Topic: Parental Involvement in Homework and Academic Performance

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This section presents the description and summary of some literature and research

studies which lead the researchers found to the present study.

Homework

Homework is defined as the set of school tasks that are assigned by teachers for

students to complete outside of the non-school hours. Variations of homework can be

classified according to its amount, skill-area, purpose and degree of individualization and

choice of the students completion deadline and social context (Cooper et al., 2006).

However, Vatterot (2010) enumerates five characteristic of best homework tasks. These

tasks include (1) purpose, (2)efficiency,(3) ownership, (4) competence and (5) aesthetic

appeal. Schimmer (2016) also listed six questions that teacher should ask to ensure that

homework is a productive learning experience. The following questions are: “Is it

learning centred? Is it necessary? Is it reasonable? Is it high quality? Are students ready?

Were students’ input involve?” (Schimmer 2016, p.12).

There are positive and negative effects of homework according to Cooper et al.

(2006). positive effects were broken down into four categories: immediate achievement

and learning, long term academic benefits, nonacademic benefits and greater parental
appreciation and involvement in schooling. However, according to Cooper et el.’s, (2006)

meta analysis of research, the correlation between achievement and homework is

irrelevant for elementary students. On the other hand, negative effects described in the

study are satiation (loss of interest of academic material and physical and emotional

fatigue), denial of access to extra-curricular activities (in school and out of school),

parental interference (pressure to complete homework and perform well) and confusion

of instructional techniques (not understanding homework), cheating and increased

differences between high and low achievers.

There are numerous reasons for why a learner may choose to finish their homework

assignment or not (Hayward, 2010). When students were given homework assignment,

they have a choice to complete that assignment based on whether they feel it is important

to them. They may feel it is important to them because of their grades, what their teacher

or parents will think, or their interest in the topic. Students perception on homework is

depend on how the teacher will employ this tasks to them.

“Improved grades, test scores and learning are not the only purpose of homework”

(Huisman, 2016 p.8). There are such nonacademic benefits of homework which include

greater self-direction, greater self-discipline, better time management and more

independent problem solving (Huisman, 2006).

Parental Involvement in Homework

Helping children with homework is the most typical form of parental involvement.

Homework establish communication between parents and child. It is often a source of

friction between home and school (Cooper et al., 2003). According to Acock and Demo

(1994), homework can improve relationships between parent and child, bringing them

closer together to enjoy exchanging ideas and learning. Xu (2005) also stated that

students were most attentive to homework when they completed it with parent, rather

than with a peer or in their own. Tam and Chan (2010) expressed the same way that

parents considered their own participation in children’s homework as beneficial to their

children. They believed that parental involvement yield children more attentive to

homework as parents will able to explain materials and concepts better than others.

Direct and indirect are two strategies that parents used in engaging their children’s

homework according to the study done by Tam and Chan (2010). Direct parental

involvement strategies entail face-to-face parent-child contact that leads to completion of

homework. These include homework supervision measures such as checking or

correcting homework and explaining learning materials. Indirect parental involvement

strategies wherein parents mentioned in the interviews how they took part in their

children’s homework process without face-to-face parent-child contacts. These indirect

involvement strategies provided homework support through establishing daily routine,

setting up rules, and seeking other sources of homework help.

 The study done by Xu (2005) about parental involvement with homework focused

on how parents can influence the behavior of the student, the homework attitude of the

student, and the environment in which the students work in. Xu (2005) founds that

“students benefit from clear expectations regarding how to arrange the homework

environment, as well as adults showing them how to cope when doing homework

becomes difficult or distractions arise” (Xu, 2005 p.48). On the other hand , the research

done by Lyman (2014) results shows that parental involvement predicts academic

achievement but it only provides a small portion of increase in academic achievement.

Parental involvement has a different impact based on the age of the student. Younger

students tend to benefit parental involvement than the older students. Thus, evidence

shows that the positive impact of parental involvement can depend on the age of the

child. In addition, the positive impact of parental involvement can also based on the

qualities of the parents involved in their child’s education.

The study done by Pashalidis (2006) focused on homework’s impacts of student

performance in Mathematics and Science area. The findings of the study show that there

is much higher relationship between homework completion and over all performance in

Mathematics than in Science.“As evidenced in this study, there is a difference in the

impact of homework in different subject areas” (Pashalidis, 2006, p.31).

Echaune et al., (2015) provides an evidence of parental involvement in homework

assistance in various forms such as reading, writing and solving difficult sums. The study

notes gains in educational outcome with respect to parental involvement and therefore
confirms the significance of involving parents in the process of education. It is

recommended that parents who are not involved in homework of their children must be

sensitized while those who are involved must be encouraged to continue doing so.

