Words are very important in the human language. What words mean and how they are used are what keeps conversations civil. Words are also important when it comes to teaching someone. Are you going to tell your student how to play a game and then let them make their own decisions? Are you going to tell them to participate in the game without telling the rules to them? Or are you going to tell your students that they should focus on their own body movements? This summary will show that there is a difference between how you say something and the effect that you get from people.
Limitations
I’d like to believe
that humans are very similar creatures. We just grew up with different
circumstances and have different internal motivations. But all the way that we
interact with our environment and with the people around us can be
psychologically similar. The participants of this study were between the ages
of 9 and 11 and located in the northwest of England. The study also lasted for
the duration of a single recess period. Of course, there are other limitations,
but I believe that these are perhaps the ones with the most impact to
understanding how words influence a person’s intention.
Design of
Testing
The researchers weren’t
directly involved with the children. They split a group of 75 children into 3
equal groups of 25. Then they told each teacher a different phrase to say.
·
Autonomy-Supportive
group: “This is an opportunity for you to learn the skill of curling.
To help you learn this skill, I will give you an instruction that you may
want to follow. So when, you are practicing the curling task, TRY TO
concentrate on sliding the stone smoothly toward the centre of the target. Is
that okay? As your practice, I will offer you some hints. You may
want to use these hints to improve your skills.”
·
Control
group: “Your job today is to learn the skill of curling. Before you
begin, I will give you an instruction to follow. So, when you are practicing
the curling task. YOU MUST concentrate on sliding the stone smoothly
toward the centre of the target. You must use this instruction. As you
practice, I will give you hints, YOU MUST use these hints to improve
your skills.
·
Neutral group:
“The aim is to get your stone as close to the centre of the target as you can.”
As you can read, each
group were told a little bit of the same thing but also slightly different. The
Autonomy-Supportive group had more supportive language and instances of “try”
and “you may want.” They were told how to play the game. The control group
was told to play in the game. Finally, the Neutral group was told about
the aim of the game.
Results
If you guessed that
the Autonomy-supportive group received the overall better set of scores, you’d
be right. The researchers focused their results in three areas. One was whether
the students increased in motor learning. To describe it another way. Did the
children get better in the game overtime as they continued playing? Another
results was motivation. Did they children enjoy the game more between the three
trial groups? The last area was self-efficacy. Did they have the confidence in
their ability to succeed?
The group that did
second best was the neutral group. That is to say that if you leave kids to
their own devices and not tell them what to do or how to do it like in the
control group, they can still show positive results.
Additionally for the
limitations, it was one study cycle and it’s hard to say that it proves
anything. But I think there are a number of us that agree that language that
describes the ability to be a bit more autonomous with our actions has more
value to use, than someone trying to control us and tell us that we have to do
something a certain way.
My
Analysis
My personality, or
perhaps the circumstances of how I’ve grown up, makes me think that anytime
someone offers words of encouragement at a task they are being patronizing to
me. Subjectively speaking I prefer a more neutral style of being taught a
subject. Nevertheless I can also see that people would appreciate an
autonomy-supportive method of teaching.
What About
You?
I’m sure at the part
where I was describing the design of the Study and what each teacher was told
to tell their students, there may have been some of you that had assumptions as
to what teaching style was better. I’d love to know, which style did you think
was better and why do you think that? If you’re a teacher of some kind are you
going to adjust your teaching style even if just a little bit to see if this
study has merit? For those that did, I would want to hear those stories of what
happened as a result.
Although I am working on becoming a personal trainer I currently am
not one. The information in this post is intended to be a simplified summary of
the scientific paper. If you can find one to trust, consult a doctor or medical
professional for advice on health and fitness related matters. For those
interested in exploring the study in more depth, I encourage you to read the
full article. You can find the reference below.
Simpson, T., Finlay, M., Simpson, V., Asadi, A., Ellison, P.,
Carnegie, E., & Marchant, D. (2024). Autonomy-supportive, external-focus
instructions optimize children’s motor learning in Physical Education. Journal
of Motor Learning and Development, 12(1), 211–227.
https://doi.org/10.1123/jmld.2023-0040
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