Research to find out about children’s attitudes
to literacy homework in our school
By Harry Rhodes, Liam Mark and Tom Perry.
Year 6
January 2006 – July 2006
Children’s attitudes to literacy
homework?
Our names are Tom Perry, Liam Mark and Harry Rhodes. We
are carrying out some research about “children’s attitudes
to literacy homework”. We are interested in your views. We
will keep you anonymous (your name will not be known) and
your answers will be gratefully appreciated.
Thank-you for your time
Please circle around your answer
1. Are you: male
female
2. Are you in year: 5 6 7
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following
statements? Circle a number from 0-10 when 10 represents
very strong agreement and 0 represents very strong
disagreement:
3. I enjoy doing homework.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. I find homework boring.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. I enjoy literacy homework.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6. I enjoy spelling homework.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7. I enjoy reading homework
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8. I like asking an adult to help me with my spelling
homework.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9. Homework helps children to learn.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10. We need to do literacy homework to help us to get better
at it, whether we like it or not
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11. I can usually get help at home if I get stuck with my
literacy homework
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
12. I like to do my literacy homework by myself
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
13 I like to discuss my work with my family
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
14 I like to use the computer to do my literacy homework
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
15. I feel that the amount of literacy homework that I am
getting is reasonable
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
16. I think that the homework I am getting for literacy is right
for my age and ability?
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
17. I want more homework
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
18 We could make literacy homework better by
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………….............................................
..........................................................................................
..........................................................................................
.
Analysis of questionnaires
We gave out 91 questionnaires in total, to 55 boys and 36 girls. 46
children were from year 5 and 45 were from year 6.
1
Most children do not enjoy doing homework. When we
asked them to rate how much they enjoyed doing homework, 52 of
the children expressed disagreement with the statement ‘I enjoy
doing homework’. 25 children gave the opposite view, and
expressed that they enjoyed doing homework. 14 children did not
express a strong opinion either way, because they circled the
number 5 on the ten point scale. We could say that 35 children
didn’t really mind doing homework, which is still less than the 52
who do not enjoy doing homework, but is still 43%.
If we think about the two extreme answers of very strongly agree
and very strongly disagree with the statement ‘I like homework’
we can see that 25 children strongly disagreed with the statement
and only 2 very strongly agreed. This seems to suggest that asking
children if they enjoy homework has led to a strong response by
those who do not enjoy it.
2 A lot of children seemed to agree that they found homework
boring. The highest number of children said that they strongly
agreed with the statement ‘I find homework boring’. 27 children
said that they found it very boring. 57 children said they found it
boring. Only 18 found it interesting. 18 answered in the middle.
3 49 children said that they did not enjoy literacy homework. We
thought that this might be because there is a lot of writing involved.
26 children said that they enjoyed literacy homework. 14 were
neutral about it.
4 53 chidren did not like doing spelling homework. 28 children did
enjoy doing spelling homework. 11 were neutral about it. It is
interesting that while only 8 strongly agreed with liking spelling
homework, 23 strongly disliked it.
5 We found that children preferred to do reading homework in
literacy. 37 children said that they enjoyed doing reading
homework. Although 39 said that they did not enjoy doing reading
homework, this was less than the number that enjoyed doing
spelling homework and literacy homework generally. Also, we
thought that because 14 children circled the number 5 on the ten
point scale, that this meant that they thought a reading homework
was ok. This increases the number of children who like reading
homework to 51. This is 56%
6 Quite a lot of children do like asking an adult to help them with
their spelling homework. The number was 43. But 26 of children
felt strongly against the idea of getting help with their spelling
homework from an adult. In fact, 48 children did not like asking
an adult to help them with their spelling homework. 32 do like
asking and a further 12 did not mind.
7 We asked the question: ‘Does homework help children to learn?
We were surprised to see that the majority of children agreed that
homework helps children to learn. 57 children said homeowork
helps children to learn. 29 thought homework does not help
children to learn. Only 7 neither agreed or disagreed with this.
