Gender differences in children's conceptions of competence and motivation in physical
education.Find More Like This
Authors:
Lee[a], Amelia M.
Fredenburg[b], Karen
Belcher[c], Don
Cleveland[a], Nancy
Sport, Education & Society; Oct99, Vol. 4 Issue 2, p161, 14p, 2 charts
ABSTRACT This study investigated the competence perceptions and motivational beliefs of 50
physical education students who had adopted stereotypical perceptions of two gender oriented
physical activities, dance and basketball. Specifically, the research asked students to explain why
basketball is sometimes viewed as more appropriate for boys and dance is viewed as more
appropriate for girls. The research also aimed to understand why students think they will not be
as skilled and why many seem not to try in activities not viewed as gender appropriate.
Participants were 50 fifthgraders who had personally adopted stereotypical perceptions regarding
appropriateness of basketball and dance for male and female participation. A standardized openended interview technique was utilized to ascertain what mediated student viewpoints about
competence and motivation and how children viewed and assessed teacher motivational practice.
Results indicated that competence and motivational beliefs of students with well-established sexrole conceptions are driven by a sense of gender appropriateness.
For decades researchers have used theories of motivation, such as self-efficacy (Bandura, 1969,
1986, 1989), expectancy value (Atkinson, 1964), and goal orientation (Nicholls, 1984) to
understand why some children feel more competent than others and to explain differences in
their motivational levels. These models have focused on the concept of perceived ability or
competence as a mediating construct in achievement behaviour. Because a great deal of
empirical work has established links between students' ability perceptions and their motivation,
persistence, affective reactions and choices of activities to engage in (Eccles et al., 1984;
Nicholls, 1984; Stipek & MacIver, 1989), some researchers have focused on helping teachers
select teaching approaches that will enhance competence beliefs (Ames, 1992). In general,
teachers have been encouraged to bind a student's success to effort rather than ability, and to
emphasize improvement rather than performing better than others in the class. The goal of this
research was to study the competence perceptions of children in physical education and to clarify
their beliefs about why some children are more motivated than others. We also asked children to
assess the motivational influences of four different teaching practices.
Gender Differences in Perceptions of Competence
Over the years, several researchers have reported gender differences in children's beliefs about
their own competence in various movement and sport activities, and these differences must be
considered in studies of ability-related perceptions. In general, boys consistently report higher
perceptions of their overall physical competence and are more positive than gifts about their
ability in most traditional sport activities (Eccles et al., 1989; Harter, 1982; Marsh et al., 1984).
There is evidence to suggest, however, that females might not display a lack of confidence in all
situations (Lenney, 1977). For example, research has documented that sex linked movement
tasks can mediate gender differences in ability perceptions, with males displaying more
confidence on masculine-typed tasks and females displaying more confidence on feminine-typed
tasks (Clifton & Gill, 1994; Lirgg, 1991; Sanguinetti et al., 1985). While masculinity and
femininity have multiple meanings that are socially constructed (Vygotsky, 1978), masculinetyped tasks are generally those requiring strength, power, and competitiveness. Typical femininetyped tasks, however, are associated with the attributes of graceful movement qualities. This
distinction is consistent with Western society's definition of masculinity as behaviour that is
aggressive, competitive, and tough (Streitmatter, 1994). Thus, team sports will typically receive
a masculine label while activities such as dance and gymnastics will be defined as feminine.
From these studies there is agreement that stereotypes can have powerful influences on children's
thinking about their own competence and thus might limit their effort and persistence to those
activities considered sex-appropriate. Although there is agreement in the literature that sex
stereotypes influence beliefs about competence, few researchers have actually assessed how
children view and label various tasks. Before the specific research questions in this study could
be answered it was important to confirm that stereotypes about movement activities do exist at
young ages. Researchers interested in studying gender differences in ability perceptions for tasks
stereotyped as masculine or feminine have been warned against using sex-typing from previous
studies without establishing that the perceptions about the task are the same for the group being
studied (Lirgg, 1991).
