Abstract
Statement of Problem
The study tests verbal timing prompts, descriptive corrective feedback, and prescriptive corrective feedback to determine if one was more effective than another in helping novice swimmers acquire the skill of bilateral breathing. The study also examined if instruction of bilateral breathing using these strategies affected the swimmers fundamental technique in the crawl or 'freestyle " stroke. A Crawl Stroke Fundamentals Checklist (CSFC) was used to guide the participating coach in developing feedback statements and to analyze the frequency of stroke errors during intervention and baseline phases. The goal of effective instructional strategies is to enhance skill acquisition, improve performance in the least
Sources of Data
Six novice swimmers, aged 8 to 12, were drawn from Vacaville Swim Club, Vacaville, California. Swimmer behavior and coach feedback was video taped during instruction and practice to record changes in swimmer behavior. Data was graphed and analyzed to determine frequency of bilateral breathing and stroke errors during intervention and baseline phases.
Conclusions Reached
None of the strategies under investigation were shown to be significantly more effective than the others in teaching bilateral breathing. The initial instruction prior to practice which included modeling, and practice over time, had more influence on swimmers' behavior than verbal prompting or feedback. Fatigue may have had an impact on bilateral breathing and stroke error frequency and therefore the amount of rest between practice sessions should be controlled for during similar research in the future. Future research seeking to determine retention of the learned behavior should control for the amount of delay between intervention and baseline phases. The participating coach 's
training with regard to the use of the specific strategies as well as collecting data during a normal team practice rather than a more controlled environment should also be taken into consideration.