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Recent expenditures in educational technology have changed instructors’ methods. In this environment, instructors may assign and oversee assignments online. Web-based instructional technology has grown rapidly. Parallel to these improvements, academics and educators have become increasingly interested in homework systems to assess language abilities. This research review addresses English language homework studies from five perspectives: general sources of publications; English language homework; conceptual methods; research concerns and findings; and subsequent effects. The systematic study includes 37 SSCI-ASCI journal papers on English language skill-based homework and homework conceptual categories. The data show that there is no consensus on which homework method improves academic performance. However, most believe that online homework boosts student performance and engagement more than conventional homework. Language homework also improved reading, listening, and understanding. The results provide educational and research directions. Educational technology advancements have led to online assignment management and increased interest in language assessment. A research review of 37 SSCI-ASCI journal papers found no consensus on which method improves academic performance. Online homework is believed to boost student performance and engagement more than conventional methods, improving reading, listening, and understanding.
Copyright © 2024 Duha Nur Dogan and Duhan Nurdan Dogan. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ducators, as a part of the education system, seek to get the greatest results in teaching. They engage in a variety of activities and initiatives. Employing homework to assist learning beyond the class is one of the frequent attempts and actions that instructors make for any kind of learning including English. Homework is any assignment provided by educators for pupils to complete outside of school hours [1]. Homework is likely to entail complicated interaction [2]. It means that homework includes the interplay of several learning aspects.
Homework is regarded as one of the rituals (namely, customary activities) in schools [3]. Homework is a long-standing educational institution that was rarely addressed until lately. It may be stated that homework has long been seen as an essential component of education [4]. With the exception of English, these studies [5, 6] largely concentrated on primary and secondary school assignments and the perspectives of both teachers and students on assignments. EFL assignments, however, have received very little attention so far [7]. It is uncertain how much EFL assignments influence students’ achievement.
It is significant to mention that during this study, the terms “assignment” and “homework” are used synonymously. In the literature, a number of definitions of homework and assignments have been given. In general, are written or oral tasks that students complete outside of class after being given them by their teachers [3].
Typically, teachers give homework in the traditional system known as “traditional homework,” especially to students in primary and secondary schools by selecting activities from their books [8]. A significant amount of study has been undertaken in recent decades on the role of conventional homework to learners’ involvement and academic progress [9]. Nonetheless, on homework its both beneficial and bad effects on children’ learning. According to the literature, doing homework assignments benefits pupils of all grade levels. Greater self-efficacy/regulation abilities (e.g., planning), classroom engagement (e.g., concentration, class involvement), and industriousness (e.g., being cautious, diligent etc.) are all advantages [10]. Nevertheless, current evidence warns that homework might have a harmful impact on pupils, particularly when its qualities are poorly balanced (e.g., amount, degree of difficulty, instructional purpose). Delay, bad feelings, physiological tiredness, and stress to do assignments and surpass might indeed have adverse consequences, including plagiarized comments from other pupils [11]. Notwithstanding that, homework is seen as an important educational technique that promotes academic progress and achievement. Learners who finish their homework on a routine schedule likely to outperform their peers who do not give their best [12]. Additionally, prior studies have indicated that, with the development of web-based technologies, particularly for almost 20 years, numerous researchers, teachers, and experts choose utilizing online assignments over pen and paper assignments .
As part of this process, many software programs were created to provide web-based instructional systems for educational settings [13]. As a result, many educators have begun to replace traditional methods with distant education tools such as online material sharing, online assessment, and online assignments. These technologies support educators in dealing with the rising number of learners for every classroom as well as the organizational strain [14]. As it comes to homework, for illustration, using an electronic or internet-based format provides significant advantages for teachers (e. g., reduced time required to replicate, transmit, and gather assignment; shorter duration to verify tasks; delivery of on-time and individualized feedback) when compared to the traditional style [15]. The price of using an online resource includes establishing the system, educating learners how to utilize it and retrieve information, and responding learner inquiries about software difficulties. Nonetheless, the system additionally enables instructors to significantly minimize the time spent evaluating all learners’ assignments, evaluate their knowledge level, and alter instructional techniques accordingly to adapt to students’ requirements [16].
Additionally, these facilities typically encourage instructors to utilize web-based devices to improve course material, encourage their students, enhance communication, and reduce work. For students, there are numerous advantages to using websites for homework assignments. Students have the option to correct their mistakes, produce revised copies for their responses to the assignments on time, and may be encouraged to repeat the exercises until they understand them by receiving quick, personalized feedback [13]. Learners like the ability to quickly discover their assignment score and receive tips to assist them in choosing the best solution, which is only achievable with an online assignment platform [17]. This leads into a favorable association between completion of online assignments and final grade [18]. Finally, this allows for the unpredictability of activities that is expected to diminish students’ dishonesty in duplicating assignments from their classmates [19]. Given the advantages indicated above, online schoolwork has certain cons. For instance, because to the potential of many uploads, trial-and-error submissions may attract learners to predict the solution [20], which stresses the last response instead of the method of generating responses [21].
Numerous aspects of homework, such as frequency, aim, and amount [22] were thoroughly examined over the past few years, but the manner in which homework is received less attention [8, 23 24]. It is important to examine homework format given the rising use of technology in the public classroom, especially the assignment of online homework [8].
The current study conducts a thorough evaluation of the methodological aspects of studies that compared skill-based as well as conceptual types of homework in order to better understand which format enhances students’ performance the most.
The purpose of the current review is to investigate the literature on EFL/ESL homework and provide responses to the following questions:
A systematic search was conducted using a carefully planned review methodology that specified the studies’ inclusion and exclusion criteria, as well as subsequent data analysis for search strategy and selection criteria. Only research articles around the world and articles using English language were examined, with review papers and brief conference proceedings being excluded. A list of inclusion criteria was used in locating the articles to be used in the research (see Table 1).
This systematic review adhered to the PRISMA principles for data abstraction [25]. A PRISMA flow diagram for the search and inclusion/exclusion processes is presented in Figure 1. Four databases were searched: Web of Science (WoS), ERIC, Google Scholar, and Scopus. “English language” and “homework” were the terms utilized in the searches. These words were picked since “English language homework” is the phrase writers use to identify the style of homework, and “English language homework” was selected since the publications used this term as a classifier after the initial database search. The searches were done between November 5th, 2022 and December 8th, 2022. As search engines, the databases shown in Figure 1 were used. A data extraction table was created to allow for the collection and tabulation of information relevant to the evaluation.
| Databases: Web of Science (WoS), ERIC, Google Scholar, and Scopus |
|---|
| Search: ‘’English’’ OR ‘’English language’’ |
| AND ‘’homework’’ OR ‘’assignment’’ |
| Limiters: All in English, 2018-2022, Journal articles |
| Total: 201 results |
| Chosen:179 studies |
The following inclusion and exclusion criteria were established in order to limit the number of articles (see Table 2). Duplicates (n = 22) were separated, resulting in a total of (n) = 201. Since 179 studies did not meet the inclusion criteria, the total number of publications involved in the study was 37.
After rejecting duplicate articles and those that did not fulfill the set inclusion criteria, the chosen studies were examined again, including a review of the abstracts and, if required, the entire papers. A total of 37 papers were assessed and eventually chosen for inclusion in this study once their eligibility was validated in this step. For the subject of risk of bias, not only SSCI journals but also articles in ESCI and sub-category journals were included.
