Category: Teacher-student Relationships

Although parental and community engagement is one of the key improvement drivers set within the National Improvement Framework (Scottish Government, 2019), its strategy primarily shows a reusing of prior policy aspirations concerning parental engagement, that have not so far been fully applied in Scottish schools and communities.

Education Scotland (2019) found the most successful challenge authorities in Scotland to narrow the poverty-related attainment gap, put in place effective partnership initiatives working with family engagement strategies. Shared learning activities that engage both parents and children has provided quality support for children, young people and families through a partnership that offers access to an extensive range of professional expertise.

Parent attitudes are considered to be a significant attribute to a child’s behaviour and performance in school. A review given by Jensen (2009) found parents that did poorly at school themselves, often shown negative attitude towards their children’s schools and these parents are often unwilling to get involved in any school activities, make any interaction with the school, or attend parent-teacher meetings. Similarly, Gutman and McLoyd (2000) found parents of high achievers were not only more involved in their children’s school life, they were also involved in different ways from low achiever’s parents. Parents of high achievers maintained regular contact with their children’s schools for updates on progress whereas, any contact with parents of low achievers would mostly be by request from teachers as a result of poor performance and behaviour issues.

Although Gorard and See (2013) argues that there is not enough high-quality evidence to show that parental involvement results in enhanced educational achievement, there is a strong indication that parental and community engagement massively benefit the achievements of children in schools. Yet, it seems this intervention strategy is not being fully exploited within all of the most disadvantaged areas of Scotland. Assessment is needed to ensure that this is not the direct effect of a downplay of parental autonomy with the learning of their children and their actions are undervalued or ignored.

While the intentions of current policy addressing parental engagement are good, it is important that these aims are further acted on to provide support in tackling poverty-related attainment. The role of parental involvement in their children’s educational development is critical and there is a need for greater intervention by schools and communities within challenged authorities in Scotland. In order for educational policy to conform with an integrated support system for children at school, schools need to form a constructive partnership with parents and develop joint responsibility for children’s achievement in the educational system. This approach would increase parental engagement amd promote positive attitude to supporting schools.

Research has consistently reinforced the importance of teacher-student relationships in schools. These relationships can provide the foundations needed for young people to grow and develop in both, a personal and social context. This is especially critical within areas of deprivation, as children who are raised in poverty are more likely to not have a caring, reliable adult in their life.

Teacher-student relationships contribute positively to the degree of student participation, as mentioned above. Poysa et al. (2019) found the more emotional support that was provided by the teacher, correlated with enhanced student engagement in the classroom.

In order for teacher-student relationships to flourish within schools, teachers need to have a healthy and realistic perception of the complexities of poverty in education. As previously established, a child’s behaviour in school can often be a reflection of their upbringing and home-life. Considering this and the positive effects of an all-inclusive education, it is crucial that teachers don’t follow the pervasive idea of a ‘culture of poverty’ and assume deficit stereotypes, but develop a deeper comprehension of both the material and social effects of child poverty and educational achievement (Thompson, McNicholl and Menter, 2016). Epinsosa and Laffey’s (2003) findings reinforce this importance of this within teacher-student relationships as children who display challenging behaviours in the classroom, that do not align with teacher expectations, are more likely to be underestimated with their capabilities and not establish positive relationships with their teachers.

Across Scotland, the last decade has seen a substantial decline in the rates of exclusion in schools (Scottish Government, 2019), an increase in teacher confidence to promote positive behaviour in their classrooms, and a positive impact on teacher’s perceptions (Munn et al., 2011). However, a higher exclusion rate was found to correlate with children and young people living in areas of more deprivation. The rate of exclusions were approximately four times greater for pupils living in the 20% of areas associated with most deprivation, than with pupils living in the 20% of areas associated with least deprivation, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD, 2020; Scottish Government 2019). This validates the degree to which poverty negatively impacts not only school performance and attainment, but teacher-student relationships and later-life outcomes.

