Evaluating the impact of two dialogical feedback methods for improving pre-service teacher's perceived confidence and competence to teach physical education within authentic learning environments

This novel study investigates the effectiveness of two dialogical feedback methods, peer dialogue assessment and dialogical feedback provided by an academic, when they are used as assessment as learning tools in undergraduate physical education courses. Education students from the University of Newcastle, Australia (n=288), participated in this investigation and completed eight weeks of face-to-face on-campus physical education studies followed by a 3 or 4 week in-school teaching program (~1.5 hrs/week). Students engaged in either peer dialogue assessment or dialogue provided by an academic at the completion of each concurrent teaching session with their respective peer group or academic. Both feedback groups exhibited equivalent and significant improvements in teaching self-efficacy, teaching competence and teaching confidence. This study provides support for embedding formative assessment tasks in an authentic teaching environment in undergraduate physical education courses, and using dialogical feedback (peer or academic) to facilitate reflection and furthering learning in this context.