Effect of Verbal Instruction on Motor Learning Ability of Anaerobic and Explosive Exercises in Physical Education University Students

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of motor learning with informational feedback into response to anaerobic exercises with and without motor learning tasks in handball physical education university students. Participants were randomly divided into two groups: experimental group (EG, n = 10) and control group (CG, n = 10). Measurements of T-half test, 15-m and 30-m sprints, and ZIG-ZAG test were assessed in both groups before (T1), between (T2) a 4-week intervention program, and after (T3) an 8-week intervention program, which included agility and speed teaching with (EG) or without (CG) informational feedback (i.e., verbal instruction). The test-retest reliability for all tests was excellent, and the ICC ranged from 0.76 (ZIG-ZAG test) to 0.99 (Agility T test). The interday measurement error was clearly below 1% in all tests (CV range: 0.2–0.8). Time effects for the Agility T test (p = 0.012, ηp2 = 0.245) and the 15-m sprint (p = 0.035, ηp2 = 0.190) were found. For the Agility T test, a total interaction effect (p = 0.001, ηp2 = 0.380) and a partial interaction effect were calculated between T2 and T3 (p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.603). A large effect size (d = 0.87) was observed in the EG from T2 to T3. The second relevant (d ≥ 0.5) effect size was calculated for the parameter sprint 30 m. The CG showed a significant sprint performance reduction from T2 to T3 (d = −0.60; parameter: sprint 30 m). All other effect sizes were less than 0.44. The ZIG-ZAG test revealed the largest main and partial effect sizes for all parameters. The EG showed the largest improvement (d = 2.00) between T2 and T3. The results demonstrate that motor learning with informational feedback improves performances of Agility T test, sprint, and ZIG-ZAG performance. It appears that a well-formulated verbal instruction may induce performance enhancement in young trainees in educational environment.

Enhancing female adolescents' engagement in Physical Education classes through video-based peer feedback

“…Verbal feedback based on visual memory neural representations is the most common mode of feedback in PE (Hermassi, Sellami, Bouhafs, Schwesig, & De Giorgio, 2019). Once a teacher or a student is asked to provide feedback in PE classes, full concentration on the motor performance, on which feedback will be later given, is required in order to detect weaknesses, as well as strengths (Ward & Lee, 2005).…”

Feedback for Promoting Motor Skill Learning in Physical Education: A Trial Sequential Meta-Analysis

“…One article was included after a manual search of the reference lists of 14 included studies and review articles on related topics. Finally, 15 articles were eligible for this trial sequential meta-analysis [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ].…”

“…Table 2 shows the main characteristics of the 15 articles included in this trial sequential meta-analysis. The publication period ranged from 1970 to 2021, and the number of articles from the last 10 years was eight [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], accounting for 53% of the total. The participants of the study ranged from elementary school to college, and most of the students were beginners in their motor skills.…”

“…The participants of the study ranged from elementary school to college, and most of the students were beginners in their motor skills. Different motor skills were used as instructional content, including eight studies with complex tasks [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 36 , 37 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], four studies with simple tasks [ 17 , 35 , 40 , 41 ], and three studies that combined complex and simple tasks [ 18 , 38 , 39 ]. The forms of feedback used in the research were mainly visual and verbal feedback.…”

“…However, previous studies have provided conflicting findings on the influence of feedback on students’ motor skill learning. Some studies suggest that feedback can effectively promote students’ motor skill learning [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. In contrast, some studies in recent years have not found positive evidence that feedback can promote motor skill learning in PE lessons, such as volleyball [ 21 ], shot-put [ 22 ], and standing long jump [ 23 ].…”