For decades, researchers (e.g. Metheny, 1965) have attempted to identify activities according to
sex-type by asking respondents to rate activities they consider acceptable for male or female
participation. While there are some inconsistencies among studies, there is agreement for the
extreme masculine and feminine ratings. Typically team sport activities such as football,
basketball, and soccer are considered more masculine, and creative activities such as dance and
gymnastics are considered more feminine (Clifton & Gill, 1994; Csizma et al., 1988). If boys and
girls differ in their task specific expectancies for sex-typed movement and sport activities, these
differences could mediate motivational beliefs and behaviours in physical education classes.
While gender alone cannot explain differential motivational and achievement patterns in
students, it is important for teachers to understand the stereotypical views of their students before
they can provide learning environments that will develop positive attitudes. Recent research
indicates, for example, that overall young males value sport activities more than females do and
some believe that females as a whole do not have the natural ability to be successful in physical
education (Lee et al., 1995).
A Focus on Explanatory Models
In recent years researchers have sought to explain how gender images influence the experiences
male and female students will have in physical education. Satina and her colleagues (Satina et
al., 1998), for example, used patriarchal consciousness (Lorde, 1984) to demonstrate how
curricular offerings and teacher practices contribute to a social construction of gender and
account for the low motivational and achievement patterns in female students. Other researchers
(e.g. Wright, 1997) have analysed how a teacher's use of language can create a learning
environment which positions female students as marginal in relation to the dominant practice of
traditional team sports. The level of motivation and non-compliance of the females in athletic
and highly competitive classes confirms their femininity (Wright, 1996, 1997).
Despite this initial focus on explanatory models, subjects in the research focusing on gender
differences in self-confidence on sex-typed tasks have rarely been asked to explain the basis of
their views. Early childhood experiences and the way girls and boys are socialized into
movement and sport activities will influence how students perceive, interpret, and respond to
teachers and the curriculum they offer. It is clear that if young girls have gender-typed beliefs
incorporated into their beliefs about their own competence in movement and sport they will have
lower expectations for success and will value only those activities perceived as appropriate for
their gender (Meece & Courtney, 1992). Perhaps more important for teachers to understand are
the beliefs, goals and attitudes of children who have positive and/or negative views of their
ability in stereotyped activities. There is little information to explain why children believe certain
sports are more appropriate for males than for females. Most of the research, especially in the
US, designed to study gender differences in ability perceptions for tasks labelled masculine or
feminine has relied on surveys and questionnaires with little attempt to study students' thinking
about the different activities and to understand the rationale underlying their motivational beliefs.
Recently a number of researchers have explored, through open-ended interviews, students'
thinking about the general nature of physical education (see Graham, 1995). For example,
Portman (1995) asked questions to determine students' views of effort, and to determine which
students have fun during physical education. Veal & Compagnone (1995) and Lee et al. (1995)
studied students' perceptions of their own effort and skill. Children's thinking about competence
in movement has been influenced by culture and gender expectations and the stories children tell
about different types of learners are important to a more complete description of motivational
characteristics (Maehr & Nichols, 1980; Xiang et al., 1995). Previous research has assumed that
motivational beliefs are rather general individual characteristics and has tended to ignore
students' justifications for their gender-role labels and their beliefs about competence for
themselves and others in movement and sport. This study, by way of contrast, was designed to
examine what children think and feel about children's competence and participation in sex-typed
movement activities.
The Teacher's Role
A major goal of educational reform efforts today is to identify ways that teachers can help
students feel more competent and thus increase their levels of motivation in all school related
activities. Considerable research supports the notion that teachers can enhance students' levels of
motivation by evaluating them on effort and improvement rather than ability, emphasizing
individualized learning, and providing task related feedback that would assist them in their
efforts to improve (Ames, 1992; Brophy, 1987). These teachers would work with students on an
individual basis and focus on technique rather than performance. Students would be encouraged
to select challenging but attainable tasks. Praise and encouragement planned to direct student
attention to a point in technique is consistent with this approach and might help students focus on
skill improvement. If teachers succeed in creating this mastery oriented environment then
students, regardless of their competence beliefs, should be more intrinsically motivated to learn.
