Date of Award

5-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology & Public Health Education

First Advisor

Martin Short

Abstract

This study examined the effect of Teaching with Acoustical Guidance (TAG) on the mastery of two ballet skills, the Grand Rond de Jambe (en dehors) and a Ballotte'. Dance technique classes still follow traditional methods of teaching and mastering skills without much integration of motor learning concepts. TAG Teach is a method that uses positive reinforcement, shaping, and a hand held device that produces an acoustic sound to mark correct behaviors at the moment they occur. The purpose of this study was to determine if TAG was a faster and more effective technique to aid in the mastery of two ballet skills.

The participants were also asked if they found TAG to boost their confidence, make them happier, make them feel that they learned more, and if they found it pleasing to use. Participants were 6 dancers who had never used TAG before; their ages were 17-19. A staggered multiple baseline design was used to see the progress of the two skills from baseline to mastery. One skill was taught with TAG and the other skill was taught using the traditional teaching method. A questionnaire was given at the end of each session asking about the participants' confidence, happiness, learning, and anxiety while training with the two different methods.

Results showed that all participants mastered their TAG trained skill first, and preferred TAG to the traditional method. The participants were more confident with TAG, happier, felt they learned more, and found TAG more pleasing to use. TAG produced more practice trials in each session with the average ratings for correct responses to those trials at a higher level than the traditional teaching method. Although both methods helped participants to master the two skills dancers preferred TAG, and it produced higher correct responses to corrections making it more effective as a teaching method.

Included in

Kinesiology Commons

Share

COinS