Extension homework and classroom assignments

This study was conducted to determine whether different types of homework assignments influenced the acquisition of vocabulary knowledge and understanding and if the students provided with extension homework acquired vocabulary better than those just given the classroom assignments. The study took place in the public high schools in Chavar, Ilam. The participants were 120 high school students. A pre-test was administered to determine the homogeneity of the groups. The mean scores of the groups were 24.5 and 25 out of 50, for the experimental and control groups, respectively, and t-observed (0.41) was much smaller than t-critical (1.67), so they were nearly homogeneous. Both groups were assigned classroom activities that were based on practicing skills covered during the lesson, but the experimental group was assigned extension homework. After two-month period, a post-test was administered to determine if extension homework had an effect on their understanding of the vocabulary. The mean scores for two groups were 34.5 and 30.65 out of 50, for experimental and control groups, respectively. A t-test was used to analyze the data, and it was determined that the students who received extension homework had a better understanding of taught vocabulary than those who received just classroom assignments. The t-observed (9.077) was much larger than t-critical (1.67), so the hypotheses were safely rejected.