Futhermore, much learning in physical education and school in general is product oriented and
the environment encourages a student to focus on the quantity of performance rather than the
quality (Brophy, 1983; Goudas, & Biddle, 1994). Even though there is evidence that a mastery
environment is more likely to enhance motivation in students some teachers use social
comparison to recognize winners and skilled performers. The use of extrinsic rewards such as
stickers and tokens, or the public display of students' achievement are examples of social
comparison practices used by teachers. When the recognition practices used by teachers focus on
skill achievement and performance outcomes it is possible that the rewards will undermine
intrinsic motivation (Ames, 1992). Students, especially those who compare unfavourably with
others in the class, begin to view themselves as lacking ability and this view in turn can decrease
effort and interest (Ames, 1992). However, there is some evidence to indicate that when rewards
are given for effort rather than performance, goal directed behaviour and feelings of competence
can be enhanced (Blumenfeld, 1992). Taken together, the literature reviewed suggests that
teacher practices can have an impact on a range of motivational variables including the
enhancement or determinants of ability self-perceptions. While many educational practices can
increase students' motivation to learn, it can be argued that the effectiveness of each practice will
depend in part, on how it is perceived and defined by the learner. Before a complete
understanding of the effectiveness and potential harmfulness of teachers' efforts to enhance
student motivation is possible the perspective of the students must be considered.
This study examined children's perspectives about competence and motivational beliefs in
gender oriented movement activities. Specifically, the following questions were addressed: (1)
how do children with stereotypical beliefs justify their decisions about student competence and
motivation in sex-linked tasks, and (2) what beliefs do children have about the effectiveness of
various strategies used by teachers to enhance all students' motivation to learn?
Method
Participants and Procedures for Group Assignment
This study is part of a larger project designed to investigate age and gender differences in
performance and learning expectancies for movement activities. The total sample included 745
first, third, and fifth grade males and females (M = 376, F = 369) drawn from physical education
classes in six different public and private schools located in different geographical regions of a
State in the south-eastern part of the US. The schools were chosen to provide a good crosssection of the State in terms of social class and academic achievement. Parental consent was
obtained for all subjects. Participants for the present study were 50 fifth grade students (M = 27,
F = 23), aged 10-11 years, who met the criteria established for four homogeneous groups with
stereotypical perceptions of sport activities in general and the accompanying beliefs about their
own competence (e.g. boys are more skilled in basketball and girls are more skilled in dance).
The identification of these groups required a two step process. First, the entire sample (N = 745)
was asked to respond to a self-report instrument designed to determine gender appropriateness of
movement and sport activities. Using a five-point Likert scale, students ranked gymnastics,
dance, jogging, soccer, tennis, roller skating, football, softball, basketball, cheerleading, jump
rope and volleyball as: 1 = definitely for girls, 2 = mostly for girls, 3 = both for boys and girls, 4
= mostly for boys, or 5 = definitely for boys. These physical activities have been used in
previous research on sport stereotypes and gender (Csizma et al., 1988; Lirgg, 1991), and with
the exception of cheerleading are typically included in a physical education curriculum. Second
part of the survey involved students responding to four questions about each of the 12 activities.
The questions were phrased to elicit information concerning (1) students' perceived competence
about their current abilities, (2) their confidence in their ability to learn the activity in the future,
(3) the extent to which they valued the activity, and (4) their expressed interest in learning the
activity. The wording of the questions was suggested initially by Eccles et al. (1983) and has
been used by other researchers since that time (e.g. Clifton & Gill, 1994). The second question
which was designed to assess the children's assessments of their confidence to learn the activity
was used in this study as a measure of each child's perceived learning expectations. Specifically,
the children were asked to indicate on a five-point Likert scale how well they would do if their
teacher taught a unit (1 = not very well, 2 = not well, 3 = OK, 4 = well, and 5 = very well).
To select activities that the children viewed as sex-linked the mean scores from the self-report
instrument were ranked from low (i.e. more appropriate for girls) to high (i.e. more appropriate
for boys). The activity with the lowest mean, rated more feminine was cheerleading (M = 1.5).
