Paper presentation October 2012

1. The University of Southern QueenslandFaculty of EducationPostgraduate and Early Research Group10th Research Symposium Paper presentation October 2012

2. Title Self-Identified and Observed Teaching Styles of Junior Development and Club Professional Tennis Coaches in Australiaby Mitchell Hewitt and Associate Professor Ken Edwards

3. Research Questions • What teaching styles do Junior Development and Club Professional tennis coaches in Australia believe they are using during coaching sessions throughout the year? • What are the observed teaching styles of Junior Development and Club Professional tennis coaches in Australia?

4. Mosston and Ashworth’s Spectrum of Teaching Styles • Began in 1966 • Unified theory of teaching • An array of teaching style • options • Based on decision-making • Non-versus

5. Spectrum of Teaching Styles Reproduction: Style A – Command Style B – Practice Style C – Reciprocal Style D – Self Check Style E – Inclusion Production: Style F – Guided Discovery Style G – Convergent Discovery Style H – Divergent Discovery Style I – Learner Designed Individual Program Style J – Learner Initiated Program Style K – Self Teaching

7. Teaching Style Definition A Teaching Style is a plan of action that defines the specific decision interactionof the teacher or coach and the learnerfor the purpose of leading to the development of specific objectives in subject matter and behaviour.* One or more teaching styles may be used during a lesson/session. *Ashworth, S. (2009). Teaching a Spectrum Repertoire. Keynote presentation for the 26th ACHPER International Conference. Brisbane, Australia, July.

8. Literature Review Increasing importance of teachers’ and coaches’ understanding and mastery of various teaching styles Limited number of studies have explored the teaching styles of physical education teachers using Mosston and Ashworth’s Spectrum of Teaching Styles (2008) • Curtner-Smith, Hasty & Kerr (2001) Observed 16 physical education teachers • Curtner-Smith et.al. (2001) Observed 18 physical education teachers • Kulinna & Cothran (2003) Surveyed 212 physical education teachers’ in relation to their perceptions of teaching styles • Cothran et. al. (2005)Surveyed1,400 physical education teachers’ in regards to their self-reported use of and beliefs about teaching styles – scenario descriptions • SueSee (2010, unpublished doctoral thesis) Surveyed and observed the teaching styles of physical education teachers – scenario descriptions 6. Jakkola& Watt (2011) Surveyed294 Finnish physical education teachers

9. Methodology Survey Questionnaire Observations

10. Survey Questionnaire

11. SurveyQuestionnaire

12. Observations • Three 30 minute tennis lessons with four players • Performed during the coaches’ formal certification coaching courses conducted by Tennis Australia (TA) • All of the 36 video-recorded lessons were coded by the researcher and a second individual • Prof. Sara Ashworth provided extensive assistance and advice during the coding process

13. Participants • Tennis Australia’s formal coaching courses • Junior Development n=130 • Club Professional n=78 • 208 tennis coaches participated in the survey questionnaire • 12 coaches were selected for the observations

14. Results Self-identified use of teaching styles(n=208) • All teaching styles were reportedly used • Practice Style-B 58.7% • Command Style-A 51% • Guided Discovery-F 46.2% • Junior Development (JD) and Club Professional (CP) coaches reported similar teaching style usage

15. Results Tennis coaches’ observed use of teaching styles(n=12) • Two of the eleventeaching styles were observed • Practice Style-B 84.2% of the time • Command Style-A 10.5% of the time • No other teaching styles were observed

16. Discussion • Lack of congruency between the teaching styles that tennis coaches believe they use and what they actually use • Predominant use of teaching styles in reproductive cluster • Coaching accreditation manuals recommend a range of teaching styles • Results are not compatible with favoured pedagogical processes

17. Implications What are coaches doing? Self-reflective Promote awareness Benefit of a variety of styles Encourage the use of a variety of styles Pursue greater understanding

18. Summary Report the current teaching styles being used by 208Australian tennis coaches using Mosston and Ashworth’s Spectrum of Teaching Styles (2008) as a basis of identification 2. Observe twelvecoaches and verify whether they are using the teaching styles they report 3. Results indicate tennis coaches predominantly use one teaching style – Practice Style-B 4. Coaches spend most of their time using teaching styles located in the reproduction cluster of The Spectrum 5. Correlate with direct instruction guidelines

19. Further Research • Information forms part of a larger doctoral study • Observing one coach for an extended period of time • Interviewing all the observed coaches • Some exploration of canopy designs that are located between teaching styles

20. Preliminary Findings 1. Observation • Similar results to the coaches who were observed during three 30 minute lessons • Interviews • Multiple instructional processes exist for coaching • Coaches’ interpretations and definitions lacked consistency and were often used interchangeably • Canopy Designs • An early examination of teaching and learning experiences that are located between the eleven teaching styles demonstrated the prevalence of teaching behaviour that can be analysed as canopy designs.

21. 99 Thankyou