Challenges of Homework

Learn about the hardship of foreign language homework even with contemporary Learning Management Systems (LMS) that are typically not great on mobile devices

Importance of Language Practice

We have talked to many language teachers and adult learners to understand their worlds, validate our ideas or to brainstorm new ideas. In these talks and interviews, teachers with weekly classes for adult language learners have expressed that one of the most demotivating things is when the learners are not prepared and not participating in class. Lack of participation from these learners can usually stem from not being prepared or from attending class after a long workday and being tired. 

Not knowing or remembering words or grammar rules can prevent us from expressing our thoughts and understanding others'. Many teachers indicate that one of the bigger barriers to student progress is trying to be perfect. I don't know if this is actually a wish to be perfect, but in practice, some students may get stuck on expressing something when not remembering a specific word, while other students may be able to express it with - sometimes very imaginative - other words. Some students may get stuck when not knowing or remembering some grammar rule, while other may be able to express it correctly or incorrectly using the grammar they remember. Similarly, some students may need to be quite certain about what they hear, for instance understand each individual word, before they feel certain they know what is being said, while others might just need a few words, the context and the expression of the speaker. The homework and repetition associated with language learning help us remember, so we get stuck less often in expressing and understanding things.

For foreign language learners and especially adult learners the language is typically learned in part by learning words and grammar rules explicitly and tying it to what is already known in the learners primary language. This is in contrast to how we learn our primary language. Here we are immersed in the language already from within the womb. We constantly hear people around us speak it and observe what they do and what happens around us and try to make sense of it. As foreign language learners we may not able to immerse in the language in the same way, and may not have the patience. There are many teachers and researchers that advocate immersion, but also some that say that speaking a non-primary language will always rely on more explicit knowledge of the language. We may view homework and repetition as a means to remember and build confidence, so we can start speaking and understanding more, which may bring us closer to getting a more implicit understanding or feeling of the language.

Homework in One Go

In our talks and interviews with language learners having weekly classes, we learned that they typically do half an hour to two hours of homework per week. All in one sitting and typically in the weekend or the day before class. We asked how they feel about doing it this way, in one sitting, and they guessed that was just the way it had to be. Some felt they weren't doing enough and should probably practice more to learn more.

We also asked the learners, if they ever did 5-10 minutes of exercises and then left the rest for another time. Nobody did, and most indicated that the time needed to be able to do homework made this infeasible. For learners using traditional learning material, the time could include getting the textbooks out, finding an email or shared document that listed the exercises, and getting something to jut down answers. With more contemporary learning materials it typically involved logging into a laptop, logging into a learning management system (LMS) and then navigating to the homework and start doing it.

In the case of the LMS, it doesn't seem too time consuming and perhaps part of the preparation is also about getting into the mindset and understanding the exercises. However, we shouldn't underestimate the perceived time of maybe finding a place to sit, getting the laptop out, maybe starting it, logging in, opening a browser, go to the LMS, log in to the LMS, navigate to the homework and start it. I'm writing it this verbosely just to show that it can be quite a few steps and for some people closing down and maybe putting the laptop away again will add to the work required to do homework. Many LMSes do not offer starting the homework when entering, or a single one-click to get started. Using a phone rather than a laptop could probably reduce the perceived time, as many of us probably will not perceive it as taking time to get the phone out, getting into it and starting an app or closing and putting the phone away afterwards. However, many LMSes do not work great on mobile phones. Many do not have a native app, as they originated from advances in web rather than mobile apps. Traditional LMS content may also not be tailored for mobile devices. And teachers may use a laptop and add content that doesn't work well or at all on mobile devices. For instance, they may share a file that work on their laptop, but where the student is missing a viewer on their mobile device for the specific file.

We asked students to think about having an app on their phone similar to Duolingo or other language learning apps, but where their teacher can add their specific homework including instructional material. They understood that they could quickly start the homework and indicated that they would be able to do 5-10 minutes at a time like with the language learning apps, especially if the teacher packaged the homework into a number of 5-10 minute packages like the language learning apps. Some students believed that they would be able to more easily find time to do the exercises and some believed that they would be able to do more homework. Some indicated that having to plan with and do one or two hours was actually what made the homework feel like homework to them - in a bad sense.

