CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Chapter One of this study covers eight (8) parts namely: the background of the study,

statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions, significance of the

study, delimitation, limitation and organization of the study.

Background of the study

In Ghana, English Language can be viewed to be a national language due to its binding

force used as a medium of instruction in the education sector of Ghana.

One cannot talk about English Language without looking at reading and writing. This is

because; they are seen as two sides of a coin.

As one learns to read, the ability to write cannot be ignored according to National

Council of Teachers of English (2009). Writing has not been accorded the support that

reading has enjoyed.

J.D. Williams (1981) emphasized that the teaching of good handwriting is often

overlooked in our primary schools forgetting that it will be of great value to pupils in

later life of schooling.

Penmanship is a writing skill. Handwriting is an individual‟s style of penmanship skill.

Writing uniquely defines a person hence its importance cannot be overlooked.

According to the National Association for the Education of the Young Children (1998),

it is essential to teach children how to write competently, enabling the pupils to achieve

today‟s high standard of literacy. The association goes on further to explain the

importance of teaching writing.

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“Learning to read and write is critical to child‟s success in school and later life.

According to the National Association for the Education of the Young Children (1998),

teaching writing can benefit many youngsters including those suffering from

dysgraphia. Ability of pupils to communicate through written language is not really the

hallmark of literacy but also essential aid to individual progress.

The neglect of teaching of writing in basic schools could have simple effects on pupils‟

academic performance. Pupils who take notes by hand tend to perform better in their

exams because the pupils enhance their mechanical Accuracy skills.

Despite the fact that penmanship skills are essential, the teachers of Kwamo Anglican

primary have overlooked the teaching of handwriting, especially pupils in basic two.

The researcher observed that the pupils in basic two could not write letters of the

alphabet with ascenders and descenders properly. Pupils in basic two could not

optically space their letters and words in sentences making which make their reading of

their work very difficult.

The pupils also had problems in identifying and writing letters that are confusing. Such

letters include „h‟ and „n‟, „d‟ , „b‟ and „p‟. „m‟ and „w‟ among others.

Kwamo is located in Ashanti Region off Ejisu-Accra highway. Kwamo is purely a

business town and parents are too occupied that they do not get time to assist their ward

at home. Pupils are not monitored on their day to day activities in school by their

parents. When pupils close from school, they do things that would not help them

progress academically. For example: gambling, smoking and many more.

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Additionally, it came to the notice of the researcher that the problem existed because of

caliber of some teachers in the pre-school. Some of the teachers in pre-school do not

employ the appropriate methodology used in teaching pupils handwriting.

Statement of the problem

The researcher was posted on an out-segment at Kwamo Anglican Primary School for

2018/2019 academic year.

The researcher was assigned to basic two class to do his teaching practice as part of the

requirements of the university of Cape Coast for the award of Diploma in Basic

Education Certificate. He observed that most of the pupils in basic two especially the

boys had poor handwriting.

Most of the pupils spent a lot of time to write, and could not write legibly and Cleary.

When he was marking the pupils work on mathematics, he found it very difficult to

grasp meaning from what the pupils wrote.

Therefore, he deemed it very necessary to design appropriate intervention to curb the

problem.

Purpose of the study

The main purpose of the study is to:

1. identify the causes of poor handwriting among basic two pupils of Kwamo

Anglican Primary School.

2. examine the effects of poor handwriting on pupils academic performance of

Kwamo Anglican Primary two.

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 3. design appropriate intervention to improve upon the penmanship skills of basic

two pupils of Kwamo Anglican Primary School.

Research questions

The problem at hand has made it necessary for the researcher to develop the following

research questions, which would provide some directions for collecting facts that would

provide valid and reliable answers to the questions.

1. What are the main causes of poor handwriting on pupils‟ academic performance

at Kwamo Anglican Primary two?

2. What are the effects of poor handwriting on pupils‟ academic performance at

Kwamo Anglican Primary two?

3. What appropriate intervention should be used to improve upon penmanship

skills of pupils at Kwamo Anglican Primary two?

Significance of the study

The researcher is of the hope that the outcome of the study would be of great benefit in

the following ways.

In the first place, poor handwriting makes reading difficult. When pupils write poorly it

makes it very difficult to extract information from what they write. It is therefore

important that pupils of Kwamo Anglican Primary two with the penmanship skills

would enable them write efficiently and legibly. The study would help the pupils of

Kwamo Anglican Primary two to progress in their academic performance. For example,

pupils who write legibly and clearly get higher marks in their exams than pupils who are

unable to write legibly and clearly.

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Also, the study would equip pre-school and lower primary teachers with the most

effective method of making writing more interesting and appealing to pupils in their

early stages of development. The study would seek to provide the pre-school and lower

primary teachers with requisite skills to enhance the penmanship skills of pupils.

Teachers would employ the appropriate methodology used in teaching pupils within the

limit of their individual difference.

In addition, the study would add to the already accumulated literature and knowledge on

writing skills of pupils in Ghana Schools. The study would broaden the knowledge of

other researchers, to source for information needed for action research. For example, the

researcher would acquire the requisite knowledge to look for information from both

primary and secondary sources on handwriting skills.

Delimitation

English Language has got different aspects:

Productive skills (ie speaking and writing) and receptive skills (ie listening and

reading). Though, the receptive and productive skills are closely related, the researcher

focused on writing. The work was also concentrated on Basic two pupils of Kwamo

Anglican primary school where the problem was identified.

Organization of the study

The study has been divided into five (5) chapters. The chapter one is introduction which

discusses the background to the problem, statement of the problem, purpose of the

study, research questions and significance of the study, delimitation and limitation

followed by organization of the study.

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Chapter two is review of related literature which re-examines materials from both

primary and secondary sources relevant for the study.

Chapter three would also entail the methodology which would take into account the

procedure and instruments of the study.

Chapter four would also look into the analysis of data presented and interpretation of

data.

Chapter five consists of summary, conclusion and recommendations for further

research. The references to the study would follow and finally the appendix.

Limitation

There were a lot of obstacles that the researcher encountered during the study.

Also, financial constraints are a limiting factor of the study. The researcher had to type

the work, which cost him huge amount of money. The researcher found it difficult to

come by money to complete the entire work. This is because he was not given money

for conducting the research by the college.

First of all, time-bound is a limitation of the study. The researcher was given little time

to complete the research. The limited time was a hindrance to gather enough

information from all the pupils in basic two at Kwamo Anglican Primary School.

The researcher needed to observe all the pupils in B.S 2. Due to the timely nature of

action research, he was forced to select few pupils for the observation in order to

complete the study on time.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with the views gathered by the researcher which are relevant to the

study. It offers combinations of what have been written on the research topic in terms of

theories and empirical evidence and overall goal of clarifying how the present study

intends to address the gap in existing literature. The review is directed by the research

questions and covers areas like:

1. The meaning of handwriting

2. The causes of poor handwriting

3. The effects of poor handwriting

4. Importance of handwriting

5. Approaches used in teaching handwriting

The Meaning of Handwriting

What is handwriting?

According to the Encarta (2006), handwriting is a method of communication. The

definition by Encarta further explains the fact that handwriting serves as the means of

sending (encoding) and receiving (decoding) information.

