The primary purpose of this study was to compare the teacher behaviours that influence motivational climate and pupils’ perceptions of the motivational climate in physical education lessons in Singapore and the UK. The participants were eight student teachers from the UK, ten student teachers from Singapore and their respective pupils. Each student teacher was filmed teaching one PE lesson and based on the teaching structures that influence motivational climate, their teacher behaviours were coded as ‘mastery’, ‘performance’, or ‘neither’, using the Behavioural Evaluation Strategies and Taxonomies software. Additionally, the pupils completed a questionnaire to assess their perceptions of the motivational climate. As hypothesized, the behavioural measure revealed higher levels of performance involving teaching behaviours in Singapore compared with the UK. Furthermore, pupils’ perceptions of the motivational climate revealed higher levels of a perceived performance climate in Singapore compared to the UK. These findings are discussed in relation to cultural differences between Singapore and the UK.

This investigation examined competitive anxiety, self-presentational concerns, and the influence of gender. Three hundred and fifteen athletes completed the Sport Anxiety Scale and the Self-Presentation in Sport Questionnaire. Comparison revealed that females displayed higher levels of self-presentational concerns and competitive anxiety. Regression analyses revealed that concerns about performance/ composure inadequacy were the largest predictor of competitive anxiety factors for all athletes (somatic anxiety, worry, & concentrations disruption). In all cases, self-presentational concerns showed the strongest association with worry. Selfpresentational concerns predicted moderately more variation in competitive anxiety for females than males. Increased understanding of the relationship between selfpresentation and anxiety will allow the development of more effective interventions to manage the influence of competitive anxiety.

There has been a plethora of social support literature targeting elite sport, as noted by Rees and Hardy (2004). This report adds an additional resource to the social support literature previously untouched: culture specific resources for Aboriginal populations. The present study was comprised of 23 national and international elite Canadian Aboriginal athletes (16 male, 7 female). The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews (Patton, 2002), developed, refined, and coauthored with an Aboriginal community appointed team. The results indicated that the Canadian Aboriginal elite athletes sought out support from eight different Aboriginal resources during their self-identified evolution. The role of cultural social support resources and types of assistance will be discussed in relation to each development stage. Implications are considered in terms of effective cultural service provision and research.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of practice and augmented feedback on netball goal-shooting performance without restricting the interaction time between the learner and the instructor. Thirty participants were randomly allocated into a control (CON), practice (being provided with KR only; PRA), or practice with augmented feedback group (being provided with KP and KR; AUG), and completed 20 netball goal-shots at pre- and post-practice testing sessions. PRA and AUG participated in 3 consecutive practice sessions, which lasted 20 minutes each. In addition, the AUG group received goal-shooting instructions (verbal cues). The AUG group showed a significantly greater improvement in scoring performance, highlighting the importance of augmented feedback in the acquisition of complex motor skills. The current study provides a bridging step between laboratory motor learning and applied research.

Three studies were conducted to develop and validate a French questionnaire measuring athletes’ perceptions of significant others’ task- and ego-involving roles. In Study 1, a preliminary version was constructed by creating or selecting and adapting 30 items from various existing questionnaires which refer to different significant others. In Study 2, exploratory factor analyses with 210 athletes (M age = 17.2) suggested the existence of six scales (PLC: Promotion of Learning by the Coach, PLP: Promotion of Learning by Parents, PLA: Pursuit of Learning by Athletes, PCC: Promotion of Comparison by the Coach, PCP: Promotion of Comparison by Parents, PCA: Pursuit of Comparison by Athletes) with satisfactory internal consistencies, except for the PCP scale. In Study 3, confirmatory factor analyses with 285 athletes (M age = 16.9) supported the preliminary six-factor structure of the instrument as well as a hierarchical structure in which the six factors were distributed into two higher-order factors (TIR: Task-Involving Roles and EIR: Ego-Involving Roles). The theoretical validity of the questionnaire was evidenced by positive correlations between ‘learning’ scales (PLC, PLP, PLA) and task orientation, and between ‘comparison’ scales (PCC, PCP, PCA) and ego orientation. The test-retest reliability was good over a three-week period and was moderate over a three-month period.