It's defniatly both, this builds her character, as her training partner would say, "You're a child who lacks the discipline and brutality to survive in this world."
An important thing to know is that she is basically a realm-walker, the book began with her in a different realm and time-line, and then she was transported to a different realm/timeline, she's 17 and she's lived most of her life in the realm that the book started in, so she's in a while new world and has no idea how to protect herself, hince why's she's learning because her learning these techniques plays into a bigger role.
It seems to me that play by play description is important in a few cases, like in confrontations and altercations, but not in general scenes, where development can be tightened up and move faster, helping draw on reader interest.