Considering the growing prominence of this issue, it is now necessary that current policy makes a reorganizational shift with its focus on attainment outcomes to support schools to enrich their understanding of in-school behaviour and relationships as an avenue to tackling the poverty-related gap in Scotland. Research by Sosu and Ellis (2014) emphasises that a focus on professional development and effective pedagogy strategies, which takes into account all of the aspects and complexities of poverty, is crucial to closing the poverty-related attainment gap in Scotland. However, McCluskey (2017) suggests there is still a gap between national policy on pedagogy and the policy in place for emotional support, and there should be closer examination of the connection between poverty-related attainment and in-school relationships.

It is clear that the current Scottish policy aiming to close the poverty-related attainment gap, has not shown enough impact so far and progress is variable at a national level. This paper acknowledges that the relationship between poverty and education is very complex with a range of aspects to consider. There is evidently a need for a more research-informed restructuring of supporting policy to address not just attainment differences in schools but strengthen in-school relationships between students and teachers to enrich the educational experiences for all.

However, as outlined in this paper current policy has perhaps focused too extensively on purely attainment outcomes and consequently placed an excessive accountability on teachers to address the problems with poverty themselves.

Reviewing my own paper, I believe that there could be more done at a national and local level to support schools to be more inclusive and can support the poverty-related gap, encourage and integrate parental engagement within their programme, and enrich the teacher-student relationship by challenging unsupportive perceptions to the implications of poverty in education.

These areas could offer further support to current policies such as the Scottish Attainment Challenge by consideration and deeper understanding of the different barriers to successful performativity in school. Likewise, there is much to be gained from rights-based practice to raise attainment and achievement. An education where pupils are provided rights to participate within and through meeting their rights would support them to reach their full academic potential and create their own success.

As the Scottish education system struggles to narrow the attainment gap, more attention to educational aspects such as student participation, parental engagement and teacher-student relationships may just be the solution to pushing Scotland’s progress forward in closing the poverty-related attainment gap.

There is a lot of covenant of literature that gives the considerable and authentic evidence that strong and well build relationship between teachers and students are the most important essential and necessary mechanism to the healthy and vigorous academic development of all students in schools.

The body of that literature includes the roots and genres of the previous researches that have been conducted in past three decades on investigating or finding the interactions have on learning. The genres of this topic can be find in many research articles of the competent researchers like as Brophy-Herb, Lee, Nievar, & Stollak, 2007; Curby, 13 LoCasale-Crouch, Konold, Pianta, Howes, Burchinal, …Oscar 2009; Dickinson & Brady, 2006; Guo, Piasta, Justice, & Kaderavek, 2010; Howes, Burchinal, Pianta, Bryant, Early, Clifford, & Oscar, 2008; Jackson, Larzelere, St. Clair, Corr, Fichter, & Egertson , 2006; Mashburn, Pianta, Hamre, Downer, Barbarin, Bryant, … Howes, 2008; McCartney, Dearing, Taylor, & Bub, 2007; Pianta, Barnett, Burchinal, & Thornburg, 2009.

The Educators, psychologists, social constructivists, and sociologists all have worked and contributed to the growing interest in targeting interventions toward improvements in the quality of teachers’ interactions with children. Hamre, Pianta, Burchinal, Field, Crouch, Downer, Howes, LaParo, & Little, (2012) posit that “teachers need to be actively engaged in interactions with children in order for learning to occur.

President Bush signed the law of “no child left behind act” in 2001 that stresses not only the student’s success and the reasons of student failure but also focus on the teacher’s effective performance of teachers as well. It was declared that every student would have to produce best academic results and would have to perform at grade level and achieve high standards. (U.S. Department of Education, 2007).

In this act the stress was on accountability and standardized testing should not have to confound the involvement of the social quality of teacher and students relationships with each other and the effect of this relationship on students academic performance or achievement(Hamre & Pianta, 2006) .Hamre & Pianta have also conducted a research in 2012 and the results of their research study indicate that strong student- teacher relationships “provide a unique entry point for educators working to improve the social and learning environments of schools and classrooms. It was also indicating that “it was not sufficient for teachers to be able to gain knowledge about effective teacher-child interactions; they needed actual skills involving identification of effective interactions with a high degree of specificity in order to be most likely to transfer the coursework into changes in their practice (Hamre & Pianta, 2012)

