Despite the increasing global reconsideration of handwriting in L1, research specifically addressing handwriting and language learning in higher education remains limited. This study aims to examine the effects of handwriting in an English class in higher education in EFL contexts. This research included a total of 49 undergraduate students in the main study between 2022 and 2023. The students took a pre-test, an English writing test to examine their improvement in writing proficiency before the course. The number of words awarded for each group measured their writing fluency. To examine the effects of handwriting, two groups of writing ability were utilized: beginner (n=21) and intermediate (n=28). The participants of each group conducted handwriting of key phrases and service procedures in the hospitality industry in the classes. After the treatment, a post-writing test was carried out. The results were analyzed using ANOVA. The main effect of handwriting showed statistical significance. Both beginner and intermediate groups in the main study improved their fluency. However, an interaction effect was found between beginner and intermediate groups. The beginner group improved their writing fluency more than the intermediate group. According to the analysis of a parallel mini- Attitude/ Motivation Test Battery before and after the treatment, only the beginner group increased motivation and showed a favorable attitude towards the learning situation. Handwriting has a more positive effect on improving the English writing of especially low proficient learners in EFL contexts.

Authors:
Ayako Nakai, Toyo University, Japan

---

Conference Comments & Feedback

Place a comment using your LinkedIn profile

Comments

Share on activity feed

Post with LinkedIn

Powered by WP LinkPress

Share this Presentation

Share this...

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Linkedin

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

Last updated: 2023-02-23 23:45:00

All Posts