The Role of Feedback in the Learning of Skills

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The Role of Feedback in the Learning of Skills

Galligan et al say “whichever form is used, it is important that it is

given or received as close to the performance as possible. It must be

accurate, understandable, concise and constructive.” Feedback can be

positive, negative, extrinsic, intrinsic, terminal, concurrent, the

knowledge of performance and the knowledge of results. All these types

of feedback is the receiving and giving of sensory information

concerning both positive and negative outcomes of a performance.

First before giving out feedback the coach must assess the learner’s

current ability and what phase the learner is currently in, e.g.

cognitive, associative and autonomous. If a coach is assessing a

performer within a match situation he can decide what the learner’s

current ability is and what sort of feedback he should give. When the

coach has assessed the ability of the performer he can demonstrate and

point out some of the mistakes however, dwelling on these mistakes may

de-motivate the performer and they may take it as criticism. The coach

should mainly use positive feedback to encourage and motivate and this

will also increase the interest of the performer doing well. Using

reciprocal style coaching will help the performer because he can build

on the feedback he is given with freedom and then get feedback on what

is still performed wrong. With the coach observing the match he can

pick up on mistakes of others easily and has to correct wrong

technique, this way the learner can stay motivated and the learning of

the performer will continue to rise. If the learner is currently

working at the cognitive phase it will be a lot easier for the coach

to teach him by feedback because the coach can teach them using visual

and verbal guidance.

If a performer is learning to play football for the first time then

the coach can teach him a lot because of the cognitive phase the

learner is in it is easier to pick up on the guidance given. This

means the learner can get a mental image of the task and perform it

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