The results of this study indicated that the participants had a preference (57%) for effort
feedback over ability feedback. The younger children, in years 1 and 2, lean towards the ability
feedback (“Your reading is very good, you’re very clever in reading”), where the older children
have a preference for effort feedback (“Your putting a lot of effort into your reading, you’ve
been working hard on your reading”). A comment from a year 5 student was interesting: the
student stated that he would rather be praised for working hard, but if it’s a subject in which he
was good, he would like to be told that he was clever. When the students were questioned
whether they preferred to be praised publicly or privately, 60% preferred private praise and 40%
preferred public praise.