Volume 13, Issue 2A and 2B, 2025

Handwriting for global excellence: Examining the impact of Handwriting Interventions on the academic performance of pupils in the early years

Isioma Olagunju &Adewale Noah

Abstract

Handwriting is the act of penmanship and it is a skill that requires teaching,
training and learning. Even though it is essential in the learning, there appears
to be a gradual tilting towards becoming obsolete. The increase in the use of
technology including tablets and computers has aggravated this. The present
study examines the effect of Handwriting interventions on academic
performance of pupils in the early years. A total of 75 pupils from two
purposively selected schools in Lagos State education district V participated
in the study. A Handwriting Achievement Test (HAT) which had a reliability
coefficient of 0.78 was the instrument used to collect the quantitative data.
Treatment lasted three weeks after the conduct of the pretest, the experimental
group was taught using handwriting intervention and the control group was
taught using the traditional lecture method. One-way ANCOVA was used to
analyse the data. It was revealed that that there is a statistically significant
effect of handwriting interventions on the academic performance of pupils in
the early years [ F (1,72) = 6.81; p < .05] and that there is no significant effect
of gender on the academic performance of pupils exposed to handwriting
interventions [ F(1,37) = .27; p > .05 ]. Within the limitations of the study, it
was concluded that handwriting interventions is capable of improving pupils’
performance.

Keywords

Academic performance, Handwriting, gender, pupils

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