Homework demotivation

Generally speaking, a ‘demotivated’ learner is someone who was once motivated but has lost his or her interest for some reason. In the same vein, we can speak of ‘demotives’, which are the negative counterparts of ‘motives’. While a motive can be said to increase an action tendency, a demotive decreases it.

Although not all demotivating factors relate to teachers’ stance and behaviour, it cannot be denied that the latter do have a responsibility in this respect. In particular, teachers’ expectations of students’ achievement are instrumental in increasing demotivation (or decreasing motivation).

As regards the sudden recognition of the costs of an activity, this is the result of an internal process of deliberation, without any specific external trigger. Conversely, if something triggered the termination of action (e.g. the persuasion of an influential friend), that would be a case of demotivation.

According to Harris Cooper, a professor at Duke University, there is a positive correlation between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. As a general rule, the maximum amount of time that a student should spend each day on lessons outside of school is 10 minutes per each grade level.