The activity with the highest mean, rated most masculine, was football (M = 4.5). Other
activities labelled definitely for gifts or mostly for girls were dance (M = 2.1) and gymnastics (M
= 2.4), while those determined mostly or definitely for boys were basketball (M = 3.5) and
soccer (M = 3.5). The ranks of the combined male and female means for the activities included
in this study were quite similar to those obtained by other researchers (Csizma et al., 1988), with
cheerleading, dance, and gymnastics viewed as activities more appropriate for females, and
football, basketball, and soccer viewed as more appropriate for males. Though not the most
extreme, basketball and dance were selected for in-depth analysis in this study because these
activities were part of the required curriculum at each of the participating schools. For the entire
sample (N = 745) there was the expected gender difference (p < 0.01) in responses to the
question designed to get information about students' confidence levels for learning basketball
and dance. Males (M = 4.4) were more confident than females (M = 3.8) in basketball and
females (M = 4.3) were more confident than males (M = 3.1) in dance.
The selection of the 50 fifth graders to be used in this phase of the study was based on their
rankings concerning the gender appropriateness/inappropriateness of basketball and dance, along
with their self-perceptions about ability to learn these activities. A homogeneous group with
stereotypical perceptions was created. Members of this cohort included males and females who
indicated with a four or five rating that basketball was predominately for males, and who with a
one or two rating indicated that dance was predominately for females. This group was then
subdivided into male and female cohorts who appeared to have personally adopted or
internalized such stereotypical perceptions by predicting that they could learn appropriate gender
activities or conversely that they could not learn activities that were inappropriate for their
gender. This purposeful criterion referenced sampling technique (Patton, 1990) resulted in an
unbalanced portion of males and females in four groups. Group A consisted of boys (n = 16) who
indicated that dance was predominately for females and projected a low ability to learn dance
themselves. Group B consisted of girls (n = 13) who indicated that dance was predominately for
females and projected a high ability to learn dance themselves. Group C consisted of boys (n =
11) who indicated that basketball was predominately for males and further projected a high
ability to learn basketball themselves. Group D consisted of girls (n = 10) who indicated that
basketball was predominately for males and who further projected a low ability to learn
basketball themselves.
Interview
A standardized open-ended interview technique (Patton, 1980) was utilized to ascertain what
factors mediated student viewpoints about competence and motivation and how children viewed
and assessed teacher motivational practices. Interviews were 20-30 minutes in length and
occurred in the school setting. The procedures for the interview were adopted from those first
used by Thorkildsen et al. (1994) to study children's perceptions of practices influencing
motivation. The interviewer explained that the purpose of the interview was to find out what
students think about the kinds of activities they learn in physical education. They were assured
that there were no right or wrong answers and that anything they said would remain anonymous.
The interviewer then obtained children's permission to tape record the interview.
Justifications for beliefs. To begin the interview session the interviewer shared with the student
hypothetical situations about stereotypical motivational beliefs and behaviours of males and
females. The wording was adjusted according to the activity. For example, the interviewer
explained that some boys are not very motivated in dance class because they think dance is more
appropriate for girls than for boys. Sometimes they just stand around and wish they could
participate in other activities instead. They also think they will not do as well in dance as girls.
Following this explanation, the children were asked if they know boys like the ones described
and all said yes. Next the interviewer asked questions about why the children felt some activities
were more for girls and why girls try harder. Questions such as: Why do boys think dance is
more appropriate for girls? Why do boys seem not to try? Why would girls be more motivated to
learn dance? Follow up questions were used to clarify students' perceptions. The wording in the
story was adjusted for basketball suggesting that some girls would not be motivated
Evaluation of teacher practices. The next set of interview questions presented to each student
asked for a reaction from the students to four possible teaching strategies which might motivate
both males and females to learn dance or basketball. The interviewer told the children, 'I'm going
to describe some things teachers might do to help girls as well as boys want to learn basketball
(wording was changed for dance). I want you to think about the practices and tell me what might
work and if the strategies are good for teachers to try.' The following strategies for basketball
were described to the children.
Strategy 1--Individualized Mastery. The teacher works with each student on an individual
basis according to his or her skill level. if there are some students that are highly skilled the
teacher might say 'you can already do this so why don't you practise these activities which are
harder.' The teacher helps the ones in class who are having trouble by suggesting easier tasks to
practice. The students who are not successful with the task are also provided information about
their movement that might help them be more successful.
Strategy 2--Recognition for Performance Outcomes. In this class the teacher gets real excited
when students do well and tells the good athletes how skilled they are at basketball. This teacher
keeps records of how successful each student is in all the practice activities and recognizes those
who do well by posting their names on the bulletin board. Pictures of the skilled students might
be displayed. The teacher encourages the lower skilled students to work harder so they can be
recognized.