Web of Science (WoS), ERIC, and Google Scholar were the databases employed in this investigation. The terms “homework,” “assignment,” “English,” and “English language” were entered into the search field. The findings identified 201 linkages. The findings were then filtered based on their accessibility, research paper type, and inclusion and exclusion criteria. 16 publications were eliminated because they were not in article form. The search yielded 93 publications that were unrelated to the focus of the study. After reviewing the articles under the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 13 papers were eliminated since they were not used in EFL classrooms. In conclusion, only 37 publications were chosen from the 201 findings for this study.
The journal articles discovered in Web of Science (WoS), ERIC, Google Scholar, and Scopus would be selected on the basis of the framework criteria to ensure the quality of this study. The criteria for inclusion and exclusion were defined to choose the articles. This would assure the articles’ relevancy while also keeping the study’s focus. Table 2 displays the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Data pertaining to the sample’s setting was supplied in order to give a complete view of the aspects surrounding the study of the English language homework. This took into account various nations, forms of publishing, language in the form of journal articles, and temporal aspects.
The publications were coded individually by the researcher. The coding was led by the research topics, which gave the coder unique aims. The year of release, resource titles, and writer’s location were used to categorize the overall type of published research on English language homework. The research issues (e.g., author/country, student education, main aim), methods (e.g., effectiveness of homework in promoting language skills, homework type (online vs. traditional homework), etc.) were coded as reported in the research articles (see Table 3).
| Criteria for inclusion | Criteria for exclusion |
| Articles published between 2018 and 2022 | Articles not published between 2018 and 2022 |
| Focus on research on homework in ELT | Duplicated publications |
| Keyword search in the ‘title’ and ‘abstract’ of papers | Papers presented in conference proceedings, and book chapters |
|
Papers presented in only articles
All geographical contexts Studies in English language |
No access to full publications and open access
Studies in other languages |
| Author | Country – Participants | Language skill | Homework type | Aim | Method | Result |
| [46] | America – University students | Writing | Traditional | To look into how writing requirements differ between undergraduate course levels and academic subjects at a typical university department | Assignment – types | 1- The importance of developing analytical argument (Text Analysis, Short Text-Analysis or sometimes Reading Response), meta-discourse (Reflection, Portfolio Cover Letter), revision (Portfolio, Peer Feedback), and specialized writing abilities (Writing Exercise) is reflected in these assignment categories. The department placed a strong focus on prolonged writing projects (Proposal) and material mastery (Reading Response and In-Class Assessment), however these assignment types varied in frequency and quality depending on the course and sub-area. The pedagogical goals that sub-areas of the English department in writing assignments revealed by looking into the assignment-types patterns (most frequent types and changes over levels). 2- Frequency variation showed a significant amount of interdepartmental diversity in given writing, even within the same department (where distinct sub-areas frequently featured noticeably different sets of basic assignment-types). |
| [56] | China -university students | All language skill and elements | Online | To create a web-based online tutoring system for teaching college English. | 1-K-means clustering algorithm | The business logic layer receives the database’s operation results for processing. According to experimental findings, the designed platform performs well for data gathering, has a low connection speed and response delay, is compatible, uses little CPU power, distributes resources quickly, and has a high user satisfaction rate. It is compatible with a variety of operating systems. |
| [53] | China- | Vocabulary | online | To look into using mobile technologies in tasks for training college students English vocabulary. | Mobile network layer assignments for English vocabulary | 1-Create the databases in accordance with the English vocabulary of English terms field, determining their connection using Euclidean distance. Next, using a randomized set classification of vocabulary data categories, determine the degree of similarity of the data extraction vocabulary data features, and eliminate resemblance of the vocabulary data to ease system storage. 2-The testing results point to the mobile technology-based system’s excellent performance and dependability, suggesting that it may find widespread use in the reality. |
| [40] | Japan – University students | Reading | Online | In online English reading classes offered during the COVID-19 epidemic, 80 Japanese college freshman (n = 80) were motivated to complete graded online tasks. | 1- A semi-structured post-course interviews | 1-The findings showed that assignments that promoted learner autonomy, social connection, self – interest, and the usefulness of the task were highly associated with higher levels of motivation. 2-This study discovered that learners’ engagement with educational materials is explicitly improved by intrinsic motivation. |
| [37] | Hong Kong -University students | Listening | Online | To determine how well repeated input (‘narrow listening’ assignments) affects students’ oral output, including pronunciation and fluency. | 1-Pre-post tests. 2-Semi-structured interviews. | Results showed that experimental groups A and B considerably outperformed control group C in terms of fluency and pronunciation when reading aloud, acting out a dialogue, and engaging in free production. Additionally, there were variations in these tasks between group A and group B. |
| [34] | Iran-university students | Listening | Online | To examine the function that listening assignment plays in metacognitive intervention for listening comprehension in English as a Foreign Language and issues that students face when listening. | 1-The BBC News Recorded Audios were downloaded. 2-Metacognitive Intervention for Listening Homework. 3-Diary slots. | 1-The findings showed that self-directed listening diaries served instructional goals by enhancing learners’ metacognitive awareness and giving them the chance to organize, keep a record of, and assess their own listening processes. 2- Assisted listeners in reflecting on their listening homework, identifying the gap, taking appropriate action to fix their listening issues, and feeling a sense of confidence and accomplishment. |
| [64] | Colombia-University students | Grammar | Traditional | To look into how different kinds of homework help affect students’ grammatical proficiency. | 1-Individual study textbooks. 2-The individual study materials and tasks-homework. 3-Three tests (pre-test, post-test, and delayed test). | Results from the delayed test, post-test, and pretest revealed that both groups had significantly improved their understanding of the goal construction. The difference between the two groups was greater for the corpus-informed (CI) group compared to the non-corpus-informed (NCI) group, demonstrating the potential benefit of using CI material as homework to augment training. |
| [44] | Germany-University students | Writing | Online | To show that recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) is a useful tool for evaluating keystroke recording data and produces accurate data on the effort a writer must put forth when producing text. | 1-Writing assignments; one was in English and another in German. 2- A short questionnaire. 3-Recurrence quantification analysis (RQA). 4- A regular copy task, and an English placement test. | 1-In comparison to writing in a different language, researchers anticipated that writing in a native language that was well-mastered would be associated with higher values in the pertinent RQA measures. Mixed model ANOVA findings supported this theory. 2-RQA measurements appear to be greater when parameters from pause, burst, and revision studies point to further fluid writing, indicating more structured knowledge. 3-Multiple regression models showed that linguistic proficiency, in addition to keyboarding skills, significantly influences RQA results. The latest findings highlight RQA as a useful tool for analyzing time series data that provides insightful knowledge about the effort a writer during text composition. |
