The Janus-Faced Nature of Time Spent on Homework: Using Latent Profile Analyses to Predict Academic Achievement Over a School Year

• In Event: 46.086 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 46.086-7 - Modern Learning: Cognitive Processes for the 21st Century

Abstract

Homework time and students’ achievement are only modestly associated, whereas homework effort has consistently been shown to positively predict achievement. However, homework time might be an important predictor of achievement when combined with measures of homework effort. Re-analyzing a two-wave study with 1915 eighth grade students, latent profile analyses (LPA) were applied. There were two central findings. First, five distinct learning types were identified, i.e., fast learners, high effort learners, average students, procrastinators and minimalists. Second, longitudinal analyses predicting Time 2 academic achievement indicated that time spent on homework can be associated with positive (as in the high effort learner) and negative (as in the procrastinator) outcomes. These findings support the usefulness of the person-centered approach for homework research.

Authors

• Barbara Flunger, University of Tübingen

• Ulrich Trautwein, University of Tubingen

• Benjamin Nagengast, University of Tübingen

• Oliver Lüdtke, Humboldt University

• Alois Niggli, Paedagogische Hochschule

• Inge Schnyder, University of Fribourg