Written Report

Chapter 9 Preparing
Learners for Practice:
Motivation and Attention

Submitted by
Sandra Jane H. Pardillo
Louie Francis Delos Santos
Althea Arabela G. Magdaluyo

BPED 2-2
 Reporter: Althea Arabela G, Magdaluyo
Motivation: An internal state or condition directing and energizing behavior.

Explanation: We've all been there, especially when you're trying to achieve a goal. We can't stop getting
nervous in sports and it's only normal because we'll be competing. However, if you conquer it through your
desire and determination in your games, your performance will increase because you'll be motivated. In
football, for example, an extrinsically driven athlete may perceive the end goal of making a lot of money
as motivation to grow as a player and be signed.

The Importance of Motivation: The importance that motivation plays in the learning of motor skills is
obvious. Unless they are sufficiently motivated, people will neither have the interest nor maintain the
effort needed to persevere toward motor learning goals.

Explanation: If food is the energy that our bodies need, motivation is the energy that our minds need,
which is equally crucial, especially for athletes. It helps in the selection of difficult objectives and the
direction of energy and effort toward those goals. Intrinsically motivated athletes work hard to perfect
the skill and are driven by an internal urge to complete the goal. Motivation is so crucial since it is the one
factor that you can influence when it comes to sports performance.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MOTIVATION

Activation is the easiest characteristic of motivation to observe. Activation is observed in the

production of behavior within individuals. The persistence and energy level of behavior indicating
motivation.

Explanation: Activation and Directionality are the two main characteristics of motivation. Let's start by
defining what activation means in terms of a person's motivation. Activation is a psychological condition in
which you get inspired to do something because you believe the end result is worth your time and effort.
For example, suppose a guy wants to capture a fox in the woods; you know they won't come out if they
have human senses, so you disguise yourself as a tree or grass and patiently wait for them. You waited for
almost two hours and didn't hesitate to wait for the fox to appear. When you see the fox come out you
feel motivated and excited to take a picture of them.

Directionality The specific behaviors indicate a person’s level of motivation.

Explanation: Next is Directionality, which it measures the strength of factors that can influence
motivation as well as the presence of motivation. For example, Mr. Herbas and his classmates enrolled in a
physical education basketball class, were given the option of doing a certain number of supervised
additional training hours outside of class each week. Students who choose the extra hours were given the
option of obtaining a small cash reward or a personalized medal acknowledging their extra efforts.
Then we'll find out why they're so eager to accept the deal. They are extrinsically driven if they pick
money, but intrinsically motivated if they choose personal acknowledgement of success.

WHAT CAUSES MOTIVATION?

Innate Factors: An instinct is an innate urge to act in a certain way. It's also known as unlearned
behavior since it originates from pre-existing patterns in a person's mind from birth. It is a natural
instinct that guides humans and other animals, regardless of reason or experience.

Trait-centered view of motivation: The theory is that a person’s motivational proclivities and tendencies
are the results of genetic factors.

Explanation: Innate factors are things that come naturally to us which we've had them since we were
born; presently, this perspective is known as a trait centered view of motivation, which indicates that a
person has a desire to do things since they're young, particularly their attitude.

Acquired Factors: Early childhood experiences are believed to form the strongest motivations, but even
such early acquired motive states can be reshaped through adult learning.

Incentive motivation: The idea is that people have a greater incentive to behave situationally in ways
that have previously been rewarded.

Explanation: When we are young, we accept acquired factors based on our experiences, but as we grow
older, we obtain knowledge about alternative tactics. This viewpoint is known as Incentive motivation, and
it states that they will choose activities with high rewards over all the others. For example, in the
subject of your practical research, you have the option of forming a group of five individuals, having two
people, or doing research alone. However, it has equivalent grades; when you pick the group, you can
obtain scores ranging from 75 to 84, when in pairs, 85 to 90, and when solo, 89 to 100. In progress, you
and your friend have chosen to work together on a research project because both of you have done it
before and it worked out perfectly.

A Combination of Innate and Acquired Factors

In recent years, an increasing number of researchers and practitioners have come to view motivation as a
function of both innate and acquired factors. In this view, innate characteristics are held to impose
certain predispositions for motives, though with room also remaining for the learning of new motive
states within established personality structures.

Explanation: Now, according to practitioners, motivation is a combination of innate and acquired factors,
with the innate aspects having a significant influence on our ability to achieve our objectives, while the
acquired components are present because we learn things as we go along.
 Factors Influencing Motivation

Relevance of Task: We can begin by noting the obvious fact that people will seldom engage, at least with
any enthusiasm, in activities that they do not see as relevant to their interests, needs, or desires.

