T1 112012130 Full text
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE USE OF ONLINE
HOMEWORK TO INCREASE THEIR MOTIVATION
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
Oviera Maulia Gossti
112012130
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
2016
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INTRODUCTION
Motivation might be considered as one of the most important things that
students need to have in the teaching and learning process. However, as people
grow and live in this modern era, the easy access in gaining information and doing
any activities in the education world has also become one of the most important
aspects in increasing students’ motivation to participate actively in the teaching
and learning process.
Nowadays, people started to use internet and do the educational activities
such as giving and submitting homework online. Through online homework,
students can use their time effectively since they only need to send their
homework via internet which can be accessed every time and everywhere. With
this kind of easiness, it is expected that students will have more motivation in the
learning process. Dillard-Eggers, et.al (2008) found that most students believe that
through online homework, they can spend their time to study more effectively and
it makes them understand the materials easier. Besides the technology itself, the
use of homework can also give some benefits for students’ improvement in
learning. Brewster and Fager (2000) also hold the view that homework can be
useful for students if it is used in an appropriate way. As cited in their study,
Paulu (1998) also believed that homework can give a chance for students to
review and practice the materials that they have learned before.
Even though it seems that online homework is quite useful for students,
we still need to investigate deeper about how it can increase the students’ learning
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motivation and the effect of its use in students’ achievement. Therefore, this study
aimed to answering this research question: “What are the students’ perceptions
toward the use of online homework to increase their learning motivation?” By
doing a further investigation, hopefully this study could provide some further
information about how to increase students’ learning motivation through online
homework and the other possible methods that can be used to increase students’
learning motivation.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Defining Motivation
In education, motivation has become one of the most important aspects in
determining students’ performance in the teaching and learning process. As cited
in Brewster and Fager (2000), motivation is defined as students’ willingness,
need, desire and compulsion which influence their success and participation in
learning (Bomia et al., 1997, p.1). From this definition, it could be seen that
motivation has a very important role for students in gaining some achievements as
the result of their learning process. A further definition was also delivered by
Skinner and Belmont (1991) who stated that students who are motivated to
participate in school activities are more initiative, enthusiastic, give more effort
and concentration in learning, and capable to show positive attitude, optimism,
and interest during the teaching and learning process (cited in Brewster and Fager,
2000).On the other hand, students’ who have less motivation are more passive,
have less effort in learning, and easily give up when they are facing any
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challenges. Therefore, from several definitions above, it can be seen that
motivation has such an important role for students who are willing to gain more
achievement and more successful in the teaching and learning process.
Types of Motivation
Ryan and Deci (1985) in their Self-Determination Theory found that
student’s motivation could be divided into two categories, which are extrinsic
motivation and intrinsic motivation (cited in Ryan and Deci, 2000). Below are the
definitions of both categories:
a. Extrinsic motivation: When a person is extrinsically motivated, he or she
will simply do an activity in order to obtain some separable outcome. For
example, if students want to study English because they want to have good
grades, it means that they are extrinsically motivated.
b. Intrinsic motivation: A person can be categorized as intrinsically
motivated if he or she is moved to act for the fun or challenge that they
face rather than because of the external pressures or rewards. For example,
if students want to study because they want to find an answer toward
something that they have not known before, it means that they are
intrinsically motivated.
Beside extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, another type of motivational
concept namely amotivation was also proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985) to gain
more understanding towards human behavior (cited in Guay et al, 2000). Guay et
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al (2000) suggested that when amotivated, a lack of opportunity between
behaviors and results is encountered by individuals. Their behaviors are not
intrinsically or extrinsically motivated.
Given the types of motivation and their definition above, it can be seen
that extrinsic motivation has the more correlation with the use of technology such
as online homework. In this case, the use of technology such as online homework
can be categorized as an extrinsic motivation because it facilitates students with
some advantages in the teaching and learning process that will be discussed
further in the definition of online homework.
Online Homework as a Part of Blended Learning
As cited in Demirci (2010), homework is an activity that has something to
do with motivation, materials understanding, and achievement (Keith & Benson,
1992; Keith, 1982; Paschal, Weinstein, & Walberg, 1984). Similarly, Doorn., et al
(2010) also argued that homework is a medium to help students have a deeper
understanding toward the materials since it gives students a chance to practice and
apply the knowledge that they have learned. Along with this modern era, the use
of technology is really common to support the teaching and learning process
especially in the university level. In this case, homework is included as one of the
activities in the teaching and learning process that can be supported by the use of
technology namely internet and it is called as “online homework”. Garrison and
Anderson (2003) defined online homework as a teaching and learning component
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that is improved online using network technologies (cited in Williams, A., 2012).
From this definition, it can lead us to the idea that in doing online homework
students do not need to print their homework out, instead they can submit their
homework via online by using the internet access.
When online homework is applied in the teaching and learning process,
there will be two kinds of activities that could be done by the teacher and students
which are in class activity and online activity. Therefore, the use of online
homework can be included as a part of blended learning since it combines two
different kinds of activities. In line with this statement, Graham (2006, 3) claimed
that blended learning system is a combination of face-to-face instruction and
computer-mediated instruction (cited in Badawi, M. F, 2009). As cited in Badawi,
M. F (2009), Garrison & Vaughan (2008, 5) also defined blended learning as an
attentive blend of face-to-face and online learning experiences. Finally, to sum up
the definitions from these researchers, Badawi, M. F (2009) stated that:
“The current study suggests that blended learning is a flexible approach that
combines face-to-face learning activities with online learning practices that allow
both teachers and learners exchange collective and individual feedback
synchronously and asynchronously.”
Increasing Motivation Using Online Homework
Since people nowadays prefer to use technology in almost every aspect of
their life including the educational matters, many researchers have been trying to
investigate the relation between technologies and also student’s learning
motivation. For Demirci, N (2007), with the transformation of technology,
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students’ assessment nowadays can be done using computer based forms which
facilitate students with easy access to receive their learning results. In this case,
online homework as a form of technology might influence the students’ learning
motivation since it facilitates students with that kind of easy access in learning
that has been mentioned before. Thus, to find a further connection between online
homework and student’s learning motivation, here are some studies that have been
investigated.
One of the studies was done by Arora., et al (2013) who investigated about
the use of online homework as a method to improve learning. In this study, it was
found that there was a positive correlation between the time that is used by the
students for completing their work and their performance in the final exam. A
quasi-experimental study using an online homework system, Mastering
Engineering was applied in this study. During the term, students were compared
in two statics course. The first course was given a written homework, and the
other one had to do and submit their homework online. Students were also given
pre test and post test to measure their understanding toward the materials. As the
result, in the end of the term, students who submitted their homework online
showed a better improvement which can be seen from the score that they got.
Another study was also done by Dillard-Eggers., et al (2008) who
investigated the effectiveness of online homework in principles of accounting
classes. In this study, they surveyed students to find out their satisfaction degree
toward the use of online homework and its effectiveness to support the learning
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process. As the result of this study, it was found that online homework could
increase the students’ performances and students also believe that online
homework is an effective method for their study. This statement is also supported
by Carr, N.S (2013) who argued that educational research has often showed the
advantages of effective homework. Therefore, it is quite convincing that online
homework as one of the effective ways to access homework might also be
beneficial for students. Cooper (1989) also claimed that homework is certainly
correlated with students’ achievement (cited in Emerson, T. & Mencken, K.,
2011). Therefore, if the homework itself is not effective for the students, it is
possible that the students will get burdened by their homework which might cause
a bad influence toward their result in learning.
