Task Structures, Feedback to Individual Students, and Student Skill Level in Physical Education

Abstract

Research on effective teaching has addressed many of the variables thought to enhance student learning. One variable that has received a great deal of attention in the literature is teacher feedback directed to individual students, because a role of the teacher is to monitor instruction and provide students with information that will improve their subsequent performance. Feedback, which has been studied in motor learning and physical education research, is an often prescribed part of teacher education and teacher evaluation. The ability to provide relevant feedback generally is regarded as an important aspect of good teaching. Results on the relationships of feedback to learning a motor skill have not been as strong as the prescriptions often given to teachers. Motor learning research (Magill, 1993) consistently has shown there are relationships between feedback and achievement. In the past few years, research on feedback in physical education has shown that the results from motor learning research may not be directly applicable to the physical education setting (Silverman, 1994). Research conducted in physical education has shown mixed results with regard to the effects offeedback (see Lee, Keh, & Magill, 1993). Silverman, Tyson, and Krampitz (1992, 1993) have suggested that feedback may only be responsible for a small percentage