Effect of Drill Activities on Handwriting Proficiency Among Primary Five Pupils with Dysgraphia in Kano State Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the effect of drills activities on handwriting proficiency among primary five pupils with dysgraphia in Kano State-Nigeria. Two objectives and two hypotheses were formulated for the research. The experimental research of pre-test-post-test control group design was employed. The populations of the study were 110 primary five pupils of Kofar Kudu Primary School of Kano State identified with dysgraphia, with a sample of twenty (20) pupils as a sample of the study. They were selected based on purposive sampling technique. Two instruments were used: Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPQS) and Michael Handwriting Evaluation Scale (MHES). The Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPQS) was adopted and identified targeted pupils. Moreover, Michael Handwriting Evaluation Scale (MHES) was adapted and assessed the handwriting proficiency of the sampled population, which were validated using a Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient and the result showed that the tools were suitable for the conduct of the study, with the reliability index of 0.82 and 0.96 respectively. T-test for independent sample was used and test the 2 hypotheses and analyse the effectiveness of the independent variables over the dependent variable. All the analyses were made using SPSS (version 20) at 5% significant level. The researcher rejected the null hypothesis H01 meaning that Drills activities significantly improved handwriting proficiency among primary five pupils with p-value of .000 at 0.05 level of significant. There is no significant difference in the handwriting performance between boys and girls primary five pupils exposed to drills activities as revealed in the analysis of H02 with p-value of .524 at 0.05 level of significant respectively. It is therefore, recommended that, drills activities improved handwriting proficiency among pupils; teachers should incorporate this approach accordingly.