Donald D. Hamail (2001) also explains handwriting as a complex process involving the

integration of visual motoric and conceptual ability. This basically talk about

handwriting involving the eye and the hand, and the ability to form concepts in the mind

regarding the letters of the alphabets (Abbot and Beraiger 1993,overveld and Hustlin

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2011) confirms Donalds definition by saying handwriting is a functional, yet complex

task in lower level cognitive processes interact allowing communication of thought

using writing words. These explanations further establish the fact that handwriting

covers the three domain of learning namely: cognitive, affective and psychomotor

domain. This makes writing a more difficult and complex activity during the stages of

children literacy. Writing is an expensive form of graphic symbol used for converging

thoughts, feelings and ideas.

Donald further suggest that since the child first learns to comprehend speech and

expresses it through writing, adequate and language experience is vital to the moral

development of writing language.

The new encyclopedia Britanmica 15th edition volume 29 page 1025 also explains

handwriting as a set of visible marks that are related by conversion to a particular

structure level of language.

This definition highlights the fact that handwriting is a principle than representation of

thoughts. It can be further related meaningfully.

Jack Goody has aptly called writing as the technology of the mind. One of the quoted

definitions by Aristotle on writing states that the definition of subject (handwriting) is

many and variety but they all amount to same thing.

Causes of Poor Handwriting

It is believed that most pupils are lazy in writing and often prefer something that is free

from the task of writing. It can be said writing is the highest and most complex form of

communication that is learned in the latest stage of language skills series.

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The listening, speaking, and reading are in fact a prerequisite for writing. In practice,

writing deals with a few very specific skills including the ability to keep the subject in

mind, setting the issue as words, drawing the graphical form of each letter and word,

using correct tool for writing, and having enough visual –motor memory. Among the

basic academic skills, writing has been called the most tangible skill. The difference

between writing and other communication skills is the written document which remains.

Also every child experience some omissions and poor letter and word spacing at the

early stage of children literacy. These basically form the characteristics of the young

child‟s writing.

What then makes handwriting a problem? It is the persistency of the errors over a long

period of time. According to Myklebust and Johnson (1967) “poor handwriting arises

from deficiency in visual –motor integraphia (dysgraphia), revisualization (memory)

makes it difficult for children to quickly recall the shapes of letter of the alphabets as

well as words.

According to the National Handwriting Association, handwriting is such a complex skill

and this and this possesses a lot of difficulties on those mastering it. (pilgrim, 2017),

outline seven causes of poor handwriting in her talks as outlined in (Ronald 2003)

books, the plight of leaning according to her includes the following:

1. Brain damage

2. Physical deformity

3. poor penmanship

4. No or inadequate instructions

5. Disorientation

6. Multiple mental images

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 7. Inadequate mental orientation

Effects of Poor Handwriting on Pupils‟ Academic Performance

A pupil who has poor handwriting may experience any of the following problems:

Studies well but not completing his or her examination as expected, able to read well

but not able to write neatly and legibly, has good eye sight but is unable to copy from

the chalkboard fast, slow in writing, teacher is not able to decipher what the pupil

writes, students intelligent Quotient (I. Q) is normal but he is still unable to get proper

letter formation, the student writes with little or no space between words and letters, the

pupil is illegible writing (Graham, Weinstein, and Berninger, 2007).

If pupils cannot write signs well, it may ultimately result in their inabilities to copy

information legibly in their notebooks and this could possibly slow down their academic

progress. A noticeable slow academic progress can lead to disappointment and low self

– esteem which could trigger a feeling of unfriendliness with educational system.

Handwriting difficulties can therefore disturb and interfere with educational progress of

pupil. Poor handwriting can also affect pupils negatively in terms of completing daily

academic assignment and the ability to take note during lesson and frequency of writing.

In a conventional learning environment, time in school is spent up in writing notes and

copying from board so that lack of legible handwriting could lead to a loss of

motivation and evading of school work. Poor handwriting can lead teachers to

misunderstand what is written and prompt them to give low marks to pupils and most

especially those with learning disabilities in examinations (Graham, Weinstein, and

Berninger, 2007).

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Stainthorp (2008) maintained that unless children with learning disabilities learn to

write legibly and at a reasonable speed, their educational achievements may be reduced

and their self – esteem affected. Even in an era when elementary school students and

most especially those with learning disabilities are skilled at “mousing” and teenagers

are friends at “ text – message some experts, say that writing with a penis still the

backbone for teaching people (children with learning disabilities) how to read and learn

facts.

Handwriting difficulties can therefore weaken educational progress and interfere with

learning of children with learning disabilities.

The evidence from various studies suggested that handwriting quality and quantity are

strongly associated with examination achievement (Cahill, 2010).

Hence, it is expedient on the parts of pupils and most especially those with learning

disabilities develop their handwriting skills at elementary school before proceeding to

high school to ensure they get better marks. A few marks more due to good handwriting

can catapult ones success rate in life.

However, research indicates that handwriting is tied to academic achievement. Poor

handwriting often frustrates teachers and result in lower grades. Everyone has their own

handwriting style, some neat and others barely legible. Research has shown that

different handwriting styles have effects on how a paper is graded and the mark a pupil

and most especially those with learning disabilities receives. A teacher who is frustrated

tends to be biased when marking essay scripts.

Essays that are harder to decipher require more time and effort. Some essays may be

misinterpreted entirely, simply because the teacher misunderstood a word or a sentence

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poorly written. Sometimes the teacher might even give up as he tries to understand what

a pupil with learning disabilities has written. Poor handwriting is considered to be a sign

of a poor quality paper.

Hence, it can be inferred that pupils (learning disabilities pupils) achieving higher marks

tend to write better handwriting style than those who perennially exhibit under

achievement. From a teacher`s perspective, poor handwriting may reflect a lack of

interest or understanding. No teacher is entirely without bias when grading an essay

work and this may emanate may emanate from the effect of poor handwriting.

Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between the quality of handwriting

and scores given to essays. These studies have consistently found that essays get higher

grades when written in good handwriting than when writing in poor handwriting

(Connelly, Dockrell, and Barnett, 2005).

Markham (1999) investigated the influences of handwriting quality on teacher

evaluation of written work and reported that papers with better handwriting consistently

received higher scores than did those with poor handwriting regardless of quality of

content.

According to her, the analysis of variance indicated that the variation in scores

explained by handwriting was significant.

Moreover, multiple classification analysis indicated that neither the teacher

characteristics of age, experience, level taught, and degrees held, nor the pupil (learning

disabilities pupils) teacher characteristic of level taught had a significant influence on

the score given to a paper.

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A study by Stainthorp (2008), investigated the joint effect of marker expectation and

handwriting quality on essay grades. Fabricated essay responses to questions on test

theory were copied out in both very poor handwriting and very good handwriting. These

responses were given to graduate students for scoring. It has been found that good

handwriting ensured better scoring. This clearly establishes the fact that an interaction

exists between writer`s handwriting quality and achievement score.

Graves (2012) submitted thus:

Make no mistake, if handwriting has a poor appearance, the writer is judged poorly by

our culture and this won`t end tomorrow. Surface feature will always attract for more

attention than underlying structures. For a person (learning disabilities students) who

has poor handwriting, the road ahead is difficult.

