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PRAISES AND REWARDS: EFFECTIVE TOOLS FOR IMPROVING
STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOLS
BY
SHEHU YAHAYA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSIN-MA
KATSINA STATE
1
ABSTRACT
This article is about praise and rewards as a tool for improving student’s performance in
schools in which the meaning of praise and reward are briefly discussed. The article also covers
some of the theories of learning that are related to motivation in term of praises and rewards, in
which operant condition is considered as a way for motivating students for increase in academic
performance. Importance of praise and reward to students is also explained. Application of
praises and rewards in classroom are discussed, before discussing on the effect of improper use
of praise and reward on students’ academic performance by the teachers. It has been concluded
that teachers should understand that materials rewards can be used only when necessary and
also it is recommended that teachers need to be aware the potentially harmful effects of
improper use of rewards or praises, because rewarding students when the task is sufficiently
interesting in itself, should be avoided.
Key words: Praises, Rewards, Students, Academic Performance.
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Introduction
Praise and reward systems have their origin from behaviorist psychologists which support and
promote good discipline that is now available in schools. By making these decision, schools can
take care of different types of students’ behaviour by setting out different rules, in terms of
rewards, praising or even punishing students for breaking the school rules. The reason for these
systems is to make the students to behave in a good manner and work harder for the purpose of
getting that reward or praise. By recognizing and rewarding 'good' behaviour a student can easily
repeat it (Suleiman,2009 and Teacher Praise,2012). Praise and reward systems are now operated
in many schools in Nigeria. Teachers and students seem to like it as it is having beneficial effects
on students’ performance.
One way motives (reward and praise) vary is by the kind of goals that students set for
themselves, and by how that goals support students’ academic performance, because some goals
encourage students’ academic performance more than others.
Meaning of Praise and Reward
Reward refers to something that is given as an exchange for a useful idea, good behavior or
excellent work. While on the other hand Praise, according to Cambridge dictionary refers
to expression of strong admiration or approval of a person or something that is done correctly.
Reward may be defined as a symbol of appreciation that is shown to a person after his successful
response to a stimulus. The satisfaction may either be emotional (happy or pleasant) or physical.
It also includes good marks or prices (Suleiman,2009).
Praise and rewards both motivate and de-motivates students, depending on how they are used.
When and how students have been praised may be one reason why they differ in their levels of
confidence and motivation.
Praise and reward systems involved the formal and public recognition of good performance. The
systems that are used vary according to the individual’s performance. They typically involve a
praise card or homework diary in which the teacher can stamp a mark or places a sticker to
indicate good performance or effort. Each stamp is worth a number of points and the
accumulation of these leads to a bronze, silver or gold award, presented at the end of the year or
on the assembly. Schools design their own awards or certificates, individual classes in primary
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schools can have their own particular designs in which parents are informed about the awards to
their children and can be present at the award giving ceremony (Smith, 1999).
Praise and rewards motivate students’ academic performance at schools because they display
behaviors such as choosing challenging activities and spending more time on that task.
Some of the Theories of learning that are related to motivation (Praise and Reward)
Learning set theory of Harlow from his experiments with monkeys he formulated his theory on
learning sets in discrimination learning. The problems consisted of having a food tray with three
wells before the monkey kept in cage. Food as a reward in the form of a Banana can be kept
concealed in one of the wells covered with two similar and one dissimilar object e.g two cylinder
and one pyramid, the position of food inside the well was always under the dissimilar solid. The
solution of the problem was essentially depended on the monkeys discriminating power of
picking the dissimilar one from the similar ones. It was observed that moneys soon learned to
disseminate and solve these problems.
Another learning theory of I.P Pavlov, in its essential form the experiment consist of placing
some food before a hungry dog and the dog then started to salivates. So before a food presented a
bell is rung and then the food appears due to this action. Pavlov conditioned his dog to salivate at
the sound of the bell even if it is not followed by the presentation of reward which is in form of
food.