Downey in 2008 has also conducted a research and he synthesizing educational research on factors that affect academic success. The rationale of his research study was to examine classroom practices that made a difference for all students, but in particular, for students who are at risk for academic failure. What was determined was that a teacher’s personal interaction with his/her students made a significant difference. The recommendations from Downey’s analysis were that “students need teachers to build strong interpersonal relationships with them, focusing on strengths of the students while maintaining high and realistic expectations for success”. These interactive relationships should be based on respect, trust, caring, and cohesiveness. Downey concludes his research study by saying “the study served as a powerful reminder that everyday teacher-student interactions in the classroom matter a lot on studentent academic performance and achievement” (Downey, 2008).

Ravitch (2010) writes that “the goal of education is not to produce higher test scores, but to educate children to become responsible people with well-developed minds and good character” She says that “accountability as it is now is not helping our schools because its measures are too narrow and imprecise, and its consequences too severe. NCLB assumes that accountability based exclusively on test scores will reform American education. This is a mistake”. Overemphasis on test scores to the omission of other important goals of education may actually weaken the love of learning and the desire to acquire knowledge (Ravitch, 2010).

Marzano (2003) in his study suggests a useful question for anyone wishing to understand factors that improve student achievement is to ask “What influence does an individual teacher have on a student apart from what the school does?” . He indicates that all researchers agree that the impact of decisions made by an individual teacher is far greater than the impact of decisions made at the school level. Marzano writes “the core of effective teacher-student relationships is a healthy balance between dominance and cooperation”. Showing interest in students as individuals has a positive impact on their learning according to Marzano. McCombs & Whisler (1997) posit that the need for the teacher to show a personal interest in their students is vital to their learning. All agree that the interaction between teacher and student has a significant impact on student learning in the classroom (Marzano, 2003).

Sarason (1999) looks at teaching as a performing art, and discusses the “art of teaching” and the role that teacher interaction plays in creating a “productive learning” environment. He posits that, post – World War II, when training teachers, education has increasingly focused on subject matter to the detriment of pedagogy – “the obligation of the teacher to know who the learner is and make the subject matter interesting, motivating, and compelling for their students”. He asks “are there not characteristics of a good teacher which can be observed in which the teacher interacts with children?”. Such a candidate would be someone capable of understanding, motivating, and guiding the intellectual, as well as the social-personal development of children. Sarason contends “If you do not know the minds and hearts of learners, you subvert productive learning” that is the starting point of all learning. Sarason contends that there are three overarching features for productive learning; the first is recognizing and respecting the individuality of the learner. The second is for the teacher to know 27 the subject matter sufficiently to be able to determine when the learner may have difficulty and be able to intercede to prevent the difficulty from happening. The third tenet is that the teacher is constantly looking for ways to engage and stimulate the learner so he/she wants to learn. By building relationships with students, teachers can fulfill what Sarason contends is the overarching purpose of schooling – motivate learners to experience personal and cognitive growth. It is Sarason’s position that not having a system in place that assesses how teachers interact with children is a major problem in the field of education, one that will continue to short change future generations of students and teachers . Teachers need to establish a relationship with their students which engender trust, respect, and an understanding of them as learners. He considers it an essential component to teaching and learning. . Brekelmans & Wubbels, (2005) also conducted a study that showed that students’ perceptions of teacher influence were related to cognitive outcomes. The higher a teacher was perceived on the influence dimension, (an interpersonal perception profile), the higher the outcomes of students on a physics test. In their study, teacher influence was the most important variable at the class level. They report that the more teachers were perceived by their students as cooperative, the higher the students’ scores were on cognitive tests.