Explanation: As a coach or trainer, you should be aware of the factors that might encourage your
players, one of which is task relevance, in which you can assist them understand how important it is for
them to enhance their acquired skills.

Level of Task Difficulty: The level of task difficulty also plays a major role in shaping an individual’s
motivation. Tasks that are presented at too high a level of difficulty given a performer’s abilities or
stage of learning will result in frustration and anxiety, quickly extinguishing any motivation there might
have originally been for the task.

Explanation: Next, always consider the task difficulty level; if you give them easy tasks, they will not be
motivated to act, but they will get bored; if the work is too tough, they may be encouraged to develop
their abilities, but they will become exhausted. Even if the problems get more difficult, as a coach, you
should be aware of the things that might encourage them.

Perception of Control: Another reason that tasks must be presented at appropriate levels of difficulty is
to help facilitate the learner’s perception of control over his or her own learning.

1. Empowerment - The degree to which a person feels in control of his or her own learning.

Explanation: The third thing to consider is the perception of control, in which you will not allow him to do
a task based on his own learning since some activities require a specific procedure. Tell them what to do
and what not to do, and see how they control a tough or simple activity. And we came up with the term
"empowerment" to describe this viewpoint.

Success in Meeting Task Goals Generally: The more successful an individual is in a given situation, the
more he or she will be motivated. Those who experience little success in their practice or performance
attempts become discouraged and less motivated.

1. Peer-referenced judgments - Evaluation of skill performance in comparison to the performance

of others.

2. Self-referenced judgments - Evaluation of skill performance in comparison to one’s previous

performance levels

Explanation: Last but not least, success in fulfilling task goals in general, which implies that when a large
number of tasks are completed, they will work harder and be more motivated. Peer referenced judgment
is the difference between the performance of one player and another. For example, jake is better than
john at basketball. Next is the Self referenced judgment where you compare a player's performance
skill to his previous performance. For example, john is better than jake now in basketball.
 Guidelines for Promoting Motivation

1. Devise methods to help individuals understand and appreciate the ways in which the tasks to be
learned are relevant to their needs, desires, and interests.

2. Evaluate an individual’s abilities and readiness to learn in order to determine the most appropriate skill
level for practice, being sure that practice requirements are challenging but attainable.

3. Provide opportunities to empower individuals to determine their own practice goals and practice
experiences where appropriate.

4. Provide ample opportunities for individuals to experience success in their practice attempts, focusing
at least some practice goals on increasing personal performance levels rather than on absolute
performance measures or comparisons to performances of others.

Shaping the Motivational Climate

Motivational climate the curricular and instructional factors influencing performers’ motivation in
structured performance environments.
 Reporter: Louie Francis Delos Santos
Target Principles for Enhancing Motivation in Physical Education.

In this table we will saw the key factors for us to know what are the principles that we
need to do for Enhancing Motivation in Physical Education.

In the first row we will the word Target Principles, How to Promote a Positive
Motivational Climate and What should be avoided those are the things that we should
know if we want to improve the Motivation in Physical Education.

First in the column is Task wherein it is a activity that needs to be accomplished.

How to promote a positive motivational climate?

Include variety, challenge and purpose for each activity. Give students the opportunity to choose from a
variety of tasks. Encourage students to set their own goals.

What are the things that should be avoided?

Basing task goals on who will be first or who will score the most points, and so on

Second is Authority from the word itself it is the one who has the power or right to give orders.

How to promote a positive motivational climate?

Foster active participation and a sense of autonomy. Use questioning skills. Give students the opportunity
to choose (within the assigned content framework). Involve students in decision making during teaching
(e.g., how to complete tasks, what materials to use, and so on)

What are the things that should be avoided?

Assuming all the responsibility as the teacher. Giving students orders and no choices.

Third is Rewards which is a thing given in recognition of one's achievement.

How to promote a positive motivational climate?

Focus on individual progress and improvement. Recognition of students’ accomplishments is kept private,
and rewards are given for improvement.

What are the things that should be avoided?

Recognition of students’ accomplishments is public, and rewards are given in comparison with others.

Fourth is Groupings which is a set of people acting together with a common interest.

How to promote a positive motivational climate?

Use individual and cooperative learning. Students work on individual tasks, in dyads or in small cooperative
groups. Grouping is flexible and heterogeneous.

What are the things that should be avoided?

Grouping is based on ability

Fifth is Evaluation which is the making of a judgment about the assessment.

How to promote a positive motivational climate?

Evaluation is self-referenced and private. Give opportunities to improve. Use diverse methods.
What are the things that should be avoided?