But 28 strongly agreed that homework helped them to learn. This
was the highest scoring answer.
8 Another surprising result was that 52 children agreed that they
needed to do literacy homework to help them get better at literacy,
whether they liked it or not. In fact, 30 children strongly agreed
with this! Whilst 24 children disagreed with this, only 10 strongly
disagreed and 7 disagreed slightly. The majority of children realise
that they need to do literacy homework to help them get better at
literacy, whether they like to do that homework or not.
9 Most children can get help with their literacy homework at home.
Only 4 could not usually get help with homework. 51 answered
very strongly that they could get help if they were stuck. 72 said
they could get help with homework.
10 Slightly more children preferred to do literacy homework by
themselves, rather than with others. 37 preferred to do it by
themselves, but 32 liked to do it with others. 21 didn’t mind
whether they did it by themselves or not.
11 38 children did not like discussing their homework with their
family. 41 liked to discuss their homework with their family. 9
children had no strong opinions either way.
12 Most children preferred to use the computer to do their literacy
homework. 47 preferred it, and 29 did not. 12 did not hold an
opinion either way.
13 Another surprising result was that most children agreed that the
amount of homework that they got was reasonable. 47 thought it
was reasonable, but 31 thought the opposite. 10 children circled
number 5 on the ten point scale.
14 57 children agreed that the homework they were getting was the
right level for their age and ability. 20 disagreed with this. 10
children circled number 5 on the ten point scale.
15 And finally, most children do not want more homework. 83
children said that they did not want more homework and 2 people
said that they did.
Responses given for how homework could be improved.
Being more interesting
Being more interesting
getting no homework
having more fun activities at the end of your homework, like a wordsearch
smaller sheets plz
not giving it to us
giving us less and helping us understand
not having any - having less
not having any - having less
less amount of homework and fun topics
don't give us any. Please don't, please don't!!!
less homework more interesting subjects in literacy
don't give us any. Please don't, please don't!!!
nothing
many go on game (referring to Q 14)
making presentations
better activities. More fun
making it more interesting and interactive and having funner activities
by varing the subject and amount
have a bit less homework
making it adventurous, fun
making it fun
explaining it on the sheet
more explanation on sheet
making it so we can use the computer. Make literacy homework more
adventurous
making it more enjoyable
making it more enjoyable
giving more reading homework
giving us less
no homework
giving us homework that gives us the independence to choose what we want to
write about.
doing fings like drawing
putting a bit more fun into it
making it more fun and get more activitys for it
making It a little less dull
letting it be more fun and people to enjoy it
making funner questons
having pictures on the sheet. Keeping it simple
making it easier to get stuck into it.
making less homework
having less of it
adding in games and making sure it's not too easy
less
making it harder, and easier to understand
write about things that you find interesting (rit adow things that you dintd
itnesting)
having less homework
by getting none
making it suitable for different levels and maybe making it a bit shorter and more i
making it more fun to do and not getting as much
not getting as much. Making it fun
not having homework
doing more fun thinkgs' and giving us more help!
giving us less and giving s clues
we could go through it properly at school and if we make it seem funner to do.
We could also get less and make it easer
children to do literacy
giving us less. Giving us more time to finish. Doing more reading homewrok.
making it more fun and less homework
macking more under standing and more fun so we in Joye it more (or not).
making it more colourfull. Neefing to do artwork
making it more creative and active rather than having to do so much writing.
getting no homework
could be allowed to do more illustrations in your book
doing different variety of work
giving less of it and make it easyer'
going through it with us in school together
Q14 I don't have one. 'By making the homework exieting'.
