How Motor Skill Transfer and Motivation Affect Learning

Factors Involved in the Acquisition of Skills

Transfer is the way that learning a motor skill affects learning a different one, either because of the similarity of movements, situations, etc. There are different types of transfer.

Bilateral and Inter-Task Transfer

The bilateral transfer of learning occurs when a task learned by one side of the body is automated in the opposite side. This occurs through the existence of more than two million fibers in the body, facilitating the communication of information between the hemispheres, allowing smooth operation.

Another type is the transfer of intra-task (intratareas) and inter-task (intertareas). According to Thorndike, transfer between motor skills is based on the similarity between stimuli and responses. The relationship between tasks helps the student grasp their configuration and structure. The teacher should expect that the effects of some work on others can be positive or negative.

Key Points to Remember

1. The teacher should identify and increase the similarities between the skills that are learned and those that will be learned. This practice must be in similar contexts and situations.
2. The teacher must ensure that students have automated the first task before moving to the second.
3. They must perform varied practice on the same kind of movements.
4. They should teach students to analyze the skills and relationships between different tasks and situations.
5. The teacher must ensure that the principles of the tasks are understood by students.
6. Students should be cognitively involved in their learning, understanding strategies, tactics, and principles.
7. To promote bilateral transfer, you must be sure that the skill has been automated with the dominant side before moving to the opposite side.
8. Implement this as soon as possible.
9. The teacher should encourage the pupils' intention to learn and apply.

Motivation and Activation in Sports

Motivation stimulates, activates, directs, and channels the actions of subjects learning sports skills.

Motives for Learning

The motives are diverse and affect students differently. They may include the desire to master a technique, complete a task, search for excitement, and so on. For a physical education teacher, knowing how certain situations affect their students can be of vital importance.

Whether the learner highlights achievement or not in their practiced sporting ability is crucial. While some athletes are motivated to achieve success, others are motivated to avoid failure. Two kinds of students stand out: those who are oriented toward continuous success, and those who are accustomed to failure.

Persistent students believe they can achieve set objectives and eliminate all errors. They attribute their failures to bad luck, a lack of effort, or an inappropriate strategy.

Those experiencing learned helplessness consider themselves unable to control their mistakes or negative results. They come to think that error is inevitable or unavoidable. This attitude leads them to perceive themselves as having little aptitude for learning.