| [29] | Egypt-University students | Speaking | Traditional vs online | To examine into how asynchronous interaction tasks and student-created digital media projects affect EFL students’ oral language abilities. | 1-Two parallel spoken language exams utilized as pre- and post-tests. 2-An open-ended question survey was created and distributed to assess their views of the digital interactive media production activities that participate in. | 1- Participants in all groups shown advancements in their overall and micro-oral language abilities (i.e., oral content, fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar). Students who completed interactive digital media assignments (IDMA) did better than those who completed non-interactive digital media assignments (NDMA) and in-person tasks (FTFA). 2-When comparing groups that completed non-interactive digital media assignments (NDMA) and conventional face-to-face assignments (FTFA), the former outperformed the latter only in terms of content and vocabulary; however, it was unable to do so in terms of fluency, pronunciation, grammar, or overall oral language skills. |
| [28] | Russia -University students | Speaking | Online vs traditional | To compare the outcomes of individual and interactive mobile homework tasks, the main distinctive requirement of task completion and using this to determine the trend of the advantages of their unique learning. | 1-A pre-experimental questionnaire. 2-Homework task types. 3- A post-experimental questionnaire. | The findings of the study support the idea that mobile applications appear to considerably contribute to diversifying the conditions of students’ independent studies in the field of foreign language instruction. |
| [42] | Japanese-university students | Reading | Online | To look into the use of leaderboards in a Japanese university’s gamified EFL course. | 1-The three homework activities. 2- The Language Learning Orientations Scale. 3- Semi-structured interviews. | 1- Only performance up to the maximum award threshold was encouraged by the leaderboard. 2- The leaderboard undermined intrinsic drive by switching from internal to external extrinsic motivation. |
| [50] | Jordan -University students | 4 skills | Online | To investigate the advantages and disadvantages of using Moodle in teaching and the perception of Moodle as a learning tool in teaching English-speaking students. | 1- Moodle as part of the English language teaching method | It has been found that using Moodle in the English classroom has the following benefits: Moodle promotes anytime, anywhere learning, streamlines course management, and reduces the cost and time pressures associated with delivering lectures. The disadvantages of using Moodle in the English classroom are related to technological issues, particularly Internet access, Moodle’s ineffectiveness, and faculty professional development. Students who used Moodle as a platform for their studies showed positive attitudes toward English learning. |
| [57] | Türkiye | 4 skills | Online | To investigate the effects of emergency distance education (EDE) on the development of language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) of Turkish teachers who teach English as a foreign language (EFL). | Interview | 1- Speaking ability was least advantageous and writing ability most advantageous in EDE. The participants claimed that because writing was a necessary ability for practically all schoolwork, assignments, and projects, it was given the most attention. 2- Nevertheless, speaking was neglected in online courses, and writing took its place as the preferred method of communication. |
| [45] | Japan – University students | Writing | Traditional | To examine the possible effects of an intervention promoting the use of diagrams on the quality elements of written explanations produced by EFL students in an undergraduate education programme taught entirely in English. | 1-Pre- and Post-Instruction Assessments. 2-Weekly Explanation Homework and Interventions Used. | 1- Analysis of the students’ homework assignments and explanations they wrote before and after the lesson showed an increase in the number and variety of diagrams they used. 2- Analysis of the post-instruction explanations revealed a negative relationship between the number of illustrations and the number of words and verbs. However, despite the lower number of words, students were able to include the same number of important details in their explanations. |
| [39] | Iran – High school students | Reading-writing | Online | To look into how the Otus application affected the performance and attitudes of Iranian EFL students in the first grade of high school. | 1-A proficiency test. 2-An achievement test. 3-An attitude questionnaire. 4-The Otus application. | 1-It was discovered that the use of Otus significantly improved the language proficiency of Iranian first-grade high school EFL students. 2-The results showed that students in the experimental group expressed favorable opinions. 3-This study contributes important findings about the expansion of internet language. |
| [54] | Saudi Arabia – University students | Vocabulary | Online vs. Traditional | 1-To investigate how students learning English use WhatsApp compared to the conventional way of vocabulary training to increase their academic vocabulary knowledge. 2-To assess students’ attitudes toward utilizing WhatsApp to learn new words. | 1-Vocabulary test. 2-Questionnaire for experimental group students’ impressions about using WhatsApp to acquire new language. | 1-T-test results showed that the WhatsApp group fared considerably better on a vocabulary test than the conventional group. 2-Results from a questionnaire that assessed participants’ opinions about using WhatsApp to acquire vocabulary reveal that, on the whole, users have favorable attitudes regarding doing so. |
| [43] | Taiwan- High school students | Reading-vocabulary | Online | To determine whether giving teenage Taiwanese English learners the homework assignment of creating and reviewing word cards for unfamiliar words they happen to come across during class reading would help them build their vocabulary. | 1- The vocabulary size test (VST). 2- Specific Vocabulary Test (SVT). 3- General English proficiency test (GEPT) for intermediate reading. 4- Vocabulary word card questionnaire. | 1-After the intervention, there were significant changes in second-language reading ability and L2 vocabulary acquisition in the intervention group, whereas the control group showed only small gains in second-language vocabulary. 2-Additional analyses of the intervention group’s L2 vocabulary data, responses to a closed and open-ended questionnaire, and self-created word cards revealed anomalies in the participants’ L2 lexicon, a reluctance to use the method of intentional vocabulary learning with self-created word cards, and a need for assistance in selecting target words that match their abilities. |
| [55] | Italy – High school students | Vocabulary | Online | To examine the effectiveness of a training program for second language acquisition utilizing a unique type of IVR, the immersive 360° films, which are experienced using a smartphone coupled with a cardboard. | 1-Pre- and posttest for vocabulary test. 2- MALL homework training based on 360° immersive videos, twenty one 360° videos for experimental group videos, Twenty-one 360° videos for experimental group. 3-Usual non-immersive videos for the control group. 4- Attitude test. | The results showed that students who had more positive attitudes toward technology watched the movies more often than students who had negative attitudes. Even after adjusting for the quantity of video visualizations, students who received the 360-degree video training retained more word knowledge than students in the control group. |
| [31] | Malaysia- University students | Speaking | Online | The objectives of this study are to: 1- analyze students’ perceptions of the use of the Video Project Assignment (VPA) in English as a communicative subject. 2- assess students’ emotional and cognitive engagement with the use of the VPA; and 3- determine students’ success in the speaking lesson. | Online questionnaire | 1-The study’s findings show that students show good perception, engagement, and achievement through producing Video Project Assignments (VPA). 2- This study also offers useful conclusions to potential researchers, lecturers, and students. |
| [60] | Iran – University students | Learners’ views and their practice of English course homework | Traditional | To investigate how homework is perceived by English language learners and how they actually use it over the course of a term. | 1-Questionnaire. 2-Interview. | 1-It demonstrated that students’ attitudes regarding homework assignments were good. 2- The findings also showed that students had certain challenges when completing their homework. They said that the main causes of difficulty include failing to grasp the necessary concept, not comprehending the assignment’s instructions, not enjoying the homework, failing to pay attention, feeling anxious about the assignment, and feeling stressed out about it. |
