Practice is the act of rehearsing a behaviour repeatedly, to help
learn
Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of learn ...
and eventually master a
skill
A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of wo ...
. The word derives from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
"πρακτική" (''praktike''), feminine of "πρακτικός" (''praktikos''), "fit for or concerned with action, practical", and that from the verb "πράσσω" (''prasso''), "to achieve, bring about, effect, accomplish".
In
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
, ''practice'' is the
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
and ''practise'' is the verb, but in
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
it is now common for ''practice'' to be used both as a noun and a verb (see
American and British English spelling differences
Despite the various List of dialects of English, English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable variatio ...
; this article follows the British distinction).
Sessions scheduled for the purpose of rehearsing and performance improvement are called practices. They are engaged in by sports teams, bands, individuals, etc., as in, "He went to football practice every day after school".
Common types
![ANCOP officers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/ANCOP_officers.jpg)
Some common ways practice is applied:
*To learn how to play a
musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...
(
musical technique
Musical technique is the ability of instrumental and vocal musicians to exert optimal control of their instruments or vocal cords in order to produce the precise musical effects they desire. Improving one's technique generally entails practicin ...
)
*To improve athletic or team performance
*To prepare for a public performance within the performing arts
*To improve
reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
,
writing
Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...
,
interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is an exchange of information between two or more people. It is also an area of research that seeks to understand how humans use verbal and nonverbal cues to accomplish a number of personal and relational goals.
Inter ...
,
typing
Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, mobile phone or calculator. It can be distinguished from other means of text input, such as handwriting and speech recognition. Text can b ...
,
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
, and
spelling
Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...
*To enhance or refine a newly acquired skill
*To maintain skill
*To learn martial arts;
kata
''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practised ...
and
sparring
Sparring is a form of training common to many combat sports. Although the precise form varies, it is essentially relatively ' free-form' fighting, with enough rules, customs, or agreements to minimize injuries. By extension, argumentative debate ...
are common forms of practice
*To master tasks associated with one's occupation (e.g. a cashier using a
POS system)
How well one improves with practice depends on several factors, such as the frequency it is engaged in, and the type of feedback that is available for improvement. If feedback is not appropriate (either from an instructor or from self-reference to an information source), then the practice tends to be ineffective or even detrimental to learning. If a student does not practise often enough, reinforcement fades, and he or she is likely to forget what was learned. Therefore, practice is often scheduled, to ensure enough of it is performed to reach one's training objectives. How much practice is required depends upon the nature of the activity, and upon each individual. Some people improve on a particular activity faster than others. Practice in an instructional setting may be effective if repeated only 1 time (for some simple verbal information) or 3 times (for concepts), or it may be practised many times before evaluation (a dance movement).
Deliberate practice
Psychologist
K. Anders Ericsson
K. Anders Ericsson (October, 23, 1947 – June 17, 2020) was a Swedish psychologist and Conradi Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University who was internationally recognized as a researcher in the psychological natur ...
, a professor of Psychology at
Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
, was a pioneer in researching deliberate practice and what it means. According to Ericsson:
People believe that because expert performance is qualitatively different from a normal performance the expert performer must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from those of normal adults. ..We agree that expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance and even that expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are immutable, that is, due to innate talent. Only a few exceptions, most notably height, are genetically prescribed. Instead, we argue that the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain.[K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer. ''The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance.'' Psychological Review 1993, Vol. 100. No. 3, 363-40]
/ref>
One of Ericsson's core findings was that how expert one becomes at a skill has more to do with how one practises than with merely performing a skill a large number of times. An expert breaks down the skills that are required to be expert and focuses on improving those skill chunks during practice or day-to-day activities, often paired with immediate coaching feedback. Another important feature of deliberate practice lies in continually practising a skill at more challenging levels with the intention of mastering it.
[Mayer, R. E. (2008). ''Learning and Instruction.'' Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.] Deliberate practice is also discussed in the books ''Talent is Overrated'' by
Geoff Colvin
Geoffrey Colvin is the author of ''Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will'' (); ''Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else'' (); and ''The Upside of the Downt ...
and ''The Talent Code'' by Daniel Coyle, among others. This includes, ''Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,'' by
Angela Duckworth
Angela Lee Duckworth (born 1970) is an American academic, psychologist, and popular science author. She is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies grit and self-control. She is ...
and ''
Outliers: The Story of Success,'' by
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little T ...