THE STUDY
Context
The research was a qualitative study. It investigated the students’
perceptions toward the use of online homework in increasing their learning
motivation. This study was conducted in Pronunciation classes, which used online
homework as a part of the activity.
Participants
This study involved the undergraduate students from Faculty of Language
and Arts at Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. There were 10 students who had
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taken the Pronunciation class that were chosen as the participants for this study.
The researcher asked the students to be involved in this study, and 10 students
agreed voluntarily.
Instruments of data collection
In this study, the researcher collected the data using interview method. By
giving questions related to the students’ feeling and experience in using online
homework, it is expected that the researcher would get a clear description about
the use of online homework to increase learning motivation from students’ point
of view. Below are the questions that were used for the interview which was
adapted from Guay et al (2000):
1. Do you think online homework is fun or interesting? Why or why not?
2. Do you think online homework is suitable with your need as a student?
Why or why not?
3. What is your reason for doing online homework? Is it because your
teacher who asked you and you feel like you have no choice? Or are there
any other reasons?
4. What are the things that you dislike from online homework?
Data collection procedure
First, the researcher did an interview with each of the participant. All
participants got around 4 main questions related to their feeling and experience in
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using online homework as a medium for the teaching and learning process. After
having the interview with all participants, the researcher decided which
participants who have a probability to be interviewed for the second time and get
some follow up questions. For the second interview, the participants were chosen
based on their answers that seem to be able to provide more significant data which
can lead the researcher to the topic. As stated by DiCicco-Bloom, B & Crabtree, B
(2006), in-depth interviews can provide huge and in-depth information about
individuals’ experiences. Therefore it is possible that through interview the
researcher will get deeper information to know whether the use of online
homework is beneficial for increasing the students’ motivation or not based on the
students’ point of view.
Data analysis procedure
After having the interview and completing the data, the researcher
transcribed the result of the interview and tried to analyze and grouped the
students’ answers toward the questions. From the grouping, there were some
findings that appeared which possibly become the final result of this study. The
theory of learning motivation used is from Guay et al (2000). In their research
about Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS), it was claimed that “Situational
motivation” refers to the motivation individuals experience when they are
currently engaging in an activity”. This theory then will lead to three motivational
concepts proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985) (i.e. extrinsic motivation, intrinsic
motivation, and amotivation) that might affect students’ perceptions in doing
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online homework. Hence, by using their theory, it might help the researcher in
analyzing the data for the study.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
The interview data shows that the students were quite motivated with their
online homework. The 3 aspects as the focus of this paper were observed
significantly. 10 participants indicated that they were intrinsically and
extrinsically motivated by the use of online homework to support the teaching and
learning process. However, for some reasons some students also had different
experiences in dealing with online homework. In some certain circumstances,
some students felt amotivated in doing online homework and experienced
negative outcome in their performances.
From the interview result, the researcher found that the amount of
evidences that shows students’ motivation in doing online homework were varied
which is described by the table below:
Kinds of motivation
Evidences
1. Doing online homework is interesting.
Intrinsic motivation
2. Doing online homework is fun.
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1. Doing online homework can prevent
students from getting bad grade.
2. Online homework is quite helpful to
fulfill students’ need.
3. It provides materials that can be
Extrinsic motivation
downloaded anytime.
4. It is efficient since students can do their
homework anywhere and anytime.
5. It makes students easier to submit their
homework since they do not need to print
it out and go to campus to submit it.
1. Students cannot manage their time well
when the deadline for some online
homework are close to each other.
Amotivation
2. It is difficult for students to handle when
the internet connection is bad.
3. Students need a quite high cost to access
the online homework.
Therefore, to see the data analysis deeper, the following is a more detailed
discussion about the use online homework in the teaching and learning process
and its relation with the students’ motivation.
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Intrinsic Motivation
As one of aspects to measure students’ performance, intrinsic motivation
has a quite important role in the teaching and learning process. As cited in Ryan &
Deci (2000), Ryan & Stiller (1991) suggested that intrinsic motivation has become
an important experience for educators and it is also a natural source of learning
and achievement which can be consistently organized or sabotaged by parent and
teacher practices. In term of educational matters, intrinsic motivation might
become one of measurements to see whether students’ are truly having a desire to
involve themselves in any activities given by the teacher or not. One example of
the activities to support teaching and learning process is online homework which
is now quite common to be applied by teacher in the university.
Based on the interview result, the researcher found that most students
think that the use of online homework as a representation of nowadays technology
is actually quite interesting for them. The idea that online homework is interesting
was delivered by some students. One of them was stated by student A:
A : Menurut saya online homework itu sangat menarik ya. Karena kita bisa
mengerjakan itu di luar kelas. Kemudian ini adalah hal yang cukup menarik buat
saya karena belajar dari pengalaman waktu SMA kan saya sekolahnya di Papua dan
tidak pernah belajar masalah PR yang dikerjakan secara online.
A : I think online homework is really interesting because we can do it outside the
class. Then for me it is interesting since in my high school in Papua I never used
online homework. So it is kind of a new thing for me. (Interview on March 11, 2016;
my own translation)
A similar statement that online homework is interesting was also delivered by
student B, another participant of this research:
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B : Menurut saya sangat menarik dan menyenangkan, karena selama
memanfaatkan teknologi yang ada di jaman sekarang, dosen berekspektasi lebih
tinggi terhadap apa yang kita kerjakan.
B: I think it is really fun and interesting because we can use the technology which
is provided nowadays and by using the technology the lecture will have a higher
expectation towards our works. (Interview on March 11, 2016; my own translation)
From the two excerpts above, it could be seen that both students A and B
delivered their opinion in different ways, however still they had the same thought
that online homework was interesting. In the relation with motivation, an interest
to a certain thing is in line with intrinsic motivation. When someone is interested
in a particular thing, he or she will involve in it by their own willingness because
he or she believes that something they interested in will make them satisfy. For
Deci (1971), someone is intrinsically motivated when he or she wants to
participate in a certain activity for the sake of their own pleasure and satisfaction
(cited in Guay et al, 2000). From Deci’s statement, it shows that online homework
actually could influence students’ intrinsic motivation since most of them are
interested in it. Thus, after FLL students were intrinsically motivated by online
homework, it is expected that they will also gain a bigger desire to have a better
performance in the teaching and learning process.
Extrinsic Motivation
Another type of motivation that can affect students’ performance in the
teaching and learning process is extrinsic motivation. When students are
extrinsically motivated, they usually want to involve in the activity for the sake of
rewards that they will receive in the end of the activity. In line with this statement,
Ryan & Deci (2000) stated that extrinsic motivation is a concept which refers to
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an activity that is done to obtain some separable result. Thus it contrasts with
intrinsic motivation which indicates that the reason for someone to do an activity
is simply for the enjoyment of the activity itself.
Besides intrinsically motivated in doing online homework, there is a fact
that some students actually also extrinsically motivated to do online homework.
