Verbal Praise

“Claire, you wrote an excellent paper about the life cycle of butterflies! I especially liked the way you vividly described the butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.” This is an example of verbal praise. Brophy (1981) defined verbal praise as statements communicating the value of student work or behavior by expressing approval.

Verbal praise is a component in an effective behavioral intervention. However, Brophy (1981) found that teachers infrequently praise good work and rarely praise good behavior. In fact, teachers praised good conduct once every 2 to 10 hours. First grade teachers only praised approximately 11% of their students’ correct responses during reading.

Jones and Jones (2001) and Brophy (1981) reported that boys are given more praise than girls. Several studies have found that teachers praise highachieving students more often than low-achieving students. Teachers praise difficult-to-manage students less frequently than their typical peers.

Good and Brophy (1987) found that teachers often use vague terms like “good” or “super” to describe a student's work. Teachers also appear to be responding spontaneously to students’ achievements rather than systematically using verbal praise to reward behavior. In order for praise to be effective, teachers must know how and when to praise, and to use it descriptively.

Jones and Jones (2001) suggest several ways teachers can improve their verbal praise, resulting in students taking credit for their achievements. First, verbal praise needs to be contingent. It must immediately follow the desired behaviors. Second, verbal praise must specifically describe the behavior that is being reinforced. Third, the praise needs to be credible. When giving praise the teacher should consider the student and the situation.

Good and Brophy (1987) note that verbal praise should also help students attribute their success to effort and ability. Teachers can accomplish this goal by praising students’ learning gains or skill mastery. This verbal praise will support students in developing intrinsic motivation for schoolwork rather than extrinsic motivation to please the teacher.

Hanson (2000) reported that teachers’ verbal praise is recognized as a vital component in the development of student motivation to learn. Jones and Jones (2001) indicate that a teacher's praise appears to be important [Page 581]in supporting a student's positive feelings about school and learning. Researchers found that in classrooms where teachers’ statements were positive at least 70% of the time, between 70% and 100% of the students reported that they liked school.

Sutherland (2000) noted that contingent teacher praise increased the number of words students read per minute and decreased the number of errors per minute. Contingent teacher praise also increased students’ on-task rates from 56% to 85%.