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Middle school homework management and attitudes.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

The present study linked family help and time spent on homework to homework attitudes and homework management strategies reported by 238 students in grades 7-8. Students who received family help reported more positive attitudes toward homework and a more frequent use of homework management strategies. In addition, compared with students who spent less than three hours a week on homework, students who spent three hours or more reported more positive attitudes toward homework and a more frequent use of homework management strategies.

Introduction

Homework takes place in one important setting beyond the classroom in which selfregulation capability can be learned (Boekaerts & Corno, 2005). Students are expected to independently manage homework--including, for example, planning their time, organizing the workspace, staying focused, maintaining the strength of homework intention, persisting at difficult assignments, inhibiting homework distractions, and debilitating unwanted emotions surrounding homework tasks. However, the issue of how students manage homework has received little attention in homework research literature, especially at the middle school level (Bali, Demo, & Wedman, 1998; Xu, 2004). This is of particular concern as children, across a range of socioeconomic backgrounds, continue to experience various distractions while doing homework well into the middle school years (Xu & Corno, 2003).

Xu (2005) recently linked family help and time spent on homework to students' attitudes toward homework and their use of homework management strategies. The results suggested that family help and time spent on homework were related to homework attitudes and management strategies. However, that study was limited to a group of high school students.

The present study used the same methodology to relate family help and time spent on homework to homework attitudes and management strategies studied previously. The present sample focused on middle school students. This line of homework research is important, as several studies examined the role of family help on middle school homework management (Xu & Corno, 2003, 2006). Yet, no data were available from these studies about whether students' attitudes toward homework and their use of homework management strategies were associated with the amount of time spent doing homework at the middle school level.

Related Literature

Two lines of related research informed the present investigation. One line of research examines the role of family involvement in homework management at the middle school level. The second line of research alludes to a possible linkage between time spent on homework and students' attitudes toward homework. The first line of research provides evidence that families, across a range of socioeconomic backgrounds, can assist middle school students to manage their homework. Xu and Corno (2003) linked family help to homework management strategies reported by 121 students in grades 6-8 in New York City. This study revealed that...

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