ABILITY AND SKILL
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Learning objectives
• understand what is meant by the term ‘skill’
• be able to place skills into categories
• be able to analyse the factors underlying skilled performance
• understand what is mean by the term abilities
• understand the theories of ability
• understand the skill-ability interaction
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Skill is
• the consistent production of goal-oriented movements, which are
learned and specific to the task
• LEARNED
• CONSISTENT
• GOAL-ORIENTED
• SPECIFIC TO THE TASK
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Measurement
• Some skills are best measured by outcome
• What they look like is not important
• Some skills are best measured qualitatively
• Whether or not they are aesthetically pleasing is the aim
• Measurement can be objective
• Measurement can be subjective
• Outcome is normally measured objectively and aesthetics (or form) is
normally measured subjectively
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Definitions of skill
• DISCRETE
JAVELIN THROW
SERIAL CONTINUOUS
TRIPLE JUMP
one action
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Several
actions
joined
together
SWIMMING
No
recognizable
beginning or
end
Definitions of skill
SIMPLE
LITTLE DEMAND FOR
PERCEPTION AND
DECISION MAKING
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COMPLEX
GREAT DEMAND FOR
PERCEPTION AND
DECISION MAKING
POULTON’S OPEN-CLOSED SKILLS
• Open skills require perception and decision making
• The environment is ever changing
• Team games, tennis and other individual games are open skills
• In closed skills technique is more important than information
processing
• The environment rarely changes or changes only a little from trial to trial
• Shot putt, diving
• This is a continuum theory but Poulton did not explain the middle of
the continuum very well
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Gentile’s classification of skills
(adapted from Gentile, A. M., Higgins, J. R., Miller, E. A. and Rosen, B. M., 1975, The structure of motor tasks.
Mouvement, 7; 11-28)
CLOSED
environment and
object- no change
shot putt
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OPEN
Environment - no
change; object
moves
bobsleigh
environment
changes; object
static
golf
all change
team
games
Ability
• ABILITIES ARE BASIC INNATE ACTIONS WHICH UNDERLIE
PERFORMANCE
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General motor ability
• General motor ability determines individual’s prowess at all sports
• Research does not support this
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Henry’s specificity hypothesis
• Abilities are specific and unique
• There are no relationships between skills
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Fleishman’s factor analysis hypothesis
• Abilities can be grouped into clusters
• e.g., dynamic, static and ballistic balance
• Low to moderate correlations within a cluster
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Physical factors
Psychomotor factors
1. Control precision.
1. Extent (or static) flexibility.
FLEISHMAN’S ABILITIES
(Control over fast, accurate movements that
use large areas of the body.)
2. Multi-limb coordination.
2. Dynamic flexibility.
3. Response orientation.
3. Static strength.
(Selection of the appropriate response.)
4. Reaction time.
4. Dynamic strength.
5. Speed of arm movement.
5. Explosive strength.
6. Rate control.
6. Trunk strength.
(Coincidence-anticipation.)
7. Manual dexterity.
7. Gross body coordination.
8. Arm-hand steadiness.
8. Gross body equilibrium.
9. Wrist-finger speed.
9. Stamina.
(Coordination of fast wrist and finger
(Cardiovascular fitness.)
movements.)
10. Aiming.
11. Postural discrimination.
(Co-ordination when vision is occluded.)
12. Response integration.
(Integration of sensory information to
produce a movement.)
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(based on Fleishman, E. A., 1967,
Development of a behavior taxonomy
for human tasks: A correlationalexperimental approach. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 51; 1-10.)
Superability
• A weak general motor ability
• We rely more on specific abilities
• Individuals’ superabilities vary
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Ability-skill interaction
• Abilities underpin skill
• Different people perform the same skill in different ways
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GROSS BODY
COORDINATION
SPEED
FOOT-EYE
COORDINATION
AGILITY
POWER
REACTION
TIME
(a)
GROSS BODY
COORDINATION
Example of how two professional
soccer players (both wingers) used
different abilities in order to beat an
opponent
SPEED
FOOT-EYE
COORDINATION
POWER
REACTION
TIME
(b)
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AGILITY
The skill-ability interaction is not static
• Moving from one level of performance to another affects the
interaction
• Different abilities may well be needed
• The changing task model
• Development (during childhood and during ageing) means that we
change – physically and cognitively
• The changing person model
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Summary
• Abilities determine the individual’s potential
• Different skills require different abilities
• Two people can perform the same differently because they possess
different abilities
• The individual’s abilities change over time due to developmental
factors
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