Another week means another blog. I didn’t give a very thorough explanation of my research goals and plans in the previous entry, so I’ll try to go a little more in-depth with that, plus I’ll be sure to highlight the qualitative aspects of my (potential) study to satisfy Dr. McCoy’s request.
As I said before, I want to examine the relationship between the amount of homework assigned in literature classes and students’ responses to that homework. What I would like to know is whether there is a generally distinguishable point at which students “check out” and decide not to read. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to have a goal, but here’s mine: I would like for this study to provide insight for teachers on the way that students perceive homework. I think that a better understanding of the way students think about these tasks would help teachers to come up with homework assignments that are more likely to be completed.
I realize that that point of fatigue probably will not translate into a specific number of pages (as in, “I don’t read if it’s over 25 pages”). It might be dependent on the work’s level of difficulty. For example, a student might give up more quickly when trying to read “The Wasteland” than when he/she is trying to read “Like Water for Chocolate.” (Not that I would assign “The Wasteland” as part of a homework assignment. That’s cruel and unusual.) Maybe students have observed that the material assigned as homework is seldom covered in class or on tests, and so decide not to do it. Do students see their homework assignments as integral to their classes? Do students who do not complete their homework tend to read as much as they can, or do they generally decide not to do homework before attempting to read? As Amber pointed out (thanks, Amber!), this will probably vary according to students’ ability level, so I may want to use stratified sampling, taking a certain number from a regular class, an honors class, and an AP class.
As Dr. McCoy suggested, it may be helpful, especially if this ends up being a primarily qualitative study, to interview teachers so that I can discover teachers’ perceptions of their homework assignments and compare them with students’ perceptions. Right now, I think that it would be a good idea to take a relatively small sample of students and interview them.
2 comments:
Megan, these are very good ideas. Yes, you should have a goal, and yours is very clear and appropriate. I don't know "The Wasteland" but I believe you if you say it is cruel and unusual.
I like your questions that would be an excellent basis for interview questions for students or teachers or both.
Good work!
Your question, "Do students see their homework assignments as integral to their classes?" sounds like an excellent research question. You could first study it from the students' perspective through surveys and focus group interviews and any quantitative research you find in your lit review. Then you could flip it and say, if not, what could teachers be doing to change that perception? Also, how do teacher's perceptions of how relevant the hw is match up with your in-class observations of them and the student responses?
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