In 1840, Mann said “the suitability to teach involves the power of perceiving how far a scholar understands the subject matter to be learned and what, in the natural order is the next step to take” . According to him, the teacher must be intuitive and lead the minds of his pupils to discover what they need to know and then supply them with what they require (Mann 1840). Dewey (1938) said that as an educator, you need to be able to discern what attitudes are conducive to continued growth and what are detrimental, and use that relational knowledge to build worthwhile educational experiences for students. He writes that “teachers are the agents through which knowledge and skills are communicated and rules of conduct enforced” and, as such, it is the duty of the teacher to know how to “utilize the surroundings, physical and social, so as to extract from them all that they have to contribute” to building up worthwhile educational experiences. He says that “all human experience is ultimately social: that it involves contact and communication” . Dewey believed the goal of educators is to create lifelong learners. This is accomplished through the knowledge the educator 20 has of individuals that leads to social organizations providing all students with the opportunity to contribute to something. Dewey says: “The principle that development of experience comes about through interaction means that education is essentially a social process”(Dewey,1938).

Vygotsky (1978) believed that higher mental functioning’s are socially formed and culturally transmitted. Cognitive development is mediated through language dialogues between one who knows (teacher) and one who is learning (student). Vygotsky posits that the instructional message gradually moves from teacher-student dialogue to inner speech where it organizes the student’s thought and becomes an internal mental function. A skillful teacher could shape a student’s thinking process through purposeful interaction – Vygotsky’s concept of mediated development. According to Vygotsky, “learning awakens a variety of internal development processes that are able to operate only when a child is interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers”. Vygotsky viewed tests as an inadequate measurement of a child’s learning capability; he thought the progress in concept formation achieved by a child through interaction with an adult was a much more viable way to determine 21 the capabilities of learners. His theory of the zone of proximal development required this type of interaction between child and adult in order for the child to come to terms with and understand the logic of adult reasoning in order to learn new concepts. Vygotsky describes the zone of proximal development as “the distance between the actual developmental level and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance”.

In his seminal study, Jackson (1968) studied life in classrooms and determined that “there is a social intimacy in schools that is unmatched elsewhere in our society”. According to Jackson, the teacher is charged with managing the flow of the classroom dialogue. In elementary classrooms, he writes, “teachers can engage in as many as one thousand interpersonal exchanges a day”. That being the case, the study of those interpersonal exchanges could yield important information regarding the learning that results from those interactions.

There are a diverse range of perspectives in the area of interactions between teachers and students that have been researched over the past few decades; however, they share several core 22 principles. What follows in this literature review is a sampling of those perspectives as they relate to the effect teacher-student interactions has on the learning environment including findings and implications, organized by categories of researchers.

After completing my education, I hope to enter the field of foreign language education. In the education field in general there are very specific communication skills required. To be what would be considered a good teacher, one must have good public speaking skills, the ability to maintain relationships with their students, and be able to handle conflict well. These skills are essential to an educator’s success, without them, the classroom would be an unruly, chaotic group of students without direction. In the following paragraphs I will describe how and why the Conflict Theory is extremely important to an educator. I will also discuss the importance of relationships between students and teachers and the necessity of maintaining those relationships.

A foreign language educator, depending on the age of their students, can teach a range of subjects. A teacher working with younger children would focus more on basic ideas and principles of the language, such as colors, days of the week, short phrases or sentences, and a small amount of vocabulary, as well as cultural ideas and facts. As the age of the students increases, so will the amount of material covered. More grammar and vocabulary will be taught and more culture will be covered. Educators in the college and late high school setting will aim to improve the fluency of their students as well as the students’ appreciation for the language and culture of their focus.

Early on in their relationships with their students, teachers must establish a relationship that sets them as authority, but also as someone that a student can openly communicate with. Educators are a crucial part of a child’s development and attitude toward learning, so it is highly important that teachers stay positive with their students and cultivate a positive outlook in the students toward learning and how the students’ own ideas go hand-in-hand with their learning. As the material being taught grows more difficult, student frustration will grow with it. At this point, it is important for a teacher to seem approachable and open to students so that they can discuss any issues that may arise. One way to do this is to create a classroom environment that is not solemn, quiet, and serious. If a teacher engages his or her students in an interesting and humorous way, the students are more likely to feel as if they can approach their teacher with questions and any problems they may be having. While humor will lighten the mood of the classroom and make it less stressful on the students, it must be used wisely. If humor is used an excess, students may stop taking the class seriously and stop paying attention. Used in the correct way, humor keeps the students’ attention and makes learning the material easier and more relaxed.

