EFFECT OF THE COMBINATION OF TRACING AND COPYING PRACTICES ON HANDWRITING SKILLS OF JAPANESE LETTERS IN PRESCHOOL AND FIRST GRADE CHILDREN

the following practices using Chinese characters(牛usi ,毛ke,友tomo,戸to):(1) tracing group, tracing the material 5 times in three consecutive days ; (2) copying group , copyingthe same material in the same way during 3 days ; (3) tracing-copying group , tracing the material 5 times in the first day and copying them in the second and third day ; (4) copying-tracing group, copying the material 5 times in the first and second day and tracing them in third day ; (5) control group , no practice. In Exp. II, 63 preschool children (5 and 6 years old) served as subjects under the condition (1), (2), and (3). Tracing-copying practices were the most effective method of handwriting skill acquisition for first graders who had been learning it for over half a year in elementary school, while tracing-copying practices were no more than copying practices for preschool children.