Effects of different motor learning instructions on motor skill acquisition: A pilot study of rope skipping training for children aged 5-6 years

Research in motor learning suggests that provision of analogy instructions can induce stable motor performance in difficult situations, such as those that involve psychological stress or secondary tasks (e.g., Liao & Masters, 2001; Poolton, Masters, & Maxwell, 2006, 2007). Limited research has been conducted to test this proposition in children. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the use of an analogy-assisted instruction protocol compared to explicit instructions on children’s rope skipping training. A group of four experienced physical education teachers were invited for a focus group interview to (a) design explicit and analogy-assisted instruction protocols that best describe the rope skipping skill, and (b) identify key assessment criteria to evaluate performance outcomes. Twelve children (5 boys and 7 girls) 5 to 6 years of age were recruited and were randomly assigned to one of the two instruction protocols for 3 training sessions. Results revealed that children in the analogy-assisted instruction group gained significant improvements earlier than those in the explicit instruction group, indicating analogy-assisted instruction may be more effective for promoting early improvement in performance. Moreover, a transfer test with a concurrent secondary cognitive task (counting backward in 2’s) further indicated that children in the analogy-assisted instruction group performed more effectively with a higher number of successful jumps, while those from the explicit instruction group displayed decrements in performance. However, both groups showed no significant difference in movement form. These results suggest that analogy-assisted instructions may be used to aid children when acquiring complex motor skills, with potential benefits related to reduced cognitive processing requirements (effective dual task performance). The findings provide the basis for further research that will examine the effectiveness of analogy-assisted instruction for complex motor skills in children.