Skill Acquisition 2.2 2

Question 1

What are the advantages and disadvantages of visual guidance?

Answer 1

Advantages:
- Visual guidance can be used to highlight a specific weakness (e.g. a coach can stop the performer and show learner exact position they need to be in
- VG tries to show what skill should look like as a result of practice
- It creates a mental image

Disadvantages:
- Demonstration must be completely accurate, otherwise may be copied incorrectly & performer may not have ability to perform demonstration if coach does not ensure success
- Also if too much information is given, the performer may become confused

Question 2

What is verbal guidance?

Answer 2

• An explanation of the task
• Nearly always used in conjunction w visual guidance
• Helps to build correct mental image in memory
• VG can also be used for experience player, when technical & detailed advice is given to complement actions in practice or advice given during performance

Question 3

What are the problems and considerations when using verbal guidance?

Answer 3

• If too much info is given to perfromer it may cause confusion & place too much demand on memory
• Performer may loose concentration unless coach makes verbal info brief, relevant & meaningful
• Language used by coach should be understandable

Question 4

What is manual guidance?

Answer 4

• Involves physical support

Question 5

What are the advantages & disadvanatges of manual guidance?

Answer 5

Advantages:
- Very important of helping to eliminate danger e.g. supporting a gymnast will prevent a fall
- Helps build confidence for performer who may not be able to gain feel of the whole task without help & support from MG
- Fear & Anxiety of difficult/dangerous tasks may be reduced if support is on hand to help performer.

Disadvantages:
- Can have a detrimental effect on performance if over used
- Permissions
- Too much reliance on physical support could begin to interfere with feel of task

Question 6

What is mechanical guidance?

Answer 6

• An artificial aid used to help performance e.g. a trampoline harness

Question 7

What are the advantages of mechanical guidance?

Answer 7

• Builds confidence- the successful completion of the task even though assistance was given, gives performer sense they can do it
• Eliminates danger & can prevent injury
• Can be used with disabled atheletes or those recovering from injury

Question 8

What are the problems with mechanical guidance?

Answer 8

• If used for too much time, mechancial guidance can interfere with feel of task
• Performer might depend on it too much, so a sense that task cant be completed without artifical help couls promote loss of conifdence
• Motivation could be lost if performer thinks skill is not being performed independantly

Question 9

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 9

• The use of reinforcement to ensure that correct responses are repeated
  Part of the behaviourist theory
  Based on work of Skinner who obserevd rats in a cage called skinners box
• Cage was fitted with a mechanism that delivered food to the rats everytime it was touched
• At first rats hit the mechanism by accident but quickly learnt to hit the mechanism to gain a reward

Question 10

What are the 3 characteristics that operant conditioning is characterised by?

Answer 10

• Based on trial and error learning
• Coach might manipulate environment when using operant conditioning
• Shapes behaviour by using reinforcement

Question 11

What prinicple does operant conditioning work on?

Answer 11

• Reinforced actions are strengthend and that incorrect actions can be weakened

Question 12

How does operant conditioning & the stimulus response bond work?

Answer 12

• OC works by strengthening the link between the stimulus and the response ( known as the S-R bond)

e.g. in a game of badminton if a shuttle cock is reuturned high in air the best response would be to do a smash shot.

Question 13

What is postive reinforcement?

Answer 13

When a pleasant stimulus is given to increase the likelihood of a correct response occuring again in the future.
e.g. praise/reward

Question 14

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 14

• Promotes correct actions occuring to a stimulus by taking away an unpleasant stimulus when performer does it right

e.g. negative critisism is removed when performer does well

Question 15

What is punishment?

Answer 15

When a coach gives an unpleasant stimulus to prevent incorrect actions from happening again.

e.g. a performer recieveing a red card in football - so dont do those actions again

Question 16

What was Banduras theory?

Answer 16

• Suggests that both acceptable & unacceptable behaviour can be learned by watching then copying other people

Question 17

What 4 processes did Bandura suggest where a performer is more likely to copy a model?

Answer 17

• Attention- Make sure performer takes note of relevant cues, more attractive the demo is to player more likely it is to be copied
• Retention- Ability to remember information & recall it from memory system. Make sure the learner is able to recall demonstration from memory by breaking any info given into chunks & repeating it.
• Motor Production- Making sure player is capable of physically copying the demonstration i.e giving a task thats set at same level of ability. Player should be given time to practice & learn well before moving onto next part of task
• Motivation- The drive needed to copy the demonstration. Motivate learner by giving praise,rewards etc

Question 18

What was Vygotskys social development theory?

Answer 18

• Interaction with others plays a vital role in learning
• Interaction with others can produce learning by social development
• In sport – skills can be learned from others such as teacher/coaches/peers
• These are known as more knowledgeable other (MKO)
  The MKO gives direct examples & advice & demonstrates values and actions
• During development the skills are learned from the coach by a process called inter-psychological learning

Once external advice has been observed they will use it to learn​

• The learning from within, after the inter-psychological stage is called the intra-psychological stage
• Vygotsky also suggested that learning can be constructed in stages
• The learner will use 3 stages to construct learning

Question 19

What is constructivisim that Vygotsky suggested?

Answer 19

• Build on what you know
• Working with others helps to develop skills
• Learning from actions of those, more experienced
• During intra-psychological learning the learner will evaluate own level and assess what is required to move onto next level
• MKO/coach may intervene to give advice as skills advance
• 3 levels of performance to assess possible improvements.
• Learner uses zone of proximal development to assess next stages of learning the skill.

Question 20

What are the 3 stages of proximal development?

Answer 20

• What can I do alone?
• What can I do with help?
• What can I not yet do?

Question 21

What is insight learning (Gestaltist theories)?

Answer 21

• Performer uses existing knowledge to form an idea of how to deal with a problematic sporting situation
• General knowledge- put into practice

Example: In 3000m race, runner knows other athletes have a strong finish, so starts quickly to try to catch them out, if this works the same tactic will be used again.
- If tactic works it will be used again in the future

Question 22

What are the features of insight learning?

Answer 22

Features:

• Concentrates on the whole task – useful in realistic situations
• May provide self-satisfaction & intrinsic motivation as performer has worked out the tactic by themselves
• Not trial & error – poses questions to the performer, encourages performer to think for themselves & develop the cognitive process
• By working out problems, athlete learns to use the cognitive process, thinking is encourgaged & performer may begin to think about use of their skills in competitive situations in the future
• Insight approach may not be suitable for all learners- a novice may not have enough experience to generate their own solutions to sporting problems.