Getting homework given to us in which we have to research domething/print
out somet
making the work more challenging,or doing some interesting research or use
the internet more to find pictures and make our homework colourful
Making it a bit more fun and sometimes challenging.
making it more fun by having more games and stuff like that
Making it a bit more hard so it's more of a challenge and it's more fun'.
not having it or making it just reading
choices of sheets we have in school.
a clearer explanation of what we have to do.
giving a thorough explanation of what we have to do
not having it and just being told to read
explaining it more and making sure people understand
making it fun
not getting any
make it more fun and exciting
Being more interesting
Being more interesting
getting no homework
having more fun activities at the end of your homework, like a wordsearch
smaller sheets plz
not giving it to us
giving us less and helping us understand
not having any - having less
not having any - having less
less amount of homework and fun topics
don't give us any. Please don't, please don't!!!
less homework more interesting subjects in literacy
don't give us any. Please don't, please don't!!!
nothing
many go on game (referring to Q 14)
making presentations
better activities. More fun
making it more interesting and interactive and having funner activities
by varing the subject and amount
have a bit less homework
making it adventurous, fun
making it fun
explaining it on the sheet
more explanation on sheet
making it so we can use the computer. Make literacy homework more
adventurous
making it more enjoyable
making it more enjoyable
giving more reading homework
giving us less
no homework
giving us homework that gives us the independence to choose what we want to
write about.
doing fings like drawing
putting a bit more fun into it
making it more fun and get more activitys for it
making It a little less dull
letting it be more fun and people to enjoy it
making funner questons
having pictures on the sheet. Keeping it simple
making it easier to get stuck into it.
making less homework
having less of it
adding in games and making sure it's not too easy
less
making it harder, and easier to understand
write about things that you find interesting (rit adow things that you dintd
itnesting)
having less homework
by getting none
making it suitable for different levels and maybe making it a bit shorter and
more interesting.
making it more fun to do and not getting as much
not getting as much. Making it fun
not having homework
doing more fun thinkgs' and giving us more help!
giving us less and giving s clues
we could go through it properly at school and if we make it seem funner to do.
We could also get less and make it easer
children to do literacy
giving us less. Giving us more time to finish. Doing more reading homewrok.
making it more fun and less homework
macking more under standing and more fun so we in Joye it more (or not).
making it more colourfull. Neefing to do artwork
making it more creative and active rather than having to do so much writing.
getting no homework
could be allowed to do more illustrations in your book
doing different variety of work
giving less of it and make it easyer'
going through it with us in school together
Q14 I don't have one. 'By making the homework exieting'.
Getting homework given to us in which we have to research domething/print out
somet
making the work more challenging,or doing some interesting research or use
the internet more to find pictures and make our homework colourful
Making it a bit more fun and sometimes challenging.
making it more fun by having more games and stuff like that
Making it a bit more hard so it's more of a challenge and it's more fun'.
not having it or making it just reading
choices of sheets we have in school.
a clearer explanation of what we have to do.
giving a thorough explanation of what we have to do
not having it and just being told to read
explaining it more and making sure people understand
making it fun
not getting any
make it more fun and exciting
Transcript of a focus group interview about children’s attitudes towards homework by
Liam and Tom.
Interview with Brian, John, Louise and Nikky
Year 6 pupils.
Interview by Liam, Tom and Adult
T: Do you like doing homework?
B: Kind of. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t. I don’t like it when it’s too hard. I don’t
like it when there’s loads of writing, because I’m not good at writing. I normally find literacy
homework difficult.
J: I never want to do my homework, then my mum forces me, because it gets in the way
when I want to do something. It gets in the way when I want to do something else. I like
maths homework, but I don’t like literacy too much, because I don’t like writing either
L: I don’t like it either because I’m normally doing something else and I don’t really like
writing. I don’t like people looking at my writing because people will think that that’s so
messy or she’s so stupid. I don’t like giving my opinion.
N: It’s alright. It’s a bit better when it’s a bit more fun. I go to homework club because
otherwise in don’t do it. With some questions you’re not really sure if it’s a trick question
and so you don’t know what to write. If you have like a piece of writing that you have to
answer questions about and the texts are really boring. For example the SATS practice stuff
was really boring.
T: Do you think that literacy homework is important for learning?