Reward and Praise Expectancy of Tolman’s Sign Learning: Edward Chace Tolman (1886-1959)
an American psychologist propounded a theory of learning in 1932. He maintained that our
learning behaviour is purposive that is goal-oriented not response-oriented. So human beings
learn to expect something as a result of their efforts. That is why we may have an expectation
that if we go to a certain place or perform a certain act, we may get something praise or reward.
Not getting a less than the expected reward may lead to disruption of behaviour which will
involve frustration (Mangal 2002).
Right from the theories of learning Edward L. Thorndike propounded his theory of learning from
his observation of animal experiments. From all his observations, Thorndike stated some laws of
learning among the most important of his laws of learning were:
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i. Law of readiness
ii. Law of exercise
iii. Law of effect
But to Thorndike he put more emphasis to the third law which is; law of effect being the most
important of his laws of learning, which indicated that only those responses of the organism
followed by reward and satisfaction would be learned, and those without reward that consist of
annoyance would be eliminated from the behavior of the organism. When stimulus is followed
by some positive effect e.g reward that particular stimulus response is bonded. On the basis of
this research, Thorndike proposed his “Law of Effect”—in essence, it stated that over a series of
trials, successful behaviors would be “stamped in” by the reward of escape, whereas
unsuccessful behaviors would be “stamped out”(Thorndike, 1911). B. F. Skinner later credited
Thorndike for being the originator of the learning model that came to be known as operant or
Skinnerian conditioning (Stephen and William,2008).
While on the operant conditioning of B.F Skinner who proposed theory of learning based on
operant condition stated that, the function of a reinforcement is always to increase the probability
of an operant. That reinforcement can be reward of some sort.
Operant Conditioning as a way of Motivating Students’ Academic Performance
The most common version of the behavioral perspective on motivation is the theory of operant
conditioning associated with B. F. Skinner (1938, 1957), In the operant model, you may recall, a
behavior being learned (operant) increases in frequency or likelihood because performing it
makes a reinforcement available. To understand this in terms of motivation, think of the
likelihood of response as the motivation and the reinforcement as the motivator. Imagine, for
example, that a student learns by operant conditioning to answer questions during class
discussions: each time the student answers a question (the operant), the teacher praises or reward
(reinforces) this behavior. In addition to thinking of this situation as behavioral learning,
however, you can also think of it in terms of motivation: the likelihood of the student answering
questions (motivation) is increasing because of the teacher’s praise or reward (motivator).
Many concepts from operant conditioning, in fact, can be understood in motivational terms.
Another example, is the concept of extinctions which is the tendency for learned behaviors to
become less likely when reinforcement (praise or reward) no longer occurs a sort of
“unlearning”, or at least a decrease in student’s performance occurs. The decrease in
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performance frequency can be thought of as a loss of motivation, and removal of the
reinforcement can be thought of as removal of the motivator (Kohn, 1999).
It was that theory of operant conditioning that leads to the widespread use of rewards in the
classroom. Even though students have been rewarded for good behavior for many years, even
before the development of Skinner's theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning means
that if reinforcement is delivered after a certain behavior, then the particular behavior will be
strengthened. A reinforcement is anything given that will increase the chance of the behavior to
happen again. In school, reinforces usually are things like rewards and praise.
Students praise
The power of praise in changing student behaviour in that it both indicates teacher approval and
informs the student about how the praised academic performance or behavior conforms to
teacher expectations (Burnett, 2001). As with any potential classroom reinforce, praise has the
ability to improve student academic or behavioral performance - but only if the student finds it
reinforcing (Akin-Little et al., 2004). Praise is a powerful motivating tool because it allows the
teacher to selectively encourage different aspects of student production or output. Teacher praise
can motivate the student to become more efficient on the academic task by emphasizing that
learner's gains in fluency (a combination of accuracy and speed of responding).