Relationships between educators and their students are not only important while the student is in that teacher’s class, but as the student progresses further in their education. Teachers who are able to avoid conflict in their relationships with the students are often seen as sources of support and comfort and therefore enhance the student’s outlook on school and education. Closeness in the student-teacher relationship has been shown to correlate with higher academic achievement, fewer behavioral problems, and better social skills. Teachers can cultivate this type of relationship with their students by simply listening. Listening has four key parts for it to be considered effective: hearing, attention, understanding, and remembering. When this type of listening is utilized in relationships, they flourish and become closer and more positive.

However, if conflict and disagreements complicate teacher-student relationships, much is at stake. Conflict between a student and their teacher can be felt as a stressor for the student in their academic environment. This feeling of stress can often lead to a disinterest in school and the material that is being taught. Then, the disinterest can lead to poor academic performance (Buyse, 2009). Conflict between one student can cause the teacher to behave more negatively when the student is in their classroom, which creates a more negative environment for all the students and has an impact on those students’ perceptions of school and the material as well.

In summary, teachers and educators do more than teach students out of textbooks and curriculum. Educators influence their students personally through their relationships. If a teacher and student can communicate openly and a student feels that their teacher is approachable, then their outlook on school, and education in general, is much more positive. On the same lines, if a student and teacher have an unstable, conflicted relationship, the student is more likely to have a negative attitude towards their coursework, learning, and school. Students’ academic achievement rests more on than just an educator’s knowledge of the subject and on their communication and listening skills.

Children are the future generation of humanity, and this makes it fundamental for parents and the State to establish the necessary infrastructure to ensure kids have access to education and other social amenities. Education is the greatest gift that a society can offer to a child because the knowledge acquired shapes the future of that community and the whole nation at large. Countries that have invested immensely in the education systems are ranked among the most developed economies in the world. Accordingly, the essay summarizes articles on child’s learning needs, organizations that families can access information, and online resources where parents and educators can access relevant information on how to educate and assist their children with diverse needs.

This article expounds on the importance of teacher-student relationship and its impact on the child’s performance in education. The write up under discussion asserts that teachers should forge a friendly relationship with their students in order to have a positive lasting influence on them. Proponents for the evidence-based education cite that children who have developed a cordial relationship with their tutor emerge to be disciplined and often perform well in school. The quality of the teacher-student relationship has a greater impact on the attitude of the child towards education and learning institutions. The article explains how tutors can foster a constructive relationship with their students by understanding the child learning needs. Additionally, the write up expounds on the importance of teachers to take their time while speaking to their students. To foster a productive relationship with the kids, teachers should accept his/her students for whom they are, and make them feel important.

Teachers should analyze their students in order to understand how they perceive the learning environment and take enough time to be present both physically and mentally when addressing the children. Children need to be loved and encouraged in order to believe in themselves. The article asserts that children need care and guidance in a gentle manner in order to be disciplined, and successful in education. The article further states that children need to be pressed hard in order to understand the difficult tasks in education and to unlock their potential on other areas in their lives. In conclusion, this article advocates for teachers to display care to his/her learners, show empathy to them and at the same time put pressure on them to excel in education.

The National Child Care Association (NCCA) educates parents and tutors on policies that are beneficial to their children. This organization works in consultation with legal experts in education to evaluate the impact policies and regulation on learners in both private and public institutions. NCCA evaluates the consequences of each policy on the welfare and education well-being of the child, informs parents and tutors on the same and push for the implementation of sound policies that benefits the children. Parents and educators who subscribe to this organization are accorded full access to legal matters on early childhood care and education. Information on this organization enables parents to be in a better position to choose the best education programs for their children. The organization work with its members to ensure they offer high-quality information, support policies and regulations with the interest of the good of the children.

NCCA offers a platform where educators can build their knowledge on legal aspects in their scope of work. Educators are in a position to learn the regulations and policies put in place to ensure the quality of education and safety of children in learning institutions is guaranteed. Early childhood education sector is one of the most regulated sectors in the United States of America; NCCA ensures that educators in childcare are informed on the labor regulations on rules of the workplace and their remuneration structure. Teachers in the early childhood education can thus comfortably advocate for the right salary structure and good working environment as stipulated within the realms of the law because they are informed. The organization through the many years of their experience are dedicated to helping the teachers to provide education to the children in a proper manner.

