During which phase of psychomotor skill development does the instructor become a coach to help students refine their efforts?

The phase of psychomotor skill development where the instructor takes on the role of a coach to help students refine their skills is the associative phase. During this stage, learners have moved beyond the initial learning process and possess a foundational understanding of the skills they are practicing. They can perform the skill but still require feedback and guidance to improve their technique and performance.

In the associative phase, students work on refining their skills through practice and are more aware of their performance, allowing them to make corrections based on the feedback they receive. This is where the instructor’s coaching becomes essential, as they help identify errors, provide constructive feedback, and assist in fine-tuning the technique for better results.

The other phases—cognitive and autonomous—do not focus on this aspect of instructor-student interaction in the same way. The cognitive phase is primarily about acquiring new knowledge and understanding, while the autonomous phase is when skills become second nature, and minimal feedback is needed. Conceptualization, while related to understanding a concept, does not specifically deal with the refinement of skills through coaching.