It is important to change the type of feedback you give or receive depending on the type of sport. For example, you wouldn’t be able to use concurrent feedback for a sport such as swimming, because the swimmers wouldn’t be able to hear what you are saying. This is the same in the 100m sprint. Therefore terminal would be better. Concurrent feedback would be more appropriate in a team activity such as football, which continues for a longer period of time, where the coach is on the sideline and able to give feedback and advice during the game. This is so you can correct your style as you are playing. However, this can be demotivating if the performance was bad and may cause confusion, and therefore may put the player off for the rest of the game.
Although negative feedback is very important to the individual because they need to know what they did wrong, it can also be very demotivating, for example, “That wasn’t so good, next time you need to look up before passing the ball”. You need to be careful if you give only negative feedback to a beginner, as it may encourage them not to carry on with the sport, as they may feel not good enough. Therefore, it is important that when you do use negative feedback, you also give positive feedback because this makes the learner understand that they have improved. However, negative feedback could be very useful for beginners as it makes dramatic improvement to performance quickly, because they know what they need to work on. Negative feedback is particularly effective for an intermediate who has experience in the sport, but just needs to get better at particular techniques. There are certain things negative feedback must include for it to be effective, “negative feedback must include information on the action(s) required by the athlete to achieve the correct movement” (brianmac.co.uk 2008).
Positive feedback is essential for beginners because they need to know how well they have done in performing a skill. It also encourages them to continue as it’s something they are good at. “Athletes need to know if a movement is correct as this provides the reference point for future execution of the movement. Positive feedback is essential in motivating athletes” (Brianmac.co.uk 2008). By using specific feedback, you can also tell the learner what they did well, as well as being motivating, for example, “well done, that was a really good shot because you hit the ball with your laces”. Positive feedback needs to be accurate and motivating, but it also needs to be constructive. It can also be used for someone who hasn’t been playing at the standard they normally play at, and you need to rebuild their confidence and self-esteem by telling them what they did right. Positive feedback is appropriate for team, individual and racquet sports.
Extrinsic feedback is especially useful when the learner is a beginner, because otherwise they won’t know how to improve what they did. People such as coaches and teachers are the best people to give this type of feedback, as they generally have more knowledge on the sport and will be able to be more constructive than peers or the audience. Extrinsic feedback is very useful for team games where the coach is on the sidelines and able to give advice. Also, the other team members and peers are able to give advice and feedback, which obviously couldn’t happen in an individual sport, or a racquet sport where it’s only one player against another.
Intrinsic feedback is a very powerful way of improving performance because it comes from the performer themselves. As soon as the performer plays the shot, or performs the skill, they immediately know how successful it is going to be by how it felt. In other words, it’s “information received by the athlete as a direct result of producing a movement through the kinaesthetic senses - feelings from muscles, joints and balance.” (teachpe.com 2007) This style of feedback should be used for more advanced learners. It is also good for individual sports such as golf, or racquet sports such as tennis. Once the golfer plays a shot, they use muscle memory to know instantly whether the shot will be good or not. They can then readjust their technique to do better in the next shot. This is intrinsic feedback. Another reason it’s good for individual sports is because the learner needs to learn how to give himself or herself feedback, as they play the sport individually and need to learn how to evaluate themselves. Intrinsic feedback would not be suitable for team games, for example, in football nearly every situation is different, therefore it wouldn’t be as easy to alter your technique for each individual movement. Intrinsic feedback can also be used if you record yourself performing a sport, and then analyse how well you did by replaying it and finding your weaknesses.
In conclusion, feedback is essential for a player to progress in their skill. “Feedback is absolutely vital. It’s very difficult to evaluate your own role without feedback.” (Sharpe 1986) All types of feedback have their weaknesses and strengths. Some types of feedback are designed more for beginners, such as positive and extrinsic, whereas others are more appropriate for intermediates such as negative feedback. Others, such as concurrent, are usual for team games such as football, whereas intrinsic would be more appropriate for racquet sports such as tennis. The right type of feedback needs to be used so that the learner can progress as far as they can in their sport, and the feedback you use depends on the learner’s ability, age and self-esteem.
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Bibliography
Advanced PE for Edexcel – Frank Gilligan
http://www.behavioralconsultants.com/feedback
http://teachpe.com