In spite of the high quality of his ideas and information, the writer will bear a lifelong

burden. But such a fate is unnecessary for those who know how writers develop their

skill in handwriting often exhibited by students (learning disabilities students) are

wizard`s toe handwriting that looks as if a 200 – year old wizard has writing it with his

toes (John, 2007).Others include chicken scratch handwriting which accord to prinkess,

(2009) is the type of handwriting that looks like something a chicken scratch in the mud

with its nails and is learning disabilities where one was deficits in motor skills, visual

special skills and social skills. In other words, chicken scratch handwriting is a nasty

handwriting whereby the first letter of the word is 3 – 4 times bigger than the rest.

According to Cocinella (2010), the people who can decipher this kind of handwriting

are extremely rare. In spite of the favorable learning condition such as availability of

resource materials, well equipped laboratory, and provision of enough teaching aids

and instructional materials, there are yet no much improvement in the performance of

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students and most especially those with learning disabilities and this problem has

persisted over the years.

Importance of Handwriting

It is no surprise that as technology has become increasingly integrated into our daily

lives, the traditional act of writing with a pen has somewhat forgotten. The ease of word

processing document, as well as the development of applications that allow us to sync

our notes across multiple devices, has made the purpose of handwriting almost

redundant.

However, the act of writing should not be forgotten and aside from its charm for certain

tasks it still has much more utility than it is often given credit for. In many ways,

handwriting is still less restrictive than its digital counterpart and has many advantages

both functionally and creatively.

Additionally, there is another important point that handwriting still forms a unique part

of our culture and identity that we should not forego so easily. It is with this in mind

that we decided to look at the place of handwriting in the digital age, with the hope of

speaking a discussion about its importance during this time:

The educational benefit.

To begin with, it is worth mentioning that handwriting still forms an integral part of our

education system due to the fact that the majority of our examinations are still

handwritten.

Therefore, it still serves as a very functional skill and students who are not able to write

legibly and articulately place themselves at a severe disadvantage to those who can.

This means that despite the incorporation of technology such as ipad into the classroom

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focus should still be placed on students` ability to write without the help of technology.

Handwriting has many cognitive benefits

Following on from this, writing notes by hand also has many cognitive benefits.

Whilst it has been argued that typing notes at the time may allow us to focus more on

what we are actually listening to research has suggested that rewriting our notes by hand

means that we are more likely to remember them.

It also allows you time to re – evaluate what you have written and digest your notes,

adding extra thoughts and observations to what you have written.

Handwriting has many benefits for creative writing.

The physical act of writing can also have other benefits in particular with creative

writing.

Patrick MacLean wrote a wonderful article in which he defended his love of longhand,

despite the obvious advantages of technology.

MacLean argued that writing with pen and paper helps to rid you of the distractions of

the digital world. He said that when typing there can be a tendency to edit as you go

along rather than letting your ideas flow. This can be counterproductive for the creative

process. With a blank piece of paper you tend to just write, get your ideas onto paper

and leave the editing process until later.

Handwriting is less restrictive

On the other hand, pen and paper can allow you to think more freely when doing things

such as brainstorming.

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You have a blank page, a pen, and no restrictions together, circle important points and

add side notes wherever makes sense. Many will argue that this can now be done on a

computer, but as mentioned before the distractions introduced with a computer or tablet

can often interrupt your creative flow.

Handwriting forms part of our culture

Finally, there is another, but no less important, point that writing forms a unique and

irreplaceable part of our culture. This is particularly the case of writing language s made

up of characters such as Mandarin but also for letters in English. Handwriting styles are

unique to the individual and something which simply cannot be replicated with a

keyboard.

Here is what some leading experts had to say on the importance of handwriting:

Tricia Kelleher was the current principal of the Stephen Perse Foundation, a forward

thinking, independent school based in Cambridge. She has been a vocal supporter of the

need for a debate on the importance of handwriting;

Handwriting is part of our civilization, it`s part of the identity of our culture and just a

tool for communication. I think there`s also a cognitive argument about how you

process information when you write it down. Some student s are absolutely wedded to

their pen because it means so much to them but my perception is whilst the printing

press transformed the written world it didn`t make handwriting obsolete. This is sort of

the case now but we don`t know if that`s giving to be right for everyone so until that

happens we have to make sure our students know how to write.‟

Alex Preston is another of This Bleeding City and The Revelations. Upon hearing that

he had decided to write his latest novel in Love and War by hand we decided to get in

16
touch and ask what make him decided to stick to his pen and how it went. Here`s what

Alex had to say:

“It absolutely changed the way that I thought about my writing and I was astonished by

how different it was from writing in other ways. I think there are several things that

differentiate it from a computer. The first is what you can see there evolution of a text

and see what went before. There‟s a wonderful quote from Philip Hensher that says

handwritten involves us in a relationship with the written word which is sensuous,

immediate and individual.

There is the sense that it is a much more physical act to write by hand as opposed to a

computer and it gets you thinking about your writing more as art. There also just felt

something fraudulent about writing on a computer, my first historical novel on a

MacBook Air, do I bought a really nice pen. I went to the street in Florence where the

book is set and I bought a pen. I think that handwriting gives you a much more direct

link to the world of your characters”. – http://alexhmpreston.com/

Ryder Carroll is the creator of Bullet Journal, an innovative note taking system for pen

and paper. We asked him why prefers to keep his notes on paper:

“There‟s something incredibly powerful about making your mark on paper. It‟s the

moment when an idea leaves your mind and looks back at you for the first time. I‟ve

never been able to replicate that experience digitally. It‟s not unlike skyping with a

close friend vs. having them over for dinner _ _ _” _https://rydercarroll.com/

Beth Kanter is the author of the popular blog for nonprofits, Beth‟s Blog: How

nonprofits can use Social Media. As somebody who regularly has to study organized,

she had this to say when asked why she prefers to take her notes on paper:

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“I prefer pen and paper when I‟ capturing a discussion from a meeting that focuses on a

designing a program or a reflective conversation. If the notes need to be in a digital

format, the process of transcribing those gives me added reflection and thought time to

digest the ideas. Many times I take notes in a visual format like mind mapping that

helps me better understand the conversation as it unfolds. I use typed notes when I am

taking notes to capture next steps or recording an interview because I can type faster

than I can write.” – https://www.bethkanter.org/

The National Handwriting Association raises awareness of handwriting as a crucial

component of literacy and aim to promote and foster good practice in the teaching of

handwriting.

Gwen Dorman had this to say on the importance of handwriting:

“The ability to write is traditionally closely linked with the ability to read in the

development of literacy in children, the one fostering the other. (There have been

insufficient children who have learned to write using only a keyboard to disprove this

interrelation). In primary schools in this country much of the writing performed in class

is written with a pen or pencil and the assessment of a child‟s ability is largely through

the medium of writing.

In secondary and further education some examinations are still written by hand. To be

unable to write legibly and quickly is therefore a disadvantage that limits a child‟s

educational progress as well as having a negative effect on self-esteem.” –

http.//www.nha-handwriting .org.uk.

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 Approaches to teaching handwriting

Many pupils are able to use numbers arbitrary, pretending to write or mix up numbers.