| [61] | Hong Kong-English language teachers | All skills and components | Traditional | To provide additional information on the poorly studied assignment policies used by English language instructors. | 1-Questionnaire | 1-A large majority of respondents indicated that they assigned homework so that students may “practice what they have already been taught in sessions,” according to the survey data. Participants ranked eight skills from most common (1) to least common (2), with homework assignments for each skill (8). Grammar was the most frequently used skill, while listening was the least used. 3. The participants were additionally asked to rank the homework assignments they. To rate from most regular (1) to least regular (10), they were given a list of (10). The homework assignment that was completed the least frequently was the listening assignment. 4- When asked how much class time they spend on activities connected to their homework, 49% said 0–10 minutes, 37% said 11–20 minutes, and 8% said 40 minutes or more. The fact that “revising for future assessments, exams, and dictations” is less common than other goals is an intriguing result. This might be because assessments happen more frequently than homework does. 6-In fact, the study reveals that English language instructors in primary schools in Hong Kong assign two to three pieces of homework on average each day and anticipate that pupils will spend 20 to 40 minutes on their English assignments. |
| [51] | Ethiopia – High school students and teachers | All skills and components | Traditional | To evaluate how students and teachers in English language classes feel about the group work assignment. |
1-Questionnaire
2-Semi- structured interview 3-Focus group discussion |
1-According to the study’s findings, the majority of teachers and students in English language classrooms had a negative attitude toward group work assignments. As a result of the students’ lack of interest, desire, and awareness, they did not behave in accordance with their attitudes. 2-Consequently, the study’s findings showed that some teachers provided helpful feedback and grades for students’ group work assignments. |
| [62] | Hong Kong – English language teachers | All skills and components | Traditional | To examine the impact of standardized homework procedures on teacher autonomy, which is an essential component of teacher professionalism and the cornerstone of teachers’ professional practice, through the experiences of two English teachers working in elementary school in Hong Kong. |
1-Extensive discussions with two teachers
2-Assignment examples from students |
1- Assignment rules do have an impact on instructors’ autonomy. However, they had opposite effects on the two teachers. One of the participants felt constrained and unable to teach in the way she desired, while the other perceived the behaviors as standard and an essential part of her job to assign the assignments as directed. |
| [30] | Nigeria – English teachers belonging to the Yoruba ethnic group | Speaking (stressing) | Traditional | To investigate whether Yoruba English teachers (YELTs) can effectively model the accentuation of Standard English in Nigeria by examining the (re)assignment of stress to English phrasal structures in their speech. | 1 – A questionnaire 2 – A native Briton with a pronounced British accent 3 -A prepared text embedded with the features in the Speech Filing System (SFS/ WASP). | Production of YELTs yielded a 7.5% match to baseline stress patterns and a 5.4% core stress assignment. Stress was altered in YELTs 33.3% of the time. Stronger syllables were favoured over weaker syllables according to the metrical grids of YELTs. YELTs largely avoided assigning nuclear stress. Projected stress transfer, which is required in reversing iambic feet to avoid stress collisions, did not occur in the placeholders of the YELTs grids. Stronger and weaker syllable prominence did not differ in the spectrograms of the YELTs. Yoruba English teachers are not considered acceptable examples of spoken English in Nigeria, despite their academic abilities. |
| [63] | Türkiye – University students | All skills and components | Online | To examine the impact of students’ online assignment performance on their sense of responsibility, motivation, and self-efficacy |
1-Self-efficacy scale for learning
2-Perceived responsibility scale 3-Motivation scale for learning English |
The completion of online homework by students did not correlate with their levels of motivation, perceived responsibility, or self-efficacy, although these variables did correlate meaningfully with each other. |
| [27] | Saudi Arabia – High school students | Speaking | Online | To understand more about how Saudi EFL students perceive using Busuu to learn the language by utilizing the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model). Additionally, it aims to demonstrate how aware EFL students are of contemporary language-learning techniques. |
1-Online questionnaire survey
2- A semi-structured interview 3-Busuu application |
1- One finding was that students at EFL have positive attitudes toward mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). 2- Moreover, the TAM reports that the participants enjoyed using and regarded the language program Busuu to be helpful. 3-They saw Busuu as a helpful tool for studying languages, which fuels their desire to be independent students. 4- However, the results also show that affordance and joyfulness can be significant predictors of learner acceptance of a particular technology in addition to the components of TAM. 5-Additionally, the study found that beginner learners might benefit from mobile apps more than advanced learners. However, the research also revealed that Busuu could prevent students from completing their schoolwork. In addition, the small mobile screen size of Busuu may be damaging to their eyes if used frequently. |
| [32] | China – University students | Speaking | Online | To find out how successful the Media Circles (MCs) assignment works, where students watch one episode of a show as homework and then discuss their feelings and interpretations in class the next day. |
1-Field notes
2- Self-evaluation survey 3- Prepared-role word count 4-Media Circles application |
1-Students commented on their greater learning autonomy, oral communication skills, and cultural awareness as the main positive outcomes. 2-Observations and classroom materials revealed high participation and overall engagement in the activity. |
| [35] | Japan – University students |
Listening
Reading |
Online vs traditional | To research the relative strengths of online versus paper-based formative evaluation in the study of English as a second language. | 1-31 multiple choice online quizzes Moodle learning platform 2- Series of cloze activities in printed version. 3-TOEIC test scores | Unlike the paper-based assignments, where there was no statistically significant correlation between the online formative evaluation and summative exam scores. There was discovered to be a significant interaction between group and homework on exam scores when they were evaluated using an analysis of covariance. The homework score had a greater impact on the online group than it did on the pencil and paper group. |
| [66] | Japan – Junior college | Writing | Traditional | To investigate how implicit learning affects the writing of Japanese EFL junior college students | 1-Pretest paragraph writing 2- Implicit task 1 (Error correction) 3-Implicit task 2 (Reading and concept maps) 4- Announcement of homework 5- Submission of homework (posttest paragraph writing | The results suggest that implicit learning can help students improve their writing skills, although the effects may vary depending on students’ English proficiency. |
| [41] | Indonesia – University students |
Reading
Vocabulary |
Traditional vs online | To compare the reading proficiency of students who received either paper-based vocabulary homework or online vocabulary homework in addition to face-to-face classroom contact (experimental groups) with students who received only face-to-face classroom contact (control group). | 1-Reading comprehension pre-test and post-test | Both experimental groups did better on the post-test than the control group. |
| [52] | Türkiye – University students | All skills and components | Online | To give some insight into what students think about the effectiveness of the distance learning Ënglish” course. | Semi-structured Interview | 1-Students have stated that they believe remote education to be ineffective, insufficient, and a waste of time for them because it uses technology and is a pandemic-related education. 2 – Students indicated that they find Web2 tools helpful, that EIN does not have adequate technical resources and installations, and that using Web2 tools makes English learning more fun and attention-grabbing. 3- Students’ suggestions for improving their English language skills during the distance education semester include the following: Students should be given writing and translation homework and do more writing exercises to improve their writing skills. Students should also be given more texts and reading comprehension exercises to improve their reading skills. For speaking, technological barriers should be removed, teachers should ask students random questions to give them opportunities to speak, and more listening exercises should be done. 4- Finally, students suggested using Web2 technologies, providing more movies, visual materials, and resources, improving the Internet infrastructure, giving students more opportunities to speak, and conducting e-twinning initiatives. |
