Homework is always
appropriate for a foreign language class and it should be used to reinforce
what was taught in class and what concepts the teacher wants the students to
practice more. With learning foreign languages, memorization and repetitive
practice is what helps beginning students learn vocabulary, grammar rules,
sentence form and structure and is also what reinforces these necessary things
to learn for students that have been taking a foreign language for many years. As
it should be used as a method of reinforcing the method that was taught during
class, I believe homework should always be given after the lesson is taught so
that the student is not confused and spending more time than necessary trying
to figure out how to do their homework rather than actually doing it, which is
what I feel happens most of the time when homework is assigned before the
lesson has been taught – why would you want to confuse your students more by
assigning them homework dealing with concepts that have not been explained to
them and run the risk of potentially confusing them? In my own foreign language
class experience, I always find that when the teacher assigns a few exercises
after the lesson has been taught, I retain the information more than I would
had the exercises been assigned before the lesson was taught because I would
just spend the majority of the time trying to figure out what the teacher was
asking me to do without having learned the lesson. Homework can be improperly
used when the teacher simply assigns too much homework just for the sake of
giving students something to do. Too many exercises grow tiresome and cause
students to lose interest, but on the other hand, assigning only a few
exercises can be pointless and not enough work to reinforce the students’
knowledge.
I don’t think I would show
my students the video about homework/studying tips because I don’t think some
of the tips are that helpful, but I would advise them about the study habits
that I myself and many people I know find useful. As someone who is easily
distracted, I always find that chewing gum or listening to music while I study
helps me focus more and drowns out the other distractions or things going on
around me. I also think that studying in an organized space or by some natural
light is a great tip and it actually helps me focus whenever I am studying so I
would advise my students to follow those tips.
I have to agree with you on this post. The idea of teaching yourself when homework is given prior to the lesson makes the student often spend unnecessary time on homework. By allowing the homework to reinforce the lesson, the student can use their knowledge and apply it in other manners and settings. I think that homework is essential in a foreign language class because when you think about it, you learned the majority of your first language at home as well.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about the same thing that you did. Homework is absolutely a tool that should be utilized AFTER a lesson is taught. I can remember stuggling as a student when teachers would assign something that we had not covered in class yet. As a teacher you do not want to confuse, frustrate, and scare away your students. Any assigned homework should help language aquisition, not hurt it. I wouldn't show the video to my class either. Some of the tips may work, but I think many students would confuse homework habits with class habits and that could create classroom management issues. Furthermore, most people listen to music on their phones and could become easily distracted by texts and calls.
ReplyDeleteI like that you said homework can be used improperly if the teacher assigns too much of it. When I wrote my post, that never even crossed my mind as a way homework can be used improperly. I know from personal experience that I slowly start to lose interest when I've been working on the same subject for hours. At that point, I don't care anymore about the quality of my work I just want it to be done. The most effective homework assignments are the ones that cause you to be challenged and to use what you have learned in class that day, but they should be doable in a time frame short enough so the student doesn't lose focus or the motivation to do well.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned the delicate balance between assigning too much homework and assigning too little homework. I feel like many middle school/high school-aged students dream of the school-night when their teacher just won't assign any homework randomly. I don't think homework needs to be assigned every night (depending on what is being covered in class and how the students are progressing with it) but I do think too little homework can also make the class seem too easy or pointless to some students, and obviously that is not a good thing. Too much homework can make students resent the class while too little homework can manke students stop taking the class seriously - the teacher needs to assign an appropriate amount of homework to balance these things out.
ReplyDeleteI think you have the heart of the problem here: when is homework not enough or too much? I think that finding the balance between those two is very difficult, and depends on the level of the class and the proficiency displayed by a majority of the students. Assigning a lot of homework to help a few students may hurt a majority who don't need to do that much, whereas assigning little homework to suit the needs of the many may hurt the few who need more work.
ReplyDeleteI think that teachers definitely need to find a balance between what constitutes as too much or too little homework. I agree that once activities become repetitive students get very bored. I feel like it would be better to assign fewer assignments and maybe even give out addition assignments for extra practice. I know that on multiple occasions in high school I was always looking for extra assignments to practice with when the teacher assigned them all or the book did not provide enough. I think this is where the use of technology and maybe even a resource website for students would be useful.
ReplyDelete