Extrinsic feedback is the response that comes from outside of the performer such as spectators, teammates and coaches. For instance a football manager will tell the team what went well and what didn’t.
The performer receives concurrent feedback during the game or skill. It can be both intrinsic or extrinsic, for example, netball players’ teammate may shout ‘well played’ during a game.
Terminal feedback is received at the end of a performance. It is usually given by the coach and involves re capping the performance and concentrating on the positive and negative aspects, trying to correct issues and re enforce positives. For example if a netball player was good at scoring, the coach would highlight this and give reasons why.
Knowledge of performance is defined as ‘information provided to an individual after the completion of a response that is related to either the outcome of the response of the performance characteristics that produced that outcome’ (R.Magil). It concentrates on performance rather than the end result. For example even if a swimmer didn’t win their race, there performance could still be praised, it they used good front crawl technique.
Knowledge of results concentrates on the outcome of a game or skill. It doesn’t focus on an individual’s performance. For example if a young cricketer scored twenty runs, he would be pleased at how many he scored, despite them being edged through the slips.
Feedback is considered as very important in the teaching and learner of physical skills. Learning is defined as ‘a set of processes associated with practice or experience leading to a relatively permanent changes to the capability of skilled performance’ (R.Schmidt). Fitts and Posner claims to have managed to identify that there are three stages of learning, which are Cognitive, Associative and Autonomous.
Cognitive stage is the first stage of learning. In this phase the learners gathers information about the skill, which is usually through demonstration. For instance, in badminton the teacher will show the learner a skill and allow them to attempt it, not worrying too much on how correct the technique is at first.
The Associative Phase involves the performer practicing the skill using the information gathered from the cognitive stage. At this stage feedback is important, as it will enable the performer to understand where they are performing correctly and incorrectly. The learner will build on what they have learned at the cognitive stage, and in this stage more small important details can be added to perfect their technique. For example in high jump instead of the learner just jumping over the bar and hoping to get over, the teacher will teach them elements to improve their technique, for example how the should arch their back and lift their trunk.
The autonomous stage is the final stage of the learning process. Movement become almost automatic, and skills can be performed with little if any conscious thought, in response to an appropriate stimulus. For example in badminton a player will be able to serve, whilst deciding what their opponent will do next rather, rather than thinking about how to serve.
However when applying feedback, the level and type needed varies at each stage. At the cognitive stage there needs to be a lot of positive feedback, more than what is received at the associative and autonomous stage. If too much negative feedback is given at the cognitive stage it will de motivate the learner and may stop them from wanting to continue, and affect their performance. (Honeybourne et al)
However at the associative stage there needs to be both even levels of negative and positive feedback, as at this stage they are heading towards perfecting their technique, and at this stage it is important to learn the correct technique in order to advance to the next stage.
At autonomous stage the performer still needs to receive positive feedback but not to often as it could deceive their view of how well they perform a skill. Like the associative phase, the autonomous stage needs to be given constructive criticism
Intrinsic feedback occurs more at autonomous and associative phases rather than at the associative phase, as at this stage the learner is not so able to evaluate his their performance. Intrinsic feedback occurs a lot more at the autonomous stage, as the performer will be more concerned about how they are playing, and evaluate themselves more than at the associative phase.
Extrinsic feedback is found at all three phases of learning. However the source of this feedback changes depending on the phase that a person is at, as well as the amount that they receive. At the cognitive stage, extrinsic feedback is a prominent feature in order to encourage the learner to achieve; the feedback could come from a teacher and parents. Autonomous phase performers could receive their feedback from the media, the crowd and their top coach.
Terminal feedback is important at all stages, as without this the learner would have any of their positive or negative actions highlighted. Without this the performer would not know what to improve on for the next game.
Concurrent feedback is what is received during the game. It can be received from other team members, spectators, coaches or the opposing team. For example if a volleyball players does a perfect smash then their team mates will applaud them or say well done, or is the volleyball player was missing too many blocks or the team was not communicating then the coach would call time and tell them what is going wrong.
Knowledge of performance is a type of feedback, which is more important to the performer in the latter stages of learning. As the performance level increases, the performer will be more concerned with if they are using the correct technique and if they are playing well. For example a football player will be concerned about if they were good at passing and winning tackles rather than if their team one the game
Knowledge of results is another type of feedback that has more importance in the earlier stages of performance. At this stage the learner will be most definitely more concerned at the outcome of the game they played, for example a cricket player at the cognitive stage will be more concerned with how many runs they scored, rather than if they were scored because of good technique and skill, or if they were just lucky and scored by chance. However all stages of learning like to receive knowledge of results. For example an Olympic 100m runner would still like to know if they ran in under 10 seconds.
Feedback is very important in helping learning of a physical skill. For example negative and positive feedback, when given by a coach, helps to highlight the successful, and re enforce them, and unsuccessful areas of a skill, which then can be corrected. All types of feedback contributed to the learning and correcting areas of a skill, but it’s important that the correct type of feedback is given. However the way in which feedback is administered is also important. If too little positive is given and too much negative it can de motivate the learner or performer and hinder their performance as a whole. The coach is a key person in delivering the extrinsic feedback to their learner, as he has to ensure that the feedback is correct and concise. (Galligan et al) Therefore without feedback a performer would not know what areas of their performance is correct or not, and also without feedback they also wouldn’t be able to correct their mistakes.
Bibliography
- Advanced Physical Education for Edexcel (Galligan et al) 2000 Heinemann
- Advanced Physical Education and sport (Honeybourne, Hill and Moors) 1996 Stanley Thornes