| [58] | China – University students | All skills and components | Online | To examine the English online homework grading system’s capacity for knowledge evaluation | 1-Task of detecting noise in the knowledge graph 2- Task of completing the knowledge graph (entity link prediction task) 3-The triplet classification task | 1- The experimental results show that the English online task evaluation system has strong evaluation capabilities for low noise data and has good noise processing and knowledge credibility computation capabilities. 2 – Using the online homework platform to assign individualized English homework is helpful to lift students’ mood during homework time, and their good mood during homework time has increased significantly. The introduction of individualized English homework through an online platform encourages students to take the initiative to complete their assignments. The goal of “reducing workload and increasing efficiency” was achieved by using the online homework platform to complete individualized English homework. The time spent by students on homework was reduced and homework was successfully completed. |
| Datko (2021) | Slovakia – University students | All skills and components | Online vs traditional | To examine the results of Facebook’s schoolwork and extracurricular activities under the three headings “participation,” “preference,” and “convenience.” |
1-Facebook Assignments
2- Semi-standardized student diaries |
According to the results, students’ engagement in Facebook tasks is moderate to high, and this engagement is determined by factors such as incentive, effort, learning environment, and workload from other subjects. The results also show that students prefer group projects. In addition, Facebook homework is considered more practical than traditional paper homework due to its independence of time and space, familiarity with the platform, and ability to save time. |
| [36] | Türkiye – Primary school students | Listening Reading Writing | Online vs traditional | To determine whether completing technology-mediated exercises would increase young EFL learners’ performance on assessments for listening, reading, and writing. | 1-Technology-mediated tasks 2- Movers Test (as pre-post-test) 3- The Cambridge English: Young Learners Tests (CYLET) 4- Semi-structured focus group interview | There was no statistically significant difference between the experimental group and the control group that did conventional homework. The students in the experimental group had higher levels of English proficiency, stronger self-efficacy beliefs, and positive attitudes toward technology. |
| [53] | China – Secondary school students | All skills and components | Online | To examine the environment of pandemic online English as a foreign language classes (EFL) in Chinese middle schools and the views of English teachers, students, and parents about this environment. |
1-Questionnaires
2- Interview |
1- It was found that teachers’ ratings of students’ academic performance (eagerness to learn and results), teacher-student interaction (interaction during class, interaction after class, teacher feedback on homework), and overall satisfaction with online instruction EFL were lower than those of the other two groups. The main issues raised by participants in relation to online teaching and learning at EFL included student eye strain, lack of self-discipline, lack of face-to-face interaction, and unpredictable Internet connections. |
| [65] | Malaysia – Secondary school students | All skills and components | Traditional | To determine the kinds of homework that English teachers provide and to assess the amount of time required to complete each type. |
1-A survey
2-An interview |
The results show that projects were rarely assigned as homework, although essay writing, reading, and copying texts were. In addition, students in the fourth and fifth grades spent approximately 39.2 minutes and 47.2 minutes per day, respectively, completing their homework. Due to time constraints, teachers chose to provide exercises rather than projects, according to interview data. |
| [59] | China – University students | All skills and components | Online | To resolve the issue of identifying the association between plagiarism and students’ English homework by employing English online homework-assisted evaluation | According to experimental research, English teachers can evaluate online homework with the use of this model. The model may also help to increase the effectiveness of homework monitoring by teachers. |
In five sub-sections, this section offers the findings that address the research questions of the study: English language homework, conceptual approaches, research concerns and findings, and implications.
1. Research contributions: Sources More than seventy percent of assignment output was centered in seven nations (see Table 4). China was the most producing country, followed by Japan, Türkiye, Hong Kong, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia. The multidisciplinary nature of the publications is emphasized by the periodicals in which they were published. In terms of the affiliations of the articles’ corresponding authors, more than half of them were from Asia.
| Country | Number of studies |
|---|---|
| China | 6 |
| Japan | 5 |
| Türkiye | 4 |
| Hong Kong | 3 |
| Iran | 3 |
| Saudi Arabia | 2 |
| Malaysia | 2 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| Germany | 1 |
| Indonesia | 1 |
| Egypt | 1 |
| Nigeria | 1 |
| Russia | 1 |
| Jordan | 1 |
| Italy | 1 |
| Ethiopia | 1 |
| America | 1 |
| Slovakia | 1 |
2. English language skill-based homework types Due to a number of constraints, classroom learning is never sufficient, requiring the after-school project known as homework.
Homework assignments that focus on speaking, listening, reading, and writing, as well as all of their components and skills, were evaluated (see Table 5).
| Homework types | Studies |
|---|---|
| Speaking-based homework | [27,28,29,30,31,32] |
| Listening-based homework | [34,35,36,37] |
| Reading-based homework | [39,40,41,42,43] |
| Writing-based homework | [44,45,46,66] |
| Al skills and elements-based homework | [50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65] |
2.1 Speaking-based homework
Speaking-based homework means that speaking skills can be supported through group and individual exercises as homework. This finding is backed by the hypothesis that various ability groups may be given varied effective speaking homework requirements. Individual learning preferences should be considered . According to a study [26], giving Japanese university students oral English assignments makes speaking activities more fun. The tactics they must use for projects will help them improve their speaking abilities. For instance, the speaking assignment for [27] instructed students to use Busuu to apply the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model).
The study also aims to show how aware students of EFL are of contemporary approaches to speaking the language. Similar results were provided by [28], who identified individual and interactive mobile homework as the most important distinguishing factors in speech task performance. Hafour [29] investigated how asynchronous engagement activities and student-created digital media tasks affect the oral language skills of EFL learners. [30] assigned stress to English phrase structures in the speech of Yoruba English language teachers (YELTs) to assess their ability to represent the accentuation of Standard English in Nigeria.
Students who were given the task of creating a video project assignment (VPA) by [31] displayed positive perception, involvement, and achievement. In a similar manner, Brazenas [32] assigned students a television show as homework with the goal of discussing their reactions and interpretations in class the following day.
2.2. Listening-based homework
Homework assignments frequently serve to hone skills such as reading comprehension, speaking and listening comprehension, taking notes, issue solving, prioritizing, and problem solving [33]. Additionally, watching a short video and listening to music at home are excellent ways for students to practice their listening skills [1]. In order to improve listening comprehension and the difficulties students have when listening, [34] looked at the effect of a listening assignment embedded in a metacognitive intervention. Listening exercises were used to compare the relative efficacy of online and paper-based formative listening evaluations in Joyce’s [35] study.
While Kurt’s [36] study examined whether completing technology-mediated tasks improves young EFL learners’ performance on listening comprehension tests, Tsang’s [37] study focused on the effectiveness of repeated input (narrow listening assignments) on students’ oral performance (pronunciation and fluency).
2.3. Reading-based homework
Teachers instruct students to read and research books. In addition, they must answer several questions about the material. The teacher assumes that students’ reading comprehension will improve as a result of the homework. This conclusion is consistent with the notion that homework not only improves students’ grades and knowledge, but can also help students become more proficient in basic academic skills such as reading, writing, and spelling [38]. For example, Janfeshan and Janfeshan [39] asked students to use the Otus program to improve their writing skills in the target language. [40] study focused on Japanese first-year students’ motivation to complete graded online assignments for asynchronous English reading courses offered as part of the COVID -19 epidemic.