Some students stated that the reason why they are willing to do online homework
is because they are afraid of the consequence that they will receive if they do not
do the online homework. One of the statements which describe this idea was
delivered by student F:
F : Kalau aku merasa ini lebih karena tuntutan, jadi aku harus ngerjain gitu.
Soalnya ya kan aku kuliah juga buat nyari nilai, jadi mau nggak mau aku harus
ngerjain.
F: Yes, I just feel like it is kind of demand for me, so I must do that. Well, the
reason I go to college is also to search a good grade anyway, so I have to do the
online homework to get a good grade. (Interview on April 7, 2016; my own
translation)
According to student F’s statement, it is quite obvious that she was willing to do
online homework because she believed that if the online homework is not done, it
will result in her grade to be bad. Therefore, it explains that student F was
extrinsically motivated since she did the online homework for the sake of good
grade. In their research about The Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS), Guay et
al, 2000 stated that external regulation appears when someone’s performance is
adjusted by rewards in order to avoid negative outcomes. So, it is in line with
what has been delivered by student F in the example above.
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Besides preventing them from negative consequences, some students also
believe that online homework is quite helpful and effective to fulfill their need.
One of participants who think the same way was student I who stated that:
I : Iya, saya rasa online homework sudah memenuhi kebutuhan mahasiswa.
Karena sebagai seorang mahasiswa tentu kita akan mendapat banyak tuga s,
apalagi ketika final week. Ketika deadline tugas jatuh bersamaan dan kadang
hanya berbeda beberapa jam saja, dengan mengumpulkannya secara online tentu
akan lebih memudahkan.
I: I think it already fulfilled the students’ need because as a student of course we
will have many assignments, moreover in the final week. If the deadlines for many
assignments are close to each other, it will be easier if we can submit the
assignments online. (Interview on Mei 26, 2016; my own translation)
In line with student I’s explanation, Guay et al, 2000 suggested that a social
context that promotes a probability to fulfill people’s basic needs will belong to
self-determined types of motivation namely intrinsic motivation and identified
regulation. In this case, Guay et al, 2000 also stated that when identified
regulation occurs, the motivation of a person is still extrinsic. It means that people
are actually extrinsically motivated when they are willing to do something which
can satisfy their needs. Hence, the same thing was also happened with student I
who was extrinsically motivated to do online homework since it could help her to
fulfill her needs.
Amotivation
As the last motivational concept proposed by Ryan &Deci (1985),
amotivation is also considered to be an important aspect in the teaching and
learning process. Refer to the definition that has been delivered previously, a
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person is amotivated when his or her behavior is not extrinsically or intrinsically
motivated.
After looking at the result of the interview, there is another fact that made
online homework also amotivated for the students. Some of them believed that the
use of online homework to support the teaching and learning process was quite
burdening for them because of the deadline. Student F as one of the participants in
this research stated:
F : Semakin kesini kayak merasa terbebani soalnya nggak hanya satu dosen yang
istilahnya menggunakan online homework ini, tapi juga hamper semua dosen FBS
pake online homework dan itu kadang berdekatan deadlinenya jadi mau nggak
mau harus dikerjakan semua.
F: The thing that I dislike from online homework is that online homework is
applied in most courses in FLL and it burdens me when the submission date for
many courses are close. (Interview on April 7, 2016; my own translation)
From student F’s statement, the thing that made her amotivated in doing online
homework is because of the close deadline between one course to the others. In
this situation, students could only follow the lecturer’s instruction since they had
no control to determine the deadline for their assignments. As cited by Guay et al
(2000), Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale (1978) suggest that amotivation might
be similar with learned weakness where the person encounters feelings of inability
and assumptions of uncontrollability. By looking at this theory, this finding is
actually in line with the idea that amotivation appeared when students felt like
they could not handle something beyond their capability, in this case the deadline
itself, so that they had less desire in doing online homework as the requirement to
meet the deadline. In some other circumstances, students were also having a
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problem with financial matters if they had to submit the homework online. One of
the participants who agreed with this idea was student J who stated that:
J : Sebenarnya, lebih baik kan nggak online homework. Maksudnya selain hemat
paketan, anak kost, jadi harus bener-bener memanfaatkan.
J: Actually it is better for not using online homework. I mean I am a student who
lives in a boarding house, so I have to be very economical in spending money
including the use of internet quota. (Interview on April 7, 2016; my own
translation)
Besides the financial matters, student J also gave another reason for her objection
in doing online homework which is about the internet connection. In the interview
student J explained that:
J : Pengaruhnya sih ada positif dan negatifnya. Kalau positifnya ya bisa
management waktu juga karena kan dikit-dikit deadline. Trus kalau negatifnya
kadang ya koneksi internetnya aja sih yang jadi masalah. Kadang pernah gitu
udah selesai, mau submit terus failed gara -gara koneksinya nggak bagus, padahal
udah mepet deadline. Akhirnya nilaiku dikurangin gara -gara telat submit.
J: There are positive and negative impacts of online homework. The positive is that
it helps me to manage my time well since the submission deadline for some
assignments are close. Then the negative one is that sometimes the internet
connection becomes the problem. I’ve ever experienced it once, when I was
finished with my assignment and ready to submit but it was failed because the
connection was not good, whereas I have to catch up with the deadline. As the
result, my grade was deducted because I was late to submit my assignment.
(Interview on April 7, 2016; my own translation)
According to student J’s explanation, financial matters and also internet
connection might become the biggest problems which determine whether online
homework could work well or not. However, if we see from the impact that was
experienced by student J, the problem with internet connection could be the most
crucial factor if we are dealing with online homework. As the result of the bad
internet connection, student J had to face a deduction for her grade because of the
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late submission. This kind of negative experience might be one of the causes for
students like J to be amotivated in doing online homework. As cited in Guay et al
(2000), Deci & Ryan (1985) and also Vallerand (1997) claimed that intrinsic
motivation is usually expected to have a close relation with positive results
followed by identified regulation, while amotivation is commonly related with
negative results followed by external regulation.
Based on this theory, it is quite obvious that negative result of students’
performance has a very close relation with amotivation. Thus, not only
intrinsically and extrinsically motivated by the use of online homework in the
teaching and learning process, students are sometimes also amotivated in doing
online homework in some certain circumstances.
Implementing Online Homework
Referring to the definition of blended learning in the literature review, the
use of online homework in the teaching and learning process is actually also a part
of blended learning since students not only do learning face to face with the
teacher in class but also have some activities which is done online such as
submitting their homework. From teacher perspective, especially in English
Language Teaching (ELT), the use of online homework as the representative of
blended learning might give more advantages towards the teaching and learning
process. A previous study conducted by Badawi, M. F (2009) also revealed that
the blended learning can increase the pedagogical knowledge of the EFL
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prospective teachers more effectively than the face-to-face learning. With this
kind of condition, it is expected that students will also have more motivation in
learning since the teachers who applied blended learning in class have gained
more pedagogical knowledge which might affect their teaching performance to be
better. In addition, another study related to the effectiveness of blended learning
was also cited in Badawi, M. F (2009). This study was conducted by Riffell &
Sibley (2003) who found that in the hybrid course, student-instructor interaction
was experienced more by the students than in a traditional course format. In
addition, the online homework itself could also support the students’ time
management skills and learning. Hence, there is a big probability that use of
online homework as the representative of blended learning can motivate students
extrinsically since it gives more benefits for their learning process.
