Intrinsic motivation and perceived utility as predictors of student homework engagement

  1. Susana Rodríguez Martínez 2
  2. Isabel Piñeiro Aguín 2
  3. Bibiana Regueiro Fernández 1
  4. Iris Estévez Blanco 2
  1. 1 Universidad Internacional de La Rioja
    info

    Universidad Internacional de La Rioja

    Logroño, España

    ROR https://ror.org/029gnnp81

  2. 2 Universidade da Coruña
    info

    Universidade da Coruña

    La Coruña, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01qckj285

Journal:
Revista de psicodidáctica

ISSN: 1136-1034

Year of publication: 2020

Volume: 25

Issue: 2

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1016/J.PSICOD.2019.11.001 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Revista de psicodidáctica

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Abstract

The value students place on tasks, including utility, underlies their choices and the extent of their engagement, effort and persistence in learning activities, and ultimately explains academic achievement. This study attempts to verify how far the value students place on homework and their perceptions of its utility can be significant predictors of their behavioural engagement. With a sample of 730 secondary school students, via path analysis, the results generally confirm the hypothesis underlying the model. Intrinsic motivation and the perceived utility of homework were significantly and positively associated with student engagement with them, and this engagement was also positively related to academic achievement. The amount of variance in academic achievement that is explained by the five homework-related variables was only 8.6%. The main contribution of the study is that, when students are interested in working on homework and believe that it is useful for their learning, they are more involved in the homework. The purpose of learning and the perception of utility become explanatory factors for the level of students’ engagement with homework.

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Funding information

Este trabajo se ha desarrollado gracias a la financiación de los proyectos de investigación EDU2013-44062-P (MINECO) y EDU2017-82984-P (MEIC).

Funders

  • MINECO Spain
    • EDU2013-44062-P
  • MEIC
    • EDU2017-82984-P

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Data source: Dialnet