The Relationship of Practice, Attitude, and Perception of Competence in Middle School Physical Education

Purpose: Grounded in social cognitive theory this study examined attitude and perception of competence and their relationship with skill practice in middle school physical education. Method: Participants (N = 81) were randomly selected from nine teachers' classes. Two lessons were videotaped and students completed a middle school perception of competence survey (Scrabis-Fletcher & Silverman, 2010), and a physical education attitude survey (Subramaniam & Silverman, 2000). Student practice trials and task time were coded during skill instruction. A series of different analyses were conducted including descriptive, correlational, and multiple regressions to allow for in-depth understanding of the relationship of student practice and the psychosocial variables of perception of competence and attitude, along with the type and amount of practice occurring in class. Results: Analyses revealed interesting findings about how class time was spent along with a significant correlation for the total number of tasks and appropriate trials per minute and a low correlation between the psychosocial factors and practice variables. Discussion: Including more tasks may increase the number of appropriate practice trials. The sociocognitive bidirectional relationship however, is not predictive in nature and needs to be examined more discreetly from the student, contextual, and teacher perspectives.