How to use praise to motivate your students

Joanna Wiseman
A group of students hugging a teacher
Reading time: 3 minutes

Praise in the classroom is a valuable resource that every teacher has in their toolbox.?It can encourage struggling students and reward learners who have been studying diligently and working hard on their language skills.

But not all types of praise have the same effect. Let’s take a look at different types of praise and how you can use it to boost your learners’ motivation and?self-esteem.?

Different types of praise in the classroom

There are three types of praise that teachers commonly engage in - but they’re not all equal and are not all desirable:?

  • Personal praise: Here you praise a student for a specific ability or quality. For example, you might say something like,?“You have a great memory for vocabulary”.??
  • Effort-based praise: This?is when you comment on a student’s efforts. For example, you could say,?“I can see you tried really hard with this vocabulary homework – well done.”??
  • Behavior-based praise:?This type of praise?is where you comment on how a student is acting, an example would be,?“You were really paying attention during the vocabulary lesson – good job.”

So how – and when – should we use these types of praise in the classroom??

Try not to praise ability

The first type of praise – personal praise – should be avoided in the classroom.??has shown that this type of praise doesn’t have a beneficial effect on motivation.?

In fact, praise for intelligence actually has a detrimental effect on student achievement. When students were praised for their intelligence, they tended to care more about their performance goals – the score they achieved on a test, for example. Learning goals, like mastering a new skill, became less important to them.?

Moreover, personal praise has been shown to undermine student resilience in the face of failure. Students showed less persistence when it came to challenging tasks and less enjoyment of the challenge. They also performed more poorly than children praised for effort.?

Furthermore, when you praise students for their ability, they also tend to see intelligence or aptitude as a fixed trait. However, students who are praised for effort are more likely to see ability as something they can improve on. This feeds into the development of a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset.?It’s important to?instill?a growth mindset in learners to enable them to reach their full potential.?

How to praise effort and behavior

When it comes to praising effort and behavior, what’s the most effective way to do it? Here are some techniques to employ:?

1. Be specific ?

General praise such as “Good job” isn’t nearly as effective as a comment that shows you’ve been paying attention to what the student is doing. A precise compliment will make a much bigger impact on a student, for example:?“I was really impressed at how hard you concentrated during the listening exercise. Well done.”??

2. Give praise in the moment?

Immediate praise doesn’t need to be disruptive, but it shows students that you are paying attention and noticing good behavior and effort.?

3. Avoid comparisons with other students?

Instead of saying, “You got the best mark in the class – well done!” say something like,?“You got a really high score in the reading test. Your hard work has really paid off this term.”

4. Keep track of praise?

Before your class, choose three or four students you’re going to praise that day. That way, you can be sure that each and every student will benefit from the motivational power of effective classroom praise!

5. Personalize your praise, depending on the student?

Young students enjoy being praised publicly, but shy students, older children and teenagers prefer positive feedback to be given quietly.?

Don’t overpraise and watch your positive bias?

It’s important to be sincere. Older children, especially adolescents, have an extremely low tolerance of insincerity. So, don’t be tempted to praise students too often, or too effusively – it can actually have a negative impact on your relationship with your whole class. Insincere praise can lead students to question your judgement.?

It’s also really important to be aware of your positive bias.?that teachers consistently give students of color more positive feedback on their work. It’s done with good intentions, but it can actually be harmful. If you regularly overpraise students for minor achievements, it can imply that you have low expectations for these students. And, this can make your students feel like they might not be capable of fulfilling the high expectations that you should have of them.?

So, instead of overpraising, focus on giving specific, immediate praise to motivate your students, boost their?self-esteem and unlock their potential.

Find out how to?nurture creativity in your learners?and this post will tell you how to?promote student happiness?and wellbeing.?

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    6 tips for planning your first English classes

    提交者 Nicole Kyriacou

    You are nervous, yet excited. You want to appear relaxed and fun, but still be taken seriously. Most of all, you are keen to make an excellent first impression.

    With all that in mind - planning your first English classes of the year can be a daunting experience.

    Here are six things to consider when planning your first classes:

    1. Set clear aims

    Whether you are teaching young learners, teenagers or adults, it’s important you discuss the aims and objectives of the course from day one. You’ll need to learn more about your students' needs to do this. Why are they learning English? Do they want to prepare for an official exam? What activities do they enjoy? What things do they need to improve the most?

    The way you do this will depend on the age of your learners. For example, with adults and teens, you could get them to interview each other and write a report about what they found out. With younger children, do a survey they can complete using smiley faces.

    2. Find out students’ interests

    Although you should understand your students' needs and why they want to learn English - to help make your classes relevant and engaging - you should also discover what they enjoy doing outside of class.

    To do this, get students to write mini bios you can stick around the classroom. Or have them prepare presentations where they share something they are passionate about with the rest of the class - using coursebooks. As a class, go through the contents page, vote on which topics students find most interesting, and start with those.

    3. Break the ice

    You want your first class to be fun so that students are motivated, and associate English language learning with something they can enjoy. Ice-breakers can also be an excellent way to get to know each other and learn about your students' current level of English.

    Activities where students have to ask each other questions work well.

    4. Provide a comfortable environment

    Young learners and teenagers tend to be shy at the start of a course - especially if they don’t know each other. Develop a rapport and break down boundaries by including team-building activities in your first class.?Your aim is to have all the students feeling more comfortable with each other before the end of the lesson so that there are no awkward silences in future lessons.

    5. Manage expectations

    Managing expectations is an essential part of a teacher's job. Make sure in the first class you are clear about what you expect from your students and what they can expect from you.

    Have students brainstorm the rules for the class and then make a big poster or ‘class contract’ which all students have to sign. Display the poster on the wall so you can always refer to it if someone misbehaves.

    Try to keep the rules as positive as possible. Instead of writing: 'Don’t speak your first language', write: 'Try to always speak English and ask if you don’t know a word'. If you are feeling really brave, you can even get your students to devise a list of rules for you which you can display on the wall next to theirs.

    6. Make it challenging

    It’s great making your first lesson fun - but there’s nothing more motivating than leaving a new class and feeling like you’ve made a good decision and you are going to learn lots (and you aren’t wasting your time or money). This is especially important for adult learners.

    So, as well as getting to know each other and finding out their needs, teach them something new. This could be 10 new pieces of vocabulary, how to structure a letter or report, or a list of resources they can use at home to practice their English.