The study by Mustafa et al. [41] compared the reading performance of students who received both paper-based vocabulary homework and online vocabulary homework in addition to face-to-face classroom interaction (experimental group) and those who participated only in face-to-face classroom interaction (control group). In a game-based EFL reading course at a Japanese college, students were encouraged to use leaderboards. However, according to Philpott and Son’s [42] study, the leaderboard increased performance only up to the highest reward threshold. Similarly, Reynolds and Shih [43] investigated whether giving adolescent Taiwanese English language learners the homework task of creating and reviewing word cards for unknown words they had unintentionally encountered while reading in class would help them increase their vocabulary.
2.4. Writing-based homework
According to the data in this category, teachers assign homework that requires students to write various formal texts, such as a paper, a biography, a letter of application, a formal letter of invitation, a formal announcement, a conversation in a formal context, and an English speech. This category suggests that teachers believe that students should be assigned different types of written work as homework. According to one view, homework typically focuses on a formal written product.
According to the results of the study by Haake et al. [44], recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) is a useful tool for evaluating keyboarding record data that provides trustworthy and valuable information about the amount of effort an author must put into writing a text. Manalo et al. [45] asked students to use diagrams when writing explanations and showed how diagrams can support students’ explanations. Tasker [46] assigned students writing homework (e.g., text analysis, short text analysis, reading response, etc.) and examined differences in writing assignments across course levels and subfields within a single university department.
2.5. All skills and elements-based homework
One of the goals of homework is to help students improve their language skills [33]. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are always learned when learning English.
In addition, teachers assign homework that requires students to complete vocabulary exercises. Tasks include matching a term to another word with a similar meaning, selecting words that fit the context of the sentence, and introducing new words discovered in a previously read text. Teachers expect that the tasks will help students improve their fluency. This is consistent with [47] study, which found that students who received homework had a better knowledge of the given terminology.
Teachers assign homework to students to review grammatical concepts acquired through various tasks. The results in this category support the hypothesis that one of the purposes of homework is to reinforce the material covered in class [56]. Another idea that confirms the result is that teachers should assign homework and activities to their students to force them to practice and review the new structure [49].
Al Awabdeh [50] investigated the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing Moodle in language practices. According to his research, Moodle promotes student-centred learning, anytime; anywhere learning, simplifies course management, and alleviates the costs and time pressures associated with delivering less instruction. Albore and Lanka’s [51] study focused on a different aspect, English teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward group work assignments in English classes, and found that the majority of teachers and students were negative toward group work assignments in English classes.
Bayar and Karaduman [52] provided insight into students’ perspectives on the success of the “English” course through distance education. According to students, writing and translation assignments should be issued to students, as well as more writing activities for writing skills and more reading comprehension texts and exercises for reading skill, and technological barriers for speaking skill should be removed. [53] studied the use of mobile technologies in college English vocabulary teaching tasks in similar vein. Bensalem [54] invited students to utilize WhatsApp to investigate the evolution of students’ academic vocabulary knowledge.
Repetto et al. [55] challenged students to use a unique type of IVR, immersive 360° films, which were accessed through a smartphone and cardboard. Hao [56] created an online teaching platform for a college English course using the Internet. Karatas and Tuncer [57] examined the effects of emergency distance learning for language skill development. EDE was rated as most effective for writing skills and least beneficial for speaking skills by learners.
Writing was the most cultivated, according to participants, as it was used for almost all coursework, assignments, and projects. Similarly, Liao [58] found in his research that an English online task evaluation process had excellent noise processing and knowledge credibility calculation capabilities, as well as greater evaluation capacity for low-noise data. Xiong et al. [59] used an online English homework evaluation method to solve the problem of plagiarism ratio in students’ English homework.
In the study by Khonamri et al. [60], learners indicated that most of their difficulties were caused by specific factors, such as not learning the required concept, not recognizing the instruction, not enjoying the homework, not being interested, not understanding the homework instruction, anxiety, and homework stress. In Moorhouse’s [62] study, participants rated eight skills to practice or develop in homework, ranked from most common (1) to least common (8). The most common skill was ’grammar,’ while the least common was listening. Habits of giving homework, on the other hand, affect teacher autonomy.
In Moorhouse’s [62] study, two teachers were interviewed separately; one felt overburdened and unable to be the kind of teacher she wished, whereas the other teacher saw the behaviors as typical and a necessary part of her duty to assign assignments. Study [63] found no relationship between student performance on online homework and self-efficacy, perceived responsibility, or motivation level; however, relevant relationships were found between self-efficacy and perceived responsibility and self-efficacy and motivation level. In a similar study, [53] discovered significant participant issues regarding online EFL teaching and learning, such as students’ low self-discipline and visual impairment, a lack of face-to-face connection, and unreliable network availability.
Rodrguez-Fuentes and Swatek [64] investigated the impact of several types of homework materials on students’ grammatical proficiency. Singh et al. [65 investigated the types of homework offered by English teachers as well as the time spent on them. According to the findings, the most popular homework assignments were essay writing, reading, and copying texts, while projects were the least prevalent.
3. Homework Conceptual Types
The coding method revealed three-dimensional conceptual types. Table 6 summarizes traditional, online, and online vs. traditional concept type homework.
3.1. Traditional concept type homework
When the conceptual types of homework were assessed, 11 articles were under the traditional concept type. According to [57], homework assignments can be used for a variety of educational goals, including giving students the chance to review subjects they learned in class [52]. Conventional homework, commonly referred to as paper and pencil-based homework (PPH), includes students working on issues outside of the classroom and turning in their solutions after a set period of time. Before submitting their homework and receiving the instructor’s responses, PPH students are unable to verify if their answers are accurate. In PPH, the homework assignments are typically graded by paid graders, which might introduce subjectivity and heterogeneity.
Online homework can solve these problems by giving an immediate response and dealing with the requirement for paid graders [56]. For control and experimental groups, homework assignments were organized, particularly for the traditional concept type. For instance, the findings from the pretest, post-test, and delayed test in [64] study revealed that groups exhibited considerable improvements in their comprehension of the desired construct. Similar to this, implicit learning appeared to aid students in honing their writing abilities in Nakagawa and Leung’s [66] study, but the effects may vary across students with various degrees of English ability.
3.2. Online concept type homework
Previous research has found that using web-based homework instead of traditional paper and pencil homework produces positive results. Students’ reactions to online homework are largely positive, although diverse. In non-accounting situations, there is some evidence that computer-assisted learning may improve student attitudes toward their course of study as well as their perceptions of course quality and structure [54]. It was discovered, for example, that there are good effects of using Moodle during English lessons [50].
According to Karataş and Tuncer [57], in a preliminary study on motivation in an online classroom setting, students report that online homework enables them to comprehend material and prepare for their exams. The majority of them preferred online homework. This view is supported by research by Brazenas [32] and Bayar and Karaduman [52], who report that the majority of the students in their experimental study group who complete their assignments online view this practice favorably. Similar internet-based teaching strategies, for instance the use of specific IVR, such as immersive 360° films, can be beneficial to both students and teachers in terms of encouraging inquiry [55].
3.3 Online vs traditional concept type homework
Many higher education students nowadays take one or more online courses, as online education has significantly increased [67]. Online classes are unquestionably well-suited to online homework completion. These two appear to be inseparable. Students routinely drop schoolwork into a virtual drop box, and instructors grade the contributions.
