CONSISTENT TERMINOLOGY IN

TEACHING HANDWRITING

Tammy S. Reigles, OTR

University of Wisconsin–La Crosse

Manitowoc Learning Community

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to

determine the effect teaching handwriting using consistent terminology would have on the ability of kindergarten students to form lowercase letters correctly with proper alignment and spacing

WHY IT MATTERS TO ME Occupational therapist in a rural district Overall last 12 years, most referrals

come from handwriting problems Frustrating that I’m supposed to just fix

student problems Lack of consistency among teachers

within the district Poor handwriting was the primary

reason for referral to occupational therapy in the school system (Clark-Wentz, 1997).

REVIEW OF LITERATURE Handwriting is a complex skill, (Feder &

Majnemer 2007) Handwriting NEEDS to be taught (Clark-

Wentz, 1997) Handwriting should be taught involving

all different kinds of learners, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (Clark-Wentz, 1997)

Students are judged by what they write as well as content (Graham, Harris, & Fink, 2000a)

REVIEW OF LITERATURE CONTINUED Handwriting needs to be taught it can

not be assumed that children will be able to form letters or copy them (Clark-Wentz, 1997)

85% of fine motor time in 2nd, 4th, and 6th grade was spent on writing activities (McHale & Cermak, 1992)

In a recent study, approximately one in every two teachers surveyed spent 10 minutes or less teaching handwriting per day. (Graham et al. (2007)

According to Larsen and Hammill “Because many teachers fail to spend an appropriate amount of time in the early grades on handwriting instruction, some students fail to grasp the skills necessary to write well” (as cited in Clark-Wentz, 1997, p. 31).

HANDWRITING VS. COMPUTERS Handwriting is an important

developmental skill, (Feder & Majnemer, 2007)

Computers may be tools of the future, penmanship still an important skill (May 2008)

Primary tool of communication and knowledge assessment in the classroom (Olsen, 2009)

Means of communication, personal note, telephone message, writing checks (Feder & Majnemer, 2007)

HANDWRITING PROGRAMS Zaner-Bloser©     D’Nealian© Handwriting without Tears® Kinesthetic approach to handwriting by

Mary Benbow

LACK OF SPECIFIC INFO At this time, it was difficult to find

research completed solely on using common terminology when teaching handwriting skills

RESEARCH QUESTIONS What is the success rate of student’s

forming lower case letters correctly with appropriate alignment, and spacing when taught with common terminology?

How can common terminology lessons remain consistent?

What terms do children use when forming letters?

 

METHODOLOGY Experimental group and control group

for comparison Taught letters to experimental group

using big line, little line, big curve, little curve consistently

Used multisensory approach-chalkboards, water, blowing upon, shaving cream

Then paper and pencil

KINDERGARTEN CLASSROOMS EXPERIMENTAL GROUP: 16

students in the classroom

12 Caucasian students, 3 Hmong students, and 1 Hispanic student. Of the 3 Hmong students, 2

were not fluent in speaking English while 1 was proficient in the English language.

9 male and 7 female students. The students that received

special education services received services for a mixture of cognitive and behavioral needs, speech and language delays, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

CONTROL GROUP: 13 students in the classroom

•10 Caucasian students, •1 Native America student,•1 African American student, and•1 Hispanic student•All the students were proficient in English

•6 male and 7 female students

The students that received special education services received services for a mixture of cognitive and behavioral needs, speech and language delays, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

CONTROL GROUP Learned letters capital and lowercase

letters together Zaner-Bloser© method

EXPERIMENTAL GROUP Taught capital letters first semester Taught lowercase letters second

semester Used common terms: big line, little line,

big curve, and little curve for every letter

Similar to Handwriting without Tears®

DATA COLLECTION Field notes were used to record the words students

used to form individual letters during practice time were documented

Writing samples from each student were collected from the actual practice workbooks for each letter

Writing samples through copies of their workbook pages for homework

A third party teacher observed and documented what terminology the kindergarten classroom teacher and this researcher utilized

short interviews were conducted following the conclusion of the research with the kindergarten teacher from the experimental classroom

short interviews were conducted following the conclusion of the research with the students

LINES AND CURVESBig lineLittle line Big Curve

Little Curve

TEACH-PRACTICE-REVIEW

A typical review lesson using the Constructivist theory. I am have given the students the capital ‘D’ using our lines and curves, and they need to tell me how to form the lowercase ‘d’

WORKBOOK SAMPLES

RESULTS Using consistent terminology to teach

handwriting is 76% successful for students to form lowercase letters of the alphabet

All students that completed the post assessment, which was 14 of the 16 in the study demonstrated an improvement in the number of letters they could form correctly by the end of the research study.

The average gain of letters for the class was 19 letters. The improvement range of letters was between 4 and 24 letters.

72% with differing terminology from the control group

INDIVIDUAL STUDENT GROWTH

POST ASSESSMENT RESULTS

Post Assessment writing sample

TEACHER CONSISTENCY Teachers used were consistent in using

terminology for handwriting In four out of the five letters the

wordings were consistently the same verbage used by the researcher

STUDENTS USING TERMS When asked to state how to form specific letters

being practiced, the students were overall 76% consistent with restating the individual letter that was being taught or practiced that day precisely as the teacher taught it. According to the fieldnotes, the students were 100% successful at restating how to form letters k, p, and b. The students had the most difficult time reporting how to form letters r and m with 33% or less using the exact terms taught by the teachers.

Of the 10 students interviewed, 4 students were able to state how to form the letters and state the formation correctly of the five letters requested of them

Sample of fieldnotes. Checking for student use of terms for forming the letter ‘n’

LIMITATIONS the students’ home environments

influenced data collection the teaching method and post-

assessment of the control group 2 students with very limited English

speaking skills in the experimental classroom, which affected the overall score

FUTURE RESEARCH Additional time should be spent on

having more classrooms try using the same common terminology for handwriting from year to year.

Finding a first grade teacher to continue the use of these common terms when teaching handwriting

Discovering if students’ handwriting becomes more legible on school-wide written assessment are the grounds for continued action research

THE END