Evaluation is based on norms and on comparing with others.

Goal Setting

Virtually everyone comes to a skill-learning situation with some goal or goals in mind. “I want to beat
my sister in tennis.” “I want to learn to tango.” “I want to regain the full use of my knee that was
operated on.” “I want to bat 300 next seasons.” A common feature of skill learning is that it is goal
directed; people engage in practice, often long and laboriously so, because they have some goal that
they want to achieve. Locke et al. (1981) Although nearly everyone has a goal or goals that he or she
wants to achieve as a result of practice, not all goals are equally beneficial in promoting learning.
Setting goals for practice may be a natural human propensity, but to be effective, goals must be
specified and implemented correctly. Goals that are either too challenging or insufficiently challenging,
unattainable given a person’s physical abilities or limitations, unrealistic based on previous experiences,
or too vaguely specified can lead to frustration and feelings of failure, typically resulting in a loss of
motivation, diminished learning, and often withdrawal from further practice altogether. To be
effective, goals must be challenging, attainable, realistic, and specific. These qualities of effective
goals can be remembered by the acronym CARS.

Challenging Attainable Realistic Specific

To promote adherence to practice and optimize learning, goals should be set that sufficiently challenge
an individual to improve; are attainable given the conditions of practice (i.e., there is adequate time,
equipment, and instructional support to achieve goals); are realistic based upon a person’s previous
learning and innate abilities; and are specific and measurable, which allows for the assessment of
progress in obtaining the goals.

Types of Goals

In the study of goal setting, three types of goals have been identified as important in promoting
effective practice. These are outcome goals, performance goals, and process goals (Burton, Naylor, and
Holliday, 2001; Hardy, Jones, and Gould, 1996; Weinberg and Gould, 2007).

Outcome Goals

Outcome goals focus upon the desired results or end product of practice in comparison to others.
Beating your school’s record in the 100-yard dash, making an athletic team, consistently striking out
batters, and winning a league championship are examples of outcome goals. Outcome goals are
objectively specified measures of performance that involve comparisons with the performance of
others. Thus, although such goals provide challenging incentives, a person could still experience
significant improvement in skill level but fail to meet the goal of practice. Outcome goals are not under
the control of the individual attempting to obtain the goal. For this reason, it is important also to
prioritize performance and process goals.
Performance Goals

In contrast to outcome goals, performance goals focus upon an individual’s improvement relative to his
or her previous performances and are therefore solely under the control of the individual.
Performance goals, for this reason, are flexible—they are not conditioned by absolute standards or by
the performances of others. Set realistically, performance goals should be challenging but attainable.
Typing 60 words per minute, cutting 10 strokes off your average golf game, increasing your average
bowling score from 180 to 200, and improving elbow flexion from 90 degrees to 100 degrees are
examples of performance goals.

Process Goals

To perform a skill at the level desired, as well as meet outcome goals, a person must be able to
perform the skill sufficiently well. Process goals focus on particular aspects of skill execution. For
example, a receiver in football may focus on watching the ball until it is in his hands, a stroke patient
relearning to walk on rotating her hips as she steps forward, or a volleyball player on his follow through
after each serve. Process goals focus on the correct performance of movement patterns.
 Reporter: Sandra Jane H. Pardillo
Goal setting should include all 3 types of goals
All three types of goals—outcome, performance, and process—play a role in directing a learner’s
behavior and are important in motivating optimal achievement. Focusing on outcome goals helps keep
learners motivated over the long run, keeping them excited and providing an eventual target that
makes daily practice efforts more meaningful. Performance and process goals are important because
they are entirely under the learners’ control.
Given that each type of goal has a separate role in the learning process, it is important that all
three types be part of an effective goal-setting program (Hardy, Jones, and Gould, 1996)

Lew Hardy is a Professor at the University of Wales, Bangor.

He has been the psychological consultant to the British Amateur Gymnastics Association since 1983,
and is currently serving his second four-year cycle as Chairperson of the British Olympic Association's
Psychology Steering Group,
Graham Jones is a reader in Sport Psychology at Loughborough University. He is a Chartered
Psychologist with the British Psychological Society, Registered Psychologist with the British Olympic
Association. He is a former Chairperson of the Psychology Section of the British Association of Sport
and Exercise Sciences
Daniel Gould is a Professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro where he focuses his efforts on research, teaching and service
activities in applied sport psychology. He has consulted extensively with numerous elite athletes and
teams.

Why does goal setting work?