As a result, both online homework and pen-and-paper assignment completion are realistic choices for traditional classrooms, hybrid classrooms, and online environments. To save money, minimize expenditures for the university, boost “efficiency,” and somewhat counterbalance onerous workloads and other obligations allocated to faculty, homework is regularly assigned online. Proper consideration of the benefits and drawbacks of online homework is essential, as is ensuring the purpose is reasonable and in the best interests of the students.
Hafour [29] discovered any noticeable difference in better strength between online homework users and non-users, having high performing students at it or near their GPA regardless of whether they utilize online homework. According to Philpott and Son [42], highly intrinsically motivated students will perform well using either the online or traditional systems. Processes for assigning homework are unlikely to increase students’ motivation. They decrease students’ ability to be highly motivated.
Online homework, as well as other alternative teaching methods such as quizzes, in-class activities, test-retest, and other collaborative learning activities, may aid low intrinsically motivated students [40, 27]. In addition to students, teachers benefit from the convenience of online assignment monitoring and marking [35].
4. Research concerns and results
The primary findings of the papers included in this review are presented in this section. Firstly, the overall picture will be analyzed, with each study reporting on the efficacy of online vs. traditional homework formats in terms of advantages to student performance and for each variable. Secondly, these findings will be presented in relation to the course domain of each study, particularly at the college level.
4.1. Benefits for students’ performance
Measures of student success in the numerous studies were retention of learning, test and final examination, completed homework assignments, overall performance, pre and posttest measures while evaluating homework assignments completed using paper and pencil. The study findings of each individual study were divided into three categories: positive, neutral, and negative. Five studies that looked at paper-pencil homework discovered a significant and stable link between doing homework and academic success, and these studies highlighted the advantages of homework [44, 45, 61, 64, 65].
Furthermore, it is widely assumed that homework is an essential part of English language teaching and that it plays a significant part in reinforcing and consolidating what children learned at school, as well as in increasing their skills. However, four studies were classified as “neutral,” suggesting that traditional paper and pen homework had no substantial or modest impact in these trials [39, 60, 61, 66].
Finally, two studies were classified as negative [30]. However, the choice of assignment schemes may have an impact on student learning. For example, [51] discovered that students displayed a negative point of view toward group work assignments in English language classrooms in a study done in 2018. They did not behave in accordance with their views as a result of the students’ lack of interest, motivation, and awareness. When comparing online homework, it is not a passive addition toward class; it alters the learning environment and are never neutral. Within the studies, 17 articles were related to the effects of online assignments on achievement. Some studies claim that online homework improves students’ academic achievement [32, 37, 50, 53] sense of responsibility and study habits [31, 34, 55, 57] as well as, motivation [40].
When homework was scored or verified, as well as when teachers provided detailed online comments for each task, it was thought to be advantageous [44, 56, 58, 59]. Two studies were categorized as neutral. In other words, they offer similar learning achievement results both prior to and after the setup of online activities [43, 52].
Finally, one study was labeled unfavorable due to students’ vision impairment, lack of self-discipline, absence of face-to-face interaction, and inconsistent Internet connectivity when completing online homework [53].
When contrasting online assignment with homework that was completed with paper and pencil, the authors of a separate study examined and contrasted students’ performance using a variety of measurements. The conclusions of each study were categorized as good, neutral, or negative. Five studies were exclusively classified as positive, indicating that the online homework group outperformed the traditional homework group on all metrics [28, 29, 35, 54]. As measures, the majority of these researches used tests, final grades, or completed homework assignments. Furthermore, one study was classified as neutral, indicating that both the online and traditional groups performed similarly in the evaluation [39].
Finally, one study was classified as negative [41], which means that the online homework group performed worse than the traditional homework group on the selected measures (homework completion and overall performance).
4.2. Course skill domain
Studies were categorized by course skill domain in order to better comprehend the important findings, and the conclusions were then extrapolated from there. The purpose is to ascertain whether any inferences can be drawn from the investigations’ skill domain. As a result, five domains were examined (speaking, listening, reading, writing, and homework assignments based on all skills and elements), and three separate studies were disregarded from this analysis: the engineering research [18], and two studies that used non-college samples [20] (See Table 3).
4.2.1 Course skill domain. Speaking.
There are six studies on speaking , five of which showed positive outcomes [27, 28, 29, 31] and one that did not explain the format of the customary homework answer [30]. Furthermore, three research examined students’ attitudes about online assignments [27, 31, 32]. All favored the online method over the traditional homework style [28]. The authors of these studies reached a favorable conclusion on the use of online homework as the chosen method of assignment distribution because their studies revealed disparities in students’ communication performance.
Besides from the effectiveness of skill-based homework in language learning, this overview of research on language learning homework identified a crucial issue. Online homework facilitated speaking skill more than other types of homework did [27, 28, 31]. This is most likely due to increased exposure to the target language through mobile or computer-based applications, resulting in higher learning outcomes. And web-based homework induced a larger engagement load because learners were more motivated to use online applications homework and were given learning activities that included evaluation of learning achievement [31].
4.2.2 Course skill domain. Listening.
There are four studies in the domain of listening, with showing positive effects [34, 35, 37, 39]. Furthermore, this research examined students’ attitudes toward online homework style. One study found that the online format was preferable to the traditional homework style [35]. One study was critical of the online format and preferred traditional homework to online homework [39].
These researchers concentrated on language learners’ listening-based homework while improving listening skills through the use of online applications and websites (e.g., the BBC news website, Moodle), and they all reported that these online tools resulted in higher motivation than other approaches [34, 37].
4.2.3 Course skill domain. Reading
Reading-based online homework resulted in a higher participation load because learners had stronger motivation and learner autonomy to complete tasks, as well as intrinsic motivation [40]. The use of leaderboards in a gamified environment, in particular, in Philpott and Son’s [42] study, encouraged performance up to the highest reward threshold, and the leaderboard moved internal extrinsic motivation to external extrinsic motivation, reducing intrinsic motivation.
4.2.4 Course skill domain. Writing
The course domain of writing is supported by four classic type studies, three of which achieved positive findings [44]. Furthermore, this research examined students’ attitudes toward the online homework style [44]. According to Manalo et al.’s [45] research, different forms of diagrams had more interactions in traditional reading-based homework. Furthermore, in Nakagawa and Leung’s [66] study, implicit learning appeared to assist students acquire writing abilities, but the impact may vary across students with varying degrees of English proficiency.
4.2.5 Course skill domain. All skills and elements-based homework
There are nine studies in the course domain all skills and elements-based homework, with showing positive outcomes [50, 53, 56, 58, 59, 64]. Furthermore, these studies examined students’ attitudes toward online homework style [53, 56, 59].
One study found the online format of all skills and aspects-based homework to be beneficial [50, 55, 58] . Repetto et al. [55] proposed employing a specific type of IVR, immersive 360° movies, experienced through a smartphone, for online language homework.
Three studies [52, 57, 63] reported negative findings about the online format of all skills and element-based homework. Students expressed in semi-structured interviews that doing online homework in distance education means education using technology, education as a result of the pandemic, inefficient, insufficient education, and waste of time for students, but at the same time they have useful, more fun, and attention-grabbing in learning English [52]. In another study, [57] discovered that the best online assignment skill was writing, while the worst was speaking. Writing was developed the most, according to respondents, because it was utilized for essentially all academics, assignments, and projects. However, in online classes and homework projects, speaking skill was neglected. Neither self-efficacy, perceived responsibility, nor motivation were found to be related to how well students performed on online assignments according to [63]. However, there were notable correlations between self-efficacy and perceived responsibility as well as self-efficacy and motivation levels.
