The case of using cursive handwriting at 9th grade students who started first literacy instruction directly with cursive handwriting

In this study it is aimed to reveal the speed and the rate of cursive handwriting usage in daily and academic writing of 9th grade students starting literacy instruction directly with cursive handwriting. Three hundred and fifteen students attending at grade 9 and twenty-seven teachers giving lecture to them in the district of province of Giresun / Piraziz participated in the study. Written interview from has been applied to 315 9th grade students and 27 teachers entering their courses. Also, 67 students at grade 9th and 45 students at grade 10th have been applied writing speed measurement from to indicate their writing speed. According to results of the research, student using manuscript style could write faster although they could write slower with cursive handwriting. Usage of two different writing styles in class created some problems. These problems caused students to prefer using manuscript style. This preference influenced the students' writing legibility and speed negatively and next grades. According to the research analysis and students' opinions, 12 percent of elementary school teachers do not use cursive handwriting while writing on board. Turkish teachers try to be a model for their students as using cursive handwriting substantially and encourage them to use cursive handwriting. In contrast, it was seen that other branches of those teachers don't use cursive handwriting but want students to using cursive handwriting at 4th, 5th and 6th grades. Only 10 percent of students went on using cursive handwriting. The reasons of this result are; the students could write cursive handwriting slowly, they couldn't write "w, q, x" letters with cursive handwriting in English lessons. They couldn't read even their own handwriting, they were tired and bored while using cursive handwriting and some of their friends had already started using manuscript. Also some of their teachers were using manuscript handwriting and encourage them to do so. All of these caused them to think manuscript handwriting was easier Teachers giving lessons at 9th grades stated that teachers themselves didn't know how to write cursive handwriting, they couldn't read students' papers, there were mixed types of handwriting, students wrote slowly, notebooks and homework were messy, letters weren't grammatical, students couldn't read even their own papers and had difficulty to write with cursive handwriting. They recommended some solutions for these problems. Key Words: Cursive Handwriting, Manuscript Handwriting, Students' Opinions.