Not only effective for the teaching and learning process, the use of online
homework actually can also give more advantages especially in term of students’
grades and achievements. As cited in Badawi, M. F (2009), a previous study
conducted by Pereira et al (2007) found that blended learning which included
online activity is more effective to help students develop their academic
achievement in human anatomy. A similar case was delivered in Richards-Babb et
al (2011) who found that the online homework could help students to improve
their performances in general chemistry coursework. These improvements are
including their grades and also their study habits.
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Although these two researches were done in biology and chemistry course,
we can see that the cases are actually similar with the interview result that has
been presented in the previous part of this research where FLL students believe
that online homework could help them improve their grades. Therefore, in its
relation with motivation, once again the use of online homework is quite effective
to motivate students extrinsically.
In order to apply the effectiveness of online homework appropriately, first
both the students and teachers need to understand the strength and weaknesses of
the technology itself (Salomon, 1990; Welch & Brownell, 2000; cited in
Motiwalla, 2007). As technology is developed by human beings, of course we
cannot expect that online homework will always give positive impacts for us.
Despite all the advantages that online homework offers, still it has some
weaknesses too. Just like what has been delivered by the participants previously,
online homework also has some obstacles which lead them to be unmotivated in
learning. One of the biggest obstacles is that students found it difficult to deal
with online homework when the internet connection in their areas is not good.
Besides that, some students also stated that they need to pay a high cost if they
have to access the online homework. Actually it is a challenge for educators to
find the best solution for these two problems if they want to maximize the use of
online homework in the teaching and learning process. However, one of the
alternatives in maximizing the use of technology in education has been proposed
by Motiwalla (2007) who created an application called m-learning system (MLS).
In order to see the effectiveness of MLS, Motiwalla (2007) did a survey and
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interviews with 63 students from undergraduate and graduate courses at
University of Massachusetts Lowell College of Management, United States by
pilot-testing the use of m-learning applications for two semesters. As the result, he
found that most students agree that MLS is effective to support the learning
process and also provide flexible access in any location. Besides, he also stated
that by developing new technology in the future such as 3G and Wi-Fi network
services, it is expected to facilitate students with low cost access to the internet
and hopefully there will be more students who can access the data services to
support their learning process. Thus, from what has been delivered by Motiwalla
(2007) in his research, actually it can solve the two biggest problems that mostly
faced by students in accessing online homework. The first one is that the
application proposed by Motiwalla (2007) can provide students a flexible internet
access in any location. Although this application was only tested in United States,
a similar application can also be developed in Indonesia if the educators want to
cooperate with the technology experts in order to maximize the use of online
homework to motivate students in learning. Then, as what has been stated by
Motiwalla (2007), a facility like Wi-Fi provider can also become a good solution
for students to access online homework with a lower cost. Therefore, it depends
on how the educators will develop those facilities in order to use technology as
effectively as possible to support the education in Indonesia.
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CONCLUSION
This study investigated the use of online homework to increase students’
learning motivation in Pronunciation class. Based on the interview results, most
students believed that by doing online homework, it can motivate them
intrinsically and extrinsically. However in some situation, online homework can
also lead them to be amotivated for some reasons.
Overall, it was found that students are interested in doing online
homework because they think that this activity is fun and for some students doing
online homework is a new experience for them. This interest then leads them to be
intrinsically motivated in the teaching and learning process. Most students also
believed that the use of online homework is quite helpful to fulfill their needs
since it can be done anywhere and anytime. In addition, online homework is also
efficient to help students submit their homework in an easier way. Thus, students
are more extrinsically motivated in learning by the advantages offered by online
homework. Another thing that motivates students to do online homework is
because they want to avoid getting a bad grade if they did not do it. Therefore, it
leads students to be extrinsically motivated since they do online homework for the
sake of reward that they get in the end of the learning process. Moreover,
sometimes students are also amotivated to do online homework in some
conditions. For example when the internet connection is not good and when the
deadlines for some online homework are close to each other. Then, some students
were quite burden to do online homework because they need to pay a high cost to
27
access the internet. Hence, these kind of conditions can lead students to be
amotivated in doing online homework.
According to the finding, some strategies are proposed in order to
overcome the problems that lead students to be unmotivated in learning. A similar
application like m-learning system (MLS) is expected to provide a flexible
internet access in any location so that it will solve the first problem faced by
students. Then, to give a solution for high cost internet access, a facility like WiFi provider could give students an internet services with lower cost so that more
students will be able to access their online homework effectively.
For further studies, there are some aspects to concern. This study involved
only 10 participants, and it was limited to one specific context. Accordingly, it
would be helpful for future research to have more participants in a wider context
so that the data collected will be more varied. Additionally, the researcher also
suggest that the possible further research will have a deeper discussion about any
other problems that might be faced in applying online homework and the best
solution to overcome those problems so that the use of online homework in the
teaching and learning process can be more effective to support students’ need.
28
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all I would like to express my biggest gratitude to God Almighty who
always give His bless so that I could finish my thesis well. I would also give my
sincere gratitude to my parents and brother for their support and prayer during the
time I worked on my thesis. Special thanks is also given for my thesis supervisor,
Bapak Dian Toar Y. G. Sumakul, M.A. and also my thesis examiner Ibu Frances
Sinanu, S.Pd. for their valuable advises, guidance, and also knowledge. Without
their assistances I might not be able to finish my thesis well. I also give huge
thanks for FLL students from angkatan 2015 for being so cooperative as the
participants of my thesis. I would also give many thanks to Luky, Retri, Yiska,
and Avinda, for being such a good friends who cheer up my days and especially
Novi for being such a great partner to encourage and support each other in
finishing our thesis. Next, many thanks are also dedicated for my best friend Septi
for being such a good listener and supportive partner during my days. Last but not
least, I would like to say thanks to ED Twelvers for the happiness and good
memories we shared together during four years we studied in FLL.
29
REFERENCES:
Arora, M., Rho, Y., & Masson, C. (2013). Longitudinal study of online statics
homework as a method to improve learning. Journal of STEM education,
14(1), 36-44.
Badawi, M. F. (2009). Using Blended Learning for Enhancing EFL Prospective
Teachers’Pedagogical Knowledge and Performance. Learning &
Language - The Spirit of the Age, 14-15, Cairo.
Brewster, C. &Fager, J. (2000). Increasing student engagement and motivation:
from time-on-task to homework. Northwest Regional Educational
Laboratory 14(1), 1-25.
Carr, N.S. (2013). Increasing the effectiveness of homework for all learners in the
inclusiveclassroom. School community journal, 23(1), 169-182.
Demirci, N. (2007). University students’ perceptions of web-based vs. Paperbased homework in a general physics course. Eurasia Journal of
Mathematics, Science &Technology Education, 3 (1), 29-34.
Demirci, N. (2010). The effect of web-based homework on university students’
physics achievements. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational
Technology 9(4), 156-161.
DiCicco-Bloom, B & Crabtree, B. (2006). Making sense of qualitative research.
Medical Education 40(1), 314-321.