However the process in which praise is delivered can also have an impact on student reactions to
that praise (Soto, 2014). According to Elwell and Tiberio (1994) in Soto, (2014), a research was
conducted with 620 students in grades 7 and 12 in order to assess their reactions to teacher
praise. Among the participants, 279 were female and 341 were male. Participants were given
the Praise Attitude Questionnaire (PAQ) which consisted of five questions based on student
attitudes to teachers giving praise for academic work and two questions regarding conduct.
Praise was highly-sought for academic work. The responses "all the time" and "praise loudly"
were more frequent for students in grades 7 and 8 decreased in grades 9 and 10, and increased
again for grades 11 and 12. The answers "all the time" or "praise loudly" were slightly higher
from the boys than girls. In conclusion, students across all grade levels favored praise both
academically and behaviorally.
Students’ Motivation (Reward)
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When it comes to school learning, students’ motivations (reward) take on special importance
because students’ presence in class is not guarantee that students really want to learn. It is only a
sign that students live in a family that requiring him/her to attend school. Since western
education is compulsory now a days so teachers should not take students’ motivation for granted.
How and when a reward is given, it tells students something about the teacher’s opinion of their
ability, which affects how students feel about themselves. Ultimately, it affects their motivation
to learn. (Educational Research Newsletter and Webinars, 2018).
Importance of Praise and Reward to Students
Praise can be advantageous in the classroom for multiple reasons. Praise can be used as a
spontaneous reaction to a student's accomplishment (Soto, 2014).Praise that is not planned is
more effective than planned praise, however, it may backfire if the teacher responds to the
student behavior in an unexpected manner (e.g., I can't believe you actually did it.) rather than
admiring their accomplishments (Brophy, 1981).Praise could also be used to bring attention to
student progress (e.g., I knew that you could do it.) or a means of establishing teacher-student
relationships (e.g.,Those are nice looking shoes).Verbal praise can become more effective if
paired with nonverbal praise. It is rewarding and encouraging for a student to hear, "Great
work!" followed with a physical gesture, rather than saying it without expression or other
positive reinforcing action (Brophy, 1981). Brophy stated that praise can be used for other
situations in addition to reinforcing proper behaviour.
Praising students who model good performance may also serve as a model for other students
because Praise and reward encourage modeling which is referred to the performing or
demonstrating a desired new behavior or skill, as when a teacher or classmate demonstrates
polite behaviors or the correct solution to a mathematics problem. The idea is that if, for
example, a student observes a classmate who behaves politely with the teacher and then sees that
classmate receive praise or reward for the behavior that student is more likely to imitate the
polite behavior that he/she saw (Soto,2014). Additionally, intrinsic motivation can decline as a
result of praise or reward. When students continuously receive verbal rewards, they often learn to
rely on them (Brophy, 1981; Deci, Ryan, & Koestner, 1999; Kohn1999). Students are to do as
they are told without extrinsic motivation (Kohn, 1999; Saeverot, 2011). Although rewards can
endlessly be given, they are impractical, too difficult to sustain (Soto, 2014).
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Praise can be counterproductive (Brophy, 1981; Chappuis, 2009; Kohn, 1999)Teachers who use
strategies to instill motivation and engagement may result in teacher dependency (Kohn, 1999;
Saeverot, 2011). Teacher may use praise to boost the student's performance, praising effort,
accuracy, or speed on an assignment. Or the teacher may instead single out the student's work
product and use praise to underscore how closely the actual product matches an external standard
or goal set by the students (Teacher Praise, 2012).
Praise results in students struggling to meet the teacher's expectations with the consequence that
are too teacher-dependent and less involved in self efficacy and self-improvement. Teachers
should avoid to praise contingently, because they often praise students for incorrect responses or
work that does not meet their expectations. Praise is used to encourage students, not to reinforce
the learning that is taking place (Brophy, 1981, Chappuis, 2009)). Reward brings initiative,
energy, competition, self expression and creative abilities to ego maximization and the elation
that comes with success. Understanding human learning material reward includes gift, prizes,
money or certificate while social reward may include social recognition and respect. In order to
keep performance at a high level, it seems necessary to increase and vary reward periodically.
