THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHER-STUDENT COMMUNICATION ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Abstract

During adolescence, there is a significant risk of sports abandonment associated with sedentarism and overweight. For this reason, Physical Education (PE) classes should be an opportunity to bring physical activity and sport closer to schoolchildren developing, and consolidating healthy lifestyle habits. Considering the importance that teaching communication procedures can have in the motivation of students, and given the lack of specific studies that investigate the influence of these processes on the motivation to practice sport in the context of PE, the aim of this study is to determine the effect of the teacher's communicational dimensions (challenging, encouragement and praise, non-verbal support, understanding and friendliness, and controlling) on the perception of the importance given to PE. The sample was composed of a total of 203 PE students between 10 and 16 years old. The mean (M), standard deviation (SD), skewness (S) and kurtosis (K) of the dimensions of the Teacher Communication (TC) and Importance of Physical Education (IPE) were analysed. In order to determine the relationship between the variables analysed, Pearson’s correlation is used. With an aim of determining the effect of the perception of the TC in the classroom on the students' IPE, linear regression is carried out. In data processing, the SPSS 23.0 software is used. The results obtained show that the TC has an effect of 19.7% on IPE. Understanding and friendliness, and controlling dimension are being analysed with the highest standardized regressions coefficient in students' perception of IPE.