Dillard-Eggers, J., Wooten, T., Childs, B., & Coker, J. (2008).Evidence on the
effectiveness of on-line homework.College Teaching Methods & Styles
Journal 4(5), 9-16.
Doorn, D., Janssen, S., & O’Brien, M. (2010). Student attitudes and approaches to
online homework. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning 4(1), 1-20.
Emerson, T.& Mencken, K. (2011). Homework: to require or not? online graded
homework and student achievement. Perspective on economic education
research 7(1), 20-42.
Guay, F., Vallerand, R. J., & Blanchard, C. (2000). On the Assessment of
Situational Intrinsicand Extrinsic Motivation: The Situational Motivation
Scale (SIMS). Motivation and emotion, 24(3). 175-213.
Motiwalla, L. F. (2007). Mobile learning: A framework and evaluation.
Computers &Education, 49. 581–596.
30
Richards-Babb, M., Drelick, J., Henry, Z., & Robertson-Honecker, J. (2011).
OnlineHomework, Help or Hindrance? What Students Think and How
They Perform.Journal of College Science Teaching, 40(4). 81-93.
Ryan, R. M &Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: classic
definitions andnew directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology,
25(1). 54-67.
Williams, A. (2012). Online homework vs. Traditional homework: statistics
anxiety and self-efficacy in an educational statistics course. Technology
Innovations in statistic education 6(1), 1-19.
31
HOMEWORK TO INCREASE THEIR MOTIVATION
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
Oviera Maulia Gossti
112012130
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
2016
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INTRODUCTION
Motivation might be considered as one of the most important things that
students need to have in the teaching and learning process. However, as people
grow and live in this modern era, the easy access in gaining information and doing
any activities in the education world has also become one of the most important
aspects in increasing students’ motivation to participate actively in the teaching
and learning process.
Nowadays, people started to use internet and do the educational activities
such as giving and submitting homework online. Through online homework,
students can use their time effectively since they only need to send their
homework via internet which can be accessed every time and everywhere. With
this kind of easiness, it is expected that students will have more motivation in the
learning process. Dillard-Eggers, et.al (2008) found that most students believe that
through online homework, they can spend their time to study more effectively and
it makes them understand the materials easier. Besides the technology itself, the
use of homework can also give some benefits for students’ improvement in
learning. Brewster and Fager (2000) also hold the view that homework can be
useful for students if it is used in an appropriate way. As cited in their study,
Paulu (1998) also believed that homework can give a chance for students to
review and practice the materials that they have learned before.
Even though it seems that online homework is quite useful for students,
we still need to investigate deeper about how it can increase the students’ learning
6
motivation and the effect of its use in students’ achievement. Therefore, this study
aimed to answering this research question: “What are the students’ perceptions
toward the use of online homework to increase their learning motivation?” By
doing a further investigation, hopefully this study could provide some further
information about how to increase students’ learning motivation through online
homework and the other possible methods that can be used to increase students’
learning motivation.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Defining Motivation
In education, motivation has become one of the most important aspects in
determining students’ performance in the teaching and learning process. As cited
in Brewster and Fager (2000), motivation is defined as students’ willingness,
need, desire and compulsion which influence their success and participation in
learning (Bomia et al., 1997, p.1). From this definition, it could be seen that
motivation has a very important role for students in gaining some achievements as
the result of their learning process. A further definition was also delivered by
Skinner and Belmont (1991) who stated that students who are motivated to
participate in school activities are more initiative, enthusiastic, give more effort
and concentration in learning, and capable to show positive attitude, optimism,
and interest during the teaching and learning process (cited in Brewster and Fager,
2000).On the other hand, students’ who have less motivation are more passive,
have less effort in learning, and easily give up when they are facing any
7
challenges. Therefore, from several definitions above, it can be seen that
motivation has such an important role for students who are willing to gain more
achievement and more successful in the teaching and learning process.
Types of Motivation
Ryan and Deci (1985) in their Self-Determination Theory found that
student’s motivation could be divided into two categories, which are extrinsic
motivation and intrinsic motivation (cited in Ryan and Deci, 2000). Below are the
definitions of both categories:
a. Extrinsic motivation: When a person is extrinsically motivated, he or she
will simply do an activity in order to obtain some separable outcome. For
example, if students want to study English because they want to have good
grades, it means that they are extrinsically motivated.
b. Intrinsic motivation: A person can be categorized as intrinsically
motivated if he or she is moved to act for the fun or challenge that they
face rather than because of the external pressures or rewards. For example,
if students want to study because they want to find an answer toward
something that they have not known before, it means that they are
intrinsically motivated.
Beside extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, another type of motivational
concept namely amotivation was also proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985) to gain
more understanding towards human behavior (cited in Guay et al, 2000). Guay et
8
al (2000) suggested that when amotivated, a lack of opportunity between
behaviors and results is encountered by individuals. Their behaviors are not
intrinsically or extrinsically motivated.
Given the types of motivation and their definition above, it can be seen
that extrinsic motivation has the more correlation with the use of technology such
as online homework. In this case, the use of technology such as online homework
can be categorized as an extrinsic motivation because it facilitates students with
some advantages in the teaching and learning process that will be discussed
further in the definition of online homework.
Online Homework as a Part of Blended Learning
As cited in Demirci (2010), homework is an activity that has something to
do with motivation, materials understanding, and achievement (Keith & Benson,
1992; Keith, 1982; Paschal, Weinstein, & Walberg, 1984). Similarly, Doorn., et al
(2010) also argued that homework is a medium to help students have a deeper
understanding toward the materials since it gives students a chance to practice and
apply the knowledge that they have learned. Along with this modern era, the use
of technology is really common to support the teaching and learning process
especially in the university level. In this case, homework is included as one of the
activities in the teaching and learning process that can be supported by the use of
technology namely internet and it is called as “online homework”. Garrison and
Anderson (2003) defined online homework as a teaching and learning component
9
that is improved online using network technologies (cited in Williams, A., 2012).
From this definition, it can lead us to the idea that in doing online homework
students do not need to print their homework out, instead they can submit their
homework via online by using the internet access.
When online homework is applied in the teaching and learning process,
there will be two kinds of activities that could be done by the teacher and students
which are in class activity and online activity. Therefore, the use of online
homework can be included as a part of blended learning since it combines two
different kinds of activities. In line with this statement, Graham (2006, 3) claimed
that blended learning system is a combination of face-to-face instruction and
computer-mediated instruction (cited in Badawi, M. F, 2009). As cited in Badawi,
M. F (2009), Garrison & Vaughan (2008, 5) also defined blended learning as an
attentive blend of face-to-face and online learning experiences. Finally, to sum up
the definitions from these researchers, Badawi, M. F (2009) stated that:
“The current study suggests that blended learning is a flexible approach that
combines face-to-face learning activities with online learning practices that allow
both teachers and learners exchange collective and individual feedback
synchronously and asynchronously.”
Increasing Motivation Using Online Homework
Since people nowadays prefer to use technology in almost every aspect of
their life including the educational matters, many researchers have been trying to
investigate the relation between technologies and also student’s learning
motivation. For Demirci, N (2007), with the transformation of technology,
10
students’ assessment nowadays can be done using computer based forms which
facilitate students with easy access to receive their learning results. In this case,
online homework as a form of technology might influence the students’ learning
motivation since it facilitates students with that kind of easy access in learning
that has been mentioned before. Thus, to find a further connection between online
homework and student’s learning motivation, here are some studies that have been
investigated.