.
Ericsson also believes that some anatomical characteristics were believed to be fixed traits in the past. Genes rarely dictate what traits will be. However, his study has proven that the characteristics have the ability to change and adapt in response to intense practice over multiple years. Ericsson's statements on practice also support the 10 year rule. Ericsson believes that elite performance is the product of maximal effort over at least a decade. The maximal effort is described as using deliberate practice in order to improve performance.
Duckworth describes how deliberate practice affects education, motivation, and learning outcomes.
In a presentation she gave at the American Educational Research Conference in 2014,
she spoke about the importance of grit – of students' focusing on material with which they struggle. In her view, grit allows a student to persevere and succeed in the face of adversity. Duckworth says that if a student can apply grit in their academic work, their effort will increase. Duckworth says that effort is equally important as talent in achieving academic goals. In a study she conducted at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C, she found that the students who used the grit tactic tended to advance to the finals.
Two recent articles in ''
Current Directions in Psychological Science
''Current Directions in Psychological Science '' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) that is published by SAGE Publications.
Publication Scope
''Current Directions in Psycholo ...
'' criticise deliberate practice and argue that, while it is necessary for reaching high levels of performance, it is not sufficient, with other factors such as talent being important as well. More recently, a meta-analysis found the correlation coefficient between deliberate practice and performance was 0.40, the size of which is large compared to other predictor variables (e.g. obesity, excessive drinking, smoking, intelligence, adherence to effective medication). In addition, Malcolm Gladwell's point-of-view about deliberate practice is different from Ericsson's view. Gladwell, staff writer at ''The New Yorker'' magazine and author of five books on The New York Times Best Seller list including ''Outliers: The Story of Success'' said in a May 2016 Freakonomics podcast interview that, "He's
ricssona hard practice guy, and I'm a soft practice guy." Gladwell claims that talent is important with an intentional dedication to practice and having a support system is vital to produce superior outcomes. It is not all about methodical effort as Ericsson claims. In Malcolm Gladwell's book, one chapter is called "The Matthew Effect." This effect describes how different biases can affect an individual's performance. When someone is practicing a skill, especially with deliberate practice, coaches play an important role in how their practices go. If a coach sets high expectations and encourages their learners, the individual is more likely to take more from practice and perform better. The role of coaches is important during deliberate practice. Coaches can strengthen desired behaviors through encouragement, positive reinforcement, and technical instruction. Fostering a positive learning environment through deliberate practice is key for all individuals involved. It is also important for coaches to lay out their practices with specific skill training, variable practice, and training open and closed skills. These factors lead to an intentional deliberate practice which ultimately leads to better learning and performance.
According to the American Psychological Association, the purpose of deliberate practice is to achieve high levels of expert performance. Studies also show that due to deliberate practice, an individual will experience high achievement. This is due to memory, cognition, practice, persistence, and muscle response that all improves through deliberate practice.
Characteristics of Deliberate Practice
Practice changes the human body physically and psychologically as it increases in skill level. Skills that are learned through deliberate practice are specific and time spent practicing is crucial for the individual. If an individual spent a short amount of time with high intensity during practice, they are not as likely to succeed as an individual with a long-term commitment to the practice and skill.
To be considered deliberate practice, the individual should be engaging in full concentration, authorities and coaches are giving feedback, the individual is analyzing the feedback, and then the individual repeats the skill and practice over and over. During the repetition, the individual is making refinements to what they need to correct according to their feedback.
Rebuttal to the 10,000 hour rule
Malcolm Gladwell developed the highly popular 10,000 hour rule. This rule states that if an individual spends 10,000 hours of full concentration and intense effort in their certain skill, they will become an expert at it. However, Anders Ericsson's article focuses on how the amount of time does not affect the elite status but how deliberate the practice is. Ericsson states "it is now quite clear that the number of hours of merely engaging in activities, such as playing music, chess and soccer, or engaging in professional work activities has a much lower benefit for improving performance than deliberate practice"
Behavioral versus cognitive theories of deliberate practice
Behavioral theory would argue that deliberate practice is facilitated by feedback from an expert that allows for successful approximation of the target performance. Feedback from an expert allows the learner to minimise errors and frustration that results from trial-and-error attempts. Behavioral theory does not require delivery of rewards for accurate performance; the expert feedback in combination with the accurate performance serve as the consequences that establish and maintain the new performance.