Rewards provide incentive for healthy emulation among individuals and group of individuals.
When the work of the students is given appreciation in the presence of others, they feel
encouraged and reinforcement is provided which helps in putting great confidence in them.
Reward also gives happiness to parents when their children get prizes. They encourage their
children to put in more effort (Aggarwal, 2007). Effective teacher praise or reward consists of
two elements: (1) a description of noteworthy student academic performance or general
behavior, and (2) a signal of teacher approval (Brophy, 1981; Burnett, 2001).
Reward may be given for:
i. Regular and punctual attendance
ii. Good conduct
iii. Progress in studies and
iv. Proficiency in games
Application of Rewards and Praises in Classroom
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Teachers use rewards and praises as a means for increasing the child’s desire to learn what they
are expecting from their students. Reward and praise may serve as a motivational form. Where a
students would put in more effort and work harder for more rewards. The best forms of reward,
which teachers can use, are written and verbal (praise) rewards (Suleiman 2009).Written rewards
are marks and teachers positive comments. While praise or verbal reward include approval,
appreciation and recognition.
Teachers should understand that material rewards can be used only when necessary; for example,
at the end of every term, so that the best students would be rewarded with either notebooks or
textbooks of different subjects or other materials.
Teachers should note that it is better for them to avoid frequent rewarding and praising of their
students for every efforts or hard-work or else the value of reward will diminish (Suleiman
2009).For example making other students to clap for one student who gives correct answers
always or giving students high grades always rather than rewarding other considering variables
such as neatness of work, grammar or students work.
Teachers should also take care that sometimes inappropriate use of rewards and praises can
affect students’ motivation in many ways. For example, when students are engaged in doing
some task intrinsically, but when they are separated in to two groups in which one being paid
with rewards, while the other is not at all, and all the groups were allowed to pursue the activity
on a free will basis, the outcome is that, the rewarded group soon loses interest and it will quit or
abandoned the activity .Where as the unpaid (Unrewarded) group will continue with their
activity with equal or greater effort. Such introduction of rewards clearly cause the students to
change location of their original perceived reasons for performing the activity, before rewards or
praises; students see their reason as inner, and a matter of their own activity. But later students
see rewards as the cause of their activity. This will lead to the decrease of any classroom
practice. That is intrinsically motivated related to that task. Taking allthese into consideration
will make teachers to reduce and limit reward abuses by some teachers (Ewumi, Adenaike, Ige,
Amusan, Adufe, Ojo & Oyayemi 2000).
Sometimes most of the teachers use praise much more than concrete reinforcement even though
some concrete reinforcement may not be important when it is used as verbal praising. Such
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verbal praising which includes ‘good’, ‘fine’, ‘correct’, and ‘clap for him’ it should be contingent
upon appropriate performances. Praises is the easiest to use and most natural of all the
motivational devices to a teacher (Ewumi, Adenaike, Ige, Amusan, Adufe, Ojo & Oyayemi
2000).
Effect of Improper use of Praise and Reward on Students’ Academic Performance
There is truth to this school of thought that if a teacher is rewarding behaviours that she/he alone
has chosen, or even if she/he persists in reinforcing behaviours that students already find
motivating without external reinforcement. In those cases reinforcements can backfire: instead of
serving as an incentive to desired behaviour, reinforcement can become a reminder of the
teacher’s power and of students’ lack of control over their own actions. A classic research study
of intrinsic motivation illustrated the problem nicely. In the study, researchers rewarded
university students for two activities - solving puzzles and writing newspaper headlines - that
they already found interesting. Some of the students, however, were paid to do these activities,
whereas others were not. Under these conditions, the paid students are likely to engage in the
activities than the unpaid students even though; both groups had been equally interested in the
activities (Deci, 1971).
