Conceptions of Ability Influence the Learning of a Dance Pirouette in Children

Conceptions of ability induced by instructions or feedback have been shown to influence motivation, reactions to failure, and learning in various populations. Few studies, however, have examined such effects on motor learning. The present study investigated the influence of conceptions of ability on the learning of a dance pirouette in 10-year-old children. Two groups of participants were given either acquirable-skill (AS) or inherent-ability (IA) instructions before they began practicing the dance skill. All participants performed 15 practice trials of a (right) pirouette in which the objective was to rotate as far as possible in a circle divided into eight equal sections, where the dependent variable was the number of sections rotated. One day later participants completed retention and transfer (left pirouette) tests, five trials of each, without ability conception instructions. The induced conceptions of ability affected children's motor learning differently, with AS participants consistently scoring higher. These results demonstrate the advantage of using acquirable versus inherent conceptions of ability to promote the learning of dance skills in particular and add to the growing body of research demonstrating the importance of socio-cognitive-affective variables in motor performance and learning generally.