Preschool Teachers’ Use of Praise in General, at-Risk, and Special Education Classrooms

Jenkins

Reinke

et al. 2017

Behavioral Disorders

Self Cite

Many teachers struggle with classroom management and report that it is not only one of the most difficult parts of their job but also an area in which they receive the least amount of training (Baker, 2005; Reinke, Stormont, Herman, Puri, & Goel, 2011). Student disruptive behavior and ineffective classroom management likely influence teacher attrition, in that many teachers who leave the field due to job dissatisfaction cite student discipline as a contributing factor (Ingersoll, 2001). Praising is an easy-to-implement, no-cost strategy that has been studied since the 1960s to assist teachers with classroom management (Hall, Lund, & Jackson, 1968; Thomas, Becker, & Armstrong, 1968). Praise is defined as a verbal statement or gesture signifying teacher approval of student behavior, which goes beyond verbal feedback for a correct academic response (Brophy, 1981; Reinke, Stormont, Herman, Wachsmuth, & Newcomer, 2015). There are two types of praise: general praise (GP), a broad statement of approval (e.g., good job, nice), and behavior-specific praise (BSP), which explicitly describes the student's behavior and approval of that behavior (e.g., good job completing all your math questions; Moffat, 2011). BSP is purportedly more effective than GP because children learn which behavior earned approval (Brophy, 1981). There is a large body of evidence to support that praise can help prevent and ameliorate the effects of emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs; e.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

General Education Teachers’ Natural Rates of Praise: A Preliminary Investigation

Jenkins

Reinke

et al. 2017

Behavioral Disorders

Self Cite

“…Moreover, it is unclear whether additional praise characteristics, such as delivery (e.g., to an individual or the entire class) or modality (e.g., written or spoken), are important. Floress and Jenkins (2015) and Floress, Berlinghof, Rader, and Riedesel (in press) examined kindergarten and preschool teachers’ natural use of praise and found that teachers delivered more praise to individual students (compared with large groups or small groups of students). Although these studies identify the frequency of teachers’ praise delivery, additional research is needed to determine whether delivery type influences the effectiveness of praise on student behavior.…”

Section: Promoting Positive Student Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Praise Research Trends and Future Directions: Characteristics and Teacher Training

Beschta

Meyer

et al. 2017

Behavioral Disorders

Self Cite

For these reasons, identifying strategies that promote positive student outcomes, such as praise, is critical. Currently, however, many gaps in the literature exist that require additional research and development to ensure the effects of praise are maximized. Examples of these areas include determining the most important praise characteristics and most effective training methods. Prior to determining which characteristics and training methods are most effective, it is important to survey the praise literature to determine which praise characteristics and training methods have been studied. By doing this, common definitions for praise characteristics and training can be established, which will help to guide future research.

“…On average, teachers used more GDP categories than BSDP categories, and this difference was statistically significant. This was not surprising, considering previous research (Floress & Jenkins, ; Floress, Berlinghof, Rader, & Riedesel, ; Floress et al, ; Reinke et al, ) has demonstrated that teachers use more GP compared to BSP. If BSP is used less frequently in the classroom, then it stands to reason that there were fewer opportunities to code BSP verbatim data for diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

An analysis of general education teachers’ use of diverse praise

Psychology in the Schools

Beschta

2018

Self Cite

The current study examined teachers’ use of diverse praise or the extent to which teachers used a variety of praise as opposed to using the same praise repeatedly. Verbatim general and behavior‐specific praise data were analyzed from a larger study where 5,721 min of direct observation were collected across 28 kindergarten through fifth‐grade classrooms. On average, teachers used 3.7 total diverse praise categories per observation. Teachers also used more general, diverse praise categories per observation per hour compared with behavior‐specific, diverse praise categories. Although results did not indicate statistically significant differences in the amount of diverse praise between early elementary school teachers and later elementary teachers, a clear pattern of diminishing diverse praise was observed such that later elementary teachers provided less diverse praise per observation per hour.