MyChild is a website that offers information and support to educators and families in early childhood education and other challenges such as autism prevalent among children. The link to this MyChild is MyChild.gov.au. This site offer assistance and educational services to children whose parents have separated and it enlightens guardians on various child support choices that are available such situations. MyChild provides information on how divorced parents can contribute to the education and development of their child taking into account their financial capabilities. This online resource creates a platform for parents and educators to learn the necessary skills required to assist in the physical and mental development of the child. Conversely, the website offers a database where guardians and parents can search for child care centers within a specified location, know the amount of fee paid and the vacancies available.

The website provides information on family relationships where the parents and guardians are educated on appropriate arrangements to foster positive growth and development among their children in the event there is a divorce or a separation. Educators can learn ways of helping children with autism to communicate and develop life skills that are fundamental in their daily lives. The support to children with autism is extended to families across all indigenous and cultural backgrounds on the globe. The website can be accessed from any part of the world making it a valuable resource for the ever-growing number of parents whose siblings are diagnosed with autism. Lastly, there is home interaction program that assists parents to become the first teachers to their children and thus fosters their future success in institutions of learning hence assisting their children to have a strong education foundation.

In conclusion, this essay has summarized an article on evidence-based child learning needs that explains the teacher-student relationships; how teachers are supposed to show care and empathy for the children. Moreover, the essay has summarized on an online resource organization that can be used by families and educators to access relevant information on childcare and lastly, a summary of an organization that offers support to parents and guardians in their course of bringing up children in case of separation. The resources highlighted above are fundamental to parents and educators in their course to ensure children have access to high-quality education and care in learning institutions.

Students’ interaction set the path for their academic careers. An important aspect of this interaction is the provided feedback, this later can be either positive or negative. However, a prevalent distinction is made between negative and positive feedback. For so many researchers, positive feedback is considered the most effective for enhancing students’ learning as negative. Reynolds (2013) defines feedback as any response from a teacher regarding students’ performance or behavior. Its purpose in the learning process is to enhance the learners’ performance. For instance, when a task is expressed correctly and well-performed, positive feedback relays information to behavior should continue, which makes learners encouraged, makes them feel confident, and dare to express themselves without any fear or hesitation.

Moreover, when a teacher praises his learners about what they have been well, it works on constructing their strength, consequently, they would likely repeat it in order to secure continual approval. It raises their self-esteem which pushes students to perform more and more effectively. This feedback is a very useful technique that helps teachers to foster interaction with their learners. It is obvious when some receive positive feedback or praise, it would create a comfortable environment that encourages everybody to express themselves freely, which leads to effective learning. In addition, this late helps learners to boost their self-confidence and makes them believe in their own abilities as Alqahtani (2011) said: “Positive feedback stands for praising learners for doing a good job. This appraisal helps them to develop good self-confidence”.

On the other side, negative feedback, it occurred in two possible ways, either explicitly or implicitly, when the students’ performance is incorrect or needs feedback, according to Nunan (1991), teachers can give criticism, a punishment, or directly the incorrect part. He added that it is strongly believed that this type has a negative impact on the development of students. In EFL instruction, teachers use this kind of feedback to inform their learners about where they have made an error. These errors should be embraced, this later may be done in grammar, phonetics or spelling, etc., where teachers bear in mind developing their accuracy, which is important in acquiring a foreign language.

However, the other category of researchers who are against the above ones claims that positive feedback is more effective and that negative feedback affects negatively the learners’ performance. Hattie and Timperly (2007) argue that positive feedback that comes as praises are less effective because it carries just a little information. In addition, it would be detrimental to learners’ learning, if it is used without a specific purpose, frequently, or when it is not necessary. According to Cannella (1986), when a teacher provides non-specific praise, students will be confused about what behavior is approved and what should they do about it. She added that also that when praises are interpreted as a reward, students become dependent on it. And it may cause students to lose interest in learning when the reward is no longer available.

