -aker et al. B4;;7C find that
teachers in countries with low average student achievement assign more homework
than teachers in countries with high achievement, see also ,ettmers et al. B4;;>C.
,ettmers et al. B4;;>C use another international comparable achievement test, and find
in most countries a positive association between achievement in mathematics and
average homework time at the class level as reported by the students.
The small literature in economics which addresses the causal effect of homework
is mainly concentrated to students at the university level. 6rodner and ?upp B4;2;C
present evidence from a field experiment in which a treatment group of students was
required to do homework. They find that the treatment group got significantly better
learning outcomes. The novelty of 6rodner and ?upp0s paper is that they are able to
separate between the effect of being assigned homework and the effect of completing
13
homework. -y exploiting natural experiments which randomly divided students into
different study groups, Emerson and "encken B4;2;C find that students in groups with
graded homework increased their achievement.
"c"ullen and -usscher B4;;>C study younger students, and is thus more
comparable to the present study. They use data for students in first to fifth grade from
the US survey Early .hildhood Dongitudinal Study and find no relationship between
homework and achievement in pooled regressions. (owever, in models with student
fixed effects, both the time teachers expect their students to spend on homework and
the number of times per week the parents report their children worked on homework
have positive effects on mathematics and reading achievement.
!n a recent paper, Eren and (enderson B4;22C exploit that eight grade students
in MEDS are tested in two different sub%ects. They argue that it is possible to include
both student fixed effects and teacher fixed effects in the model. !t turns out that the
effect of assigned homework, given student fixed effects, is extremely sensitive to the
inclusion of teacher fixed effects. The results are driven by a large homework effect in
mathematics.
There are some attempts to estimate heterogeneous effects of homework in the
literature. -oth ?onning B4;22C and Eren and (enderson B4;22C find that only students
from higher educated parents benefit from homework. ?onning B4;22C also shows that
higher educated parents help more with homework than lower educated parents, and
suggests that assigning homework can amplify existing inequalities through
complementarities with home inputs.
14
"achin and "cMally B4;;AC study a highly structured literacy hour that was
introduced in English primary schools in the 2>>;s, and find that the change in teaching
method significantly increased literacy skills. Schwerdt and *uppermann B4;;>C exploit
between sub%ect variations in lecturing style at eighth grade. They find that traditional
lecture type teaching yields higher student achievement than in'class teaching time
used for problem solving.
S"nthe(i(
The studies conducted by "achin and "cMally, and *ilson and ?hodes and the
present study marked similarities in a way that both studies dealt with homework
assignment and completion and its effects to the academic performance of the students.
(owever, there are also differences in the context of the studies. The present study
uses local setting while the other two studies are international in scope. !n addition, the
researcher only uses homework assignment and academic performance in Science
while the other studies used "athematics and Science.
8inally, the literature and studies served as the foundation for the interpretation
and analysis of the data gathered in the present study.
15
Re(earch Paradi#m
I)P'T PROCESS O'TP'T
&i#ure 1
?esearch )aradigm on the Effects of (omework &ssignment on the &cademic
)erformance of 6rade 7 Science Students in the ,ivision of -atangas .ity
16
Ob(er*able
attitude of the
(tudent(
to+ard(
home+or,
Academic
performance of
-. (tudent( in
Science
Effect( of
home+or,
a((i#nment on
the academic
performance of
the (tudent(
!ata #atherin#
throu#h
Literature
Re*ie+
/ue(tionnaire
Propo(ed
Home+or,
Approache(
and Strate#ie(
to Impro*e
Academic
Performance in
Science
&EE!BAC0
CHAPTER III
Re(earch Methodolo#"
Re(earch !e(i#n
This study entitled ?elationship of homework completion to the academic
performance of 6rade 7 students in Science among public secondary schools in the
,ivision of -atangas+ as perceived by 6rade 7 Science Teachers is a descriptive and
qualitative research that attempted to gather existing information and insights regarding
the effects of homework on students# academic achievement. The study is descriptive
because it describes and documents aspect of a situation as it naturally occurs. Hn the
other hand, it is also qualitative as it quantified the perceptions of the respondents with
respect to the sub%ect area for analysis.