From about the age of four, pupils would begin to show one to one correspondence or

the ability to count and write objects correctly as well as recognize most numbers 0 to 9

and sometimes recreate numerals when given an example (Kara, 2013).

As many with preschool skills, it is important for teachers to provide many different

opportunities for pupils to see trace and write numbers throughout the day. There are

some selected pre-writing activities that have been proven to work quickly and

effectively when it comes to teaching handwriting.

Scribbling

According to Merriam Webster (1828), scribbling is defined as writing (something)

quickly and in a way that makes it difficult to read.

Pupils‟ first writing is scribbling. All pupils over the world scribble. No matter what

chronological age pupils start to scribble, they would go through the following

developmental stages (Bailer, 2003).

Pupils scribble up and down and around with pencils, markers, chalks, paint brushes and

even their fingers. When pupils begin to scribble at an early age (e.g. one year), they

would spend a lot of time on this activity than a pupil who start scribble at the age of

three years. As pupils move through the developmental stages, there would be times it

seems as though they are in between move into next (Bailer, 2003).

According to Webster and popular and the word scribble is “meaningless marks”.

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However, Baker & Kellogg (1967) stated the significance of scribble. Scribble the

pencil is just an extension of the hand, recording how pupils developing neuromuscular

system enable them to make the different kinds of markings. Scribble is demonstrating

the relationship between motor and intellectual skills, needed for writing.

Moreover, scribbles reveal a neural substrate destined for marks and influence that

significantly cueing what is distinctly human in marks of significance or symbolic

thought (Sheridan, 2001).

Stages of Scribbling

The Golden Gate Kindergarten Association collected the result study of pupils‟

scribbling from 1945 to 1965. Some 400,000 scribbling of approximately 2,000 pupils

aged 24 to 60months were saved and studied. There are important stages of pupils‟

scribbling (Baker & Kellogg, 1967): They are: Basic scribbles, Diagrams, combines,

Aggregates and pictorial.

Basic scribbles

The one year old pupil can make marks on paper or other media with pencil or crayon

as a pre-writing activity which is natural to the normal developing pupil. However, at

age two, pupil could make a number of different marks which are spontaneously made,

could be called neuromuscular happenings.

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 Diagrams

At about age three, a pupil definite outlined shaped forms by using basic scribbles,

which is called diagrams.

Combines

Combines

When a pupil puts two diagrams together, Kellogg calls the result a combine. Combines

may appear unadorned, but more often scribbles are added to them. A pupil likes to try

out various combinations of diagram after age three.

Aggregates

When three or more diagrams are combined Kellogg calls the result an aggregate. These

terms are used so that teachers could objectively discuss a pupil‟s development in

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scribbling as a pre-writing activity. Pupils have favourite aggregates. Potential diagrams

combinations are endless but some seem never to be made and others are commonly

drawn.

Pictorial

By age four, when a pupils has acquired familiarity with scribbles, diagrams, combines,

and aggregates, he/she makes varieties which represent features. A pupil‟s interest in the

pictorial stage may appear as early as three or five years. The human figure is usually

the first pictorial and it is followed by picture flowers, animals, boats, houses and

vehicles.

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 Purposes of scribbling

Sheridan (2001) stated that young pupils‟ scribbling serves four critical purposes, such

as:

1. To train the brain to pay attention and to sustain attention.

2. To stimulate individual cells and clusters of cells in visual cortex for line and

shape.

3. To practice and to organize the shapes and patterns of though.

4. Through an increasing affinity for marks to prepare the human mind for its

determining behavior: literacy (the literacy is multiple: visual and verbal, artistic

and scientific, non-verbal, mathematical, musical and literary).

Develop handwriting through scribbling.

As describe by Milne (1972) that creativity is a state of mind, which is often expressed

by pupils. Moreover, handwriting is the most valuable resource, so handwriting needs to

be improved at an early age.

Writing becomes important in various research studies and important focus in some

developed and developing countries. For example, in Taiwan, education has been

emphasized strongly throughout writing. The ministry concepts of writing, helping all

pupils to fully express their ability in a new knowledge based learning environment.

Besides, Japan is known as a country of culture also places special emphasize on

writing. Japanese government managed to increase writing skills through arts and

culture classes (Kaufman, 2009).

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See the importance of penmanship skills to constantly developed since childhood, the

researchers conducted various research related to appropriate ways to encourage pupils‟

penmanship skills. One way was through the scribble that is often made by pupils.

Based on the Baker & Kellogg (1967) experiments, they find that pupil‟s penmanship

skills through scribbles which were made by them had improved. The pupils combined

the lines into a single image that is directly proportional to their age level. Take a look

from the stages of scribbling, the pupil becomes creative because he/she could combine

a line to other line until it becomes a picture.

Moreover, Adeney (2008) did a long research for a several years to her daughters

because she wanted to see the development of writing of her children. She collected her

daughter‟s scribbles and early artwork, and she developed categories that could be used

to identify the type of scribbles. Her study illuminated the wide range of vocalizations

and talks used for multiple purposes specially while drawing and categorized this talk.

Her children talked to tell stories and to entertain themselves, for singing and wordplay,

for the pleasure of singing and wordplay, to describe their actions or to label, to identify

letters or practice forming them, to teach each other and self-coaching. Thus, she

concluded that scribbles help her daughter to develop their imagination and to talk

freely while exploring artwork. Scribbling provides a link to the more abstract

symbolizing process of writing.

Others researchers, such as Malaguzzi (1998) found that pupils construct their ideas,

symbols and codes through scribble. When pupils scribble, they are not only making a

graphic intervention, but they are selecting ideas and getting rid of excessive ones.

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Still, based on his research findings, Kendrick & McKay (2001) explored how

scribbling has unrealized potential for uncovering the scripts or literacy narratives

pupils bring to school and use to make sense of reading and writing.

Adeney (2008) stated that the adult-child interaction during drawing (scribbling) event

was crucial for lateracy learning. During the interaction, parents could give other media

such as blank paper or sketchbook to draw when the child begins to scribble a wall or

improper media. This direction requires a long time and patience, because not all

children want to scribble on paper and they will re-scribble on the walls at their leisure.

Besides, by giving the media to draw, parents need to tell the child which parts may be

drawn and should not be drawn without forcing the children. Also, parents could

provide a special room where the walls may be drawn, so the children know the limits

of the media to draw (ie scribble).

Once again, this direction could not be arbitrarily imposed in a single interaction. Pupils

need time in order to understand the parents‟ purpose and it is along with the child‟s age

level. Furthermore, parents need to understand that the drawing is artifacts from

children‟s mental life and children drawing should be shifted to the core of curriculum

as a language medium (Steele, 1998). More so, scribbling is composed of originality,

energy and self-concept. Thus, writing should be encouraged since childhood. Teachers

could help pupils to develop their penmanship skills through scribbling. Like a babbling

is to develop speaking scribbling is to develop in writing.

Sand tracing

Sand tracing is an early childhood learning activity in which children practice writing of

the letters of alphabet in the sand with their fingers (Karen, 2014). Its purpose is to help

25
children learn how to trace letters of the alphabet on their own, while allowing for

tactile and sensorial experience. The sand box is a wooden box with about 3-inches rim

around it, with enough fine coloured sand to cover the bottom.

