High Skill/Low Self-Esteem

     When teaching students who have acquired a high skill level but who have low self-esteem and self-confidence, the instructor should strive to provide as little feedback as possible.  These students, in particular, may become frustrated with too much feedback because they readily recognize errors and are sensitive to criticism.  Feedback should focus almost entirely on teaching self-correction skills by asking the student what he or she recognized about the performance and what can be improved upon.  If the student does not recognize the error, the instructor can then help the student develop recognition by asking specific questions regarding that aspect of the student's performance.
     These students often tend to be more dependent upon external positive reinforcement so they also need to learn how to self-praise.  This can be accomplished by asking them to identify what they did well in their performance.  Praise should be given on an intermittent reinforcement schedule which is to praise on a periodic basis rather than for every performance.  This allows the student to develop more intrinsic motivation for the performance.  In addition, praise can be focused more generally on their ability to recognize errors and to self-correct errors as well as on their ability to initiate self-praise.  In addition, these students need to learn how to reframe negative feedback as guidance rather than criticism: "I think you are good enough and I care enough about your performance to help you correct your errors."