Homework as Adversary, Reading as Ally: A Discursive Analysis of Teachers’ Decisions to Eliminate Homework

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating Dilemmas of Teacher Practice (Table 40)

Abstract

Through the lens of discursive psychology (DP), the purpose of this study is to understand how three fourth grade teachers constructed their decision to eliminate homework at their school, the rhetorical devices they deployed to justify their actions, and the implications of these constructions and devices for their classroom instruction, equity considerations, and partnerships with families. Analysis showed that teachers constructed homework (1) as an adversary and reading as an ally; (2) as an inefficiency, a poor mechanism for fostering academic achievement; and (3) as a driver of inequality. We discuss how these teachers see their roles and responsibilities, how homework became seen as unnecessary, and the implications of these decisions for learning and homework policy.

Authors

• Janine Bempechat, Boston University

• Abigail Orrick, Harvard University

• Margarita Jimenez-Silva, University of California - Davis