A plastic shoe box size tub could also be used for a sand tray (just make sure the bottom

is completely flat) and the sand tray must be changed very often. To teach children how

to use the sand tray, first select some sandpaper letters that the child is familiar with;

show one card at a time, tracing it with your own fingers and sanding it out as you trace.

Then place the card above the tray and trace the letter in the sand, sounding out the

letter as you go. Shake the tray lightly to reseat the sand and “erase” the letter. Pass

letter cards and sand trays to the actions. The use of sand tray in teaching writing aids

pupils in their physical development. There are different ways in which children could

benefit from sand play.

When pupils use sand trays, the effort of lifting and positioning their trays develops

their gross motor skills. Sand trays also strengthen pupils‟ muscles. Moreover, writing is

sand also aids in hand-eye-co-ordination (Vikas, 2007).

Tracing and copying

This is also a great activity for pupils to practice writing of letters and numerals. Letter

and numeral tracing cards are a free printable materials that could be laminated to allow

pupils to draw on with a white board marker as it wipes away easily with a tissue.

Pupils could practice writing their letters correctly and wipe it away and try again.

Materials needed when using tracing and copying to teach writing alphabet.

26
Janice (2014) recommended an effective approach in using tracing and copying to teach

writing board markers, the printable tracing letter cards, laminating sheets and key ring

hoop as things needed for tracing and copying activity.

Janice (2014) medicated that, it was totally up to the teacher on how to use free

printable tracing cards but to save numerous printing, paper and ink then it is advisable

to laminate the sheets of paper. The teacher can then punch a small hole at the left

corner and bind them together with a hoop ring.

This would keep the booklet together and help to easily turn the pages. Also, by

laminating the pupils could draw on it with a white board marker and then easily rubs it

off with a tissue. The laminated tracing letter cards have a few options for practicing

writing letters. To start, begin drawing the inside the bubble shape letter starting at the

small dot and following the arrow. Then practice writing the letter that is written on the

dotted lines and then have a goal writing the letter repeatedly on your own on the lines

provided. Pupils would also notice that there is a written version of the letter; pupils

could learn the written form at the same time by tracing over the letters.

Aside pre-writing activities, Van der Hart (2010) published the following processes to

writing effectively and efficiently and recommended for use in classroom.

1. Frequent writing of exercise.

2. Direct or explicit instructions.

3. Modeling

4. Guided practice

5. Use of feedback

6. Availability of writing instruments.

27
These techniques if applied would curb children‟s writing difficulties according to the

literature. Highly effective writing techniques recognize that the time allocated and

devoted to teaching writing is a necessary condition for success, especially for

struggling writers (Graham and Herris, 1997).

Writing proficiency develops over time, it begins as a kind of free association of ideas.

As students become more proficient, they move gradually from knowledge

transformation, (Benater, and Scardarmalia, 1987, pp: 5 – 6).

Jones and Christen (1999) also expatiate that, as the writer matures, writing become

more automatic. From the above literature, it is important to know that writing should

be explicity taught in our schools.

Summary

Based on the review of current literature, it could be strongly argued that handwriting is

important, even vital skill for pupils of all ages and various setting.

Research findings have indicated that handwriting is casually related to both learning to

read and learning to write. Pupils have shown that handwriting contributes directly to

the compositional fluency and quality for lengthy writing is the single best predictor of

quality of composition of young pupils (Graham et at. 1997).

One should not assume that handwriting instruction is unnecessary or less valuable than

reading. Knowledge of penmanship skills is necessary for all pupils, beginning in the

pre-schools. In order to participate in their communities outside of school, pupils need

to be active writes. In other words, if schools want to produce effective society

members, they would need to instruct pupils in a way that would introduce writing in an

enjoyable, beneficial way.

28
 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

Introduction

This chapter discusses the approaches used by the researcher to achieve the objectives

for this study. This contains the research design, population, sample and sampling

procedure, research instruments, data collection procedure, pre-intervention,

intervention, post-intervention as well as the data analysis plan. The chapter in brief

gives a detail description of the method used in addressing the research problem.

Research design

Research design is a blue-print which specifies how data relating to the research

problem would be collected and analyzed (Kinnear and Taylor, 1996, church-ill and

lacobucci, 2005).

The design used by the researcher was an action research. Action research, according to

Parsons and Brown (2002), is a process where a teacher or groups of teachers

investigate and analyze challenges pupils face in their learning process through regular

observations and data collection. The teacher or these groups of teachers then design

and implement more appropriate and effective strategies to improve their pupils‟

learning process. Action research is a research approach that gives insight to teachers to

understand why, when and how pupils‟ learn (Miller, 2007). It also deals with their own

problems, provides better opportunities to understand and improve the educational

practices, build stronger relationship among staff and provide alternative ways of

viewing and approaching educational questions (Mertler and Charles, 2008).

This design was chosen due to these strengths:

29
First and foremost, action research assists the researcher in proving their ability in doing

their job, their understanding of the field and the situation which exists in their field,

objectively. For instance, the researcher would acquire the requisite skills needed in

identifying problems in their subject area of study and analyze the problems identified.

This could help the researcher to be fair in assessing pupils in the classroom situation.

In addition, action research addresses the quality of pupil‟s education and the

professional growth of teachers.

Logically, this would be the ideal strategy in order for pupils to learn most effectively

and for teachers to teach most effectively. By actually reflecting on what a teacher is

doing in the classroom, it becomes easier to see what problems are there, and there is

usually some indication of how to go about solving the problem.

More so, action research helps educationist use data, rather than preferences, to guide

improvement efforts. This makes the process of action research more scientific in

nature, proposing ideas and theories that could be back up by data. This gives teachers

something more concrete to work with instead of just relying on the principles that

teachers have used in the past. Times change and the way teachers teach pupils has to

change along with the times.

There have been a lot of changes to the way things are taught in school as a result of the

work of action research.

To conclude, action research helps the teachers to evaluate his/her teaching

effectiveness. This is essential; in a sense that, the modern teacher needs to be equipped

to understand the various methods that best suit the children he/she teachers. The

weakness of the design is as follows:

30
In the first place, time consuming is one of the weaknesses of action research. Action

research consumes time due to its practical nature. That is, the findings would have to

be applied and tried over and over again.

Also, action research requires a lot of information which might also not be available.

The requirement of all the information in action research is very difficult to come by.

The information needed from the participants could not be accurate due to absenteeism

of the participants. This makes data collection inaccurate and would affect the reliability

and validity of the information needed.

In a nutshell, action research requires the consultation with other people such as school

authorities, guardians and pupils in the process which makes the research very difficult.

The researcher has to seek assistance from the school authorities and other authority

figures to gather data for the study. For example, the researcher would not get reliable

and valid information if he or she fails to consult the authorities or various stakeholders.

Population for the study

A population is the complete set of cases or group members from which the researcher

is interested to seek information.

Population, according to Black (1999), is the larger group from which a portion is

chosen for a research. The population used for this study was made up of the pupils and

teachers of Kwamo Anglican primary school.

