Considering the potential health impact of motor skill competency and school physical education objectives, further investigation of motor skill development in physical education is warranted, specifically the impact of climates and teaching methods. According to Achievement Goal Theory (AGT; Ames, 1992; Nicholls, 1989), teachers create motivational climates during lessons that can affect individuals’ perceptions of competence and achievement in an activity. Using AGT as a theoretical model, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of TARGET- and feedback-manipulated climates in a short unit of study (two days) of a familiar task (tossing) with regard to change in pre- and post-task measures of perceived competence and skill performance.
Method:
Participants (N=170) from two elementary schools participated in an experimental study within their intact classes. Eight classes were randomly assigned to two motivational climates (mastery and performance) and each climate group was randomly assigned a feedback condition (positive general and informational). The mastery task was a competitive tossing game and the performance task was a constructivist practice experience. Participants completed a pre- and post-task questionnaire (perceived competence, interest/enjoyment, pressure/tension, and effort/importance) and a pre- and post-task skill test.
Analysis/Results:
Three doubly-MANOVAs were performed on perceived competence and skill performance over time. Considering the motivational climates, the within subjects effect [F(2,167)=4.073, p=.019] and the between subjects effect [F(2,167)=3.940, p=.021] were significant. Considering the feedback groups, the interaction effect [F(2,167)=3.669, p=.028] and the within subjects effect [F(2, 167)=5.294, p=.006] were significant. Considering both climate and feedback, only the within subjects effect for time was significant [F(2,165)=4.659, p=.011]. For each analysis, follow-up mixed ANOVAs were calculated and simple effects were examined. Finally, a MANOVA revealed a main effect and univariate ANOVAs revealed a significant effect on interest/enjoyment (F=8.327, p<.001). Pairwise comparisons were made using the Tukey HSD test to determine differences.
Conclusions:
The motivational climate (with and without consideration of feedback manipulation) did not influence change in students’ perceived competence. However, informational feedback did have a negative effect on perceived competence. The negative effects of informational feedback and performance climate on perceived competence appear to negatively affect intrinsic motivation. Not surprisingly, feedback in the form of information positively affected student skill performance regardless of motivational climate. Physical educators must be wary about providing too much information to students. What teachers say could negatively impact future interest in skill and sport participation, even when skill performance improves.