The Differential Effects of Still Illustration, Motion Illustration, and Modeling on Students' Manuscript Letter Legibility

Abstract

This investigation was designed to evaluate the differential effects of still illustrations, motion illustration, and live modeling on lower-case manuscript letter formation of 14 kindergarten students. Twenty-six lower-case manuscript letters were divided into three sets of eight or nine letters representing letter families of the alphabet. Baseline data indicated that letter accuracy for the three sets of letters was similar prior to interventions. The three antecedent models were repeatedly presented to each set of letters in random order. Results of group data indicated that the live modeling condition produced an increase in letter accuracy and a clear demonstration of experimental effect. Neither increased accuracy nor an experimental effect was demonstrated under the still or motion illustration conditions. The study demonstrated that live modeling of letter formations may be an effective instructional technique for promoting accurate letter-copying behavior of kindergarten students and that increased accuracy of lower-case manuscript letters written in isolation may transfer to those letters when written in words in a sentence.