Characteristics of the Learner Personality Heredity Ability Learner

Characteristics of the Learner Personality Heredity Ability Learner Confidence Prior Experience

Personality refers to an individual’s characteristic way of behaving. u Personality develops as a result of the individual’s infinite social interactions and learning experiences throughout life. u Coaches describe athletes in terms of observable traits such as consistency, reliability, level of motivation and ability to express feelings. u

Heredity Individuals are endowed with certain characteristics inherited from their parents. These are unchangeable and will limit the dimensions of their potential. u The relative percentage of fast-twitch to slow-twitch fibres u Somatotype u Gender u Height u Conceptual ability u

Confidence u Confidence is a firm belief in one’s own ability u Self-confidence is critical not only to improvements in skill acquisition, but also to the performance of many tasks faced in everyday living. u Confidence develops from experiencing success in learning situations.

Prior experience u In a group situation, learners will be quite diverse in terms of background experience. If an individual earlier learned a movement that is similar to one being taught, they have the potential to accelerate the current learning process. This is referred to as the transfer of leaning.

Ability u Ability is seen in the way in which an individual is able to learn, process and implement new skills. Ability incorporates a range of factors such as sense acuity, perception, reaction, time and intelligence, which combine to allow the individual to do readily what is intended.