Benoît Louvet

Cooperative Learning in Physical Education and Acceptance of Students with Learning Disabilities

This study examined the effect of cooperative learning on the acceptance of mainstream students with academic learning disabilities in physical education and the links between their athletic abilities and the acceptance by their regular counterparts. Eight sixth grade classes (M age = 11.8 years) practiced either in a cooperative learning structure (n = 105) or individual structure (n = 112). The sociometric rating scale technique (Frederickson & Furnham, 1998) was employed to assess acceptance. Results showed that cooperative learning positively influenced the acceptance of the disabled mainstream students by their peers; however, the disabled mainstream students’ athletic abilities were related to acceptance only in the individual structure.

Cooperative group, risk‐taking and inclusion of pupils with learning disabilities in physical education

The aim of this research was to study the impact of risk-taking in gymnastics on the change of cooperative behaviours and acceptance of pupils with learning disabilities within the framework of cooperative learning. One hundred and sixty-eight French 1st year middle school pupils participated in this study. Thirty-six pupils with learning disabilities were mainstreamed in six ordinary classes during seven two-hour gymnastic lessons. Three classes practiced under low risk conditions and three classes performed under high perceived risk conditions. The helping behaviours of the SEGPA pupils were observed and the acceptance of pupils was measured thanks to a sociometric questionnaire during the first and last lessons. The results showed that risk-taking affected the helping behaviours and the acceptance of pupils with learning disabilities. These results lead to think about the factors that could have an impact on the influence of cooperative learning structures when mainstreaming pupils with learning disabilities in physical education.

Emotions and performance in rugby

Purpose This study investigated emotion–performance relationships in rugby union. We identified which emotions rugby players experienced and the extent to which these emotions were associated with performance, considering how emotions unfold over the course of a game, and whether the game was played at home or away. Methods Data were gathered from 22 professional male rugby union players using auto-confrontation interviews to help identify situations within games when players experienced intense emotions. We assessed the intensity of emotions experienced before each discrete performance and therefore could assess the emotion–performance relationship within a competition. Results Players identified experiencing intense emotions at 189 time-points. Experts in rugby union rated the quality of each performance at these 189 time-points on a visual analog scale. A Linear Mixed Effects model to investigate emotion–performance relationships found additive effects of game location, game time, and emotions on individual performance. Conclusion Results showed 7 different pre-performance emotions, with high anxiety and anger associating with poor performance. Future research should continue to investigate emotion–performance relationships during performance using video-assisted recall and use a measure of performance that has face validity for players and coaches alike.

The performance trajectory of physical education students differs across subtypes of perfectionism: A piecewise growth curve model of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism.

In their 2 × 2 model of perfectionism, Gaudreau and Thompson (2010) proposed that 4 prototypical subtypes of perfectionism—nonperfectionism, pure self-oriented perfectionism, pure socially prescribed perfectionism, and mixed perfectionism—are distinctively associated with antecedents, processes, and outcomes. The purpose of this study was to test whether the 4 subtypes of perfectionism would be associated with different performance trajectories for students who are learning a new motor task across 6 physical education classes. A sample of 97 adolescent students completed a questionnaire measuring perfectionism and were then introduced to acrobatic gymnastics by their physical education teacher. Participants had to practice the movements of acrobatic gymnastics in each class and were evaluated by their physical education teacher at the end of each class. The results of a piecewise multilevel growth model showed a decrease in performance in the first segment (i.e., Classes 1–3) followed by an increase in performance in the second segment (i.e., Classes 3–6). Perfectionism predicted the first segment of the performance trajectory. Overall, the results revealed that pure self-oriented perfectionism was associated with a better performance trajectory than nonperfectionism (Hypothesis 1a) and mixed perfectionism (Hypothesis 4). Conversely, pure socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with a worse performance trajectory than nonperfectionism (Hypothesis 2) and mixed perfectionism (Hypothesis 3). This study offered support for the 4 hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model and has important implications for future research on perfectionism and performance trajectories across different learning environments.

Emotion–performance relationships in team sport: The role of personal and social identities

In the field of emotion–performance relationship in achievement situations, the social dimensions of emotions have been understudied. Thus, recent advances highlighted the need to explore identity processes to know whether group belonging may influence individuals’ emotions and performance when they are involved in a task-group. The current study introduced an innovative approach to continuously capture the variability of emotions (pleasant and unpleasant), identity levels (personal and social) and performances (individual and collective) experienced during volleyball games. Six elite players (M = 20.14 years; SD = 1.25) volunteered to participate in this research. For the purpose of this study, a program based on the Mouse Paradigm methodological approach was elaborated. A total of 9461 momentary assessments (M = 1576.83 ± 94.38 per participant) was gathered for each of the aforementioned variables. Results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed a partial independence between social and personal identity, as well as an effect of identity levels on unpleasant emotions. Results also highlighted that neither identity levels nor emotions influenced individual performances. Taken together, these results were discussed in terms of theoretical and methodological advances that allow to deepen the understanding of emotions–performance relationships in the context of team-sports.