Date of Award

Spring 4-4-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Guadalupe Solis

Second Advisor

Dr. Keith Larick

Third Advisor

Dr. Alan Enomoto

Abstract

Purpose: Homework is an educational practice that has been implemented for many years. Research has shown that homework can have stringent effects on the well-being of students. To date, much of the research discusses the students’ and parents’ point of view on homework’s effects. Although teachers are the practitioners that develop and implement this practice, there is a dearth of research on teacher’s perspectives of homework’s effects on the well-being of students. Even less research has been carried out on teachers’ perspectives of homework’s effects on the well-being of English Learner Students. Since the goal of education is to provide all students with a quality education, it is imperative that teachers reflect on and utilize educational practices that promote positive outcomes for English Learners as well as mainstream students. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to describe and explain elementary school teachers’ perceptions of homework’s effects on the emotional and physical well-being of English Learners.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study utilized in-depth interviews and artifacts to discover teachers’ perceptions of homework’s effects on English Learners. Thirteen elementary school teachers in the South San Joaquin Valley of California were selected to participate in the study via purposeful sampling. An interview script derived from the research questions was used to draw out the teachers’ perceptions. The participants were digitally recorded and given transcripts to review for accuracy. Triangulation was achieved through analyzing data from interview transcripts and artifacts.

Findings: Major findings include emotional effects such as frustration, inadequacy, and tension between family members. Some positive effects attributed to EL students with high academic language and parental support are feelings of accomplishment and a higher confidence level.

Conclusions: Many conclusions were drawn based on the major findings. From these findings a list of implications for action were created. One implication for action is to provide teacher development classes on homework including the history of homework and how this educational practice affects all students.

Recommendations: Recommendations for further research are described in Chapter V, including studies that search out the effects of homework from the students’ and parents’ perspective.

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