Final Project Positioning of the Researcher

Part 1. Research question(s) and explanation of what you mean by them

As a teacher candidate, the most concerning topic, for me, is student motivation.  It's disappointing, but the reality is that the current status of an average mathematics classroom is one that is not filled with motivation.  With student motivation being such a large, cumbersome topic, my inquiry project will focus on the effects of praising on students.  Praising is the act of using positive statements or gestures towards someone.  Most people have the intentions, upon praising an individual, of motivating, boosting confidence and self-esteem, or trying to reinforce good behaviour.  This paper will inquire into the research behind the effects of teacher-student praise.     

Part 2. Positioning of the researcher(s): What makes this question compelling to you? How does it relate to your life? Any biases or conflicts of interest that should be mentioned at the outset? 

This question is compelling to me because I have been heavily involved with athletics both as a player and as a coach for almost my entire life.  With this background, it has almost become habitual to praise team-mates and athletes with the idea that it will increase motivation, confidence, and have an overall positive effect.  This habit of praising has certainly transferred into my teaching, and initially I thought this wouldn't be a problem.  However, upon reading Alfie Kohn's article, "five reasons to stop saying good job," and having some class discussions on the matter, I realized that praising might not be as beneficial as I thought.  Having been raised and surrounded in praise filled environment, hearing accusations such as "praise can undermine independence, pleasure, and interest," (Kohn 2001) was extremely shocking and sparked an immediate reaction of disbelief.  How can saying something as simple as "good job," have such long term negative effects?  For the past month, with the volleyball team I coach, I have been trying to stay away from praising and instead move towards asking questions or not saying anything at all.  Simply put, we have had our most successful month ever.  Obviously there are numerous factors that attribute to our recent success, nonetheless it's triggered an even further interest in the effects of praising, or rather, not praising.  While I think am still currently in favour of using praise, I am finding more and more research indicating that praise might actually be detrimental.  For this reason, I hope to gain more insight and apply what I have learned from this inquiry project to my long practicum experience.        

As an aside, I also hope to inquire about the differences between praising athletes and students.