Praising is a crucial part of teaching performance that greatly impacts student performance and self-esteem. South Korean teachers are traditionally known to possess authoritarian attributes, whereas U.S. teachers have contradictory beliefs in terms of why and how to use praise. We used Q methodology among 16 American and 22 Korean teachers to understand their subjective views on their teaching and praising practices, intentions and orientations of praising in teaching. Five praising types were obtained. Most American teachers, dubbed as Proud Hedonistic Praisers, showed strong confidence in their teaching and a higher preference of praising. In contrast, most Korean teachers had diverse praising intentions and orientations, dubbed as Humanistic (avoid praising), Authoritarian Behaviorist (use of criticism for controlling students' behaviors and learning), Hedonistic Behaviorist (praise for maintaining good relations with students), or Student-centered Hedonistic Praisers (praise to help students).