As we have just seen, goal setting facilitates learning and can have a pronounced effect on the quality
of competitive sports performance. A basic question, how do goals work? That is what is it about goal
setting that influences practice behavior and induces better learning outcomes? Theorists working in
this area have identified four important functions that underlie the goal-setting process (Horn, 2002;
Locke and Latham, 1990; Weinberg and Gould, 2007):

1. Goals direct the learner’s attention to important elements of the skill

2. Goals increase the learner’s effort and intensity.
3. Goals encourage persistence in the face of failure, adversity, or lack of immediate progress.
4. Goals promote the development of new learning strategies.
The first three of these functions of goal setting are fairly obvious. When learners set goals, their
attention during practice is directed to important elements of the skill that they might otherwise
neglect. Goals also motivate effort, as well as persistence, by providing incentives for performance.
 Guidelines for goal setting
Helping individuals identify and set goals to meet their specific needs and desires requires sensitivity
to individual differences, experience in the activity being practiced, and a good grasp of the principles
of goal setting established in the scientific literature.

1.Set specific goals. Goals should be stated in specifc, measurable terms.

Many teachers, coaches, and therapists believe that it is best to provide goals in general terms such as
“Do your best.” Such goals, however, are too vague to be effective.
2. Set moderately difficult but realistic goals. Substantial research demonstrates that moderately
difficult goals lead to the best performance and learning outcomes. Goals should challenge learners,
though they should also be realistic and attainable
3.Set both long-term and short-term goals. Both short-term and long-term goals are important if goal
setting is to be effective (Kane, Baltes, and Moss, 2001). Long-term goals provide ultimate targets for
learners and motivate adherence and sustained effort. If long-term goals alone are provided, however,
learners can quickly become frustrated when they fail to see sufficient progress toward attaining the
goal.
4. Set outcome, performance, and process goals. As we have already seen, pursuing a combination of
outcome, performance, and process goals results in the most effective performance and learning
outcomes. Too frequently, practitioners focus learners’ attention on outcome goals
5.Record and display goals. A number of studies have shown that to be most effective, learners must
be frequently reminded of their performance goals. Recording goals and prominently displaying them in
a manner that invites frequent review is an effective way of accomplishing this alone (Steinberg and
Marcy, 1999).
6. Develop goal achievement strategies. Establishing goals without consideration of the strategies that
will be used in achieving those goals is like setting the goal of losing 10 pounds without considering the
kind of eating or exercise program you will follow to accomplish such a weight loss.
7. Consider the learner’s personality and motivation when setting goals. In helping learners set and
achieve goals, practitioners should take into consideration the unique characteristics of each learner
and what things motivate him or her the most (those things we reviewed in the previous section on
learner characteristics).
8. Foster a learner’s goal commitment. Regardless of how well goals may be designed, learners will not
benefit from them if they are not committed to achieving them.

10. Limit the number of goals set, especially initially. A common mistake beginner at goal setting often
make is setting too many goals. In their desire to improve, both instructors and learners may set an
unrealistically large number of goals to be achieved.
 Guidelines for goal setting
Helping individuals identify and set goals to meet their specific needs and desires requires sensitivity
to individual differences, experience in the activity being practiced, and a good grasp of the principles
of goal setting established in the scientific literature.

1.Set specific goals. Goals should be stated in specific, measurable terms.

Many teachers, coaches, and therapists believe that it is best to provide goals in general terms such as
“Do your best.” Such goals, however, are too vague to be effective.
2. Set moderately difficult but realistic goals. Substantial research demonstrates that moderately
difficult goals lead to the best performance and learning outcomes. Goals should challenge learners,
though they should also be realistic and attainable
3.Set both long-term and short-term goals. Both short-term and long-term goals are important if goal
setting is to be effective (Kane, Baltes, and Moss, 2001). Long-term goals provide ultimate targets for
learners and motivate adherence and sustained effort. If long-term goals alone are provided, however,
learners can quickly become frustrated when they fail to see sufficient progress toward attaining the
goal.
4. Set outcome, performance, and process goals. As we have already seen, pursuing a combination of
outcome, performance, and process goals results in the most effective performance and learning
outcomes. Too frequently, practitioners focus learners’ attention on outcome goals
5.Record and display goals. A number of studies have shown that to be most effective, learners must
be frequently reminded of their performance goals. Recording goals and prominently displaying them in
a manner that invites frequent review is an effective way of accomplishing this alone (Steinberg and
Marcy, 1999).
6. Develop goal achievement strategies. Establishing goals without consideration of the strategies that
will be used in achieving those goals is like setting the goal of losing 10 pounds without considering the
kind of eating or exercise program you will follow to accomplish such a weight loss.
7. Consider the learner’s personality and motivation when setting goals. In helping learners set and
achieve goals, practitioners should take into consideration the unique characteristics of each learner
and what things motivate him or her the most (those things we reviewed in the previous section on
learner characteristics).
8. Foster a learner’s goal commitment. Regardless of how well goals may be designed, learners will not
benefit from them if they are not committed to achieving them.

