ABSTRACT

Background: The importance of clarifying goals and providing process feedback for student learning has been widely acknowledged. From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, it is suggested that motivational and learning gains will be obtained because in well-structured learning environments, when goals and process feedback are provided, students will feel more effective (need for competence), more in charge over their own learning (need for autonomy) and experience a more positive classroom atmosphere (need for relatedness). Yet, in spite of the growing theoretical interest in goal clarification and process feedback in the context of physical education (PE), little experimental research is available about this topic.

Purpose: The present study quasi-experimentally investigated whether the presence of goal clarification and process feedback positively affects students’ need satisfaction and frustration.

Method: Twenty classes from five schools with 492 seventh grade PE students participated in this quasi-experimental study. Within each school, four classes were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions (n = 121, n = 117, n = 126 and n = 128) in a 2 × 2 factorial design, in which goal clarification (absence vs. presence) and process feedback (absence vs. presence) were experimentally manipulated. The experimental lesson consisted of a PE lesson on handstand (a relatively new skill for seventh grade students), taught by one and the same teacher who went to the school of the students to teach the lesson. Depending on the experimental condition, the teacher either started the lesson explaining the goals, or refrained from explaining the goals. Throughout the lesson the teacher either provided process feedback, or refrained from providing process feedback. All other instructions were similar across conditions, with videos of exercises of differential levels of difficulty provided to the students. All experimental lessons were observed by a research-assistant to discern whether manipulations were provided according to a condition-specific script. One week prior to participating in the experimental lesson, data on students’ need-based experiences (i.e. quantitatively) were gathered. Directly after students’ participation in the experimental lesson, data on students’ perceptions of goal clarification and process feedback, need-based experiences (i.e. quantitatively) and experiences in general (i.e. qualitatively) were gathered.

Results and discussion: The questionnaire data and observations revealed that manipulations were provided according to the lesson-scripts. Rejecting our hypothesis, quantitative analyses indicated no differences in need satisfaction across conditions, as students were equally satisfied in their need for competence, autonomy and relatedness regardless of whether the teacher provided goal clarification and process feedback, only goal clarification, only process feedback or none. Similar results were found for need frustration. Qualitative analyses indicated that, in all four conditions, aspects of the experimental lesson made students feel more effective, more in charge over their own learning and experience a more positive classroom atmosphere. Our results suggest that under certain conditions, lessons can be perceived as highly need-satisfying by students, even if the teacher does not verbally and explicitly clarify the goals and/ or provides process feedback. Perhaps, students were able to self-generate goals and feedback based on the instructional videos.

摘要

背景：明确目标和为学生学习提供过程反馈的重要性已得到广泛认可。从自决理论的角度来看，建议将获得动机和学习收益，因为在结构良好的学习环境中，当提供目标和过程反馈时，学生会感觉更有效（对能力的需求），更负责他们自己的学习（自主性的需要）并体验更积极的课堂氛围（相关性的需要）。然而，尽管在体育教育 (PE) 背景下对目标澄清和过程反馈的理论兴趣日益增长，但关于该主题的实验研究很少。

目的：本研究半实验性地调查了目标澄清和过程反馈的存在是否会对学生的需求满意度和挫折感产生积极影响。

方法：来自五所学校的二十个班级，492名七年级体育学生参加了这项准实验研究。在每所学校内，四个班级被随机分配到四个实验条件之一（n  = 121、n  = 117、n  = 126 和n = 128) 在 2 × 2 因子设计中，其中通过实验操作目标澄清（缺席与存在）和过程反馈（缺席与存在）。实验课包括倒立体育课（对于七年级学生来说是一项相对较新的技能），由一位到学生所在学校授课的老师讲授。根据实验条件，教师要么开始解释目标，要么不解释目标。在整个课程中，教师要么提供过程反馈，要么不提供过程反馈。所有其他说明在不同条件下都是相似的，并为学生提供了不同难度级别的练习视频。所有实验课程都由研究助理观察，以辨别是否根据特定条件的脚本提供操作。在参加实验课前一周，收集了有关学生基于需求的体验（即定量）的数据。在学生参与实验课后，直接收集了有关学生对目标澄清和过程反馈、基于需求的经验（即定量）和一般经验（即定性）的看法的数据。

结果与讨论：问卷数据和观察结果表明，根据课程脚本提供了操作。否定我们的假设，定量分析表明不同条件下的需求满意度没有差异，因为无论教师是否提供目标澄清和过程反馈、仅目标澄清、仅过程反馈或不提供，学生对能力、自主性和相关性的需求同样满意. 需求挫败也有类似的结果。定性分析表明，在所有四种情况下，实验课的各个方面都使学生感觉更有效，对自己的学习更有责任感，体验更积极的课堂氛围。我们的结果表明，在某些条件下，课程可以被学生视为高度满足需求，即使教师没有口头和明确地阐明目标和/或提供过程反馈。也许，学生能够根据教学视频自行制定目标和反馈。