Hong Chang
ABSTRACT
The study used a mixed research approach to examine the extent of sports engagement and level of skills in table tennis. In addition, the level of motivational climate was also studied to assess the level of motivational climate in terms of ego and task climate in table tennis activities. Correlational analysis method was used to determine the difference between students’ extent of sports engagement and each of the following variables, level of motivational climate and level of sports skills in table tennis. The self-made tool was validated for content by the members of the panel, researchers and experts in the field of academic writing. The questionnaire was used by the 200 Chinese students who are enrolled in table tennis as participants of the study. Data analysis utilized various methods including frequency and percentage, mean, t-test for individual samples, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, and thematic analysis. Results indicated that student-participants were, majority of the student-participants are second grade students. Based on the results of the study, the level of motivational climate of students in terms of ego and task climate were all assessed as high, the extent of sports engagement of students exhibited great extent in table tennis, and the level of sports skills is high. The gender and program of study did not affect students’ level of motivational climate, extent of sports engagement, and level of sports skills; meanwhile, grade level significantly affected the students’ level of motivational climate, extent of sports engagement, and level of sports skills. Furthermore, participants encountered some problems in their engagement in table tennis like lack of access to facilities, inadequate coaching, competitive pressure, negative motivational atmosphere, time constraints, limited equipment, lack of social and sports engagement, skill development, and parental support were problems and challenges encountered by the participants.
Keywords: Motivational climate, students’ sports engagement, sports skills, on-campus, off-campus activities, task-orientation, ego-orientation