Strategy 3--Rewards for Performance Outcomes. This teacher rewards every student who
succeeds at a practice task by giving them a token. These tokens can be accumulated during the
week and each Friday the students with ten tokens can go to the gym store and trade for various
sport items such as ball caps, jump ropes, tickets to basketball games, and books about famous
athletes.
Strategy 4--Rewards for Effort. In this class the teacher also gives tokens but rewards students
for working hard and trying rather than performing to a specific level. If students stay on task
and put a lot of effort in the practice activities then they will get tokens. The students that fool
around and do not take the activities seriously do not get any tokens.
The wording was changed for the descriptions of the teachers in dance classes. For example the
mastery oriented teacher would encourage the skilled dancers to practice harder steps and would
provide individual help for those who are having trouble. The teacher who recognizes
performance outcomes would display pictures of the skilled dancers and encourage the less
skilled to work harder so they can be recognized. In strategy three, the teacher rewards students
who can perform the dances with tokens which can be exchanged for items such as dance tapes,
t-shirts or tickets to dance concerts. The teacher who rewards effort would give tokens to
students who work hard and try during dance class. Following the description of each strategy
children were asked a series of questions designed to get them to evaluate the strategy. Questions
included: 'Would this strategy make all students in the class want to learn basketball (or
dance)?"Why or why not?"Would the girls (boys) want to learn basketball (dance) in this class?'
Finally, the strategies were presented to the children two at a time in a paired comparison format.
For each pair children were asked to determine which teacher would be more successful in
motivating both boys and girls to learn basketball (or dance) and to fully explain their answers.
Responses were recorded.
Analyses
Inductive analysis was used to describe the content of the interview transcripts (Bogdan &
Biklen, 1992; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Patton, 1980). A content analysis of the children's
justifications for competence and motivational beliefs was used to gain an understanding of their
stereotypical views. After reading through a sample of the transcriptions several times, two
researchers unified statements used by students to justify their motivational beliefs. Initial
categories were formed by organizing the statements into several themes that emerged from the
data. Categories were discussed and finally collapsed into three primary categories with sample
statements used to define each theme. Using the sample responses as a guide the four researchers
independently categorized each of the 342 responses by gender into one of the categories. A 95%
agreement between the coders was achieved. For the paired comparisons children were asked to
indicate which strategy wound be more effective compared to every other strategy. For example,
a student would be asked to choose between strategies one and two, one and three, one and four,
two and three, two and four, and three and four. Again children were asked to explain their
answers. Frequencies and percentages for each strategy were calculated and reported. Finally, an
interpretive analysis was done on the children's entire interview transcripts to determine more
about their perspectives of gender differences and competence in sex-linked movement activities.
For this analysis the researchers read each transcript and discussed consistencies in children's
statements about gender-related competence and motivation in sex-linked activities. The
interview data were categorized into themes that would best describe students' theories about
gender appropriateness and teachers' efforts to motivate students. Children's statements regarding
their justifications, their explanations, and the grounds for their choices of teacher strategies were
used to define and describe motivation from the perspective of the learner.
Triangulation in qualitative research is a way of improving the probability that the interpretations
of the data are credible and trustworthy (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In this study triangulation
involved the use of multiple researchers across quantitative and qualitative data. To verify the
content analysis and the strategy rankings independent coders classified the statements and
tallied the frequencies for each strategy. The children's motivational beliefs were verified by the
research group sorting and analysing the justifications and descriptions looking for and
discussing consistencies and inconsistencies.
Results
Justifications for Competence and Motivational Beliefs
The results from the interview questions which asked children to explain their views about
appropriateness and competence in basketball and dance are presented in Table 1. The children
gave multiple responses, each of which was coded. Thus, the distribution across categories is
based on the total set of responses (369 for basketball, and 183 for dance). Both males and
females had more comments to make about basketball than dance, and for each activity males
were more responsive than females.
