Comparison the effect of Instructional and Motivational Self-Talk on Performance and Learning of Handball Skills

Psychological factors such as self-talk play a role in skill improvement. The aim of this study was to compare Instructional and motivational self-talk on performance and learning of basic handball skills in Karaj female students. The present study was applied with research design pre-test, post-test and a control group and used the wall-pass and penalty throw tests in handball. The research samples consisted of 60 female high school students in Karaj (13-18 years old). Sampling was availability and samples divided into three groups randomly: Instructional self-talk, motivational self-talk and control. Subjects performed basic skills for six weeks, three sessions per week and 45 minutes per session, in three blocks and each block containing 10 trails. Before performing the task, the subjects in the Instructional self-talk group used "straight body" and "straight elbow" for throwing and "pay attention" and "see your teammate" for pass, and in the motivational self-talk group used "now" for pass and "firm" for throw. The results of intragroup repeated measures analysis variance, MANOVA and one-way ANOVA showed that Instructional and motivational self-talk in compare with the control group, had a significant effect on performance and learning of basic handball skills (P≤05) But there is no significant difference between two experimental groups (P>0.05). Self-talk, regardless of its kinds, has a facilitating effect on motivation and, consequently, performance by changing the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects. Thus, self-talk can motivate key elements of the skill pattern and improve skills by drawing subject attention to the relevant task.