1. ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS
OF UPPER ELEMENTARY
TEACHERS REGARDING
THE TEACHING OF CURSIVE
HANDWRITING
Submitted to the
Gardner-Webb Graduate Education Department as
Partial Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Education
Dorothy Myers
2. Cursive Handwriting
• “Students’ handwriting achievement is influenced
by the amount of handwriting instruction provided
in the classroom (i.e., more instructional time
should lead to improved handwriting
performance), which in turn is influenced by
teachers’ desire to teach this skill (i.e., teachers
who enjoy teaching handwriting devote more time
to its mastery by students), and these attitudes
are likely shaped by teachers’ competence (i.e.,
teachers with good handwriting will be more
positively disposed to teaching it.”
• Graham, 2007
3. Problem
With the demands of other subjects
teachers must spend their time
teaching and with the advancement of
technology in schools, do teachers
need to spend their time teaching
cursive handwriting?
4. Rationale
1. Teachers’ beliefs about what should be taught and
how it should be taught has been a subject of
many studies (Clark &Peterson, 1986; Kagan, 1992;
Woolfok, Davis & Pape, 2006).
2. Handwriting researchers believe that handwriting
should be taught directly and systematically and
that it is essential for students to be able to record
their thoughts and ideas automatically without
being bogged down on how to form letters (Cahill,
2009; Graham, 2012; Stainthorp, 2006; Baker, Gersten &
Graham, 2003; Wallace & Schomer, 1994).
5. Rationale (cont.)
3. “Children, irrespective of their age and talents,
should be trained to use a keyboard from an early
age and, from time to time, allowed to see their
work produced on a computer giving it the status
and appearance of professional print” (Sassoon,
1994, p. 151)
Therefore….
How do teachers’ attitudes and beliefs
about cursive handwriting affect what they
teach?
6. Literature Review
• Six Sections:
Attitudes and Beliefs of Teachers
History of Handwriting
Handwriting Instruction
Cursive Handwriting
Keyboarding and Handwriting
Current State of Cursive Handwriting
7. Attitudes and Beliefs Matter
• Leading Researchers
• Roger Bruning
• M. Frank Pajares
• Donna Kagan
• Jan Nespor
8. Cursive Handwriting
What do we know?
• Cursive handwriting as we know it has been around since
the 17th century
• Steve Graham’s 2008 Study on Handwriting Instruction
• Teaching Cursive First
9. Keyboarding
What do we know?
• Rogers (2009)
• Common Core Standards
• Studies comparing keyboarding and Handwriting
Berninger, Abbot, Augsburger, and Garcia, 2009
Connelly, Gee, and Walsh, 2007
Perminger, Weintraub, and Weiss, 2004
Rogers and Case-Smith, 2002
10. Current State of
Handwriting/Keyboarding
• National Handwriting Summit
• Common Core
• Neurology
11. Gaps in Literature
Purpose of the Study
• Studies on the importance of cursive
handwriting versus keyboarding
• Updated research on the number of teachers
currently teaching cursive handwriting
• Updated research on the number of students
currently using keyboarding as a form of text
production.
12. Research Questions
1. What are the attitudes and beliefs among
third through fifth grade teachers about the
necessity of teaching cursive handwriting?
2. How do teachers that have been teaching 1-
10 years compare in their attitudes and
beliefs about the necessity of teaching
cursive handwriting with teachers who have
been teaching 11-20 years and more than 20
years?
13. 3. How do the attitudes and beliefs of the
teachers differ about the necessity of
teaching cursive handwriting among the
three grade levels?
4. How do the attitude and beliefs of teachers
differ about the necessity of teaching cursive
handwriting among teachers who do not
have a district technology initiative with
teachers whose district does have a
technology initiative?
15. Setting of the Study
• Two local school districts
1st District 2nd District
125 third-fifth grade 77 third - fifth grade
teachers teachers
Has written handwriting Does not have written
policy for district handwriting policy for
district
Technology is in district Specified technology
strategic plan, but no t initiative in strategic plan
specified
16. Instrument
Pilot Study
• Survey created by researcher (contains Lickert-Type
Questions as well as open) ended questions
• Survey will be validated using a pilot study from a local
school district. Teachers will give feedback on ease of
questions, length of time survey takes to complete, and
clarity of questions
• Survey will also be validated using Cronbach’s Alpha
reliability test to determine internal consistency.