Many of the responses for both basketball and dance related to the social acceptance of the
activity. As shown in Table 1, the males used 53 (53%) social acceptability statements to justify
their motivational beliefs about dance and 119 (52%) to justify their beliefs about basketball. The
social acceptance category is defined as a student's perception concerning the role, importance,
value, interest, and/or enjoyment associated with participation. Typical male responses to explain
motivational and competence beliefs for males in basketball were 'They (boys) are more
interested in sports, they like it better, they think it's more fun'. The following quotation reflects
the voice of one of the males as he explains his beliefs:
Boys have to live with the sport, they have to watch it on TV with their Dads, and with everyone
talking about it. They have to be into the sport.
The responses males made to justify the beliefs of girls were more diverse with several making
assumptions about feelings that girls have and what the girls would rather do than practice
basketball skills. A typical response was: 'Cause girls don't like sweating, and getting hot'. It is
evident from the following reasons provided by young males that they perceive basketball to be a
boys' sport and that the female students will choose activities that are more acceptable for girls.
'Cause girls stuff is like gymnastics and all that'. 'They really aren't into the game, they just want
to play with their friends'. 'Girls enjoy feminine things like sewing'.
When asked to justify their beliefs about why students think dance is more appropriate for girls,
and why the boys might not try as hard to be successful, the responses reflect a clear message
that dance is not socially acceptable for boys. This belief is evident in the following justifications
provided by male students: 'It's girly and too sissy for guys'. 'It just seems weird to do dances, not
natural'. 'It's the thing to do for girls'.
While females offered fewer justifications for their beliefs, nearly half of the references were
based on the social acceptance of the activity (38 or 45% for dance and 62 or 45% for
basketball). The females agreed that young males are expected to be sport and basketball
enthusiasts and have accepted this role. The following explanations are typical of the responses
from females: 'Boys enjoy it more, they like to play--and you don't see a lot of girls playing it'.
One female explained that 'boys play everything and girls just like cheerleading and some of the
other sports'. The females agreed that basketball is not a popular activity for girls. The following
explanations are examples: 'Girls have better things to do, they think it's boring'. 'Girls don't like
it cause you get hot and sweaty'. 'Girls see more boys playing basketball, girls do things like
volleyball and softball'. In thinking about basketball some females indicated a lack of interest
marked by feelings of embarrassment and fear of failure. For these students basketball elicited
thoughts such as 'Girls know they won't do as well and people will make fun of them'. 'People
pay attention to you and you feel left out if you never get the ball', or 'Girls don't want to play
because they will be embarrassed'.
The female students shared with the males a strong belief that dance is not socially acceptable for
boys. They seem to accept that 'The boys are too macho for it; machos don't dance'. One female
explained that 'boys don't do as well in dance because they don't like to do things that are
graceful'. Another female argued that 'Girls are supposed to be gentle and graceful'.
Many of the responses given as justifications for competence and motivational beliefs contained
references to an overall natural ability for girls in dance and boys in basketball. The physical
edge category refers to abilities reflective of physical growth, development, and maturation, as
well as skill or talent. For the males 31 (31%) of the responses to justify competence in dance,
and 78 (34%) of the responses to justify competence in basketball reflected this theme. The
females also used natural ability justifications for responses in dance (32 or 39%) and basketball
(50 or 36%). In discussing the physical edge in basketball, male and female students were clear
in their explanations that boys have more power, are usually taller, and can handle the ball better.
The following quotations reflect the voices of students as they explain why boys think they are
better in basketball.
Girls are not as strong, they don't have enough power to get the basketball to the goal.
Boys are better, they are faster, stronger, and have better eye--hand coordination.
I think if gifts get hurt and something, they will start holding back--it's a physical game.
They are just born with it.
The responses coded in the physical edge category to justify children's beliefs about competence
and motivation in dance activities were similar for males and females. 'Girls are more flexible,
have better balance, and are not as clumsy', represent typical responses made by the children. In
explaining their views the females pointed out that the boys aren't built for dancing. They can't
do splits, they can't stretch, and they can't move as good were reasons provided for the lack of
motivation in boys.
Responses that were coded as 'Effort' made reference to a student's willingness and opportunity
to improve either through practice, observation, persistence, patience, and/or determination. Of
the 552 responses made by the children, 89 contained a statement directed toward personal effort
as a justification for male and female competence and motivation in basketball and dance. The
children, males and females alike, overwhelmingly agreed that boys are better in basketball and
girls are better in dance and that success is due in part to opportunity for practice and a
willingness to try. It is evident from the following examples, however, that both opportunity and
effort are driven by a sense of gender appropriateness.
