Revisiting Pupils' Handwriting Skills: Input to a Handwriting Intervention Program
Keywords:
handwriting skills, cursive, manuscriptAbstract
INTRODUCTION
The researcher has observed that when pupils reach fourth grade, their handwriting became worse. The strokes are wrong, the intensity of pencil hold, as well as the letters, have been found to be lacking in quality. The desire to improve handwriting of pupils motivated the researcher to undertake this research.
METHODS
This study used the descriptive method of research with seven respondents chosen using the purposive sampling technique. It utilized the researcher-made questionnaire as the main survey instrument.
RESULTS
Results of the study revealed that with regards to the level of handwriting in cursive, the respondents rated the pupils Poor with a mean score of 1.30. It was not the same with writing in manuscript with 2.48 mean score interpreted as Fair. Teachers had been teaching cursive to their pupils two times a week only and manuscript for thrice a week. With regards to strategies, the respondents suggested a 30-minute daily writing activity, dictation integrated to writing, and inductive approach to teaching handwriting practice.
DISCUSSIONS
These results only showed that the majority of the pupils cannot write legibly both in manuscript and in cursive. Writing in cursive got a Poor interpretation which could only mean that they were lacking in practice. Likewise, the number of times a week that handwriting is practiced was consistent with the results of the level of handwriting of pupils under study. It could also be said that the number of times a week that handwriting was practiced did not suffice to the needs of the pupils. The respondents suggested certain strategies in teaching handwriting such as inductive method, daily writing activity, and integration of dictation.
Daily writing practice from Kinder to Grade Six have to be strictly implemented. Moreover, an intervention program has to be formulated to help pupils in handwriting. Finally, strict implementation of the intervention program has to be followed by the teachers.