B: Yes because if you don’t get homework you don’t get that extra to help you in your SATs.
J: I think it’s helpful because when you go for a job, if you have to write a report if you are
the reporter then you have to do that alone. You have to be able to do work alone to be able
to help yourself.
A: Does that thought actually help you to do your homework?
J: Well sometimes in my mind I’m thinking oh no, this is boring and I don’t want to do it.
And then at the same time I’m thinking, just do it because it will mean that you will go further
in life.
A: Does anyone else think that? You have mixed feelings about homework? Do you think
that Lucy?
L: Yes. Yeh, a lot if I’m hanging out with my friends and my mum says you have to do your
homework and part of me wants to go out with my friends and part of me wants to get myself
further.
L: What other things do you like to do in place of homework?
B: Normally I would just get a book and read, watch something on TV and there are these
figurines that I like painting. I got some books for my birthday so I’m doing that now.
B: I go to Kung Fu and if I’m not doing that then I like going on the computer and talking
with my friends on MSN.
N: I like playing the piano because I started and it’s alright, it’s quite hard so I like to practice
playing my piano.
T: What do you think of the different types of homework that we get? Such as spelling,
reading or writing homework. What do you think of spelling homework in the past or now?
J: I don’t like spelling homework because I find it easy. I don’t see the point when you have
to copy the word, i don’t see the point. I look at it and write it and then I can remember it, so
I don’t see the point.
A: What do you think about the idea of a spelling competition?
J: Well me, I don’t like competitions but if we had to, I’d just go for it.
L: I wouldn’t like doing a spelling competition, because if you got a really easy word wrong,
then probably the whole school would laugh at you. There’d be a lot of pressure.
B: I don’t mind a spelling competition because it’s just for fun
N: I do like competitions but it’s just that I get quite embarrassed in front of everyone,
because I can write them down, but it’s just that I might not be able to say them out.
A: What were the fun ways that you learnt spellings?
J: The best way was through the look, copy, write, check I think.
A: Did you use the computer? Did you use cards? Did your parents help you in any way?
B: No. But if I have ten words and i get one wrong then I start from the beginning again.
that was when I was teaching myself.
J: You used to have these charts where you had to spell the word right every week and if you
got them wrong you’d have to do them the next week with additional new words. This kind
of helped to make you not get them wrong.
T: If you got them wrong then that’s quite a lot of pressure then isn’t it?
D: It kinds of helps though, because the ones that you get wrong you do them again, until you
can do them easily.
A: Did any of you use the computer to learn spellings? Or did your parents do spelling with
you with cards?
L: How do you find reading homework? When you have to look stuff up on the computer?
J: looking stuff up on the computer - yeh, I kind of like it. Reading homework, yeh, I kind of
like it.
T: What do you think makes it more enjoyable? Like research and stuff.
J: I like the idea of research. I like how
L: I like reading homework on the computer, because it kind of appeals to you instead of in
front of a teacher. Instead of break time for example you should be allowed to go on the
computer. I like doing my homework on the computer.
N: It’s alright, but it’s a bit annoying when you can’t find a site that tells you the right
information that you want. And also, some people don’t have a computer at their ...(house?)
But I like reading
B: I love reading.
L: It takes me a while to get into a book.
L: Is that because it doesn’t drag you in or is it because you’re thinking I could be doing
something else?
Lu: It’s just certain types of book that I like reading - such as Jacqueline Wilson and I can’t
remember the names of the other author. I like real life, serious books.
A: Do you discuss the book s that you’re reading with your family at all?
D: I do. I say wow, look at this picture.
B: I don’t really.
A: Do they ask you?
B: No
N: My mum doesn’t really have time for me to discuss books with her.
L: Writing was the homework that children said that they didn’t really enjoy. What do you
think of writing homework?
D: I don’t like writing too much. I like writing stories but I don’t like writing when you have
to answer questions. You have to answer questions and you have to write a paragraph to
answer a question
L: So you think it’s a bit boring when you have to write so much to answer a question,
because you think why can’t they be a bit shorter? Do you think they should be short but
detailed answers?