Boys practice basketball and they take their time when playing.
Boys are more motivated to learn basketball.
Girls have more experience in dance--they take lessons.
In basketball girls just don't try, or at least they don't try as hard as boys.
In dance, boys just fool around and they never try to dance.
Evaluation of Teaching Practices
When students were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of four strategies teachers use to
motivate children in basketball and dance, they judged rewards for effort as the most effective,
even though some gender differences were evident. When asked to compare rewards for effort
with the other three teaching strategies, the children chose the practice of rewarding effort a
greater number of times. Nearly half of the responses by males and females in both basketball
and dance indicated a preference for this teaching strategy. An individualized approach was
judged to be the second most effective, followed by rewards for performance and finally
recognition for performance outcomes. In basketball, the children chose rewards for performance
10 times, which represents only 16% of the total number of responses. In dance only 11
responses from males and two responses from females indicated a preference for performance
recognition (see Table 2). The interpretative analysis of the children's interview transcripts
provides the basis for their decisions and highlights endorsements of strategies that seem to be
specific to gender.
Most children agreed that the use of rewards to encourage effort among girls in basketball and
boys in dance would be a productive practice for teachers to consider. Males and females said
that girls would be motivated to learn basketball in this class because they would be rewarded for
how hard they try rather than how good they are. Typical responses from males to support the
effort reward for girls were 'because all they have to do is try'. 'Even if they are bad and try, they
get a reward'. The children exhibited less consensus in their belief that the rewards would be
successful in motivating boys to want to learn dance. Some responses supported a belief that
earning tokens to take to a gym store would not necessarily motivate boys in dance because they
would not be interested in the prizes offered. One female responded: 'They don't like to dance
and they wouldn't like the store'.
The children ranked a mastery oriented environment as the second most effective approach
teachers can use to sustain motivation in basketball and dance but some saw the practice of
allowing children to work at different levels as potentially harmful. This concern is expressed in
the following responses from children when asked if an individualized strategy would motivate
all children in basketball and dance:
Not the girls in the low basketball group--it's like first graders in reading--it's just not fair.
Not those who aren't very athletic if the teacher spends more time with those who are better.
No, the skilled dancers will be doing something harder and the less skilled would be doing
something simple--they would rather be with their friends.
No, the ones who are less skilled will feel left out.
While rewarding effort was generally endorsed by children as an effective strategy for
motivating both males and females, rewarding outstanding performance received little support.
Many children spoke about the harmful effects associated with rewarding only the highly skilled
with prizes. These concerns are reflected in the following responses:
Because some don't have the skill in dance and wouldn't get the tokens.
No, most boys wouldn't get tokens because they aren't as good.
No because the girls are less skilled than the boys and wouldn't get to go the store.
The children in this study sent a strong message reflecting a belief that praising skill performance
would have debilitating motivational effects on both males and females. The practice of
displaying pictures of highly skilled learners was viewed as being harmful to many students and
was judged to be basically unacceptable because it was unfair. The typical response reflected a
concern that only a few students are highly skilled and it would not be an effective motivational
practice for teachers to recognize only these students.
Discussion
Findings indicate that direct intervention might be needed for students with stereotypical beliefs
about appropriate and inappropriate activity choices incorporated into their perceived ability in
movement and sport. The recent work of Wright (1997) has demonstrated how pedagogical
practices and more specifically teachers' choice in language during physical education classes
can contribute to the construction of these beliefs. Using a detailed analysis of the talk between
teachers and students, this researcher revealed that the use of language was not neutral but rather
contributed to a gendered learning context which was stereotypical. In the present study, girls
with well-established sex-role conceptions about basketball saw no value in trying hard,
explaining that they had other activities more important and deserving of their effort. They did
not value basketball achievement but at the same time avoided participation because of a fear of
being unsuccessful and embarrassment. Responses from the boys painted a clear picture that they
had also received heavy doses of sex-role information about the inappropriateness of dance
activities. In a society where traditional team sports are viewed as masculine, efforts to construct
class climates that are equitable will require that teachers structure a physical activity curriculum
so that all students are included. Physical educators should be encouraged to challenge the
traditional, dominant stereotypical views associated with male and female participation and
achievement in various types of physical activities. Because sex differentiated conceptions are
established early in life (Meece & Courtney, 1992), teachers need to go beyond equitable
treatment of boys and girls and design specialized strategies and curricular interventions to
reduce sex bias in some students' beliefs and behaviours. These could focus on providing
information about female basketball players and male dancers, and exposing all students to male
and female role models for a variety of sport and movement activities. A broad curriculum with a
variety of team games, dance and gymnastics activities has a greater potential to provide
experiences that are meaningful to all students. Teachers must send a message that participation
in a broad range of cooperative and competitive activities is important for both males and
females.
