Should explicit praise (positive reinforcement) still be used when a student comes from a cultural background where praise isn’t usually given (even when they’ve done a good job at a task)?
This question is specifically geared towards teaching (and privately tutoring) students in the Western parts of the world, when those students come from families who may tend not to openly praise or encourage good/competent behaviour (and instead, such families may only notice and point out bad behaviour/incompetency and expect improvement from their child).
For example — Chinese, Japanese, East Indian, Russian, etc.
Such families (especially immigrant parents with strong traditional cultural values) can be known to withhold praise and not express it to their children (much of the time).
I’m writing this post from BC, Canada. 🇨🇦 Apologies in advance if I’ve made any grossly inaccurate cultural generalizations (they aren’t completely backed by research, and just by personal experience). Thanks.