The self-defeating behavior of some students can often make even the most persistent of teachers to feel discouraged. The purpose of this article is to explain and provide a research-based rationale for the use of teacher verbal feedback prompts that convince students of their ability to succeed on a task. He discusses how to understand the student with Bandura's (1986) social-cognitive theory of motivation that provides a framework for understanding behavior and attitude, and suggests practical solutions to help the teacher. In Bandura's theory, belief about one's competence on a prospective task is called self-efficacy--defined as people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances. Self-efficacy can be developed by the use of verbal feedback. The author suggests exemplary phrases that teachers can use, consistent with Bandura's framework, that convince students of their ability to learn. (Contains 1 table.)