Newcomer Immigrant Students’ Perspectives on What Affects Their Homework Experiences

Abstract

ABSTRACT The author examined how characteristics related to individual, family, and school environments contribute to immigrant students’ homework completion. Participants were 192 newcomers in an urban high school designed to serve English language learners. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted with data compiled from a larger project on role of homework in immigrant adolescents’ academic lives. The author found that students’ homework completion is shaped by (a) gender, engagement in school, homework environment and learning styles; (b) parental homework support and family conflict; and (c) perceived school violence and school homework supports. The effect of perceived school violence on homework completion differed for boys and girls. Boys’ homework completion was more adversely affected by higher perceptions of violence at school than that of girls.