10. Limit the number of goals set, especially initially. A common mistake beginner at goal setting often
make is setting too many goals. In their desire to improve, both instructors and learners may set an
unrealistically large number of goals to be achieved.
 ATTENTION
Attention: The direction of conscious mental resources toward specific sensory stimuli.
The study of attention and its relationship to motor performance and learning has both theoretical and
practical importance
Characteristics of attention
Attention as Consciousness. The concept of attention as consciousness is the oldest view among
scientists. Consciousness is defined as “awareness,” which may refer both to one’s awareness of
internal psychological states and of those things making up the external environment.
Attention as Effort or Arousal. A feature of attention everyone has experienced is effort or arousal.
Though most of the time the effort involved in attention is so small as to go unnoticed, we become
aware, when focusing attention intently, that effort is a primary constituent of attention. Attention
requires mental effort
Attention as a Limited Resource. The concept of attention as a limited resource is an essential
feature of information processing models of motor control. According to this notion, people are limited
in their capacity (i.e., their resources) for processing information from the environment at any one
point in time.
Theories od Attention
Given the breadth of the concept of attention, it should come as no surprise that several different
theories and models of attention have been proposed. Many of these theories are concerned with
explaining specific aspects of attention, such as how its capacity is determined or how selection among
objects occurs. Other theories are concerned with explaining attention at different levels such as
neurophysiological, cognitive, emergence, and mathematical levels of analysis.

Bottleneck theories
These have typically been termed as filter or bottleneck theories. According to this theoretical
approach, cognitive processes involved in information processing occur in serial order, and each stage
of processing must be completed prior to the initiation of processing activities for additional stimuli
entering the processing stage. Bottleneck theories offer an explanation for a number of perplexing
features of attention, including the psychological refractory period. Everyone has experienced the
state of seemingly being frozen for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second, before responding
to a stimulus.
Central-Resource Theories
Although bottleneck theories explain a number of characteristics of attention, they leave others
unanswered. One of the main criticisms of such theories is their inability to offer an adequate
explanation for how people are able to attend to more than one task at the same time.
arousal: General physiological and psychological activation of an individual; varies from a state of sleep
to extreme excitement.
Anxiety refers to the experience of arousal as a negative emotional state. When a person experiences
anxiety, feelings of nervousness, apprehension, and worry accompany increases in arousal.
Selective Attention
The performance environment is filled with a multitude of differing types of stimuli. Both internal and
external sources of information compete for the performer’s attention
Directing Attention
In helping learners direct their selective attentional resources to the most critical aspects of the
practice environment, a number of models for directing attention have been proposed. The most widely
used and intuitively appealing is a model classifying attention into four categories developed by
Nideffer (Nideffer, 1976a, 1976b, 1981, 1993; Nideffer and Segal, 2001). Nideffer identifies four
distinct styles of attentional focus.

Broad external attentional focus. The performer must attend to and remain aware of several
environmental cues at the same time, shifting focus constantly among changing aspects of the external
environment. Constant awareness of what is happening around the performer is paramount in this style.

Narrow external attentional focus. The performer attends to only one or two environmental cues,
focusing attention exclusively on a limited scope of environmental possibilities. Concentrated attention
focused upon a few aspects of one’s performance environment is the essence of this style.

Broad internal attentional focus. This style involves focusing attention on a wide range of bodily
sensations or mental processes and thoughts. Generally, the performer’s focus is upon overall
kinesthetic awareness of bodily movement rather than attention to a specific body part.

Directing Attention Visually

Attention frequently follows vision. Research has supported the conclusion that a shift in visual gaze
(i.e., where our vision is directed) to a new location is a reliable indicator of a shift in attention to that
location (Henderson, 2003; Zelinsky et al., 1997). What we look at captures our attention; what we
attend to directs what we look at. Vision and attention form a symbiotic dance, one leading and the
other following, the next instant the other taking the lead, both reciprocally leading and following back
and forth in the mutual search for the most relevant information to guide our actions.

To explain the beneficial effects of the quiet eye, Vickers has proposed the Location-suppression
hypothesis (Vickers, 1996).
location-suppression hypothesis: The notion that fixation of one’s visual gaze on a specific location
before and during the execution of a skill enhances performance by stabilizing processing activities.