Self-efficacy for performance and selfworth

Reference no: EM133593087

Praising Students' Writing

Mrs. Gaskill's second graders are just beginning to learn how to write the letters of the alphabet in cursive. Every day Mrs. Gaskill introduces a new cursive letter and shows her students how to write it correctly. She also shows them some common errors in writing the letter-for instance, claiming that she's going to make the "perfect f" and then making it much too short and crossing the lines in the wrong place-and the children delight in finding her mistakes. After the class explores each letter's shape, Mrs. Gaskill asks her students to practice it, first by writing it in the air using large arm movements and then by writing it numerous times on lined paper.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Gaskill has decided to compare the effects of two kinds of praise on the children's performance. She has placed a small colored sticker on each child's desk to indicate membership in one of two groups. When children in Group 1 write a letter with good form, she gives them a happy-face token, says "Great" or "Perfect!" and either smiles or gives them a pat on the back. When children in Group 2 write a letter with good form at least once, she gives them a happy-face token and says something like "You sure are working hard," "You can write beautifully in cursive," or "You're a natural at this." When children in either group fail to meet her standards for cursive writing, she gives them whatever corrective feedback they need.

Therefore, the only way Mrs. Gaskill treats the two groups differently is in what she says to them when they do well, either giving them somewhat cryptic feedback (for Group 1) or telling them they are trying hard or have high ability (for Group 2). Despite such a minor difference, Mrs. Gaskill finds that the children in Group 2 say they enjoy cursive writing more and use it more frequently in their spelling tests and other writing tasks. Curiously, the children in Group 1 also often seem disappointed when they receive their seemingly positive feedback. For instance, on one occasion, a girl who writes beautifully but has the misfortune of being in Group 1 asks, "Am I a natural at this?" Although the girl consistently gets a grade of "+" for her cursive writing, she never writes in cursive voluntarily throughout the 3-week period in which Mrs. Gaskill conducts her experiment.23

Therefore, the only way in which Mrs. Gaskill treats the two groups differently is in what she says to them when they do well, either giving them fairly cryptic feedback (for Group 1) or telling them that they are trying hard or have high ability (for Group 2). Despite such a minor difference, Mrs. Gaskill finds that the children in Group 2 say they enjoy cursive writing more, and they use it more frequently in their spelling tests and other writing tasks. Curiously, too, the children in Group 1 often seem disappointed when they receive their seemingly positive feedback. For instance, on one occasion a girl who writes beautifully but has the misfortune of being in Group 1 asks, "Am I a natural at this?" Although the girl consistently gets a grade of "+" for her cursive writing, she never writes in cursive voluntarily throughout the 3-week period in which Mrs. Gaskill conducts her experiment.23

Using self- efficacy words of encorggment and self-efficacy for performance and Selfworth.

Constructed-response question

Mrs. Gaskill praises all of her students for their performance, yet some kinds of praise seem to be more effective than others.

1. Identify two sources of evidence to support the claim that students who receive lengthy, specific feedback (Group 2) enjoy writing in cursive more than students who receive brief, general feedback (Group 1).

2. Explain why the praise given to Group 2 might be more motivating than the praise given to Group 1. Base your explanation on contemporary principles and theories of motivation.

3. Which one of the following teacher behaviors in the case is an example of an attribution?

A. Amusing the students by intentionally writing the letter f incorrectly

B. Commenting that "You sure are working hard"

C. Awarding happy-face tokens for good writing

D. Giving students a pat on the back for good work

Reference no: EM133593087

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