The role of homework is hardly mentioned in the majority of general elt texts or training courses, suggesting that there is little question as to its value even if the resulting workload is time consuming. However, there is clearly room for discussion of homework policies and practices particularly now that technology has made so many more resources available to learners outside the classroom. Reasons for homework attitudes to homework effective homework types of homework conclusion homework is expected by students, teachers, parents and institutions. Homework reinforces and helps learners to retain information taught in the classroom as well as increasing their general understanding of the language. It also encourages learners to acquire resources such as dictionaries and grammar reference books. Research shows that homework also benefits factual knowledge, self discipline, attitudes to learning and problem solving skills. Homework offers opportunities for extensive activities in the receptive skills which there may not be time for in the classroom.

It may also be an integral part of ongoing learning such as project work and the use of a graded reader. It may be used to consolidate classwork, but also for preparation for the next lesson. Homework may be used to shift repetitive, mechanical, time consuming tasks out of the classroom. Homework can be a useful assessment tool, as part of continual or portfolio assessment. While recognising the advantages, they observe negative attitudes and poor performance from students. Marking and giving useful feedback on homework can take up a large proportion of a teacher’s time, often after school hours.

Students themselves complain that the homework they are given is boring or pointless, referring to homework tasks that consist of studying for tests, doing workbook exercises, finishing incomplete classwork, memorising lists of vocabulary and writing compositions. Where this is actually the case, the negative effects of homework can be observed, typified by loss of interest and a view of homework as a form of punishment. Other negative effects of poorly managed homework include lack of necessary leisure time and an increased differential between high and low achievers. These problems are often the cause of avoidance techniques such as completing homework tasks in class, collaborating and copying or simply not doing the required tasks. In turn, conflict may arise between learners, teachers, parents and the institution. Teachers should explain the purpose both of homework in general and of individual tasks.

Teachers should remember that students are often given homework in other subjects and that there is a need for coordination to avoid overload. A homework diary, kept by the learner but checked by teachers and parents is a useful tool in this respect. Homework is rarely co ordinated within the curriculum as a whole, but should at least be incorporated into an overall scheme of work and be considered in lesson planning.

There is no reason why this should be the case, other than that there is visible evidence that the task has been done. Learner involvement and motivation may be increased by encouraging students to contribute ideas for homework and possibly design their own tasks. The teacher also needs to know how much time the students have, what facilities they have at home, and what their preferences are. Home is the outside world and tasks which are nearer to real life use of language are appropriate. While marking by the teacher is sometimes necessary, peer and self assessment can encourage learner independence as well as reducing the teacher’s workload.

Motivating students to do homework is an ongoing process, and encouragement may be given by commenting and asking questions either verbally or in written form in order to demonstrate interest on the teacher’s part, particularly in the case of self study and project work. right, for homework i'd like you to do exercises 1 to 4 and give it to me tomorrow. why do we as teachers give homework? some reasons that have occurred to me are: finishing off work started in class or to save class time for more communicative activities to allow students to work at their own pace. Now, what about students? what do they see as the value of homework? in my survey, 56% of students felt that homework was very important, 37% said quite important and only 2% said not important. This confirms a feeling i have as a teacher that although students often groan when homework is set, they secretly like it or perhaps they just see it as a necessary evil. The most common reasons that students gave for its value were the opportunities for revision and practice of what they had been taught that day. Some felt that they would not study outside class unless homework was set and others appreciated being able to work at their own speed.

Somebody pointed out that they understood more when they studied by themselves and another student said it was a useful way to find out your own weaknesses. Other reasons given were more independence, a chance for your teacher to check if you have understood the lesson, extra hours for studying and the only time to really memorise vocabulary. Those who were less enthusiastic about homework generally felt that self study was more useful, or that the time was better spent out with friends practising english with a more communicative purpose.

However we can see many reasons for giving it and in general students seem to feel it is necessary, so i see no benefit in omitting it from our learners' programmes of study. The students' comments about self study and using the time for socialising in english are extremely valid ones, but as long as there is not too much homework set, there should still be time for this.one possibility is to make some homework optional for those students who can make a case for using the time in a more profitable way. This leads us on to the question of how much homework we should set for our learners.according to my survey most students 72% felt that they should spend 20 to 60 minutes a day on homework. When asked how much time they actually spent on doing it, most students said between 20 minutes and two hours.