- Title
- Learning to read and write: the role of handwriting fluency
- Creator
- Ray, Karen
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Background: Handwriting is a complex skill comprising aspects of literacy, fine and visuomotor skills and cognitive development (Dinehart, 2015). Handwriting fluency, the capacity to write recognisable letters and words from memory, is implicit in, and impacts, many typical academic tasks (Feng et al., 2019; McCarroll & Fletcher, 2017). Handwriting underpins writing composition (Kim, Gatlin, et al., 2018; Santangelo & Graham, 2016) and emerging evidence supports its role in facilitation of reading skills, including letter recognition and categorisation (James & Engelhardt, 2012; Li & James, 2016). However, less is known about supporting handwriting fluency acquisition of beginning writers (Cantin & Hubert, 2019; Santangelo & Graham, 2016), or the effects of handwriting fluency acquisition on literacy in beginning readers (James & Engelhardt, 2012; Longcamp et al., 2005). Children in Kindergarten, the first year of formal instruction for reading and writing, are noted to be an understudied group (Puranik, Petscher, et al., 2018). Further study of effective ways to support handwriting fluency acquisition and the impact of improvements in this skill on literacy in Kindergarten is warranted. Objective: The overall objective of this research was to examine the interrelationships between handwriting fluency in Kindergarten students and early reading and writing composition skills. Method: The objective of the research was addressed by: 1. Undertaking a systematic review of the current literature pertaining to the relationship between students’ handwriting and literacy in Kindergarten.; 2. Conducting a pilot study of a modification of the Year 1 Write Start program (Case-Smith et al., 2014) for Kindergarten children. The modified Write Start involved a whole-class, co-taught handwriting intervention for Kindergarten students, and the pilot study retrospectively analysed impacts of this program on handwriting fluency and the impact of early literacy abilities on intervention outcomes. The pilot study included a single cohort of Australian Kindergarten students (n= 81) at a regional independent school. The candidate had delivered the modified Write Start program as part of routine clinical practice in the school and data were analysed retrospectively.; 3. Development of a theoretical model of handwriting fluency acquisition in beginning writers through the integration of evidence from the literature and the pilot study results.; 4. Implementing a prospective, two-group pre- post-test comparison study of the effectiveness of a revised and updated modified Write Start (Write Start-K) on the handwriting fluency and early literacy of Australian Kindergarten students. Write Start-K was tested in two Kindergarten classes in the intervention school (n = 38) and compared with Kindergarten children in a control school who received standard handwriting teaching (n = 39). Together with teachers and research assistants, trained in the intervention methodology, the candidate conducted the intervention in two 45-minute sessions per week for eight weeks. At both schools, handwriting, early reading and writing composition outcomes were measured at baseline, immediate post-intervention and follow-up (12 weeks post-intervention). Results: Systematic review: Relationships between handwriting and literacy in Kindergarten were reported in 15 articles involving 2049 unique participants. Relevant skills were grouped as: 1) handwriting— letter writing fluency and perceptual motor skills; and, 2) literacy—letter name and sound knowledge, phonological skills, word reading, writing composition, and spelling. There was moderate to strong evidence for a relationship between letter writing fluency and all literacy groupings, except phonological skills, for which weaker evidence was found. Weaker evidence was found for an effect of perceptual motor skills on spelling, letter name and sound knowledge, word reading and phonological skills. Pilot study: Significant gains in handwriting fluency were observed for participants following the modified Write Start intervention (Z = -4.457, p < 0.0001). Higher or lower early literacy abilities did not impact intervention outcomes (phonics, f (19, 50) = 1.11, p = 0.36; phonemic awareness, f (19,50) = 1.32, p = 0.21; writing, f (19,50) = 0.59, p = 0.89). Theoretical model: The 4Rs model is a proposed model of handwriting fluency acquisition based on findings from the systematic review and pilot study. The model proposes that there are four processes involved in handwriting fluency acquisition: Recall, Retrieve, Reproduce and Repeat. These processes are underpinned by the cognitive and perceptual motor skills indicated in handwriting fluency and are conceived as a system that must work together for fluency acquisition. Two-group study: Linear Mixed Models were used to assess the impact of group, time and the group by time interactions, with these three terms forming the base model. Amount of growth across the assessment time intervals and the differences in this growth between the intervention group, who received Write Start-K, and the control who received standard teaching, were analysed to determine significant effects. Significant group by time interactions in favour of the intervention group were observed for handwriting fluency (p = .005), letter sound correspondence (p = .01), number of words written (p<.001), word reading fluency (p = .05) and letter name knowledge (p <.001). Conclusion: Findings from the prior literature support a relationship between early handwriting and early literacy in Kindergarten students. The 4Rs model of handwriting fluency acquisition in beginning writers is proposed and highlights this relationship. Findings from the retrospective (pilot) and prospective (two-group) studies confirmed that the Write Start program can be successfully adapted and utilised as an effective intervention for handwriting fluency acquisition for Kindergarten children. Further, when compared with standard teaching, Write Start-K participants made greater gains in reading and writing composition skills. This finding adds to the emerging evidence for the impact of handwriting fluency on literacy in Kindergarten. Replication of these findings is required to confirm these conclusions. Results from this research were compiled in a policy brief to advise key stakeholders in health and education.
- Subject
- handwriting; reading; writing; kindergarten; literacy
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1463076
- Identifier
- uon:46631
- Rights
- Copyright 2022 Karen Ray
- Language
- eng
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