Recommendable positive-to-negative interaction ratio for teachers

Although teacher education programs instruct future teachers to utilize both reinforcement and punishment efficiently in their classrooms, the real effectiveness of them is different. Previous research has already found that praising students related to positive outcomes and punishing them related to negative outcomes in classroom management. Currently, there are several recommended positive (e.g., praise) to negative (e.g., reprimand) interaction ratios for teachers (e.g., 4:1, 5:1) to have an effective classroom management. Through investigating the extant studies, this paper considered whether such a critical ratio exists in positive-to-negative interaction for teachers to create effective teaching and classroom management, and the conclusions were provided.