Monday, 3 January 2011

Getting the homework right: How much is enough?

If a course is called "Academic English Program", most people probably expect a reasonable amount of homework to be set. After all, any course of study at an academic institution is likely to presume that students will do most of the work required outside of class, with time in class spent checking, discussing and otherwise working with what has been done at home.

AUA's Academic English Program (AEP), might not strictly be an academic course, but it is content based and the underlying method is to actually get in and do what students do in English speaking universities and colleges. This basic method means that a substantial amount of work needs to be done outside of class. My expectation has been that for every class hour, students should be doing a minimum of one hour outside of class, and preferably more, perhaps even two hours independent reading and writing for every one hour spent in class; it is, after all, in your independent study that you get to really practise the skills that we work on in class, and practice does make perfect (or at least helps a lot).

But I would also like to hear what others think, so please feel welcome to take part in the survey on the right, and to add your ideas in a comment below.
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2 comments:

  1. Peter.AUA7 January 2011 at 01:09

    I'm very encouraged by the voting so far - four out of four people think that two hours homework for every class hour is about right. (Only one of those votes is mine.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. NAAM12 January 2011 at 18:16

    For the beginner as me, I spend 3 hours per 1 homework. I think it's enough and I strict myself to finish everything in 3 hours. It's OK.

    For more reading, which I prefer to choose by myself such as news or blog post, I can spend more 1 hour.

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