Last week, when I wrote about the lessons that we had watched during the week and about the feedback that we give to each group, I tried to look for information on a very basic question: what is the right ratio of positive to negative feedback? what is the most effective?
Unfortunately, I didn't have enough to time to research on the issue, and I had to finish writing my diary without dealing with it. This week, I stumbled upon an answer, in the form of a post in a blog I follow (not that it means I can read every post...) titled Strategies for helping students motivate themselves. The author claims that you need a ratio of positive to negative feedback between 5 to 1 and 3 to 1 in order to promote healthy learning. The problem is that when you pull the thread of the "extensive research" that he mentions as a source for that statement, you find evidence coming from business management and academic research subject to recent controversy, which doesn't seem that "extensive". Still, even if the main reference were Gottman's five to one - as being the ratio of positive to negative interactions that a couple needs to accumulate over time in order to remain married - I'll say I buy it. It makes sense to me, and no harm can come from it, even if the author doesn't provide solid proof of the exact extent of its benefits.
So, if you want to help your students becoming successful learners, when it comes to giving feedback, you should have the 5-to-one ratio in mind. And the same goes for your partner, friends, employees, workmates etc.
There are more things that I liked in that post, though. Autonomy, competence, relatedness and relevance are concepts I had already come across in the little reading on motivation I have been doing for my dissertation, and I totally agree with the idea that teachers should focus on feeding the intrinsic motivation of students, rather than using extrinsic motivators. I liked the idea of providing cognitive autonomy support through open-ended problem solving, and I especially liked the proposals around making thinking processes visible. I found this last idea absolutely inspiring for teachers in general. From the language learning point of view, it can be very helpful to promote communicative activities in the classroom.
Another thing I really liked from the post, which is closely related to feedback, was the recommendation to praise effort, instead of intelligence (aptitude, outcomes). The statement by Carol Dweck on the fact that praising intelligence takes people to play conservative because they don't want to risk their "genius" status is very revealing. On the other hand, a student who tries hard is bound to succeed sooner or later, and will be much more resilient when it comes to facing obstacles.
Whereas I see the other three concepts absolutely related to intrinsic motivation, I have my doubts about relevance. Too often we use relevance as an external motivator ("now, let's see, who can tell me why we should learn English? what will it be useful for in our lives?"). It must be handled with care in order to use it right and improve intrinsic motivation.
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