Chapter 10 page 214
effect on students’ motivation and achievement if they tie recognition to specific aspects of a child’s
performance. For example, instead of simply giving an A on a paper, the teacher should provide comments
on specific strengths that the student should continue to build upon and weaknesses that can be improved
on.
This means giving specific rather than vague praise and feedback. Here in Table 10.1 are some
examples of effective and ineffective praise (adapted from Brophy, 1981). (There is redundancy within this
list to some of the other points made in this section.)
Table 10.1: Effective and ineffective praise
Effective Praise... Ineffective praise...
is dependent on performance. is given randomly, whether students do well or
not.
specifies the particulars of the accomplishment.
“You did a very good job in this paper of
making sure that each example supported your
main idea.” “Your diagram makes your point
really convincingly.”is a general positive reaction.
“Good job.” “I liked your paper.”shows spontaneity, variety, and other signs of
credibility; shows clear attention to the student’s
accomplishments.shows a bland uniformity.
Teacher says “Good” or “Nice job” every time.rewards attainment of specified performance
criteria (which can include effort criteria).
“I’m really proud of you for hitting your goal of
85%.” “I can tell that you spent a lot of time in
the library preparing your note cards. They
show tremendous effort.”rewards mere participation, without
consideration of performance processes or
outcomes.focuses students on the task.
“Your essay answers were all to the point and
highly focused.”focuses students on comparisons with other
students. “You got the best grade in the class
on this test.” “I think we should all try to
answer as clearly as Jamie did.”
recognizes noteworthy effort or success at tasks
that are difficult for this student.
“I am particularly impressed that you chose an
essay topic that required a large amount of
library research and then you read all the needed
materials.”ignore the effort expended or the meaning of the
accomplishment.
“This was a very nice paper.”attributes success to effort and good strategy
use, implying that similar successes can be
expected in the future.
“So you see, if you self explain as we practiced
last week, your score really increases.”attributes success to ability alone or to external
factors (luck, the ease of the task).
“You all did well on this test--it was a pretty
easy test, I guess.”Make evaluation private rather than public. Minimize social comparisons. When students are
encouraged to compare themselves to others, as when teachers announce students’ scores on a test in class,
they will focus on performance goals. Students who are performing less satisfactorily may soon reduce
effort if they conclude that they will remain in the bottom half even if they try hard. Students who are