17. Analysis Procedures
Non-Parametric
Parametric Measures
Measures
• Analysis of Variance • Kruskal-Wallis
(ANOVA)
• T-Test for independent • Mann-Whitney U
samples
Open ended questions will be analyzed for
reoccurring statements and themes.
18. Timetable
• January 2012- Pilot Study with local school
district
• February, 2012- Survey given to two school
districts in proposal
• Feb- Mar. 2012- Analysis of Data
Roger Bruning- states “a teacher’s view of writing are very likely to carry over into the design and conduct of their students’ writing experiences.Pajares-categorized educational beliefs into 6 groups: Beliefs about confidence to affect students’ performanceNature and knowledgeCauses of teachers’ or students’ performancePerceptions of self and feelings of self-worthConfidence to perform specific tasksBeliefs about specific subjects (this is the area of focus)Kagan- found a teacher’s education, along with classroom experience forms a teacher’s belief systemNespor-identified affective and evaluative aspects of beliefs as the way teachers feel about or value an idea or subject. This belief can affect the amount of energy teachers put into a lesson or activity
In a study called, “How Do Primary Grade Teachers Teach Handwriting?, Steve Graham found that cursive was the most common script taught. 50% of the respondents reported teaching cursive. 63% taught it in third grade, 31 % in 2nd grade. 98% of the teachers surveyed believed that manuscript and cursive should be taught.Three researchers, laCour, Sheffield and Early believe cursive should be taught from the beginning. Their reasonings are it strengthens the process to read; cursive writing makes the clear distinction of word from word, thus providing a natural space between words; frees students from the shift from manuscript to cursive in later grades,
Berninger- studied students from 1st -5th grade and a group of students from 3rd-7th grade. Over the years they wre assessed on handwriting and keyboarding by writing letters, sentences, and an essay. The researcher did not find any statistical difference in the amount of text produced by pen and keyboard. They concluded that keyboarding may or may not be the best way of producing text (more information needed)Connelly- compared transcription speed with keyboarding and handwriting. Studied 4-11 year olds comparing handwriting and keyboarding fluency. The study supported the hypothesis that handwriting fluency outweighs keyboarding fluency without explicit keyboarding instruction. Perminger- Students were preassessed on keyboarding skills, then were given 15 touch typing instruction for 20 minutes each. The students were then given a post-test. The results showed that accuracy in handwriting and keyboarding were high, but there was a difference in speed- Students had a higher percentage of speed with handwriting than with keyboarding. The author’s reasoning for this was because the 5th graders have more automaticity in handwriting because of their age. From the statistics, when comparing speed, handwriting and keyboarding were moderately correlated. The author suggests that keyboarding may be considered as an alternative writing tool.Rogers, Case-Smith- studied the relationship between handwriting and keyboarding performance of sixth grade students after 12 weeks of keyboarding instruction. After the instruction, students’ handwriting speed and legibility were compared with keyboarding performance. Low correlations were found between handwriting speed and legibility and keyboarding speed. The author suggests that due to this low correlation that if students have difficulty with handwriting, they may still be able to produce text using a keyboard.More studies still need to be completed comparing handwriting and keyboarding
In January 2012, leading researchers in handwriting met to discuss the importance of handwriting. Researchers presented findings about the importance of handwriting instruction and its importance in today’s society even with the use of technology in today’s schools. They also produced a document called the Written Language Production Standards for Handwriting and Keyboarding in which students continue to practice handwriting, but also learn keyboarding skills.A survey was given to the leading researchers at the summit. Out of 90 respondents, 95 % believe manuscript and cursive should be taught in schools. Only 1 percent thought neither should be taught. 66% said keyboarding was very important, 30 % stated it was somewhat important and 4% said it was not important. 46 out of 50 states have adopted Common Core. The CC standards state that students will use technology to produce and publish writing.2 states have taken the option of adding up to 15% to the common core standards. Georgia and Indiana have added cursive handwriting to their standards. Kansas is currently debating the topic.Researchers Dr. Karin Harmen James is currently studying MRI’s and the effect that cursive handwriting has on the brain.
Mixed Methods- Quantitative Data from the survey, qualitative data from the open ended response questions
You have a copy of the survey questions at the end of the proposalPilot study will be validated using Crunbach’s Alpha- which is a coefficient of internal consistency.
ANOVA- will be used to test for significance among the three grade levels as well as differences among the number of years teachers have been teaching.T-Test for independent samples will be used to evaluate the differences between the two groups of teachers
