Exploring Secondary Teachers’ Actual and Perceived Praise and Reprimand Use

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify a way for educators to improve the accuracy of their praise and reprimand reflections to ultimately improve their ability to set, monitor, and evaluate their use of praise and reprimand. To do this, teachers’ natural use of praise and reprimand (in the absence of intervention) were compared with their perceived use. A 20-min direct observation was collected from 66 middle and high school teachers to obtain praise and reprimand rates. Following the observation, teachers reported their perceived use of praise and reprimand. A t test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine differences between praise and reprimand types. Correlations were used to determine the relation between perceived and actual praise and reprimand use. Statistical results indicated teachers used more general praise (GP) than behavior-specific praise and more mild reprimand than any other reprimand type. Teachers’ actual and perceived use of GP were positively correlated, as were teachers’ actual and perceived use of mild, gestural, and total reprimand. Furthermore, teachers with a greater difference between their actual and perceived praise also had a greater difference between their actual and perceived reprimand use. Future research and implications of these findings are discussed.

Middle and high school teachers’ praise and reprimand delivery.

“…Data were analyzed as part of a larger study that examined secondary teachers’ actual and perceived use of praise and reprimand (Floress, Beaudoin, et al, 2021). Data were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic over the course of four academic semesters (i.e., fall 2016–spring 2018).…”

“…Secondary students may also present unique behavioral challenges, which could influence teachers’ use of praise and reprimand. For example, (Floress, Beaudoin, et al, 2021) found that middle school teachers used significantly higher rates of reprimand than high school teachers, which may relate to middle school teachers dealing with more challenging student behavior.…”

Teacher Praise and Reprimand: Examining the Generalizability and Dependability of Observational Estimates

“…An archival data set from a study (Floress, Beaudoin et al, 2021) examining teachers’ natural use of praise and reprimand was used for this study. This study was reviewed by the Institutional Review Board at Eastern Illinois University and met exemption criteria for human subject research.…”

The Effects of Different Rates of Behavior-Specific Praise in Secondary Classrooms

“…Although researchers have identified important features of praise delivery, secondary teachers use more general praise (0.14 per min, once per 8 min) than BSP (0.01 per min, once per 30 min) and use both less often than reprimands (0.20 per min, once per 5 min; Floress et al, 2022). Secondary teachers may be reluctant or unable to use BSP due to inadequate training and misconceptions about the utility of using BSP with older students.…”