Target population

The target population for this study was limited to pupils of Kwamo Anglican Primary

school and teachers who are involved in teaching primary two pupils and some other

agencies involved in primary education and activities. The reason was that the

31
researcher is currently teaching at the Kwamo Anglican Primary school. So he has easy

access to both pupils and teachers. Another important reason behind the choice of

school was the fact that the school has been in existence for more than fifty year now

and is a model early childhood education centre in Kumasi, Ghana.

Accessible population

Accessible population was obtained by selecting a portion of the target population of

teachers and pupils of the Kwamo Anglican primary school, for interaction to enable the

collection of data for the study. The accessible population for this study was made up of

42 pupils who were observed in primary two. Out of the 42 pupils at Kwamo Anglican

primary two, 20 of them were girls and 22 being boys. The researcher handpicked 18

out of 42 pupils.

Sample and sampling techniques

A sample is a sub-group of part of a larger population who are engaged in a research

study.

Tryfos (1996) as cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007) has explained sample as

a portion narrowed from a larger body. The author explained further that a sample is

mostly used because it is impractical, inconvenient, time and probably money to study

the larger population. The researcher adopted a sample from the accessible population.

According to Merriam Klebster (1828). Dictionary, sampling is the process of selecting

a small group of people from a larger group and used to represent the larger group.

The researcher used purposive sampling technique to select the sample for the study,

which included teachers, primary two pupils of Kwamo Anglican Primary School for

the study.

32
According to Gledhill (2008), purposive sampling is frequently selected for obtaining

data in action research. Purposive sampling is often used when small samples are

studied using intense, focused methods such as in-depth interviews (Curtis et al, 2000 as

cited in Gledhill 2008).

In purposive sampling, researcher handpicked the cases to be included in the sample on

the basis of their judgment of their typicality or particularly knowledgeable about the

issue under study. The purposive sampling technique was used to select primary two

pupils of Kwamo Anglican primary school because the pupils were the ones who were

learning the writing of the letters of the English alphabet. Primary two pupils were

purposely selected because they had learnt the letters of the alphabet at primary one and

were expected to be able to identify, read and write the letters and sound of the alphabet

correctly yet a huge numbers of these pupils (about 70 percent) are known to be unable

to satisfy these demands.

The sample of 42 pupils who formed the accessible population, were opened and willing

to be observed and assessed.

Research instruments

For the purposes of triangulation and validation of data required to answer the research

questions guiding the study of the strategies and the approaches used in teaching

handwriting data was collected.

There is a lot of research instruments used in collecting data in action research. They

are: critical review, observation, questionnaire, test and interview. The researcher used

observation and test to collect data.

33
Triangulation, which involves the use of more than one instrument in data collection,

was to ensure the research obtains a total picture of the teaching and learning situation

of the English alphabet at the Kwamo Anglican Primary school. Triangulation is an

essential tool in ascertaining the authenticity of a research (Gay, 1992). The two

instruments used for the data collection are described as follows:

Observation

Taylor – Powell, Ellen and Steele (1996) assert that observation is an instrument used

by the researcher to collect information through viewing events, behaviours, or noticing

physical appearance in their natural settings. This can be where one observes

interactions, procedure or behaviours as they occur or observes result of interactions,

procedures or behaviours.

For this study, the researcher directly observed primary two class which has 42 pupils.

At separate times, the researcher used a designed observation guide (appendix D) to

observe pupils in relation to the teaching and learning of the writing of the English

alphabet.

Also, the researcher took the exercise books of the pupils in primary two after the

school to further identify and diagnose the problem. During the observation the rating

scale was used to measure the degree to which the pupils possessed some handwriting

skills under consideration.

The skills were legibility, spacing and neatness. The researcher observed the pupils in

primary two for consecutive weeks. Observation is useful when the other methods are

ineffective. Observation could also be used when respondents are not willing to co-

34
operate. One limitation observation has is the fact that the tool could not study the

opinion and attributes of pupils directly.

The researcher observed the pupils‟ handwriting style and weakness in order to build on

their areas that need improvement. He did that by glancing through the exercise book of

pupils to enquire the number of pupils with poor handwriting.

To make the analysis and interpretation of the data easily, the observation procedure

was hidden to prevent the pupils from pretending.

Hence, at the end of the observation, it was detected that most of the pupil‟s always

have poor handwriting.

Test

Gribbons, Bary and Hermann (1997) have stated that tests are used to assess educational

programmes when random task is not possible. This is effective and mostly used by

researchers for pre-testing and post-testing. In this study, test was used to assess pupils

before, during and after the researcher‟s intervention activity.

Franenkel and Wallen (2009) indicated that tests can be used as a means to measure an

individual‟s knowledge in a given area or subject as well as learning or effectiveness of

instruction. Test was used as a source of instrument to measure the performance of

sampled primary two pupils in the writing of the English alphabet before, during and

after the intervention. The results from the test were analyzed to measure the

effectiveness of the interventional instruction administered to pupils.

The sentence, “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog was also written for the

pupils in primary two to write repeatedly.

35
 Validation of research instruments

The type of instrumentation used for the study was made possible for consultation with

research fellows, lecturers and the research supervisors. The value of observation guide

and test for the study was achieved after discussions with research fellows, lecturers and

the research supervisors. They assessed the questions based on the objectives, research

questions and the literature support.

Data collection procedure

The schedule of intervention activities.

Table 3.1 gives the details and schedule of the intervention activities.

Week Intervention Pupils Intervention Teaching and Duration

Activities Activities Learning Materials

Weeks 1, Pre-test to Primary two Researcher Alphabet Table. 45 minutes

2, 3 assess pupils took conducted Letter cards

alphabet the pre-test and marked

performance pre-test

Weeks 4, Showed primary two Introduced Laptop and 60 minutes

5, 6, 7 motivational pupils watch the movie for projector

movie to movie pupils to

pupils watch

Weeks Discussion Pupils Discussed Pictures 60 minutes

8,9, 10 on the discussed lesson learnt

movie the movie from the

movie

36
 Weeks Scribbling Pupils Assisted Pencil, sheet of 60 minutes

11,12, 13 scribbling pupils to paper

scribble

Weeks Sand tracing Pupils trace Researcher Sand tray stick 60 minutes

14,15, 16, curves guides pupils

17 writing to trace

letters of the carves etc.

alphabets

Weeks 18, Post-test to Primary two Researcher Alphabet concept 45 minutes

19 and 20 assess pupils took conducted post-test

alphabet the post-test marked post-

performance test

Detailed and work schedule of pre-writing activities.

Description of the intervention

The focus of the study was to increase pupils‟ performance and active participation in

class using a researcher designed pre-writing activities as outlined in Table 3.1. Several

form of art activities were used together with a number of teaching methods.

These included the employment of art materials like colouring, erasing, collage,

drawing among others to bridge relationship between art and literacy. Pupils were very

passionate in all the activities during the intervention. The study began with

consultations with the participating pupils in the school. The interaction also involved

discussions on appropriate times to meet the pupils‟ need for the intervention project.

37
The needed materials for the intervention were organized and supplied for the

intervention lessons. The teachers were later informed on when activities would

commence and were encouraged to participate on 27thJanuary, 2019. Introductory letters

about the study were distributed to parents and guardians through the pupils who were

selected with permission from the Head of Kwamo Anglican Primary school to

participate in the study. Twenty weeks were used for the intervention activities.