One study found the online format of all skills and elements-based homework to be negative [53]. Significant participant issues about online language assignments, including students’ poor self-discipline, visual impairment, absence of face-to-face interaction, and erratic Internet connectivity were revealed.
One study found that the online format was positive to the traditional assignment style [54]. According to [54] study, the experimental group who did online academic vocabulary knowledge utilizing WhatsApp outperformed the traditional paper-pen type control group on a vocabulary test. The findings show that students participate in Facebook assignments at a moderate-to-high level, and that engagement in these activities is determined by reward, effort, the study environment, and workload from other topics.
In another study, asked students to do their language homework on Facebook. The results of his study showed that due to time-space independence, platform familiarity, and the potential for time savings, Facebook homework is seen as being more convenient than traditional paper-based homework.
One traditional study found homework to be positive and beneficial [64]. They proposed using several types of homework resources, such as corpus-informed (CI) materials, to improve students’ grammatical performance.
Four traditional studies found homework to be neutral [60, 61, 62, 65].
Students, in particular, showed a favorable attitude toward homework assignments. Furthermore, the findings suggested that students had some difficulties completing homework tasks. They indicated that the majority of the problems are caused by certain factors, such as failing to grasp the necessary concept, not understanding the assignment, not enjoying the homework, failing to pay attention, not understanding the assignment, and worrying and stress brought on by the homework [61, 62]. Students’ vocabulary, grammar, reading, and writing skills were found to be enhanced by the assignments in [61, 62]. However, there was less emphasis placed on speaking and listening skills, which are crucial for improving learners’ communication skills.
This is also consistent with the findings of online homework, which revealed that these two abilities are largely overlooked in foreign language training [52, 57]. The Singh et al. [65 found that teachers tended to provide drill-based activities and ignored projects because of time constraints.
One study found group work assignments in language classrooms to be unfavorable [51]. As a result of the students’ lack of interest, motivation, and awareness, learners did not act in accordance with their attitudes.
The research of English language homework provided light on both traditional and online language learning, as well as skill-based design. Eleven research out of 37 claimed or implied that online language homework promoted effective language acquisition (i.e. [31, 32, 37, 40, 50, 53]). The results of five studies revealed that interactions in paper and pencil homework were favorable to language acquisition [44, 45, 61, 62, 64, 65]. Five studies were exclusively classified as positive, indicating that the online homework group outperformed the traditional homework group on all measures [28].
Specifically, Philpott and Son [44] suggested that homework that give students the chance to compete and engage with peers [50] result in significantly higher learning outcomes than those with less interactivity [51]. Repetto et al. [55] found that students who learned with online homework significantly outperformed those who simply learned by watching 360° videos in terms of both video comprehension and vocabulary learning. As a result, they suggested that interactivity in language input is necessary for effective learning while also suggesting that interactions with multimodalities can be achieved by integrating interactivities.
Similarly, Reynolds & Shih [43] promote intragroup competition and intergroup collaboration as powerful strategies for improving underprivileged students’ academic achievements and decreasing the achievement gap with high-achieving students. Active participation, continuous engagement, equal participation, immediate interaction, heterogeneous collaboration, and resource interdependence are the six key components Janfeshan & Janfeshan [39] proposed for the development of an effective interactive environment with application among face-to-face classrooms, educational games, and handheld devices. To increase learner motivation and guarantee active participation in homework assignments, a clear aim and difficulties are crucial.
They claimed that in order to keep students engaged, it is important to maintain a positive mood while concentrating on finding solutions to problems that arise during play and learning [27]. They promote the development of online applications that can be used on affordable devices so that any learner may engage since the use of applications allowed each student an equal opportunity to participate in the assignment and communicate with peers. Therefore, a well-structured collection of educational resources, handheld devices, and mobile technologies can give students quick peer feedback and equal access to educational opportunities [27].
Challenging students’ language abilities should be included in homework design because it has been discovered that requiring a high cognitive load tends to encourage effective learning, but the level should be appropriate [35]. When planning homework, it is also critical to incorporate clear learning objectives, implement suitable learning methodologies, and provide scaffolding [32]. [40] added that including learner autonomy strategies into homework is critical for generating a low-anxiety teaching environment and enhancing learners’ immersion level and intrinsic motivation.
Furthermore, Al Awabdeh, [50] and Mohamed et al. [31] emphasized the relevance of relieving anxiety through support tools, arguing that anxiety might improve motivation and involvement among students. However, Philpott and Son [42] argued that expected learning gains had a greater impact on cognitive performance than feelings of enjoyment and that intrinsic motivation had very little bearing on students’ learning outcomes, suggesting that progress lines are necessary to activate learners’ cognitive engagement.
The current study examined 37 articles on English language homework from the following perspectives: general sources of English language homework publications, English language homework, conceptual approaches, research concerns and outcomes, and further implications. It was discovered that English language homework has gained increased attention from educators, despite the fact that there have been only a few studies on the subject so far.
Overall, there is no clear agreement on which homework structure benefits students the best in terms of academic progress. There is consensus, nevertheless, when other types of indicators are taken into consideration, such as student perceptions and the authors’ findings in the current selection of studies, which online homework encourages student involvement and performance more than traditional homework does. Participants and authors of this sample of studies concur that online homework stimulates students to complete the tasks, despite the need for more thorough study comparing the impact of homework format on student achievement. Given that school engagement is a significant predictor of academic advancement, this finding should not be disregarded [68].
Thus, if students consistently believe that online homework improves deeper learning and greater academic success, this can be a strong argument in favor of using this assignment format.
A significant majority of studies have been undertaken from the education component, particularly from the university context, and various education concepts have been used as skill-based homework in the research on English language homework.
Three forms of English language homework were researched (traditional, online, and traditional versus online), and the research results generally demonstrated that homework promoted short- and long-term language learning.
Online homework has been shown to help with language skills and abilities, reading and listening comprehension, comprehension improvement, and other aspects. In addition to being less stressed, learners were considered to be more motivated, more engaged, and involved in more interactions than those who learnt in other traditional ways.
Even though there have only been a few studies on English language homework, they have produced insightful results and significant implications. In conclusion, the study only looked at publications about English language homework which Articles were searched through Web of Science (WoS), ERIC, Google Scholar, and Scopus therefore, the results were preliminary. The results would undoubtedly be more comprehensive if more papers from a wider variety of sources were added. For more results that can be more broadly applied, future studies may go in this direction. This comprehensive overview emphasizes the importance of researching this subject in primary school.
Future research may examine online homework at all school types in light of the significant investments made in recent years to fully unlock elementary and secondary schools with technology, as well as the widespread use of the internet and technological products. These findings may help boost the effectiveness of homework as a strategy to encourage student involvement and productivity, notably at the middle school level, in which there is a lower correlation between traditional homework and performance than at other grade levels [12].
There was no specific grant for this research from a public, private, or nonprofit organization.
