Studying the Effects of Handwriting on Composition Research Proposal

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Handwriting Skills on Compositional Quality

What is the background and context of your project? Is there a 'problem' you want to find out more about or a potential solution that you want to explore? Is there a gap in the literature or earlier research that you want to build on or extend? What is your aim? Why do you want to investigate this topic? What is the justification for researching this issue? Include a small number of in-text references in this section as well as a corresponding list of complete references in Section 8 using a consistent format (e.g. following the SHU referencing guidelines).

I teach English in class 2 and 3 which comprises of a comprehensive book, a workbook and a writing practice book. While teaching I observed that most of the kids in class 3 had quite bad handwriting, although they had been practising from class 1 onwards.

On closer observation it became clear that the teachers themselves were not trained in handwriting skills, the writing workbook was used as a substitute for homework without clear guidance or instructions, there was more emphasis on rote learning and producing ready made answers in poor handwriting as long as they could be deciphered. As Alston and Taylor (1987) observe, good handwriting is very important in the development of the ability to articulate because it reinforces the idea of structure. Based on the study by Bing (1988), it became apparent that handwriting could be used as a tool to overcome writing problems: thus, the concept of this study was brought about. Likewise, Graham and Harris (2005) articulated the need to focus on handwriting as an initiative in improving writing performance.

Unfortunately, the school at which I teach has a semester system which tests the kids in grammar, conversation, dictation and text, but nothing in writing. According to Cahill (2009), handwriting deserves a place in the curriculum and is an essential prop in supporting academic success.

The kids with low handwriting skills were also unable to form simple sentences, which is consistent with the findings of Dinehart (2015) and Gentry and Graham (2010).

My aim is to monitor the effect of introducing handwriting programs into the curriculum and analyzing the impact of handwriting on compositional quality over a 2 semester period.

2. Research question or research questions (maximum of 3):

1. What is the effect of a specific handwriting intervention programme on the composition writing of elementary grade level ESL learners over a 2 semester period?

To investigate the above, I also need to establish;

a. Is it poor handwriting or learning disability (as the school has no such facility) by using orthographic coding

b. Whether teachers had any training in handwriting skills

c. Whether parents engage in any handwriting practice with their kid

d. What was the impact of the intervention (introduction of handwriting skills) was there any marked improvement in the kids handwriting and composition fluency

3. What methodological approach do you hope to adopt: Will it be qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods? Describe the approach briefly with your reasons for the choice.

Evaluation research will be conducted to evaluate the effect of handwriting on composition. Evaluation Research is a form of study that employs social research methodology in order to establish an evaluation of a social program (Powell, 2006). Evaluation research for example is used when a researcher is trying to examine and judge the merits of (evaluate) a specific social program. The researcher will use standard social research methods as a methodology for evaluating the merits of the program(s). For this study qualitative and quantitative data will be gathered from the students to establish poor handwriting skills or learn disability through sample writing. Before, during and after the intervention the students' writing will be analysed to see any improvement or otherwise over the period of time. The findings will be measured according to syntax, proper subject-predicate placement, and handwriting quality (from a scale of 1-5) based on the model provided by Graham (1986) which provides a set of "scales and factors that contribute to variability in handwriting scores" (p. 63). The best way to gather data from the teachers will be to survey them before and after the study. Learner views will also be accessed by way of survey and questionnaire during the focus group. The questionnaire will be correlated with individual results and the survey will be analyzed according to Likert scale and will provide quantitative data to support findings.

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The Likert scale is useful for "measuring people's attitudes, beliefs, emotions, feelings, perceptions, personality characteristics, and other psychological constructs" (Lewis-Beck, Bryman, Liao, 2004).

As Clason and Dormody (1994) note, "Likert scaling presumes the existence of an underlying (or latent or natural) continuous variable whose value characterizes the respondents' attitudes and opinions. If it were possible to measure the latent variable directly, the measurement scale would be, at best, an interval scale," (p. 34). Each set of questions, therefore, can be investigated and processed in their own individual ways but also can be merged together to find even bigger and more pronounced casual relationships that add depth to the larger phenomenon. The phenomen under scrutiny here is the effect of handwriting on composition and that phenomenon is assessed by way of analysis of handwriting samples before and after intervention.

4. Sample identity and size: Who will your participants be or what will your sample consist of? You might, for example, be collecting data from 20 Intermediate students in General English classes in Paris. Alternatively, your sample might be 25 texts written by pre-sessional EAP students at a UK university.

10 -15 students (ages 5-7) from 3 classes (years 2-3) beginning April, 2016; the children in L1 do not possess very exceptional English skills, so the students for this study will come primarily from the 2nd and 3rd year students, whose grasp of the English language should be acceptable. The first language is varied: Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi (the national language is Urdu); the ESLs have a moderate level of English understanding; they are taught Urdu and English at school; they are learning English script along with Arabic script (for Urdu).

2-3 teachers depending on the availability; this is a convenient sample.

A sample of each student's work; 1 writing and 1 composition from each student; thus every student is represented and a true representative sample is gained, including both high and low calibre writing and composition students.

5. The main stages of your data collection, including the data collection methods that you intend to use.

A timeline may be helpful here. Describe the data collection instruments (e.g. classroom observation instrument, questionnaire, focus group; writing activity) and the data you hope to obtain from each one (e.g. error correction techniques in the classroom, student perceptions of L1 use, usefulness of genre based input for writing). Indicate how the data you hope to collect from each data collection instrument will help you address the research question/s mentioned in Section 3 above. If you are proposing to evaluate the effect or impact of an 'intervention' (e.g. input on noticing techniques), describe what this input will be.

Pre-Intervention Jan. 2016,

Pre-intervention student writing will be assessed and recorded. Prior to this, student participation will be granted following ethical obligations noted by Bournot-Trites and Belanger (2005) who recommend employing a third party to obtain the necessary consent forms as well as the data collection when conducting research in the classroom (p. 197). This consent can be facilitated through community outreach via engagement with "national, district and local level stakeholders" (Okello, 2013, p. 142).

Feb.2016,

. Discussion with teachers to earmark students with poor handwriting and assess their compositional quality.

. A random selection of students to observe poor handwriting / learning disability

. Student questionnaires given to establish any practice done at home and any relevant information, plus to establish keenness and cooperation during this period

March.2016,

.Teachers questionnaires to establish their own training and skills in handwriting

. Short training given to teachers to be able to carry out this intervention effectively

April -- May, 2016, start of academic year

. 10 -15 stu; given two classes each week, 30 minutes each for 8 weeks.

. Teacher diaries to record stu; progress, their own reflection and evaluation in the light of their own training.

my own diary of observations, discussions and feedback from the rest of the teachers and students in those particular classes

I have already informed the principal and she is happy for me to conduct this research. Two teachers have also informally agreed to take part in this study.

Ear marking of students, short training of teachers and parents consent and questionnaires remains to be done.

Post-Intervention Dec. 2016

Focus group with teachers about the handwriting intervention and its effect

Focus group with the students about the handwriting intervention and.....

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