Moreover, Kohn (1999) added that if a teacher's objective is to seek long term quality
performance, assist students to become self-directed learners, and develop good work ethics,
then rewards are useless. Different types of praise or reward may cause students to be dependent
on their teacher's evaluation, as their performance is measured against the teacher's expectations
of what is worth praising (Kohn, 1999; Saeverot, 2011).Rewards deter self-regulation. Extrinsic
motivation impairs a person's responsibility to motivate him or herself (Deci, Ryan, & Koestner
1999). Rewards that are contingent on the student’s performance are less likely to have an
adverse effect. However, when rewards are given simply for participating in the task, the reward
appears to have a negative impact on the student’s belief in his own ability.
Praise for effort rather than performance under conditions in which a student’s ego is involved,
tends to induce a feeling of helplessness or lack of self-confidence in the students.
Although praise can be deemed as a positive reinforcement tool (Burnett, 2001).But it may be
ineffective because it is being utilized inefficiently with students fixated on teacher-pleasing
rather than self gratification (Brophy, 1981; Kohn, 1999; Saeverot, 2011).
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Conclusion
Reward it refers to something that is given as an exchange for a useful idea, good behaviour or
excellent work, etc While on the other hand Praise according to Cambridge dictionary refers
to expression of strong admiration or approval of a person or something that is done correctly.
Operant conditioning of B.F Skinner who proposed theory of learning based on operant
condition stated that, the function of reinforcement is always to increase the probability of an
operant. That reinforcement can be reward of some sort. To understand this in terms of
motivation, think of the likelihood of response as the motivation and the reinforcement as the
motivator. Imagine, for example, that a student learns by operant conditioning to answer
questions during class discussions: each time the student answers a question (the operant), the
teacher praises or reward (reinforces) this behavior. Praise is a powerful motivating tool because
it allows the teacher to selectively encourage different aspects of student production or output .
Teacher praise can motivate the student to become more efficient on the academic task by
emphasizing that learner's gains in fluency (a combination of accuracy and speed of responding).
Praise can be advantageous in the classroom for multiple reasons. Praise can be used as a
spontaneous reaction to a student's accomplishment (Soto, 2014). Praise that is not planned is
more effective than planned praise, however, it may backfire if the teacher responds to the
student behaviour in an unexpected manner. Praise results in students struggling to meet the
teacher's expectations with the consequence that are too teacher-dependent and less involved in
self-efficacy and self-improvement. Reward also gives happiness to parents when their children
get prize they encourage their children to put in more effort (Aggarwal, 2007).
Teachers should understand that material rewards can be used only when necessary. For
example, at the end of every term, so that the best students would be rewarded with either
notebooks or textbooks of different subjects or other materials.
Rewards that are contingent on the student’s performance are less likely to have an adverse
effect. However, when rewards are given simply for participating in the task, the reward appears
to have a negative impact on the student’s belief in his own ability.
Recommendations
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1. Teachers need to be aware of the potentially harmful effects of reward systems, because
rewarding students when the task is sufficiently interesting in itself should easily be
avoided.
2. Activities which involve sequential problem-solving and emphasize the process rather
than the product or reward, encourage students to be actively involved in the subject.
Structuring a task in this way appears to stimulate the kind of verbal feedback conducive
to developing feelings of competence and self-determination in students.
3. It is recommended that teachers should encourage praising and rewarding students
because poor student performance is usually attributed to a lack of motivation in terms of
rewards or praise and it is given as an attempt to increase student motivation, usually high
performance comes from students who are motivated.
4. Teachers should make praise and reward habit like any other behaviour. Praise can be
delivered more consistently when it becomes a habit.
5. Excessive and improper giving reward should be avoided, because student tempted by the
rewards, may resort to improper methods like cheating during examination. So schools
and authority concern should put up some barrier over reward situation for avoiding such
bad act of examination malpractice.
6. Even though it is important to give reward and praise students that performed well, but
that reward should be vary periodically. Sometimes after receiving material rewards,
classroom learning may not be an important and a worthwhile venture.
7. It is important for teachers to avoid frequent giving of reward at every effort because the
value of reward will be diminished. For example asking students to clap for every correct
answer.
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