A question that teachers of adult learners often ask themselves is whether homework should be assigned and completed as part of a course. Assigning homework has been a controversial issue for foreign language learners, in general, let alone adult learners who constitute a group with special characteristics, some of which have been analysed in previous articles here. This article will cast some light on this complicated issue by looking at reasons for assigning homework, reasons against that practice, questions related to adults and homework, suggestions that can maximise homework effectiveness, ideas for h/w and alternatives to it, and lastly, ways of following it up.
Reasons for assigning homework
• Class -taught language can be better retained and that leads to improved learning outcomes.
• When dealing with an important language aspect, elaboration and further practice are necessary and homework is a way of doing so.
• Tasks that cannot be completed in class because of time restrictions could be used as h/w.
• Responsibility of the learning process is shared between learners and teachers which can increase the sense of learner achievement and motivation.
• Homework can contribute to re-establishing good study habits which may have been forgotten, especially in the case of adults who may not have attended any courses for a long time.
• Learners often expect to be assigned h/w.
REASONS AGAINST ASSIGNING H/W
• It adds to teacher workload as homework has to be corrected and feedback needs to be provided.
• Homework may not be completed because learners may be too busy [or at least, they say so], have more pleasurable things to do, or may lack ideas [e.g. for argumentative essays]
• Learners often find it too easy, too difficult, boring and irrelevant to them.
• Adults sometimes do not see the point of homework and complain that it seems childish to them.
• Assigning homework can be seen as a way of interfering with learner study habits and preferences.
• Homework may not be one of the expectations that learners have about the course, especially if their language level is advanced.
by Maroussa Pavli
First published in ELT NEWS - April 2015
Since there seem to be various reasons for and against assigning homework, we’d better examine the question from a different perspective. Instead of deciding if homework is a good idea or not, we can focus on areas closely linked to this such as learner experiences and attitudes towards h/w and the value of homework for our adult learners.
OUR ADULT LEARNERS & H/W– TEACHING CONTEXT, EXPECTATIONS, EXPERIENCES & ATTITUDES – RELEVANCE & VALUE
In order to deal with this aspect, let us first, ask ourselves the following questions:
• What is our teaching context? Are our learners tertiary education students or professionals? If they are professionals, do they all work in the same/ a similar field? Are they company employees from the same department or is it a mixed group of learners that all work for the same company? Do you teach them at a language school or privately?
• Is our group of learners homogeneous or not [e.g. in terms of age and occupation]?
• What is their daily schedule like? Do they have good time management skills?
• When did they last attend a language/ training course of any type? Were they expected to do h/w?
• Do our learners expect to be assigned h/w activities for this course?
• Do our learners view h/w in a positive/ negative or neutral? What kind of past experiences have they had related to h/w in general?
• Do you use a specific coursebook or only tailor-made materials that cater for learner individual or group needs?
• Are the assigned tasks relevant to our learners?
• Do they meet their specific linguistic, social and communicative needs? Are they linked to their short and long-term goals [academic, professional, social ones or their own unique combination?]
This long list of questions demonstrates how challenging the topic is and how many factors can influence our choices about homework. What is of utmost importance is, I believe, that two teacher skills are essential in order to approach homework; namely flexibility and adaptability. The former involves being willing, ready and even pleased to make changes to your plans about homework or simply forget it, if you need to, and the latter having the tools to do so; in other words, we should always have a plan B, or C in your teacher’s toolbox in order to make the necessary modifications. These skills have been discussed in articles that focused on other aspects of adult education.
MAXIMISING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HOMEWORK
First of all, you may wish to consider replacing the word ‘homework’ with a different term, because the term itself bears negative connotations, esp. if for adults who are false beginners or have negative previous language learning experiences.
Discuss with learners academic and procedural expectations about the course on the first day of the course. Homework is one of the items that should be in the agenda. Firmness and consistency on the part of the teacher is of paramount importance, but the same time, flexibility and adaptability are essential, as mentioned before.
Every time you assign homework [well, we’re teachers, so we’re not afraid of using the term, are we?] ensure that it and reflects the purpose of assigning it. If it ticks the boxes of effectiveness and purposefulness, explain relevance and purpose to learners, who like knowing why they are asked to do an activity and enjoy relevant, authentic and goal-oriented tasks.
Give learners options about homework. If they choose to do something they are interested in, they will be emotionally engaged with the material and this may lead to better results. Explain activities suggested and ask learners to note all details needed.
Find out about learner daily schedule and discuss with them how much they can commit to h/w and when they can complete it. If they have difficulties with time management, help them set up a self-study schedule. However, be flexible and ready to adapt to meet their needs and fit h/w in their busy schedule. Despite this, if you see that h/w deadlines are consistently not met, communicate clearly that they may fall behind and not meet their language learning goals.
When h/w is assigned and completed by the learner, there are various ways in which it can be used in the lesson so that the learners see the usefulness of what they have done and how it is part of their process of learning. This, as well as some practical ideas of interesting and creative h/w activities or alternatives to h/w, will be discussed in the next article.
BIO
*Maroussa has a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Athens, Greece, and an MA in Applied and TESOL from the University of Leicester, UK. She has taught EFL for 20 years, working with learners of all ages and levels. She worked as a Tutor of English for Specific Purposes at Private institutes of Vocational Training and Harokopio University of Athens. Maroussa has also taught English for Specific Purposes to a large number of professionals from the sectors of Business, Marketing and Advertising, Information Technology, Banking and Hospitality. For the last five years she’s been teaching General as well as Academic English to undergraduate students at IST College in Moschato, Greece. Since 1997 she has also worked as a Tutor in English for Academic Purposes and Study Skills on Presessional courses for international students at various universities in the UK. Her interests are in the fields of adult learning, English for Academic and Specific Purposes, age, motivation and psychology in EFL. Maroussa has been a member of TESOL Greece for more than 17 years, was a Board member of for the period of 2007 -2010 and is currently the coordinator of the EAP/ ESP SIG, the TESOL Greece Special Interest Group which focuses on adult language teaching [e.g. for professionals, tertiary education students, etc]. She can be contacted at maroussapavli@gmail.com.
