Homework’s Position In Hong Kong Primary Schools’ English Classrooms

Abstract

The Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) in primary schools and the large amounts of drilling for these exams as homework have gathered a lot of attention in Hong Kong recently. An anti-TSA Facebook group for parents has gathered more than 40,000 followers. Despite this level of interest, homework practices in ELT have been under-researched. This talk will examine homework practices in Hong Kong primary school EFL classes in relation to the government guidelines while exploring social and cultural factors that could account for the current homework regime. The presenter will draw on his previous small-scale research project (Moorhouse, 2015) and extensive teaching experience at the primary level in Hong Kong. The talk will begin by examining the dominate role homework plays in the EFL classroom, against the backdrop of research that has shown little evidence that homework has a positive effect on young learners’ academic performance, motivation or study habits. It will then go on to explore the Hong Kong government’s guidelines on homework and their emphasis on ‘Meaningful’ homework, arguing that teacher and school practices often contradict these government guidelines. The presenter will suggest cultural, historical and social factors that could account for teachers and schools reluctance to follow the guidelines and previous research evidence into homework with young learners.