According to Bembenutty (2011), research and the National Parent Teacher

Association, National Education Association, and Department of education Websites, the

following are five roles for parents to play in the homework process to be most helpful:

1. Be a stage manager. Make sure your child has a quiet, well-lit place to do
homework. Make sure the needed materials are available.
2. Be a motivator. Homework provides a great opportunity for you to tell your child
how important school is. Be positive about homework. The attitude you express
about homework will be the attitude your child acquires.
3. Be a role model. This is especially important for young students. When your
child does homework, don’t sit and watch TV. If your child is reading, you read
too. If your child is doing Math, balance your checkbook. Help your child see that
the skills they are practicing are related to things you do as an adult.
4. Be a monitor. Watch your child for signs of failure and frustration. If your child
asks for help, provide guidance, not answers. If frustration sets in, suggest a
short break.
5. Be a mentor. When the teacher asks that you play a role in homework, do it. If
homework is meant to be done alone, stay away. Homework is a great way for kids
to develop independent, lifelong learning skills. Over involvement can be a bad
thing. Don’t teach your child that ‘when the going gets tough, mom gets going’. (p.
344).

Parents appear to involve themselves in their children’s homework for three major

reasons: they believe that they should be involved, they believe that their involvement
will make a positive difference, and they perceived invitations to involvement

(Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995, 1997).

According to the study of Dempsey et al. (2001), the observed and potential benefits

of parental support for children’s homework learning suggest strongly the wisdom of

increased support for well-grounded research designed to illuminate-systematically,

across developmental levels and varied learning tasks-- why and under what conditions

parent’s involvement benefits student learning. Therefore, the success of schools and

children they serve may only be enhanced by increased understanding of parent’s roles,

activities and influence in the development of students success.

Parental Involvement in Academic Performance

Parents are the first people to teach their children values and morals and to prepare

them for school and academic success. Parental involvement has an important

implications for student’s academic performance. Helping students in homework,

expressing high expectations, encouraging school success, providing structure conducive

to learning and talking with them about school are examples of parental involvement.

Based on the social cognitive theory, it suggest that student absorb appropriate behavior

and socially accepted goals by talking with the very important person in their lives

(Bandura, 1997). It implicates that parents have the potential to model positive behavior

toward school, so that parental involvement can contribute to student’s academic

performance. In fact, children can perform well in school when their parents show an
interest in their school and willing to facilitate and assist them in their homework

(Chowa, Masa & Tucker, 2013).

The increase pressures for high academic performance emerging from initiatives of

the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) and Race to the Top (2009) initiatives have left

parents and educators searching for ways to effectively increase student achievement.

One factor that may facilitate academic achievement is parental involvement (Lyman,

2014). Parental involvement is statistically significant predictors of academic

performance (Chowa, Masa and Tucker , 2013). Similar to this is the result of the study

done by Lyman (2013) shows that parental involvement predicts academic performance

but it only provides a small portion of increase in academic achievement.

Based on some researches, parental involvement can be noted as positive and

negative in regard to student achievement (Cooper et al., 2006). According to Dietel

(2004), parent’s involvement in their child’s education is the single most important

predictor of student academic success. Likewise, parental involvement is associated

positively with academic performance (Nyarko, 2010). Parents who play an active role in

their child’s school, attend activities and help with homework have proven to increase

academic performance and the amount of time they are willing to put into homework

(Schmuck, 2011).

Research done by Schmuck (2011), supported the research from other scholars in

that parents have a significant influence on their academic performance. Half of the
participants stated that their parents had a strong influence on their academic

performance. The majority of the students agreed that their parents help them work

through and cope with stressful school problems. The more involved and supportive a

parent, the higher self-esteem they will gain allowing the child to feel confident and

focus during school.

Mwirichia (2013) establishes the influence of parental involvement on academic

performance of preschool children in Kangeta Division, Meru Country, Kenya. The

reults shows that “when parents are involved in children’s school and education, children

acquire higher grades and standardized test scores. This results to improve behavior at

home and school, better social skills and adaptation to school, hence improved academic

performance”, (Mwirichia 2013, p.57). This was supported by Epstein (1992) who stated

that parental involvement in children’s education has been correlated with higher

academic achievement, improved school attendance, increased cooperative behavior, and

lower dropout rates.

There are such barriers between parent and child communication. Fletke (1997)

enumerates some of the barriers to parental involvement such as: time, uncertainty about

what to do, cultural barriers and lack of supportive environment. The same way,

Pashalidis (2006) also stated that there are real-life problems confronted by parents to

deal with like lack of time, parents with little formal education, both parents working,

simple parent households, etc. Therefore, effort must drop by educators to attain high

level of parental involvement within their schools. In some environments, more effort
will be required to than in others. However, with ample researcher as foundation, it is

evident that this effort is certainly worthwhile (Pashalidis, 2006).

The findings of the study done by Chohan and Khan (2010) shows that parental

support in doing homework and other academic activities has significant impact on the

academic performance of the students. Similarly, Franco and Levitt (1998); and Mahaffy

(2004) revealed that parental support has significant impact on the self concept of the

students.