Does Primary Students’ Writing Ergonomics Affect Their Handwriting Legibility?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of primary school students’ writing ergonomics on their handwriting legibility. Data was collected with the convenience sampling method in this study, conducted with the survey model as one of the quantitative research methods. The study sample consisted of 450 primary school students studying in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades of public schools in the city centre of Konya, Türkiye. The “Writing Process Observation Form” was used to determine the preferences of the students for writing ergonomics. In order to determine the handwriting legibility of the students, they were given a dictation activity, upon which their writings were analysed according to the “Multidimensional Legibility Scale”. The t-test and ANOVA were used for analysing the data collected in the present study, as a result of which the handwriting legibility of female students turned out to be better than that of male students, and besides that, a statistical significance was found in terms of the grade level variable. As a conclusion, first and fourth grade students appeared to write more legibly than third grade students, and the right-handed students were found to write more legibly than the left-handed ones. However, the writing ergonomics of the students (i.e., notebook/paper positions, pencil gripping styles and pencil gripping point) seemed to have no significant impact on the legibility of the writing.