Batik Skill, Indonesian Local Wisdom and Its Relation to Children
Readyness in Writing
Correlational Study in Primary School, Jakarta
Anita Damayanti
Faculty of Education, Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
Keywords: Batik Skills, Correlation, Writing Ability.
Abstract: This study aims to see the relationship between batik skills with the ability to write of children aged 6-8
years in Elementary School, West Jakarta, Indonesia. Correlation Technique Methodical was applicated in
this survey. Population in this related research employed 160 students spread over at the 2nd. and 3rd. level
of primary school grade. Research conducted through purposive random sampling for selected 30 students
after completion of an explanation, clarification as well as special instruction to work out an essay finished
art product. Series of tests as an instrument measured of complete data on batiking capability and writing
skill capability. Correlation and Regression Statistics with significance of α = 0.05. Applied as data analysis,
which resulted Positive and Significant Correlation between Batiking Aptitude towards writing skill
capability of 6 – 8 years old primary school students, showed by a ry₁ = 0,740 as correlation coefficient and
Ŷ = 31.69 + 0,60 X₁ as similarly regression can be interpreted that batik skill effect on writing ability of
children aged 6-8 years.
1 INTRODUCTION
Literacy and language development are key
foundations of readiness, and research over the last
three decades also suggests that handwriting is a key
component of literacy in preschool and early
childhood. Forming letters and words by hand is a
complex skill: it requires a child to coordinate letter
formation, letter knowledge, and fine motor skills.
Research shows significant links between children’s
early attempts at writing and their developing
knowledge about how books and printed materials
work and how words on a page can create meaning
(Zhang et al., 2015) that is, emerging reading skills.
Learning to write letters and form words are
powerful first steps toward academic success. One
cornerstone of high quality preschool is a focus on
literacy development, and a strong predictor of later
reading skills is alphabet knowledge (Cameron et al.,
2012).
Children entering the elementary school have a
variety of experiences with writingexposures in
general. Some six and eight-year olds arrive having
more sophisticated letter formations and legible
hand writing samples, while others struggle at even
attempting to write their first letters. Handwriting
ability primarily involves the use of fine motor skills
and a large majority of a student’s day, up to 60%, is
spent in writing tasks (McHale and Cermak, 1992).
Therefore, it is no wonder that children who have
underdeveloped or poor use of fine motor skills
would struggle with their writing samples (Erhardt
and Meade, 2005). In later years as a child matures
some are diagnosed with having dysgraphia, which
has been identified as a difficulty expressing one’s
opinions or thoughts on paper (Richards, 1999).
Children with poor written forms may struggle with
completing assignments and have a lower self-
esteem due to their inability to express themselves
(Crouch and Jakubecy, 2007). Teachers should be
aware of how to identify and work with students
who are just arriving to their classes in the very early
elementary years who may have deficits in written
communication.
Researchers suggest that for some children hand
writing skills are not automatically obtained, but
instead may need a more systematic approach to
ascertain legible handwriting skills. Sensorimotor
interventions have been identified popular technique
to help individuals with poor handwriting skills
Damayanti, A.
Batik Skill, Indonesian Local Wisdom and Its Relation to Children Readyness in Writing - Correlational Study in Primary School, Jakarta.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences (ICES 2017) - Volume 2, pages 213-218
ISBN: 978-989-758-314-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
213

