INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

THE EFFECT OF VIDEO-MODELING ON PERFORMANCE
ENHANCEMENT OF FEMALE GYMNASTS IN A
GYMNASTICS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Ms Ching JOO LAN (MAS)
Whoever has attempted to communicate how sport skills should be
performed, understands the crucial role visual demonstrations play in
performance and learning. Most sport skills are not easily described in
words, neither can verbal instructions be easily given and translated
into action. Invariably, the best teaching mode in conveying how sport
skills should be performed is to say, “See how I do it.” Thus, the
athlete can visualize the skills observe how they can be coordinated
into a flowing movement. Good companions to instructions are
various forms of visual information, such as still pictures of proper
actions; film clips or videotapes of successful performances; and
demonstrations provided by the instructor, the therapist, or some other
skilled individual. These are also referred as forms of demonstrations.
The familiar phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” seems to
be particularly true when it comes to the learning of motor skills,
because movement information can often be more easily transmitted
by visual demonstration than by a verbal description (Schmidt &
Wrisberg, 2000). Since visual information is such a powerful means of
conveying information about sport skill in particular, demonstration is
one of the most important instructional strategies for broadening the
physical skill repertoire of children, adolescents and adults. Learning
researchers and theorists refer to the forms of demonstration as
modeling or observational learning (Magill, 1993). Modeling is an
effective method for transmitting information, particularly in teaching
motor skills, because actions that are difficult to verbalize often can be
demonstrated visually or orally. Therefore, the study of modeling
motor behavior is particularly important to the teacher, physical
educator, and coach. Bandura’s (1977, 1986) social learning/social
cognitive theory of modeling has been the predominant framework
within which sport skill acquisition has been studied (Gould &
Roberts, 1982; McCullagh, 1993; McCullagh, Weiss, & Ross, 1989).
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