Difficulties to Keep Up

Many adults live busy lives where it may be difficult to find a lot of time for language learning. We may allocate time for a live class, but find it hard to find time for the homework. Many learners indicate that their time may also vary from week to week. One week they may be busy at work or they didn't manage to do homework until the day before or close to class and only had half an hour. Sometimes they may also not be able to attend the live class. 

Several learners also indicate that the amount of homework given by the teacher or the difficulty may also vary. We have experienced this ourselves as language learners and also talked to teachers that indicate this sometimes happens. Some teachers, indicated that they will come across something they think will be great to introduce to the class, but it may turn out to be too difficult in practice. 

This fluctuation may make it difficult to keep up and some students may feel they are always a bit behind. Some may choose to skip a subject to get up-to-date, but may struggle if it is later used again. Several teachers indicate that it will be better to use 20 minutes each day rather than 2 hours in the weekend on homework. Continuously practicing, keeps rules and language present in mind and helps recall and may help getting closer to getting implicit feelings and understandings of the language.

When asking learners about a Duolingo like app, they indicate that they would be able to use the small breaks they have throughout their day. Many of the learners had actually used Duolingo and some still did for building vocabulary. So several were basing their answers on how they had used Duolingo when commuting to and from work, at the end of lunch breaks, in bed when waking up or before going to sleep. On the perhaps more humoristic side, some mentioned they might use it while at the toilet. Wherever one chooses to use it, we can understand that it will probably be easier to find time and catch up - and not be necessary to plan with spending two hours in one go in the weekend.

Features for an Effective LMS Mobile App

So, what will be most important in a solution to help teachers and learners to address the above observations? A solution that help learners to practice everyday when they have time and help teachers to provide an appropriate amount of homework. We try to list some main areas we see.

• UX: The solution must be easy to use and not require much time and cognition, so the teachers and learners efforts can be focused on the language learning. The UX shall also also aid in keeping motivation and engagement.
• Quick: The solution shall keep track of what the learner have done and need to do next. The learner shouldn't keep track or spend time checking if she did one exercise or another. The learner shall be able to get started on the next work for him without spending effort on that.
• Bite-sizing: The homework shall be packaged into 5-10 minute packages, so the learner feels she can finish something and can stop at an appropriate place. The solution shall estimate the time it takes to solve exercises on average and aid the teacher in splitting up homework. This can also help the teacher to distribute the homework more evenly out.
• Interactivity: The majority of the tasks shall be interactive and give immediate feedback to promote active learning and make it engaging and effective. The feedback shall also help that the learner doesn't misunderstand something and will not be corrected until next class.
• Instructional: It shall also be possible to include more instructional content, which is typically missing in language learning apps. It shall for instance be possible for a teacher to make a small video explaining some grammar rules before getting exercises in those rules.
• Notifications: The solution shall remind the learner if he is behind with homework - and potentially even when the next live class is. It shall also notify the learner about new exercises or learning materials. For teachers, it may notify if learning materials is soon missing. 
• Offline: If the solution is to be used in countries with poor connectivity or where plans may not include appropriate amounts of data and it may be costly for some parties, the content shall be possible to download in advance - for instance when on Wifi - and then used later.
• Repetition: The solution shall provide smart repetition that include subjects and exercises that the individual student has had difficulties with, but mixed with something known to be easier, so the student doesn't burn out. The teacher shall be able to create a repetition of certain subjects, but it can also be used, when the learner has time for more homework, but there is no more. The repetition in this way help stretch and reuse the teachers work.
• Progress: The solution shall help visualize the progress in some way to keep the learner engaged and in some way aware of the things the learner has been through and learned. It may also help the learner be more aware of things that the learner doesn't think has been learned enough.
• Insights: The solution shall try to summarize what the learner is doing well and what can be improved in a meaningful way. This is to raise awareness both for the learner and teacher, without the teacher having to dig into all the exercises and without the learner having to self-report this. Our interviews of teachers has indicated that learners when asked about whether they had difficulties with exercises may often say nothing. 
• Content: The solution shall aid the teacher in easily getting exercises and learning material to use with the learners. This may include photographing or uploading existing material, recognizing it and turning it into digital learning material and interactive exercises. It may also include automation and AI to generate new content. It can also include that teachers can share with each other and more easily get content and/or having commercial learning content providers offer their content in the platform.

We believe these areas will be good to address in a solution to aid the language learning and address some of the challenges the learners have with doing homework. An aspect we left out here, which may be worth exploring is group exercises, discussions, and peer feedback to foster collaboration and create a sense of community among learners.