Praise And Rewards In The Classroom Essay

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Introduction:
A single extrinsic motivator that has been discussed in depth and widely debated over the years is that of praise. Praise is used in many contexts in schools by educators as a predominant motivator, from verbal recognition, for example, ‘Wow what a great question’ or ‘Good job’, through to rewards like stickers for young children, as well as certificates of recognition for all age groups. The term praise comes from the Latin verb pretiare, this can literally be translated to mean, to highly value. Foundation phase teachers often find themselves using praise and rewards as a predominant motivator in the classroom, not realising that this system if motivation can demotivate learners “due to their sense of autonomy being threatened” …show more content…

They believe that this in turn, provides positive attention for learners to increase their motivation more than not praising the learner. However, further research By Henderlong-Corpus and Lepper (2007) suggests that praise can similarly be applied for achievement: the actual outcome or product of a learner’s effort. They suggest that praise can be of the inherent skills of a child. However, such praise of the person, process or product diminishes as the child grows: by the age of 9, praise only has a limited effect on the learner. Research by Boekaerts (2002) explains further on the age related factor, he suggests that, as the learner grows beyond the age of 9, less importance is placed by the learner on effort as a predisposer to success: instead, they begin to attribute their success to their experience and that of their peers, which then places a fixed belief in performance capability. Contrrary to this Dweck explains that diminished response to praise can happen, when a learner believes or feels that their outcome is not in line with their personal expectations, even if they have been praised for their effort. As a result, the learner may feel demotivated and their response to further praise may be …show more content…

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Burnett, P. C. (2003). Positive statements, positive students, positive classrooms. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 13, 1–10.
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Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive plans, A’s, Praise and Other Bribes. Boston, MA: Houghton Miffin Co.
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