Pre-test

The pre-test strategy was employed by the researcher to diagnose the problem. In using

the observational rating scale the researcher observed and rated the performance of pre-

writing skills needed for good handwriting.

The sentence, “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog”. Was written on the

chalkboard for pupils to copy repeatedly. The outcome of the test indicated that the

respondents could not write ascender and descenders properly. Most of the pupils could

not distinguish letters that look alike. Pupils‟ spacing of words and letters were illegible.

Intervention

After the result from the pre-test was analyzed, it was noticed that the pupils were not

taken through pre-writing activities. To curb the problem, enough teaching and learning

materials (TLMs) were prepared by the researcher for the intervention lesson.

The pupils were taken through scribbling, writing in the air, drawing and sand tracing

for seven weeks. Letters of the alphabets were written on Manilla cards showing the

various movements of the letters.

That is, where each letter form and how to make the shape. Pupils were allowed to

watch motivational movie on a laptop introduced by the researcher for three weeks

38
before the intervention lesson for seven weeks. Pupils discussed the lesson learnt from

the motivational movie.

Discussion of Motivational Movie

A pupil mentioned that it was important to take good care of their pencils, books,

erasers, among others and not to throw them into bin as Ishaan did in the movie.

Motivational movie from Ishaan publications (2007) entitled “Taare Zameen par and

translate as “like stars on Earth‟.

The eight year old adventurous boy called Darshell Safarly (named Ishaan in the film).

Ishaan was regarded as naughty and lazy both at school and at home. This boy was

turning the letters of the alphabets and numerals and saw the letters dancing when he

was asked to read during one of their English class.

Through the intervention of a new art teacher, also an art therapist in Ishann‟s school

who introduced Ishaan to the writing of the alphabet in a sand tray as well as by

modeling the letters with clay dough, playing educative games on the computer,

listening and learning from educative recorded materials and the production of art

works, Ishaan received help that brought out the good in him.

Although the boy was previously regarded as lazy, his parents and the school became

proud of Ishaan as he became able to identify the same letters he saw dancing and could

also read his book and notices that were posted on the school notice board.

The pupils of Kwamo Anglican primary two were taken through the individual letters of

the alphabet. The pupils were taught the correct ways of forming the letters of the

alphabets.

39
Attention was given to letters with ascenders and descenders. The effort to remedy the

situation was through a well prepared lesson plan.

Teacher-learner activities

The researcher used teacher-learner activities during the teaching of handwriting.

During the practice, teaching aid was effectively used to assist the pupils to improve

upon their penmanship skills.

As Onasanya (2004) indicates, the use of Teaching and Learning Materials can reduce

boredom on the part of learners. TLMs make classroom activities very interactive. Thus,

the TLMs helped the pupils to get more involved in the teaching and learning of writing

alphabet.

The pupils were able to write the letters of the alphabet legibly and neatly.

Activity I

A a B b C c D d E e F f G g

H h I i J j K k L l M m N n

O o P p Q q R r S s T t U u

V v W w X x Y y Z z

Formation of the letters of the alphabet.

There was tremendous improvement in the writing of the letters of the alphabet. After

pupils were being exposed to the writing of the letters of the alphabet, there was still

problem with their spacing as observed by the researcher.

40
To curb the problem, a stick was used to demonstrate to pupils how to space the words

in a sentence. The pupils were guided to place as stick I front of every word before the

next word is written. The pupils were taken through this activity with a sentence, “Kofi

is going to school.”

Activity II

Kofi is going to school.

The researcher also used other procedures to improve upon the penmanship skills of

pupils. These procedures are illustrated below.

Activity III

Scribbling Writing of curves Writing of strokes and curves

Post-test

Although the pupils were assessed during the activities designed for learning of the

identification and writing the letters of the alphabet, they were also assessed at the end

of the intervention activities in the letters of the alphabets in written form.

41
The purpose of the post-test was to find out whether the intervention has been effective

or ineffective. The pupils were allowed to re-write the sentence, “The quick brown fox

has jumped over the lazy dog”.

At the end of the post-test, results showed that those who could not space out words

properly had improved. It was also identified that the activities that the pupils were

exposed had worked.

Data Analysis Plan

Data analysis, according to Pope Mays and sue (2000), is a methodical procedure

whereby the researcher carefully chooses, groups, associates, analyses and synthesizes

as well as interpretes data to offer a vivid account of a phenomenon of interest under

study.

Tables and measures of central tendency (ie. mode, median and mean) were to be used

to analyze the data collected with the instruments in chapter four.

42
 CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Introduction

This chapter of the action research report presents the findings of the study describing

the characteristics of the subject and focuses on finding answers to the research

questions.

Meaning and explanation are also given to the results.

Table 1: observation and rating pupils‟ handwriting based on legibility, spacing and

neatness.

Rating Numbers of pupils Percentage

Outstanding 0 0

Above average 3 7

Average 10 24

Below average 29 69

Total 42 100

From table 1, it was observed that: three of the pupils (representing 7%) were rated on

handwriting based on legibility, spacing and neatness with above average, ten of the

pupils (representing 24%) were rated on handwriting based on legibility spacing and

neatness with average.

Also, twenty-nine (29) of the pupils (representing 69%) were rated on handwriting

based on legibility, spacing and neatness with below average.

43
From the findings, it was detected from the observation that most of the pupils could not

write legibly in their various test. Their words and letter spacing were also nothing to

write home about.

Table 2: Pre-test marks

Marks (𝑥) Number of pupils 𝑓𝑥 percentage

(𝑓)

1 16 16 38

2 19 38 45

3 7 21 17

4 0 0 0

5 0 0 0

Total 𝜀𝑓 = 42 𝜀𝑓𝑥= 75 100

75
Average mark = = 1.78 = 2 (approximately)
42

From table 2, the modal mark is 2 and the average mark is also 2 approximately. This

means that most of the pupils had 2 or less out of 5. This made their performance in the

pre-test poor. It was discovered that pupils generally had problems with writing. This

attributed to their poor visual motor integration as opined by Johnson (1969).

It was also discovered that most of the pupils had not been taken through pre-writing

activities at the pre-school. This finding generally gives us a fair idea on the causes of

poor handwriting answers research question one (1).

44
Table 3: observation and recording of marks obtained by pupils in their numeracy

exercise.

Marks (𝑥) Number of pupils 𝑓𝑥 percentage

(𝑓)

0 10 0 24

1 13 13 31

2 18 36 43

3 1 3 2

4 0 0 0

5 0 0 0

Total 𝜀𝑓 = 42 𝜀𝑓𝑥= 52 100

52
Mean mark = = 1.2
42

Table 3 represents a sample of pupils‟ numeracy exercise results.

It could be observed that the modal mark, which is the mark with highest number of

pupils, is 2. The mean mark from the table is also 1.2.This shows that most of the pupils

had below 3.

Findings

The researcher found out that the poor performance exhibited by the pupils in the

numeracy exercise was highly attributed to poor handwriting, for most of their works

were not readable.

45
Their performance due to poor handwriting is also supported by Graham, Weinstein and

Berninger (2007) who said that, “students with poor handwriting get less mark in

examination”.