One of the studies was done by Arora., et al (2013) who investigated about
the use of online homework as a method to improve learning. In this study, it was
found that there was a positive correlation between the time that is used by the
students for completing their work and their performance in the final exam. A
quasi-experimental study using an online homework system, Mastering
Engineering was applied in this study. During the term, students were compared
in two statics course. The first course was given a written homework, and the
other one had to do and submit their homework online. Students were also given
pre test and post test to measure their understanding toward the materials. As the
result, in the end of the term, students who submitted their homework online
showed a better improvement which can be seen from the score that they got.
Another study was also done by Dillard-Eggers., et al (2008) who
investigated the effectiveness of online homework in principles of accounting
classes. In this study, they surveyed students to find out their satisfaction degree
toward the use of online homework and its effectiveness to support the learning
11
process. As the result of this study, it was found that online homework could
increase the students’ performances and students also believe that online
homework is an effective method for their study. This statement is also supported
by Carr, N.S (2013) who argued that educational research has often showed the
advantages of effective homework. Therefore, it is quite convincing that online
homework as one of the effective ways to access homework might also be
beneficial for students. Cooper (1989) also claimed that homework is certainly
correlated with students’ achievement (cited in Emerson, T. & Mencken, K.,
2011). Therefore, if the homework itself is not effective for the students, it is
possible that the students will get burdened by their homework which might cause
a bad influence toward their result in learning.
THE STUDY
Context
The research was a qualitative study. It investigated the students’
perceptions toward the use of online homework in increasing their learning
motivation. This study was conducted in Pronunciation classes, which used online
homework as a part of the activity.
Participants
This study involved the undergraduate students from Faculty of Language
and Arts at Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. There were 10 students who had
12
taken the Pronunciation class that were chosen as the participants for this study.
The researcher asked the students to be involved in this study, and 10 students
agreed voluntarily.
Instruments of data collection
In this study, the researcher collected the data using interview method. By
giving questions related to the students’ feeling and experience in using online
homework, it is expected that the researcher would get a clear description about
the use of online homework to increase learning motivation from students’ point
of view. Below are the questions that were used for the interview which was
adapted from Guay et al (2000):
1. Do you think online homework is fun or interesting? Why or why not?
2. Do you think online homework is suitable with your need as a student?
Why or why not?
3. What is your reason for doing online homework? Is it because your
teacher who asked you and you feel like you have no choice? Or are there
any other reasons?
4. What are the things that you dislike from online homework?
Data collection procedure
First, the researcher did an interview with each of the participant. All
participants got around 4 main questions related to their feeling and experience in
13
using online homework as a medium for the teaching and learning process. After
having the interview with all participants, the researcher decided which
participants who have a probability to be interviewed for the second time and get
some follow up questions. For the second interview, the participants were chosen
based on their answers that seem to be able to provide more significant data which
can lead the researcher to the topic. As stated by DiCicco-Bloom, B & Crabtree, B
(2006), in-depth interviews can provide huge and in-depth information about
individuals’ experiences. Therefore it is possible that through interview the
researcher will get deeper information to know whether the use of online
homework is beneficial for increasing the students’ motivation or not based on the
students’ point of view.
Data analysis procedure
After having the interview and completing the data, the researcher
transcribed the result of the interview and tried to analyze and grouped the
students’ answers toward the questions. From the grouping, there were some
findings that appeared which possibly become the final result of this study. The
theory of learning motivation used is from Guay et al (2000). In their research
about Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS), it was claimed that “Situational
motivation” refers to the motivation individuals experience when they are
currently engaging in an activity”. This theory then will lead to three motivational
concepts proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985) (i.e. extrinsic motivation, intrinsic
motivation, and amotivation) that might affect students’ perceptions in doing
14
online homework. Hence, by using their theory, it might help the researcher in
analyzing the data for the study.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
The interview data shows that the students were quite motivated with their
online homework. The 3 aspects as the focus of this paper were observed
significantly. 10 participants indicated that they were intrinsically and
extrinsically motivated by the use of online homework to support the teaching and
learning process. However, for some reasons some students also had different
experiences in dealing with online homework. In some certain circumstances,
some students felt amotivated in doing online homework and experienced
negative outcome in their performances.
From the interview result, the researcher found that the amount of
evidences that shows students’ motivation in doing online homework were varied
which is described by the table below:
Kinds of motivation
Evidences
1. Doing online homework is interesting.
Intrinsic motivation
2. Doing online homework is fun.
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1. Doing online homework can prevent
students from getting bad grade.
2. Online homework is quite helpful to
fulfill students’ need.
3. It provides materials that can be
Extrinsic motivation
downloaded anytime.
4. It is efficient since students can do their
homework anywhere and anytime.
5. It makes students easier to submit their
homework since they do not need to print
it out and go to campus to submit it.
1. Students cannot manage their time well
when the deadline for some online
homework are close to each other.
Amotivation
2. It is difficult for students to handle when
the internet connection is bad.
3. Students need a quite high cost to access
the online homework.
Therefore, to see the data analysis deeper, the following is a more detailed
discussion about the use online homework in the teaching and learning process
and its relation with the students’ motivation.
16
Intrinsic Motivation
As one of aspects to measure students’ performance, intrinsic motivation
has a quite important role in the teaching and learning process. As cited in Ryan &
Deci (2000), Ryan & Stiller (1991) suggested that intrinsic motivation has become
an important experience for educators and it is also a natural source of learning
and achievement which can be consistently organized or sabotaged by parent and
teacher practices. In term of educational matters, intrinsic motivation might
become one of measurements to see whether students’ are truly having a desire to
involve themselves in any activities given by the teacher or not. One example of
the activities to support teaching and learning process is online homework which
is now quite common to be applied by teacher in the university.
Based on the interview result, the researcher found that most students
think that the use of online homework as a representation of nowadays technology
is actually quite interesting for them. The idea that online homework is interesting
was delivered by some students. One of them was stated by student A:
A : Menurut saya online homework itu sangat menarik ya. Karena kita bisa
mengerjakan itu di luar kelas. Kemudian ini adalah hal yang cukup menarik buat
saya karena belajar dari pengalaman waktu SMA kan saya sekolahnya di Papua dan
tidak pernah belajar masalah PR yang dikerjakan secara online.
A : I think online homework is really interesting because we can do it outside the
class. Then for me it is interesting since in my high school in Papua I never used
online homework. So it is kind of a new thing for me. (Interview on March 11, 2016;
my own translation)
A similar statement that online homework is interesting was also delivered by
student B, another participant of this research:
17
B : Menurut saya sangat menarik dan menyenangkan, karena selama
memanfaatkan teknologi yang ada di jaman sekarang, dosen berekspektasi lebih
tinggi terhadap apa yang kita kerjakan.