In cognitive theory, excellent performance results from practising complex tasks that produce errors. Such errors provide the learner with rich feedback that results in scaffolding for future performance. Cognitive theory explains how a learner can become an expert (or someone who has mastered a domain).
Motivation
Learning is closely linked to practice and
motivation
Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...
.
Sociocultural theory Cultural-historical psychology is a branch of psychological theory and practice associated with Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria and their Circle, who initiated it in the mid-1920s–1930s.Yasnitsky, A., van der Veer, R., & Ferrari, M. (Eds.) (2014 ...
applied to motivation of practice suggests that motivation resides not within the individual, but within the domain of social and cultural contexts united by shared action and activity. Thus, motivation to practice is not simply within the locus of the individual (see
Incentive theories: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation), but rather the locus is the activity and its specific contexts of which the individual is a participant.
Psychologist
K. Anders Ericsson
K. Anders Ericsson (October, 23, 1947 – June 17, 2020) was a Swedish psychologist and Conradi Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University who was internationally recognized as a researcher in the psychological natur ...
writes about motivation to practice. He creates a theoretical framework for acquisition of expert performance that discusses the issue of a lack of motivation to practice. He writes:
Engagement in deliberate practice is not inherently motivating. Performers consider it instrumental in achieving further improvements in performance (the motivational constraint). The lack of inherent reward or enjoyment in practice as distinct from the enjoyment of the result (improvement) is consistent with the fact that individuals in a domain rarely initiate practice spontaneously.
The motivational constraint, mentioned above, is important to consider as it is an important premise of Ericsson's theoretical framework for deliberate practice. He finds that because participating in deliberate practice is not motivating that individuals must be engaged and motivated to take part in improvement before deliberate practice can even take place.
He talks about the success of children who were simply exposed to an activity for months by their parents in a fun way. These children displayed immense interest in continuing the activity, so the parents then began implanting deliberate practice. This came to be extremely successful, which Ericsson cites as proof that his theory works when put into action. He finds that children must have the passion to improve their skills before deliberate practice begins in order to really be successful.
Deliberate practice in medical education
Duvivier et al. reconstructed the concept of deliberate practice into practical principles to describe the process as it relates to clinical skill acquisition. They defined deliberate practice as:
#repetitive performance of intended cognitive or psychomotor skills.
#rigorous skills assessment
#specific information feedback
#better skills performance''
[Duvivier, R. J., van Dalen, J., Muijtjens, A. M., Moulaert, V., Van der Vleuten, C., Scherpbier, A. (2011). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of clinical skills. ''BMC Medical Education, 11'': 101.]
They further described the personal skills learners need to exhibit at various stages of skill development in order to be successful in developing their clinical skills. This includes:
#planning (organise work in a structured way).
#concentration/dedication (higher attention span)
#repetition/revision (strong tendency to practise)
#study style/self reflection (tendency to self-regulate learning)''
While the study only included medical students, the authors found that repetitious practice may only help the novice learner (year 1) because as expertise is developed, the learner must focus and plan their learning around specific deficiencies. Curriculum must be designed to develop students' ability to plan their learning as they progress in their careers.
Finally, the findings in the study also have implications for developing self-regulated behaviours in students. Initially, a medical student may need focused feedback from instructors; however, as they progress, they must develop the ability to self-assess.
In an article by Susan Howick, the idea of using mixed method practice in the medical field could be proven to be beneficial for practitioners and researchers.
Deliberate Practice versus Physical Preparation
Deliberate Practice is not just any form of preparatory activity, but is defined as "highly structured activities that (a) are most relevant for improving performance, (b) are cognitively effortful, and (c) have no immediate rewards." There is a rise in discovering the differences within the details and connection between deliberate practice and physical preparation. Some researchers propose the idea that self regulated learning can help athletes overcome practice constraints. With this, athletes are more inclined to achieve and develop as an athlete. Ericsson wants to pursue a more detail oriented approach on how deliberate practice is measured and how it is different from other types of training.
As maintenance
Skills fade with non-use.
The phenomenon is often referred to as being "out of practice". Practice is therefore performed (on a regular basis) to keep skills and abilities honed. It is important to keep learners from reaching a burn out or exhaustion stage while learning and practicing. Spending a fair amount of time at practice is important when learning a new skill but taking time for mental and emotional health is just as important.
See also
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References
{{reflist
Learning methods
Sports education and training
Skills