The Effects of Three Styles of Teaching on University Students’ Motor Performance

The effects of three teaching styles (command, practice, and reciprocal) from Mosston’s Spectrum of Teaching Styles were investigated in terms of motor skill acquisition and retention of a selected shooting task. University students ( N =135) enrolled in nine riflery classes were randomly assigned by class to one of three treatment groups. A 3×6 (Teaching styles × Sets of trials) ANCOVA, with repeated measures on the last factor and pretest performance as the covariate, revealed a significant group-by-trials interaction. Command and practice styles were significantly superior to the reciprocal style in terms of skill acquisition and retention. Discussion addresses not only previous research on Mosston’s styles but also the research in teacher effectiveness and selected motor-learning constructs.