Background/Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the attitude-skill level relationship in physical education. Previous studies on student attitude (Subramaniam & Silverman, 2002;2007) indicate that student attitude declines as a function of grade level. Research on student skill level (Silverman, Subramaniam, & Woods, 1998;Tjeerdsma, Rink, & Graham,1996) provides evidence that this variable is critical to student learning and achievement in physical education. Investigating student attitude and skill level in combination may provide valuable information that could potentially inform teaching practice.
Method
Participants (N = 773) were 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students from 2 middle schools in a rural school district. Parental consent was received prior to data collection. Students' attitude was measured using the attitude inventory (Subramaniam & Silverman, 2000); and students were asked to indicate their overall perceived skill level in physical education. In addition, the physical education teachers also rated the overall perceived skill level of their students separately.
Analysis/Results
Descriptive and multivariate analyses of variance were used to examine the attitude scores. Descriptive data analysis indicated grade level and skill level influence on attitude. As grade level increased, the mean attitude scores diminished (Grade 6: M = 60.77, s.d. = 5.99; Grade 7: M = 59.70, s.d. = 6.14; Grade 8: M = 59.23, s.d. = 6.62). The mean attitude scores also declined in relation to skill level (high skill M = 61.92, s.d. = 5.35; medium skill M = 59.02, s.d. = 6.23; low skill M = 54.00, s.d. = 7.28). The attitude score decline was similar for female and male students for skill level. High skilled students showed higher attitude scores than their medium and low skilled counterparts. Results from the multivariate analysis indicated a statistically significant difference for skill level (Wilks' Lambda = 0.913, [F(4, 1508) = 17.54, p < 0.0001]. Follow-up discriminate analysis indicated a statistically significant Enjoyment effect (Wilks' Lambda = 0.898, [F(2, 770) = 43.58, p < 0.0001). Student-Newman-Keuls test revealed statistically significant differences between high skill level (M = 31.14), medium skill level (M = 29.65), and low skill level (M = 26.62) in relation to the affective dimension of attitude.
Conclusions
The results suggest that there is a relationship between attitude and student skill level. This finding is particularly relevant in addressing unmotivated and disengaged learners. Providing learners high quality practice opportunities to improve skill level has the potential to impact their attitude.