Homework: Motivation and Learning Preference

Teachers embracing the concept of home learning preferences should individualize homework instructions and assignments to accommodate individual differences in the way students prefer to study. All students will not do their homework equally well given the same homework instructions and assignments. For example, some students prefer to get detailed and exact instructions on how to prepare their homework and to be told exactly what they are required to do; others prefer to be free to exercise their own discretion and to handle their assignments in a flexible manner, and even to have some choice in the topic on which to work. Homework instruction should become as adaptive as classroom instruction. There is widespread acknowledgment that classroom instruction should be adapted for more effective teaching and learning (e.g., Burwell, 1991; McInerney, McInerney, & Marsh, 1997). The same should apply to homework instruction. Teachers should make available to their students several kinds of homework instructions along with various types of homework assignments to meet specific learners’ needs. In doing so, teachers might well follow the general approaches described here. The structure component of the homework motivation and preference model is used as an example of an individualized approach, but

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