It is known that making errors is an indispensable part of learning a foreign language. Which means that they are developing the system of their interlanguage. EFL teachers see that correcting the committed mistakes and providing negative feedback is their responsibility in order to help them enhance their skills. Alison (2012) in this vein states that learners receive feedback on their language production, potentially helping to draw attention to linguistic problems and helping them to notice gaps between features of their inter-language and the target language. What this means is that negative feedback helps learners to be aware of the gaps between their interlanguage and the target language, which make it more effective than positive one, because the provided information helps more than the ones provided by positive feedback. However, according to Pasty and Spada (2006), EFL teachers should provide negative feedback when the errors made by learners are persistent, insistently repetitive, and shared by the majority of students in the class. This brought attention to that excessive negative feedback can have a negative effect on EFL learners’ performance.

To conclude, it seems that effective feedback should be a mixture of positive and negative feedback because neither too much praise nor too much criticism will be helpful for learners’ development.

Students’ interaction set the path for their academic careers. An important aspect of this interaction is the provided feedback, this later can be either positive or negative. However, a prevalent distinction is made between negative and positive feedback. For so many researchers, positive feedback is considered the most effective for enhancing students’ learning as negative. Reynolds (2013) defines feedback as any response from a teacher regarding students’ performance or behavior. Its purpose in the learning process is to enhance the learners’ performance. For instance, when a task is expressed correctly and well-performed, positive feedback relays information to behavior should continue, which makes learners encouraged, makes them feel confident, and dare to express themselves without any fear or hesitation.

Moreover, when a teacher praises his learners about what they have been well, it works on constructing their strength, consequently, they would likely repeat it in order to secure continual approval. It raises their self-esteem which pushes students to perform more and more effectively. This feedback is a very useful technique that helps teachers to foster interaction with their learners. It is obvious when some receive positive feedback or praise, it would create a comfortable environment that encourages everybody to express themselves freely, which leads to effective learning. In addition, this late helps learners to boost their self-confidence and makes them believe in their own abilities as Alqahtani (2011) said: “Positive feedback stands for praising learners for doing a good job. This appraisal helps them to develop good self-confidence”.

On the other side, negative feedback, it occurred in two possible ways, either explicitly or implicitly, when the students’ performance is incorrect or needs feedback, according to Nunan (1991), teachers can give criticism, a punishment, or directly the incorrect part. He added that it is strongly believed that this type has a negative impact on the development of students. In EFL instruction, teachers use this kind of feedback to inform their learners about where they have made an error. These errors should be embraced, this later may be done in grammar, phonetics or spelling, etc., where teachers bear in mind developing their accuracy, which is important in acquiring a foreign language.

However, the other category of researchers who are against the above ones claims that positive feedback is more effective and that negative feedback affects negatively the learners’ performance. Hattie and Timperly (2007) argue that positive feedback that comes as praises are less effective because it carries just a little information. In addition, it would be detrimental to learners’ learning, if it is used without a specific purpose, frequently, or when it is not necessary. According to Cannella (1986), when a teacher provides non-specific praise, students will be confused about what behavior is approved and what should they do about it. She added that also that when praises are interpreted as a reward, students become dependent on it. And it may cause students to lose interest in learning when the reward is no longer available.

It is known that making errors is an indispensable part of learning a foreign language. Which means that they are developing the system of their interlanguage. EFL teachers see that correcting the committed mistakes and providing negative feedback is their responsibility in order to help them enhance their skills. Alison (2012) in this vein states that learners receive feedback on their language production, potentially helping to draw attention to linguistic problems and helping them to notice gaps between features of their inter-language and the target language. What this means is that negative feedback helps learners to be aware of the gaps between their interlanguage and the target language, which make it more effective than positive one, because the provided information helps more than the ones provided by positive feedback. However, according to Pasty and Spada (2006), EFL teachers should provide negative feedback when the errors made by learners are persistent, insistently repetitive, and shared by the majority of students in the class. This brought attention to that excessive negative feedback can have a negative effect on EFL learners’ performance.

To conclude, it seems that effective feedback should be a mixture of positive and negative feedback because neither too much praise nor too much criticism will be helpful for learners’ development.