Controversy over the Value of Praise in Language Education

Abstract

The text is an article of reflection on the value of praise in language education. Praise has been a controversial issue across the whole post-war history of language teaching, psychology and the educational sciences. The following questions arise: Does praise contribute to the learning outcomes? Can approval be counterproductive? Can praise be unnecessarily frequent? What is its optimal format? What is its relation to feedback? The text will attempt to offer possible answers to these questions in order to formulate recommendations for pre- and in-service teacher education.