Praise Language

Faith grows as we offer praise. There lessons that can be learned about praise. Here’s one to start with: language has a powerful effect on how we offer praise.

Learning From Educators

As an educator, I have learned that I need to carefully consider what I am praising and the reason for my praise of students. Words of praise such as “good job,” “well done,” “exactly right,” and “you got it” are not informative to the student and likely will have no impact beyond the student knowing they got an answer right. These types of comments are more evaluation than feedback. Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2007), says, “praise is intricately connected to how students view their intelligence” (p. 34), and therefore may produce a burst of pride, but may in fact encourage a “fixed” mindset.

Dweck suggests that praise should focus on efforts and actions. Comments such as “You really worked hard on this lesson” or “I can see you have pushed yourself to learn this subject,” are “more likely to encourage ongoing learning, risk taking, and the embracing of challenge” (Ron Ritchhard, 2015, p. 81). These are the actions that we want of our students. This is true of how parents should praise their children as well. Our praise should be specific, descriptive, and informative. Informative means providing information about what they should keep doing. 

Follow My Example

Let me give an example of a praise statement that follows this format. If you follow me on Facebook, you know that my granddaughter, Juliet, has started a YouTube channel. It is called Juliet’s Story Time. On this channel, she reads children’s books to her followers. When I post her stories, I always ask for viewers to leave her an encouraging comment. Recently, she read the book, “This Is My Hair.” It is a funny book and she does a “good job.” However, rather than leaving her the comment, “Good job,” let’s construct a comment together, starting with something specific: “I love the way you held the pages up to show the pictures.” Now, let’s add a little more description: “Doing this helped me follow along.” Finally, let’s make it informative: “Keep reading and growing your skills.”

Putting it all together it says, “I love the way you held the pages up to show the pictures. Doing this helped me follow along. Keep reading and growing your skills.” Yes, this is a long statement and you won’t provide praise this long every time, but you will find that the more you practice, the better you’ll get.

Learning to Praise God

How does this relate to our communication and the praises we offer to God. When we praise God, are we offering an “evaluation?” “God, you did a good job with answering my request.” Wow, think about that for a moment. Does God really need us to evaluate him? Of course not, that seems silly. Does our praise to God need to be “specific, descriptive, and informative.” Does God really need us to inform him of what he needs to continue to do? No, again, this seems silly.

What God does want us to inform him on is the thinking that is going on in our hearts. “God, when you sent the man to help jump start my car, it gave me reassurance that you truly care for me. Thank you.” Or, “God, I needed food and you sent someone to drop food off at my door. I appreciate so much your mercies that are new every morning.” These are the kinds of statements that inform God of what is in our heart. Equally important, these kinds of statements help us reflect on the things God is doing.

Yes, language has a powerful effect on how we offer praise. . . and the effectiveness of our praise. As we praise God for the specific answers to prayer, he will grow our faith. Thankfully, all we need is faith the size of a grain of a mustard seed and we can move mountains.

Also, see Talking About Faith.

Copyright © 2023 Chuck Locklear