D: Yes, short but detailed.
Lu: I don’t like writing?
A: Do any of you write for pleasure?
N: I like writing poems. When I’m at home and I’m a bit bored then I’ll just write a poem
about it. Last week I did one for my little sister.
A: And who do you share that with?
N: Well if my mum has the time, then my mum. I’d rather just keep them for myself
L: So do you have a stack of poems or do you throw them away afterwards?
N: I lose them
B: I don’t really like writing homework that much because you have to write a whole
paragraph to answer one question, as Dave said.
T: Children suggested ways of improving homework, such as making it more adventurous
and fun. Have you got any ideas of how literacy homework could be improved?
D: I like it when they give you a little paragraph of writing and then they ask you to continue
that and we’re doing this big writing and we were writing a story using VCP vocabulary,
connectives and openers and punctuation and I really liked. I like getting a little bit of help.
Liam: If you could choose to write a poem or a short story or a limerick, would you like that?
L: I would like that
Liam: perhaps a word search or a game?
L yes I would like that.
B: If you had a few more games that would help you to get into doing it.
N: I think if you gave children a choice between easy, medium and hard homework, the
children would go for the easy homework
J: I’d go for the hard one.
B: I’d go for the middle one because I like a challenge.
T: Where do you like doing your homework? In the sitting room, in the dining room?
J: I do it in the kitchen usually. I like to do it where it is nice and silent.
T: In the summer do you do it outside in the garden
J: Only in the summer when I’m on holiday and my dad makes me do some work in Greece
and there’s this verandah with a lovely view and it really helps me to think
B: I do it in my room because it’s nice and cool in my room and nobody disturbs me in my
room.
A: Do you get your homework done in your room?
Lu: This is one of the reasons I don’t like doing homework, because I can never find a
peaceful place to do my homework. Whenever I start to do my homework, everyone crowds
around me thinking I need help and stuff.
A: Who’s everyone?
Lu My dad, my mum, my sister (because she thinks that I’m an idiot) she’s younger than me
and she wants to see what I’m doing. Sometimes my uncle and my aunty.
A: What do they do?
LU: They’ll say, what about this and that and it really gets on my nerves.
A: Do they do it to help you?
LU: They think they’re trying to help me but they’re not.
N: I go to Homework club on Fridays after school. We get homework on Fridays. That’s for
everyone. I go because at home just my mum and step dad sometimes won’t understand the
work and can’t help me. Where as at the homework club, the teachers are there so you can
ask for help.
D: I used to go to homework club, but I really didn’t like it, because I like to play after school
and also I like doing my homework at home, because it’s homework.
T: that’s why it’s called homework. You should do your homework at home, otherwise
you’re basically at school all day and then you want a different environment.
N; It’s nice becuase it’s a different environment and if you’re friends are there then you can
do it together.
A: Have you ever been to homework club?
Lu: I did go but everytime I asked for help, they always went to one of the little kids because
they thought that they needed help more that the year 6s.
N: It’s quite busy and there are 4-5 teachers.
T: Do you decide where you do your homework or do your parents tell you to do it?
D: I kind of decide, but sometimes my dad tells me to do it in a quieter place. Or he’ll tell my
brother to go away and leave me alone to do my homework.
B: I get a free choice and i to do it in my room. I don’t have a desk in my room, I have a
computer table. I don’t have a TV in my room.
Lu: My parents tell me where to do it, in the kitchen or with my sister and it’s really
annoying because she keeps on disturbing me, because she usually finishes before me. I
would like to do my homework near the river and do my homework there. I might be allowed
to do that
L: I like that idea of doing your homework by the river because there’ll be grass and trees
and moos.
(Dave leaves for the school production rehearsal)
T: Do you have any distractions when you are doing your homework?
B: Yes, my two brothers sometimes distract me. my little brother does the most when he
comes for help, even when I tell him that I’m busy, he still keeps annoying me.