The children in this study agreed that teachers should focus on effort rather than performance if
the goal is to motivate all children in sex-typed activities. These student views are consistent
with evidence presented by Ames (1992) indicating that emphasis on social comparison rather
than effort by teachers will likely have detrimental effects on student motivation. According to
Ames (1992) and students in this study agree, teachers can maintain motivation and encourage
students to try hard by focusing on effort rather than ability. However, while the reward for effort
was judged to be the strategy with the most potential, students in the study were unsure about its
effectiveness with the boys in dance. According to the children rewards for effort are fair but
might not overcome the power of social influences, especially for boys. The individualized
approach was favoured over the two strategies giving recognition or rewards for outstanding
performance, but children made it clear that having students work at different levels would not
necessarily enhance motivation for the lower skilled. The concerns about individual work
expressed by the students in this study suggest that from their perspective, this approach tends to
make public those who are the more and less abled students. With careful planning a skilled
teacher can make differentiation non-public and avoid embarrassing the less abled child, but it is
possible that the students in this study had not experienced an individualized approached applied
in this way. While the students questioned the benefits of providing different practice tasks, an
approach which would give children more time and extra help on the same tasks was very
attractive. Finally, the practices emphasizing performance outcomes received few endorsements.
The children spoke about problems with any strategy that would identify the lower skilled
children, but in general favoured the rewards over public recognition.
This research focused on homogeneous groups of students who have accepted and internalized
for themselves and others stereotypical views about basketball and dance. While these students
had incorporated rigidly held sex-typed beliefs into their concepts about themselves, other
students may try to resist the influence of stereotypes on their thinking and behaviour. In this
study, for example, there were many children who believed that basketball and dance were
appropriate for both boys and girls. These children should be studied to determine the
antecedents for their motivational beliefs. The issue of gender differences in competence beliefs
for sex-typed movement activities is complex and can be studied from many perspectives. Before
we can point to ways teacher practices can overcome existing gender differences in participation
and performance, research must continue to examine student beliefs, values, and expectations in
a range of activities. As others have frequently highlighted (e.g. Graham, 1995; Portman, 1995;
Veal & Compagnone, 1995), a complete understanding will require further study of teacher
practices and motivational patterns from a student perspective.
Correspondence: Amelia M. Lee, Department of Kinesiology, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Tel: + 504 388 3551; Fax: + 504 388 3680; e-mail:
(Amlee@lsu.edu).
TABLE 1. Justifications for competence and motivational beliefs about basketball and dance
Legend for Chart:
A
B
C
D
E
-
Category
Males (N =
Males (N =
Females (N
Females (N
27) Frequency
27) Percentage
= 23) Frequency
= 23) Percentage
A
B
C
D
E
16
53
31
100
16
53
31
100
13
38
32
83
16
45
39
100
33
119
78
230
14
52
34
100
27
62
50
139
19
45
36
100
Dance
Effort
Social acceptance
Physical edge
Total
Basketball
Effort
Social acceptance
Physical edge
Total
TABLE 2. Frequency and percentage for teacher strategies by activity
Legend for Chart:
A
B
C
D
-
Strategy
Basketball Male n
Basketball Male %
Basketball Female n
E
F
G
H
I
-
Basketball Female %
Dance Male n
Dance Male %
Dance Female n
Dance Female %
A
C
D
E
20
30
16
4
6
Rewards for performance
12
Rewards for effort
30
Mastery oriented
Recognition for
performance
B
F
G
H
I
27
32
33
26
33
6
10
11
11
2
3
18
12
20
14
15
15
19
46
26
43
39
41
35
45
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