Increasing teachers' behavior-specific praise: Effects of grade-wide positive behavior support on students' problem behavior in a japanese middle school

Abstract

The present study examined whether behavior-specific praise (BSP) by teachers can promote students" academic engagement and decrease students' problem behavior. The participants in the study were die 8 teachers and 122 students in the eighth grade general education classes in one middle school in Japan. The control group was comprised of the teachers and students in the seventh and ninth grades at the same school. The teachers" use of behavior-specific praise and the students' academic engagement were recorded during 50-minute class periods. The number of occurrences of the students' problem behaviors was calculated from the documents used by the teachers to record the students' problem behaviors. After a baseline period, an intervention was implemented that was intended to increase teachers' use of behavior-specific praise, including a self-monitoring procedure and peer-teacher feedback. After the intervention, the teachers' use of behavior-specific praise and the students' academic engagement increased, and the teachers' records of the experimental students' problem behaviors showed a decrease compared to the records kept by the teachers of the students in the control classes. When follow-up observations were made 1, 2, and 3 months after the intervention had been terminated, it was found that these effects were maintained. On the basis of the results of the present examination of effects of this intervention on eighth grade teachers' beliavior-specific praise at this middle school, future research should investigate how school-wide positive behavior interventions can be implemented in schools throughout Japan.