T: Do you have distractions when your mum and dad are cooking dinner?
B No, I finish my homework first, when I come back from school.
Lu: Sometimes when I do it in the kitchen, there’s tons of steam and I can’t see the words
and my sister’s annoying me and my dad ‘s usually on the computer checking e-mails and the
computer makes funny noises and that distracts me. And my mum’s usually washing and
cooking at the same time and so that really annoys me. I can’t really move into another room,
because if I do and then I need help, then they can’t. If I’m near them then I can ask.
N: Sometimes if I don’t finish my homework at homework club and I have to do it at home
then I’ll do it in the kitchen where she’s usually cooking. It’s my step dad who usually helps
me.
A: Who usually helps you most? Mum or dad? Or step mum or step dad?
B: No one really helps me, I just do it independently. But I go to my mum if I need help.
Lu: My dad usually helps me, because my dad doesn’t have a clue about my homework.
T: Some people said that they liked discussing their homework with their parents, how do
you feel about this?
B: Only if I really have to
T: Do you tell her if you think that you’ve done something really well?
B: yes
T Louise?
Lu: I don’t normally discuss my homework with my parents. If there’s one line, they
normally make me do about 5 or 6.
A: Do they push you?
Louise: Yeh, that really annoys me, because they want me to do my best but they’re not
making me by making me do more. So that annoys me.
N: I don’t usually talk about my homework, I just do it myself, because otherwise they’ll just
get me all confused.
T: How long does your literacy homework take?
B: I try to do it as well as I possibly can. if it’s easy, then it will take me five minutes. But i
will try to do it as well as I possibly can. If it takes me an hour, then it takes me an hour. I try
to do my best most of the time. On average it will probably be 20 minutes.
T: Which homework takes longer? reading, spelling or writing homework?
B: Reading doesn’t take longer because if I get stuck I can ask my older brother to find
something because he was at Greenside (a secondary school) and he might have something
on that project.
Louise: In literacy homework it depends how hard it is. If it is hard I spend about 1 hour on
it. If it is really easy, then I spend 10 - 15 minutes. It’s the same with spelling homework.
N: It takes me about fifteen minutes and then I go back and check it and that takes me five to
ten minutes. So it takes me about 25 minutes.
T: How much help do you like to get with your homework?
Louise: I would like to do it independently but i can’t becuase I’m in the kitchen and it’s very
tempting to ask for help from all the people that are around me. So, I do get quite a lot of
help. I tend to go to adults, rather than use books, but I have books around the house that i
can use if I want to. Dictionaries and I can go on to Wikopeadia.
J: I only get help if I need it. I don’t normally get asked if I need help, i just ask myself.
B: No I like to do it myself, so that it’s all my own work rather than get other people to do it
for me. No one in my family talks to me about my homework.
N: I like to see what I can do on my own.
T: Do you like discussing homework with your parents?
J: Only if I need help. I explain to them what I need help for. If it’s a reading homework
then I’ll read out the story to them so they are able to help, otherwise they never really look at
my homework. My dad checks it all the time and I have to go over an answer if i get it
wrong. But my mum never really checks it.
T: Does anybody else get their parents to check their homework, once they’ve finished it?
N: No
B: No
A: Are there any other points that you would like to add about doing literacy homework?
Lu: I would like to go to the public library because there is doing research and stuff and it
would be very quiet, so no one can annoy you and stuff and you won’t get kicked out.
A: Is there any smoking, banging or arguing, perhaps from outside your house that distracts
you.
T: What would your ideal homework be? Perhaps a powerpoint presentation?
J: I would love to do a powerpoint presentation.
T: If you could do it at school, what would you do it about?
J: Well I’ve already done one at school and it was about the world cup. And, I’ve done
things on pictures of the teams and information about the teams.
A: You like to do homework on topics that you’ve chosen.
J: Yes,
A: Thank you so much for your help.
L: This is good. I don’t want it to come to an end!