American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

Issue: February 2010    

Increasing Student Motivation Through  Teacher Communication: Six Essential Skills Every Physical Educator Should  Master
    Collin A. Webster               

Abstract: Communication  skills are central to teacher effectiveness and instructional expertise. A  teacher’s communication behaviors can also serve motivational purposes that  facilitate a number of important instructional outcomes. This article  highlights six skills that every physical education teacher should master.  Three of the skills are rhetorical in nature, in that they primarily function  to persuade students that what they are learning is important. The other three  skills are relational in nature, in that they function to facilitate and  nurture the growth of strong interpersonal relationships between teachers and  students. Taken together, these six skills underpin the instructional  communication process and, when used effectively, can help students understand  why physical education holds value and merits the investment of self-motivated  effort to achieve success in class.

Article category:Teaching