Influencing graduate students' classroom achievement, homework habits and motivation to learn with verbal praise

Identifying factors that influence students' learning in the classroom continues to be an important objective of educators at all levels. To address this issue, researchers have investigated a multitude of instructional variables that impact students' motivation to learn. One instructional variable, verbal praise, has often been identified as an important mediator in the enhancement of students' motivation to learn. However, the lack of consistent findings regarding students' reactions to verbal praise, combined with the lack of research on adult learners, prompted the current investigation. Using an experimental design, this study revealed that graduate students exposed to well-administered verbal praise by a professor performed significantly better on a professor-created examination, spent significantly more time doing homework and exhibited higher motivation to learn in the classroom than did studentswho received no verbal praise. Characteristics of effective verbal praise that contributed to these outcomes, the potential usefulness of verbal praise as a reinforcer of student motivations and directions for future research are discussed.