Guidance and Feedback

• Guidance and feedback are essential parts of learning and motivation in sport psychology. They contribute to skill development, performance improvement, and personal growth.

• Guidance can be divided into four types: visual, verbal, mechanical, and manual. Visual guidance involves demonstrating how to perform an action or behaviour. Verbal guidance uses words, and often comes in the form of instruction. Mechanical guidance uses equipment to assist in movement, and manual guidance involves physical contact from another person, gently guiding the learner through the movement.

• Feedback works in tandem with guidance to enable improvement and maintain drive and determination. Similar to guidance, feedback can also be divided into four categories: intrinsic, extrinsic, knowledge of results, and knowledge of performance.

• Intrinsic feedback originates from within the individual, through self-assessment, introspection, and self-awareness. People can interpret sensory information during and after performance to gauge success such as proprioception (feeling movement), feelings of satisfaction and enjoyment.

• Extrinsic feedback, or external feedback, comes from an outside source – a coach, teacher, or even a crowd. This can be further broken down into concurrent feedback, which is given during the activity, and terminal feedback, which is given at the end of the activity.

• Knowledge of results centres on the outcome of the activity while knowledge of performance is feedback on the quality of the action or movement.

• Both guidance and feedback should be appropriate to the skill level of the learner. Too much information or overly complicated feedback can be overwhelming and not helpful.

• The optimum challenge point is a balance between the difficulty of the task and the ability of the learner. Good feedback should aim to keep the learner in the zone of optimum challenge for the most significant growth and progress.

• Feedback and guidance both play significant roles in motivation. Praise and positive feedback boost self-esteem and make the learner more likely to try again, increasing motivation and effort.

• The sandwich method of feedback is often used – positive comment, advice for improvement, and then another positive comment. This is a supportive method that encourages progression.

• Lastly, the timing and frequency of feedback are also vital. Learning can be more effective if feedback is immediate and frequent but too much feedback too often can create a reliance and may prevent independent learning. Better learners often thrive with less frequent feedback and can use it to make independent decisions about how to improve.

• It is important to remember that both guidance and feedback should always be constructive, aimed at improving performance, and nurturing a love and enthusiasm for the sport.