Page 251 - Making Instruction Work

chap 19 3/11/97 5:15 PM Page 237

getting ready 237

dence of incompetence.“If you’ll put your hand in this
position rather than that one, I think you’ll see some
improvement;” “If you stand in front of the elephant
rather than behind it, you’ll have more things to hold
onto as you climb;” “If you’ll hold a drinking straw
between your lips, you’ll actually be able to see the
improvement in your lip control as you practice.”
Task-diagnostic feedback focuses on ways in which
performance of a task may be improved.

3. Modeling. Self-efficacy can be improved when students
watch others like themselves performing competently.
(Refer to the modeling discussion in the previous sec-
tion.)

4. Social persuasion. Self-efficacy is influenced by the
comments of others (we all know the powerful effects
that unkind comments can have). Arrange for success
experiences and then help students interpret those suc-
cess experiences as indications of improvement. Your
own comments and actions are always influencing the
self-efficacy of your students, either favorably or unfa-
vorably. You cannot choose to use or not use social per-
suasion, so you must be careful about your behavior
when in the presence of your students. Keep it positive.

5. Physiological information. Sometimes people will
make judgments about their ability, or lack of it, from
physiological cues: aches, pains, effort, etc. They will
confuse the difficulty of a task with their ability to per-
form it. “Gee, I’m not very good at this—this is hard.”
Lots of things are difficult to do, but lots of people
become very good at doing them. Help your students to
understand the difference between hard work and skill