Increasing Induction-Level Teachers’ Positive-to-Negative Communication Ratio and Use of Behavior-Specific Praise Through E-Mailed Performance Feedback and Its Effect on Students’ Task Engagement

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of e-mailed specific performance feedback that included progress monitoring graphs on induction-level teachers’ ratios of positive-to-negative communication behaviors and their use of behavior-specific praise in classrooms for students with emotional and behavioral disorders, mild intellectual disabilities, and learning disabilities. We also examined the effects of teachers’ communication behavior on students’ academic task engagement. Results indicate that the e-mailed performance-feedback intervention increased teachers’ use of positive communication behaviors and decreased their use of negative communication behaviors. These effects resulted in higher positive-to-negative ratios. Furthermore, the teacher praise became more behavior-specific for academic and social behaviors, and students’ level of task engagement improved and became more stable.