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College students’ homework and academic achievement: The mediating role of self-regulatory beliefs

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Abstract

The influence of homework experiences on students’ academic grades was studied with 223 college students. Students’ self-efficacy for learning and perceived responsibility beliefs were included as mediating variables in this research. The students’ homework influenced their achievement indirectly via these two self-regulatory beliefs as well as directly. Self-efficacy for learning, although moderately correlated with perceptions of responsibility, predicted course grades more strongly than the latter variable. No gender differences were found for any of the variables, a finding that extends prior research based on high school girls. Educational implications about the importance of students’ homework completion and its relationship to college students’ development of self-regulation and positive self-efficacy beliefs is discussed from a social cognitive perspective.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. George Mason University, MS 4B3, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Anastasia Kitsantas

  2. City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Barry J. Zimmerman

Authors
  1. Anastasia Kitsantas
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  2. Barry J. Zimmerman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anastasia Kitsantas.

Appendix

Appendix

Items of the SELF

  1. 1.

    When you miss a class, can you find another student who can explain the lecture notes as clearly as your teacher did?

  2. 2.

    When your teacher’s lecture is very complex, can you write an effective summary of your original notes before the next class?

  3. 3.

    When a lecture is especially boring, can you motivate yourself to keep good notes?

  4. 4.

    When you had trouble understanding your instructor’s lecture, can you clarify the confusion before the next class meeting by comparing notes with a classmate?

  5. 5.

    When you have trouble studying your class notes because they are incomplete or confusing, can you revise and rewrite them clearly after every lecture?

  6. 6.

    When you are taking a course covering a huge amount of material, can you condense your notes down to just the essential facts?

  7. 7.

    When you are trying to understand a new topic, can you associate new concepts with old ones sufficiently well to remember them?

  8. 8.

    When another student asks you to study together for a course in which you are experiencing difficulty, can you be an effective study partner?

  9. 9.

    When problems with friends and peers conflict with schoolwork, can you keep up with your assignments?

  10. 10.

    When you feel moody or restless during studying, can you focus your attention well enough to finish your assigned work?

  11. 11.

    When you find yourself getting increasingly behind in a new course, can you increase your study time sufficiently to catch up?

  12. 12.

    When you discover that your homework assignments for the semester are much longer than expected, can you change your other priorities to have enough time for studying?

  13. 13.

    When you have trouble recalling an abstract concept, can you think of a good example that will help you remember it on the test?

  14. 14.

    When you have to take a test in a school subject you dislike, can you find a way to motivate yourself to earn a good grade?

  15. 15.

    When you are feeling depressed about a forthcoming test, can you find a way to motivate yourself to do well?

  16. 16.

    When your last test results were poor, can you figure out potential questions before the next test that will improve your score greatly?

  17. 17.

    When you are struggling to remember technical details of a concept for a test, can you find a way to associate them together that will ensure recall?

  18. 18.

    When you think you did poorly on a test you just finished, can you go back to your notes and locate all the information you had forgotten?

  19. 19.

    When you find that you had to “cram” at the last minute for a test, can you begin your test preparation much earlier so you won’t need to cram the next time?

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Kitsantas, A., Zimmerman, B.J. College students’ homework and academic achievement: The mediating role of self-regulatory beliefs. Metacognition Learning 4, 97–110 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-008-9028-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-008-9028-y

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