مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - THE PREFERENCE OF HANDWRITING IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL: WHICH HANDWRITING TYPE DO THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS PREFER?

Abstract :

Teaching of handwriting in primary schools has been carried out by using cursive italic letters, accordingto principles and procedures of Turkish Education Program since 2005. primary school students learn towrite by cursive italic writing in first grade and their handwriting process continues with cursive italic letters until the end of the fourth grade. Teachers of 1-4 th grade students, who basically teach all content areas, guide their students to the learning cursive italic handwriting and maintaining the use of cursive italic handwriting. On the other hand, middle grade students continue to classes with subject teachers, such as math teachers, science teachers . This research aims to determine whether primary and secondary school students prefer cursive italic handwriting or upright basic writing most and to explore which factors are responsible for their preferences of handwriting style. This research was designed as a descriptive study by using qualitative research methods. It was conducted with 477 primary and middle school students, as well as 30 of their teachers in Kırıkkale during 2015 spring semester. The data was collected through a questionnaire developed by researchers. Descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze the data gathered from the questionnaire. Frequency and percentage values are calculated for data analysis. Results showed the difference between primary school students and secondary school students in terms of their handwriting style. Primary school students usually prefer cursive italic handwriting letters and secondary school students prefer upright basic letters. Middle school students use upright basic letters while they are writing. Middle school teachers also prefer upright basic letters in school and their daily lives.