External Focus of Attention Enhances Children's Learning of a Classical Ballet Pirouette

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of instructions promoting an external versus internal focus of attention on the learning of a specific balance task, the pirouette en dehors (from fourth position), in 10-year-old novice ballet students. In addition, we sought to gain insight into learners' motivation and subjective learning experience as a function of different focus conditions. Thirty-eight children were randomly assigned to one of two groups. In the external focus (EF) group, participants were asked to focus on a spotting point on the wall in front of them for as long as possible. In the internal focus (IF) group, participants were asked to focus on the initial position of their head relative to the wall in front of them and on keeping it in that position for as long as possible. The task goal was to rotate as far as possible, and the dependent variable was the number of degrees rotated. All participants performed 15 practice trials of a (right) pirouette. Two days later, participants completed retention and transfer (left pirouette) tests without attentional focus reminders. After the practice phase, participants were asked what they thought about while practicing the pirouette and completed self-rating scales related to their perceived competence, effort, and sense of the importance of doing well. The EF group demonstrated superior performance relative to the IF group during practice, retention, and transfer phases. In addition, EF participants' responses indicated higher perceived competence and greater satisfaction with their performance, as well as greater importance of performing well. In contrast, IF participants reported more nervousness and fear of losing balance and not doing well. Overall, the findings demonstrate that external relative to internal focus instructions enhanced the students' learning of the pirouette en dehors and had positive motivational consequences.

Defining Spotting in Dance: A Delphi Method Study Evaluating Expert Opinions

“…In terms of attentional focus in pirouette performance, two studies examined the use of instructions that emphasized maintaining a visual reference point. Da Silva et al (2017) found that children with a visual instruction performed superiorly to children who were instructed to keep their head stable, in line with the current finding that head stabilization is perhaps a less important factor. However, with the inclusion of a control group, the study of Denardi and Corréa (2013) observed no advantage of instructions focusing on the head and vision.…”

Implicit motor learning in primary school children: A systematic review

“…Another aspect that needs to be discussed is that only seven studies included a control group and results of the studies are inconsistent. Most results indicate that instructions (either analogy instructions or with an internal or external focus of attention) are just as effective as the control condition (Chow et al, 2014;Perreault & French, 2016;Teixeira da Silva et al, 2017;Tse, 2017, and the acquitition phase of; Hadler et al, 2014). In contrast, Tse and Masters (2019) showed that all forms of instruction were more effective compared to the control condition, both during practice and retention.…”

“…The study of Perreault and French (2015) only showed better performance of the external focus group in one of the practice blocks. On the retention test, four studies consistently showed better performance of the external focus of attention groups compared to the internal focus of attention groups (Brocken et al, 2016;Hadler et al, 2014;Perreault & French, 2015;Teixeira da Silva et al, 2017) (and control group in the study of Hadler et al (2014)). In contrast, six studies did not show any differences between the groups (Agar et al, 2016;Chow et al, 2014;Emanuel et al, 2008;Krajenbrink et al, 2018;Perreault & French, 2016;Wulf et al, 2010).…”

“…One study showed better performance during retention for the internal focus groups (Petranek et al, 2019). In the transfer tests, two studies showed better performance following practice with an external focus of attention (Hadler et al, 2014;Teixeira da Silva et al, 2017), whereas two studies (Emanuel et al, 2008;Petranek et al, 2019) showed better performance in the internal focus group. One study did not show any differences between the groups (Agar et al, 2016).…”

“…During practice, seven studies did not show any difference in performance between practice with an internal or external focus of attention (Agar et al, 2016;Becker & Smith, 2013;Emanuel et al, 2008;Hadler et al, 2014;Perreault & French, 2016;Tse & van Ginneken, 2017;Wulf et al, 2010) or a control condition (Chow et al, 2014;Hadler et al, 2014;Tse & van Ginneken, 2017). Three studies showed better performance in the groups that practiced with an external focus of attention (Flores et al, 2015;Krajenbrink et al, 2018;Teixeira da Silva et al, 2017). The study of Perreault and French (2015) only showed better performance of the external focus group in one of the practice blocks.…”