B: I think it is really fun and interesting because we can use the technology which
is provided nowadays and by using the technology the lecture will have a higher
expectation towards our works. (Interview on March 11, 2016; my own translation)
From the two excerpts above, it could be seen that both students A and B
delivered their opinion in different ways, however still they had the same thought
that online homework was interesting. In the relation with motivation, an interest
to a certain thing is in line with intrinsic motivation. When someone is interested
in a particular thing, he or she will involve in it by their own willingness because
he or she believes that something they interested in will make them satisfy. For
Deci (1971), someone is intrinsically motivated when he or she wants to
participate in a certain activity for the sake of their own pleasure and satisfaction
(cited in Guay et al, 2000). From Deci’s statement, it shows that online homework
actually could influence students’ intrinsic motivation since most of them are
interested in it. Thus, after FLL students were intrinsically motivated by online
homework, it is expected that they will also gain a bigger desire to have a better
performance in the teaching and learning process.
Extrinsic Motivation
Another type of motivation that can affect students’ performance in the
teaching and learning process is extrinsic motivation. When students are
extrinsically motivated, they usually want to involve in the activity for the sake of
rewards that they will receive in the end of the activity. In line with this statement,
Ryan & Deci (2000) stated that extrinsic motivation is a concept which refers to
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an activity that is done to obtain some separable result. Thus it contrasts with
intrinsic motivation which indicates that the reason for someone to do an activity
is simply for the enjoyment of the activity itself.
Besides intrinsically motivated in doing online homework, there is a fact
that some students actually also extrinsically motivated to do online homework.
Some students stated that the reason why they are willing to do online homework
is because they are afraid of the consequence that they will receive if they do not
do the online homework. One of the statements which describe this idea was
delivered by student F:
F : Kalau aku merasa ini lebih karena tuntutan, jadi aku harus ngerjain gitu.
Soalnya ya kan aku kuliah juga buat nyari nilai, jadi mau nggak mau aku harus
ngerjain.
F: Yes, I just feel like it is kind of demand for me, so I must do that. Well, the
reason I go to college is also to search a good grade anyway, so I have to do the
online homework to get a good grade. (Interview on April 7, 2016; my own
translation)
According to student F’s statement, it is quite obvious that she was willing to do
online homework because she believed that if the online homework is not done, it
will result in her grade to be bad. Therefore, it explains that student F was
extrinsically motivated since she did the online homework for the sake of good
grade. In their research about The Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS), Guay et
al, 2000 stated that external regulation appears when someone’s performance is
adjusted by rewards in order to avoid negative outcomes. So, it is in line with
what has been delivered by student F in the example above.
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Besides preventing them from negative consequences, some students also
believe that online homework is quite helpful and effective to fulfill their need.
One of participants who think the same way was student I who stated that:
I : Iya, saya rasa online homework sudah memenuhi kebutuhan mahasiswa.
Karena sebagai seorang mahasiswa tentu kita akan mendapat banyak tuga s,
apalagi ketika final week. Ketika deadline tugas jatuh bersamaan dan kadang
hanya berbeda beberapa jam saja, dengan mengumpulkannya secara online tentu
akan lebih memudahkan.
I: I think it already fulfilled the students’ need because as a student of course we
will have many assignments, moreover in the final week. If the deadlines for many
assignments are close to each other, it will be easier if we can submit the
assignments online. (Interview on Mei 26, 2016; my own translation)
In line with student I’s explanation, Guay et al, 2000 suggested that a social
context that promotes a probability to fulfill people’s basic needs will belong to
self-determined types of motivation namely intrinsic motivation and identified
regulation. In this case, Guay et al, 2000 also stated that when identified
regulation occurs, the motivation of a person is still extrinsic. It means that people
are actually extrinsically motivated when they are willing to do something which
can satisfy their needs. Hence, the same thing was also happened with student I
who was extrinsically motivated to do online homework since it could help her to
fulfill her needs.
Amotivation
As the last motivational concept proposed by Ryan &Deci (1985),
amotivation is also considered to be an important aspect in the teaching and
learning process. Refer to the definition that has been delivered previously, a
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person is amotivated when his or her behavior is not extrinsically or intrinsically
motivated.
After looking at the result of the interview, there is another fact that made
online homework also amotivated for the students. Some of them believed that the
use of online homework to support the teaching and learning process was quite
burdening for them because of the deadline. Student F as one of the participants in
this research stated:
F : Semakin kesini kayak merasa terbebani soalnya nggak hanya satu dosen yang
istilahnya menggunakan online homework ini, tapi juga hamper semua dosen FBS
pake online homework dan itu kadang berdekatan deadlinenya jadi mau nggak
mau harus dikerjakan semua.
F: The thing that I dislike from online homework is that online homework is
applied in most courses in FLL and it burdens me when the submission date for
many courses are close. (Interview on April 7, 2016; my own translation)
From student F’s statement, the thing that made her amotivated in doing online
homework is because of the close deadline between one course to the others. In
this situation, students could only follow the lecturer’s instruction since they had
no control to determine the deadline for their assignments. As cited by Guay et al
(2000), Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale (1978) suggest that amotivation might
be similar with learned weakness where the person encounters feelings of inability
and assumptions of uncontrollability. By looking at this theory, this finding is
actually in line with the idea that amotivation appeared when students felt like
they could not handle something beyond their capability, in this case the deadline
itself, so that they had less desire in doing online homework as the requirement to
meet the deadline. In some other circumstances, students were also having a
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problem with financial matters if they had to submit the homework online. One of
the participants who agreed with this idea was student J who stated that:
J : Sebenarnya, lebih baik kan nggak online homework. Maksudnya selain hemat
paketan, anak kost, jadi harus bener-bener memanfaatkan.
J: Actually it is better for not using online homework. I mean I am a student who
lives in a boarding house, so I have to be very economical in spending money
including the use of internet quota. (Interview on April 7, 2016; my own
translation)
Besides the financial matters, student J also gave another reason for her objection
in doing online homework which is about the internet connection. In the interview
student J explained that:
J : Pengaruhnya sih ada positif dan negatifnya. Kalau positifnya ya bisa
management waktu juga karena kan dikit-dikit deadline. Trus kalau negatifnya
kadang ya koneksi internetnya aja sih yang jadi masalah. Kadang pernah gitu
udah selesai, mau submit terus failed gara -gara koneksinya nggak bagus, padahal
udah mepet deadline. Akhirnya nilaiku dikurangin gara -gara telat submit.
J: There are positive and negative impacts of online homework. The positive is that
it helps me to manage my time well since the submission deadline for some
assignments are close. Then the negative one is that sometimes the internet
connection becomes the problem. I’ve ever experienced it once, when I was
finished with my assignment and ready to submit but it was failed because the
connection was not good, whereas I have to catch up with the deadline. As the
result, my grade was deducted because I was late to submit my assignment.
(Interview on April 7, 2016; my own translation)
According to student J’s explanation, financial matters and also internet
connection might become the biggest problems which determine whether online
homework could work well or not. However, if we see from the impact that was
experienced by student J, the problem with internet connection could be the most
crucial factor if we are dealing with online homework. As the result of the bad
internet connection, student J had to face a deduction for her grade because of the
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late submission. This kind of negative experience might be one of the causes for
students like J to be amotivated in doing online homework. As cited in Guay et al
(2000), Deci & Ryan (1985) and also Vallerand (1997) claimed that intrinsic
motivation is usually expected to have a close relation with positive results
followed by identified regulation, while amotivation is commonly related with
negative results followed by external regulation.
