The effect of instructional self-talk on performance and learning the backstroke of young swimmers and on the perceived functions of it

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of instructional selftalk on acquisition and learning the backstroke of young swimmers and the perceived functions of it. The participants were 46 boys and girls, aged of 10�12 years (M=11.2, SD=.92) and were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group (instructional selftalk, N=24) in which participants before the execution of skill used aloud specific keywords and the control group (traditional teaching, N=22). The intervention program lasted six weeks (3 sessions of 45΄ per week). Participants of all groups were evaluated with a pretest before the beginning of the program, a post� test at the end of the intervention and one week after the final test they were evaluated in retention test. Moreover the evaluation of skill involved ten trials of skill, which were recorded by a digital camera and evaluated in five main elements of skill, by two observers, whom intra and inter reliability were checked. The results showed that the participants of instructional selftalk, was more effective for performance and learning the skill than the group that received feedback with traditional teaching. The results revealed also that the participants used the instructional selftalk during practice had high score in focus attention, effort and selfconfidence, but lesser in emotional and cognitive control and automaticity. There was also positive correlation between the dimensions (effort, automaticity, cognitive and emotional control, attention and selfconfidence) of the questionnaire. The use of instructional selftalk on younger athletes seems to have positive effects on performance and learning improvement during practicing sports skills. Selftalk can be used as a tool in the hands of the coach / physical education teacher for learning and improving sport performance skills and for increasing focus attention and self� confidence of their athletes.