Date of Award

6-1993

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Howard E. Farris

Second Advisor

Dr. Galen Alessi

Third Advisor

Dr. William Redmon

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

This research study investigated the effects of a systematic cursive writing instruction program on the quantity of written product generated by sixth grade students identified as having poor cursive writing (legibility). A Direct Instruction curriculum was chosen to remediate the students' cursive writing skills. Subjects received three to nine weeks of four 20-minute sessions per week of cursive instruction. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used. During the baseline phase, students were asked to write a story based on story starters provided. The total number of words generated was determined for each story. In the intervention phase, subjects received the cursive instruction, while continuing to develop stories from story starters on a weekly basis. The results did not support the contention that improved cursive writing resulted in increased production of written text. The lack of positive results may be due to the limited amount of training the students received.

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