The research utili$ed both the descriptive and exploratory research methods in
the conduct of the study. ,escriptive research is a method used to obtain information
and describe what exists within the variables or conditions of the situation. Surveys and
observation were used as the main tool in presenting the study. Since the effects of
homework on the academic performance of 8ilipino students are new to the proponent,
exploratory research was also used in order to familiari$e with the concept of the
problem under study. The researcher made use of existing literature in order to verify
her observations and come up with preliminary ideas regarding the research problem.
Sub1ect of the Stud"
The sub%ects of the study are the Science teachers teaching 6rade 7 students in
the secondary schools under the ,ivision of -atangas .ity.
17
!ata -atherin# In(trument
The researcher used various instruments in order to obtain the data needed for
the conduct of the study. Hne of these instruments is the survey questionnaire which
also served as the main data'gathering instrument.
Preparation of the /ue(tionnaire2 The questionnaire is divided into 5 parts
each of which will answer the statement of the problem posited in .hapter 2. The
questions were structured using the Dikert format. !n this survey type, four choices are
provided for every question or statement. The choices represent the degree of
agreement of each respondent regarding the statement in the survey questionnaire. The
scale was used to interpret the total responses of all the respondents by computing the
weighted mean. The Dikert survey was the selected questionnaire type as this enabled
the respondents to answer the survey easily. !n addition, this research instrument
allowed the research to carry out the quantitative approach effectively with the use of
statistics for data interpretation.
$alidation of the /ue(tionnaire2 The researcher will submit a draft of the
survey questionnaire to the school )rincipal and the members of the research
committee of the ,ivision of -atangas .ity for approval.
Admini(tration of the /ue(tionnaire2 The proponent of the study will
personally distribute the approved questionnaire to the 6rade 7 science teachers in the
different public schools in the ,ivision of -atangas .ity. This will also give the
researcher the opportunity to further explain to the respondents the purpose and
ob%ectives of the study.
18
!ata -atherin# Procedure
The data for the study was collected from books, %ournals, unpublished thesis
and from other electronic sources. "ost importantly, the data for this research will be
collected from the survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire was based on the
concepts and literatures collected regarding the sub%ect of the study. The members of
the research committee of the ,ivision of -atangas .ity will validate the questionnaire
before distribution to the participants of the study. The researcher will assure the
respondents of the confidentiality of their responses and will only be used for academic
purposes. The researcher also understood the people#s consciousness may also affect
their honesty and effectiveness in answering the survey, thus, the option of being
anonymous was given to them.
Stati(tical Treatment of !ata
!n analysis of data gathered from the perceptions of the respondents, the
researcher will use the internationally accepted S)SS Nersion 4;.; or the Statistics
)rogram of !-" to quantify the results.
Percenta#e2This is used to determine the relationship between two magnitudes
as a part of a whole.
The formula of percentage is1
P3&4) 5 166
*here1
)O percentage
8O total number of responses under one category
MO number of participants
19
2;;O constant multiplier
%ei#hted Mean. !t is synonymous to average. !t is the summing up of all the
value of items divided by total number of the participants. The following formula is used
for the weighted mean.
*here1
x' is the repeating value
w' is the number of occurrences of x BweightC
x' is the weighted mean
20
BIBLIO-RAPH7
Emerson, T. M. and "encken, E. ,. B4;22C. (omework1 To ?equire or Mot3 Hnline
6raded (omework and Student &chievement. 8orthcoming in )erspectives on
Economic Education ?esearch
6rodner &. and ?upp M. 6. B4;22C. The ?ole of (omework on Student Dearning
Hutcomes1 Evidence from a 8ield Experiment. *orking )aper, East .arolina
University
"achin S. and S. "cMally B4;;AC. The Diteracy (our. Lournal of )ublic Economics, >4,
22<2'2<@4.
?onning, ". B4;22C. *ho benefits from homework assignments3 Economics of
Education ?eview, 5;, 99'@<.
Schwerdt 6. and *uppermann &. .. B4;;>C. !s Traditional Teaching really all that -ad3
& *ithin'Student -etween'Sub%ect &pproach. .ESifo *orking )aper Mo.4@5<,
"unich
Trautwein, U., DJdtke, H., F )ieper, S. B4;2;C. Learning Opportunities Provided by
Homework. "ax )lanck !nstitute for (uman ,evelopment, -erlin, 6ermany.
?etrieved from http1IIwww.mpib'
berlin.mpg.deIenIforschungIeubIpro%ekteIhalo.htm.
21