Проблемні питання методики навчання рукописного шрифту студентів з лівою ведучою рукою.

Abstract

Problematic aspects of methods of teaching of handwritten calligraphy for the left-handed students. Abstract: It is widely known that the left-handedness is inborn individual feature of the people, whose right hemisphere of the brain dominates over the left one. Despite anatomical similarity it is thought that they have different functions: the right hemisphere is responsible for intuition and imaginative thinking (prerequisite for artistic activity), while the left hemisphere contains the mechanisms of analytical and abstract thinking (representing more scientific approach). The people who use both hands equally well are known as ambidexters. Some researchers believe that all people are predisposed to left-handedness, but it dominates only among the left-handed. Based on various census data there are 7 to 10 % left-handed people in Ukraine. In translation to real numbers it means there are hundreds of thousands of left-handed. Therefore, it is not uncommon to encounter students with such “special needs” in artistic higher educational institutions. The majority of textbooks on calligraphy are oriented towards the right-handed. Meanwhile, there is a large number of left-handed among those, who aspire to master this kind of art. Psycholinguistic research on the specifics of formation of graphical skills provides evidence for the fact that the level of development of the individual processes, among which is the influence of the hand in the process of writing, is domineering in the study of calligraphy. This requires the professor of the academic course of “Font” to have conscious understanding of the key features and particularities of these processes as well as appropriate methodological preparation. In this article the author discusses the problems of forming the skills of writing calligraphically in specialized higher education institution, specifically among the students with the leading left hand in the context of their professional growth. The article covers the specifics of the author’s methodology in the classes of the course “Font” of the major “Graphic design” based on the specifics of teaching the course by a right-handed professor. The author points out some aspects of the process of learning and proposes some methods of the use of calligraphy instruments for the left-handed. The author is convinced that the process of development of caligraphy skills largely depends on the learning conditions, students’ age and psychophisiological features that are already formed. Writing is a complex psychophisiological process in which the hand movements are controlled and coordinated with the eye movements. Tension and relaxation of the muscles takes places as a result of the actions of nervous impulses that are coordinated by the movement neurons in the hemispheres of the brain. While practicing caligraphy, we automatically block shoulder muscles and use the muscles of fingers and wrist instead. While trying to complete the same exercises as a right-handed student, left-handed student faces the problem of having to block motor center of the brain that is responsible for parallel movements. Only long-term practice allows to gain psychomotor skills of writing. In the proccess of teaching a teacher faces an important problem of the left-handed people – dysgraphia, which is inability to gain writing skills in accordance to the rules of graphics despite sufficient level of intellectual and language development and lack of serious impairments of seeing or hearing. Dysgraphic impairments are common for about seventy per cent of left-handed students. Most commonly these impairments are present in the process of writing and include missing letters, grammar mistakes even with the use of computer, sometimes even unintentional moving of parts of the text, that is not related to grammar. In handwriting dashes of letters are “trembling”, ovals and half-ovals are bent, twisted, too big, etc.. In graphology this is interpretted as suppression of negative information fron consciousness. However, in the case of left-handed individuals this is better explained through the direction of writing as the language systems that use the direction of writing from right to left do not have vowels. This is explained through the fact that with the usage of this direction of writing the right “intuitive” hemisphere is used that perceives information in the context and absorbs it more easily. Under such circumstances smaller amount of symbols is used while a deep informational meaning is still kept. Practical advice of the author could be summarized in the following points: 1. The light and body position during work - right-handed individuals are used to the left-hand lightning, while left-handed – the opposite way. - Considering rather small number of left-handed students in the group it is important to properly organize their working space. If it is not possible, it is important for the students to sit in a way where their hands would not create problems for one another (left-handed individual always at the left side of the table. - The position of hands during writing is individual in ecah particular case, depending on the way of holding an instrument. 2. Instruments for writing - Gaining the skills of using an instrument – both sharp and flat pen is one of the largest difficulties in studying calligraphy. Creative experiments with the use of flat marker, both round and flat brush or liners and markers tied together are relatively easy for left-handed individuals. The task of studying caligraphy can be simplified through the use of a pen with the opposite direction of the angle for the right hand. 3. Method of writing - While writing in a regular way caligraph completes most of dashes in the direction of away from his/herself. The left-handed writer writes in the direction towards his/herself. It is easier for the right-handed individual to write without messing up the ink. The left-handed individual has to learn to hold the pen in a way that would let him/her write without messing up the paper. The problem is solved thourgh holding the pen above or below the row of writing. There are other possible methods that calligraphers may find individually. We would like to encourage the discussion of the topic by professionals of different fields because of insufficient coverage of scientific and practical aspects of the problem. The important continuation of the topic can also be investigation of the advantages of ambidextereity, teaching the skills of “mirror writing”, pedagogical studies of musicologists ( since a number of music instruments have the same narrow specificity of the use of the working hand as the flat writing pen).