Based on this theory, it is quite obvious that negative result of students’
performance has a very close relation with amotivation. Thus, not only
intrinsically and extrinsically motivated by the use of online homework in the
teaching and learning process, students are sometimes also amotivated in doing
online homework in some certain circumstances.
Implementing Online Homework
Referring to the definition of blended learning in the literature review, the
use of online homework in the teaching and learning process is actually also a part
of blended learning since students not only do learning face to face with the
teacher in class but also have some activities which is done online such as
submitting their homework. From teacher perspective, especially in English
Language Teaching (ELT), the use of online homework as the representative of
blended learning might give more advantages towards the teaching and learning
process. A previous study conducted by Badawi, M. F (2009) also revealed that
the blended learning can increase the pedagogical knowledge of the EFL
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prospective teachers more effectively than the face-to-face learning. With this
kind of condition, it is expected that students will also have more motivation in
learning since the teachers who applied blended learning in class have gained
more pedagogical knowledge which might affect their teaching performance to be
better. In addition, another study related to the effectiveness of blended learning
was also cited in Badawi, M. F (2009). This study was conducted by Riffell &
Sibley (2003) who found that in the hybrid course, student-instructor interaction
was experienced more by the students than in a traditional course format. In
addition, the online homework itself could also support the students’ time
management skills and learning. Hence, there is a big probability that use of
online homework as the representative of blended learning can motivate students
extrinsically since it gives more benefits for their learning process.
Not only effective for the teaching and learning process, the use of online
homework actually can also give more advantages especially in term of students’
grades and achievements. As cited in Badawi, M. F (2009), a previous study
conducted by Pereira et al (2007) found that blended learning which included
online activity is more effective to help students develop their academic
achievement in human anatomy. A similar case was delivered in Richards-Babb et
al (2011) who found that the online homework could help students to improve
their performances in general chemistry coursework. These improvements are
including their grades and also their study habits.
24
Although these two researches were done in biology and chemistry course,
we can see that the cases are actually similar with the interview result that has
been presented in the previous part of this research where FLL students believe
that online homework could help them improve their grades. Therefore, in its
relation with motivation, once again the use of online homework is quite effective
to motivate students extrinsically.
In order to apply the effectiveness of online homework appropriately, first
both the students and teachers need to understand the strength and weaknesses of
the technology itself (Salomon, 1990; Welch & Brownell, 2000; cited in
Motiwalla, 2007). As technology is developed by human beings, of course we
cannot expect that online homework will always give positive impacts for us.
Despite all the advantages that online homework offers, still it has some
weaknesses too. Just like what has been delivered by the participants previously,
online homework also has some obstacles which lead them to be unmotivated in
learning. One of the biggest obstacles is that students found it difficult to deal
with online homework when the internet connection in their areas is not good.
Besides that, some students also stated that they need to pay a high cost if they
have to access the online homework. Actually it is a challenge for educators to
find the best solution for these two problems if they want to maximize the use of
online homework in the teaching and learning process. However, one of the
alternatives in maximizing the use of technology in education has been proposed
by Motiwalla (2007) who created an application called m-learning system (MLS).
In order to see the effectiveness of MLS, Motiwalla (2007) did a survey and
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interviews with 63 students from undergraduate and graduate courses at
University of Massachusetts Lowell College of Management, United States by
pilot-testing the use of m-learning applications for two semesters. As the result, he
found that most students agree that MLS is effective to support the learning
process and also provide flexible access in any location. Besides, he also stated
that by developing new technology in the future such as 3G and Wi-Fi network
services, it is expected to facilitate students with low cost access to the internet
and hopefully there will be more students who can access the data services to
support their learning process. Thus, from what has been delivered by Motiwalla
(2007) in his research, actually it can solve the two biggest problems that mostly
faced by students in accessing online homework. The first one is that the
application proposed by Motiwalla (2007) can provide students a flexible internet
access in any location. Although this application was only tested in United States,
a similar application can also be developed in Indonesia if the educators want to
cooperate with the technology experts in order to maximize the use of online
homework to motivate students in learning. Then, as what has been stated by
Motiwalla (2007), a facility like Wi-Fi provider can also become a good solution
for students to access online homework with a lower cost. Therefore, it depends
on how the educators will develop those facilities in order to use technology as
effectively as possible to support the education in Indonesia.
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CONCLUSION
This study investigated the use of online homework to increase students’
learning motivation in Pronunciation class. Based on the interview results, most
students believed that by doing online homework, it can motivate them
intrinsically and extrinsically. However in some situation, online homework can
also lead them to be amotivated for some reasons.
Overall, it was found that students are interested in doing online
homework because they think that this activity is fun and for some students doing
online homework is a new experience for them. This interest then leads them to be
intrinsically motivated in the teaching and learning process. Most students also
believed that the use of online homework is quite helpful to fulfill their needs
since it can be done anywhere and anytime. In addition, online homework is also
efficient to help students submit their homework in an easier way. Thus, students
are more extrinsically motivated in learning by the advantages offered by online
homework. Another thing that motivates students to do online homework is
because they want to avoid getting a bad grade if they did not do it. Therefore, it
leads students to be extrinsically motivated since they do online homework for the
sake of reward that they get in the end of the learning process. Moreover,
sometimes students are also amotivated to do online homework in some
conditions. For example when the internet connection is not good and when the
deadlines for some online homework are close to each other. Then, some students
were quite burden to do online homework because they need to pay a high cost to
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access the internet. Hence, these kind of conditions can lead students to be
amotivated in doing online homework.
According to the finding, some strategies are proposed in order to
overcome the problems that lead students to be unmotivated in learning. A similar
application like m-learning system (MLS) is expected to provide a flexible
internet access in any location so that it will solve the first problem faced by
students. Then, to give a solution for high cost internet access, a facility like WiFi provider could give students an internet services with lower cost so that more
students will be able to access their online homework effectively.
For further studies, there are some aspects to concern. This study involved
only 10 participants, and it was limited to one specific context. Accordingly, it
would be helpful for future research to have more participants in a wider context
so that the data collected will be more varied. Additionally, the researcher also
suggest that the possible further research will have a deeper discussion about any
other problems that might be faced in applying online homework and the best
solution to overcome those problems so that the use of online homework in the
teaching and learning process can be more effective to support students’ need.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all I would like to express my biggest gratitude to God Almighty who
always give His bless so that I could finish my thesis well. I would also give my
sincere gratitude to my parents and brother for their support and prayer during the
time I worked on my thesis. Special thanks is also given for my thesis supervisor,
Bapak Dian Toar Y. G. Sumakul, M.A. and also my thesis examiner Ibu Frances
Sinanu, S.Pd. for their valuable advises, guidance, and also knowledge. Without
their assistances I might not be able to finish my thesis well. I also give huge
thanks for FLL students from angkatan 2015 for being so cooperative as the
participants of my thesis. I would also give many thanks to Luky, Retri, Yiska,
and Avinda, for being such a good friends who cheer up my days and especially
Novi for being such a great partner to encourage and support each other in
finishing our thesis. Next, many thanks are also dedicated for my best friend Septi
for being such a good listener and supportive partner during my days. Last but not
least, I would like to say thanks to ED Twelvers for the happiness and good
memories we shared together during four years we studied in FLL.
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