These findings establish the effect of poor handwriting on pupils‟ academic

performance and answers research question two (2).

Table 4: Post-test results.

Marks (𝑥) Number of pupils 𝑓𝑥 percentage

(𝑓)

1 0 0 0

2 0 0 0

3 8 24 19

4 28 112 67

5 6 30 14

Total 𝜀𝑓= 42 𝜀𝑓𝑥= 166 100

𝜀𝑓𝑥 166
Average mark = = 42 = 3.9
𝜀𝑓

The results from the post-test shows that the modal mark with the highest frequency is

4. The average mark is 39 which is approximately 4 as well. This means that most of the

pupils had 4 marks and above.

Findings there was massive improvement in the pupils mark in the post-intervention test

after they had been taken through the activities of scribbling, writing in the air and

writing in the sand tray. Graham (1990) supports the process when he states that,

“effective teaching incorporate a number of pre-writing activities to support the

46
generation and organization of idea, and area that is often troublesome for struggling

writers. An improvised stick had also attributed to the carefully planned instructions on

writing that was given by the researcher on writing during the intervention process.

The researcher devoted time benefiting (Graham and Harris 1997) supports this action

by the researcher by stating that highly effective writing teachers reorganize that time

devoted to writing and instructions for writes. These provide answers to research

question three (3).

Finally, the success of the intervention comes from the judicious use of time, the interest

pupils had for the study and the researcher‟s intervention and encouragement from his

supervisor.

47
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Introduction

This chapter briefly highlights on the summary, conclusion and suggestions for the

study.

Summary

The purpose of the study was to improve upon the penmanship skills of Kwamo

Anglican Primary Basic two using pre-writing activities.

In addition to the main intervention process other methods suitable for the study were

also considered.

In chapter two, the researcher reviewed related literature in which findings of various

authors, educationists and authorities on writing were looked at. It was strongly argued

that handwriting was an important and even vital skill for individuals of all ages and in

various setting.

Chapter three looked at the method employed for the study. Action research was the

design and purposive sampling technique was also used to select 42 pupils for the study.

Observation and test were the main instruments used. The researcher engaged the pupils

in series of pre-writing activities at the intervention stage to enhance the writing skill of

the pupils.

The data for the pre-test and post-test as well as from the various observations made

were systematically organized using tables. Analysis was made on the findings for the

research to become more effective and appropriate in chapter four. Pupils were not

48
introduced to pre-writing activities at the pre-school level. This was identified to be the

main cause of pupils‟ poor handwriting which affected their academic performance in

other subject area.

However, the study revealed that pupils‟ performed better when they were introduced to

pre-writing activities and carefully planned instructions on writing.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that effective use of appropriate teaching methods and instructional

time on writing can help.

 improve good penmanship in pupils.

 motivate and sustain pupil‟s academic performance.

 enhance pupil‟s academic performance.

Recommendations

From the analysis made on the study, it is recommended that:

 adequate materials and time should be given to the teaching of writing at the

early stages in school.

 Workshops on various methods of teaching writing most especially pre-

writing activities should be provided to teachers by the Ministry of

Education and Ghana Education Service to equip them with these skills.

 teachers who teach writing should make the limiting aspect more interesting

by varying their methods and techniques to suit the standard needs of pupils.

 enough exercise on writing should be given as the law of exercise implied.

 Stakeholders of education should provide variety of writing materials and

make sure that writing is given prominence on the table.

49
 Further studies should be carried on the concept of writing especially

parents, other literates and illiterates role in writing. The researcher

welcomes any suggestion and contributions as well as criticism that will

improve upon the research. This will help to make innovation on the

research work.

50
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Alson T.A (1987). Handwriting Theory And Practice London. Croom Helm ltd.

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Bandura A (1986) Social Foundation of Thoughts and Action: A social cognitive

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Benater, S.D (1987) Handwriting: Theory, Research and Practice.

Beraiger, G.F (2007) Handwriting: A natural Resort.

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Graham, P (2007). The foundations of writing. Best practices in writing instruction.

Graham, S.A (2007). Writing next effective strategies to improve writing of adolescent

in middle and high schools. Alliance for excellent education, carnegic cooperation of

New York, Washington DC, Retrieved March, 2018 .

Graham, S.A (n.d). Myths and Realities in writing instruction. Retrieved March, 2018

Henderson, R.A (1982). Two sides of the same coin. Variation in teaching methods and

failure to learn teaching methods and failure to learn to write. In special education

forward trends (Vol 9, PP – 7 - 24). Retrieved March, 2018.

Jack Goody (1997). The domestication of the savage mind

Jones, C (1999). Handwriting without tears. :

Myklebust, J (1967). In scriptions, Marginalia, annotations and doodling found in

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Overveld, H (2011). The biggest myth about Freelance writing.

Ronald (2003). The Definitive Book of Handwriting Analysis.

Ronald (2003). The Definitive Book of Handwriting Analysis

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 Appendix A

Series of activities pupils were taken through at the intervention stage.

53
 Appendix B

Sample of pupils‟ work at the pre-intervention stage.

54
 Appendix C

Samples of pupils‟ work at the post-intervention stage.

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 Appendix D

Observational Guide

Indicators Researcher‟s comments

1. The teaching strategies used by teachers

2. The instructional materials used by teachers

3. The activities that pupils are engaged.

4. Pupils‟ participation in the lesson

5. Pupils‟ performance in relation to strategies used.

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Week ending : 24th May, 2019

School : Kwamo Anglican Primary No on roll : 42

Subject : English Language Average age : 7 years

Reference (s) : i) MOE/CRDD (2012) English Language Syllabus Class : P. 2

for primary two pg. 44.

ii) Teacher‟s guide for Primary two English Language, pg. 29.

Day/Date Aspect/Topic/ Objective / R.P.K Teaching Learning Materials Teacher- Core Points Evaluation

Duration Sub-Topic Learning Activities

Thursday Objectives TLMs-letter cards, sand tray. Exx

Aspect: Writing By the end of the Aa Bb C c Dd Ee 1. Write these in

(penmanship) lesson the pupils will TLAs lower case

be able to: Pre-writing stage i) P Q R _____

i) Write the letters of Teacher asks pupils question about Development ii) M N O ____

the alphabet in lower their relevant previous knowledge. For of visual-

23rd May, Topic: Writing case and upper case example: motor skills Write the

57
 2019 letters of the legibly using sand following in upper

alphabet in sand tray. Development case

tray. of skills in iii) a b c _____

writing iv) u v w ____

Expected Answer:

R.P.K – Most pupils

can identify the letters C M

of the alphabet using Writing stage:

picture matching. Teacher demonstrates clearly to pupils

how to write each letter of the alphabet

30 minutes in lower or upper case using the sand

(12:30pm – tray.

1:00pm) Teacher then asks pupils to write the

58
 letters of the alphabet with letters

missing. Teacher let pupils come up in

turns to fill in the missing letters. Also, Expected answers:

teacher allows pupils to come up with a i) P Q R – p q r

friend if they are unsure. ii) M N O – m n o

Post-writing stage: Teacher give iii) a b c - A B C

exercise to pupils on what has been iv) u v w - U V W

taught for marking.

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