Praising the person or what they do?

1. Praising the person or what they do?

2. Key issue addressed by the study • The study explored: • The effects of different types of praise on students’ motivation • How these effects are influenced by gender and age • Effective use of praise is a key element in securing a growth mindset

3. Four kinds of teacher feedback • Product Praise focuses on what students achieve eg “what a wonderful painting” • Process Praise focuses on how students complete a task eg “what a careful job you did” • Person Praise focuses on students’ skills eg “you are a good writer” • Neutral feedback eg a positive sounding “OK”

4. The effects of praise on older girls • Increased motivation after receiving product praise • Increased motivation after receiving process page • Decreased motivation after receiving person praise

5. The effects of praise on older boys • The researchers found the type of feedback received, praise or neutral feedback, did not affect boys’ motivation

6. The effects of praise on younger students • 4-5 year olds showed increased motivation after receiving any of the three types of praise (as opposed to neutral feedback)

7. Who were the students in the study? • In total 169 students from San Francisco schools • 76 nursery students aged 4&5 • 93 primary students aged 9-11

8. How was the information gathered? • The researchers interviewed students who had received different kinds of praise and observed their behaviour when tackling problems. • Each student tackled two sets of puzzles: one moderately easy, the second extremely difficult or impossible to solve • After each puzzle students received one of 3 types of positive praise, neutral feedback or no feedback at all • Through interviews and observation researchers assessed students’ problem-solving motivation

9. How can teachers use this evidence? • The researchers discovered four categories of praise in the study • To what extent do you give different types of feedback and to whom? • You might record a section of your lesson to find out, and use the study findings to assess how appropriate it is for the gender and age group of your students. • How might you develop your use of praise so as to foster your students’ growth mindsets?

10. How can school leaders use this evidence? • The researchers explored a particular approach to teaching by setting up puzzle tasks to create contrasting learning scenarios for students • You might want to set up and observe similar puzzle-solving for particular groups of students to gain a window into their motivation and the impact of different types of praise on this.

11. Follow-up reading • Study reference: Corpus, J. H., Lepper, M. R. (2007) The Effects of Person Versus Performance Praise on Children’s Motivation: Gender and age as moderating factorsin Educational psychology, Vol. 27, No. 4, August 2007, pp. 487-508 • You might like to read a longer summary student motivation on the TLA website: http://www.tla.ac.uk/site/SiteAssets/RfT1/06RE041%20Promoting%20students%27%20persistence%20in%20meeting%20challenges.pdf