(Feder et al., 2000). Sensorimotor interventions may
include various tasks that help improve a child’s
visual memory and their letter formation recall for
writing assignments.
Skills batik making process repeatedly will be
able to improve fine motor skills muscles of the
arms and hands of children, train concentration,
intelligence, patience and persistence in addition to
aiming for the preservation. Many activities in the
process of making batik stimulate fine motor for the
child’s readiness to write, among others, the process
of mola, klowong and nerusi, giving color with the
technique of colet, nembok and make the crevice on
the edge of cloth with paraffin wax in the squeeze.
Batik activities that have been done by school
students just introduction or socialization only. They
learn the process of making batik just want to know
how it feels how to make it without realizing that
there are other benefits that are more valuable,
namely that by studying
The basics of fine motor training that children get
from learning to write this batik will smooth the fine
motor muscles and hand-eye coordination so that it
becomes supple (Landy and Burridge, 1999). Motor
proficiency is essential in early childhood for overall
motor development and considered as the basis and
building blocks of more complex movements skills
(Clark and Metcalfe, 2002). Fine motor skills are
essential in writing because they help form letters
and numbers accurately and "can only be produced
by proper timing and force control of coordinated
arm, hand, and finger movement". It is important to
assess young children's fine and gross motor skill
performance because research has shown that a
strong, positive relationship exists between fine
motor skills and academic success. That is, children
that perform fine motor skills better tend to be more
academically successful than that of children who do
not (Henderson et al., 2007) the benefits of fine
motor skill intervention are not limited to
improvements in motor proficiency. They have been
shown to affect math and reading performance
(Dinehart and Manfra, 2013).
2 HAND-DRAWN BATIK
Hand-drawn Batik there are several stages in the
process the hand-drawn Batik including several sub-
processes of waxing dyeing and dewaxing
(removing the wax) and preparing the cloth, tracing
the designs, stretching the cloth on a frame, waxing
the area of the cloth that does not need dyeing,
preparing the dye, dipping the cloth in dye, boiling
the cloth to remove the wax and washing the cloth.
There are many activities of hand drawn batik
making batik for the child's readiness to write, the
process of mola, klowong and nerusi, giving color
with the technique of colet, and make the crevice on
the edge of cloth with paraffin wax in the squeeze.
Here is an introduction to the process of making
batik that can be done on children.
a) Mola, prepare motif picture on cotton cloth.
Put the cotton over the picture and trace the
motifs on the top and bottom of the fabric on
the tracing table. The following figure 1 is the
photo while student is tracing the motifs.
Figure 1: Klowong.
b) Klowong, Thickening motifs on fabric with
canting containing wax liquid. The following
figure 2 is the photo while student is
thickening motifs.
Figure 2: Klowong.
c) Nerusi, Thickening the rear motif of the fabric.
The following figure 3 is the photo while student is
thickening the rear motif.
Figure 3: Nerusi.
d) Giving color with the technique of colet, coloring
motif pictures that have been in klowong cloth
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
214

with a brush. The following figure 4 is the
photo while student is coloring motifs with a
brush.
Figure 4: Mencolet.
e) Remukan, a motif of cracked ornaments on
the edge of the fabric with liquid paraffin wax.
The following figure 5 is the photo while student is
cracking ornaments.
Figure 5: Nerusi.
f) Dye the fabric base color, rinse and dry. The
following figure 6 is the photo while students
are rising and drying.
Figure 6: Coloring the base, rinsing and drying.
Learning batik starting from how to use the
correct canting, then write it on the surface of the
fabric until it becomes a batik patterned fabric
require time and a long process if you want to
succeed well. Not enough just one try, repeated
practice of multiple experiences, students will look
for the best way to perform the expected movement.
The wrong techniques will be abandoned and
gradually replaced with the correct movement so
that eventually the students will master the whole
movement by repeating the process of motor activity
is done through trying and trying again (Luthan and
Rusli 1988). Repetition of those experiences
increases the chances of a right response (Mudjiono
and Dimyati, 2006). The process of learning the
formation of the relationship between stimulus and
response is in line with the theory of Association
Psychology.
Skill are developed through practice sensory
information is interpreted and action follows from
the interpretation the sequence of events can be
depicted: Stimulli, senses, recognition by brain,
interpretation (muscular action), feedback to senses,
repeat cycle with improved performance (Collins
and Nigel, 1989). Similarly, the repetitive batik
making skills of the fine motor muscles of the hands
and eye coordination become better prepared for the
child doing the writing activity.
Writing is a complex activity that includes arm,
hand-eye coordination (Abdurrahman, 1996).
Coordination is the ability to perform movements at
various levels of difficulty quickly and efficiently, as
well as full of precision (Thompson, 1991). To be
able to write one must master the ability to
remember visually to remember the letters and
sequence of movement in its making (Ashman and
Elkins, 1990). The development of writing skills in
children is influenced by the environment and fine
motor control skills (Landy and Burridge, 1999).
The control skills will come up if the child gets
repetitive exercise. Instruction in handwriting can
provide preschool teachers a way to mark
developmental milestones across the rapid age-
related changes in motor skills and social emotional
behaviours in the preschool years as well as to help
support children’s language and cognitive
development. Handwriting instruction supports
school readiness Explicit handwriting instruction in
the preschool years, using developmentally
appropriate classroom practices, can provide strong
foundational skills to prepare young children to enter
kindergarten. Thoughtful researchers have advocated
a refocused attention on handwriting in the school
curriculum given the emphasis in the Common Core
State Standards on high quality written texts.
Improving fine motor writing skills and handwriting
readiness in preschool children may be a key to
improving academic skills in the long term
(Dinehart, 2015)
3 METHODS
Research method that will be used in this research is
survey method with correlation technique. The
variables of skills batik making are tracing motif
image (mola), thicken with canting containing hot
wax (nglowong & nerusi), make crab (remukan) and
color it by technique of applying dyestuff by means
Batik Skill, Indonesian Local Wisdom and Its Relation to Children Readyness in Writing - Correlational Study in Primary School, Jakarta
215

of brush (coletan). The variable of students writing
ability is based on writing test score result.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The study was conducted at the Primary school of
West Jakarta. The sample used was 30 students of
Grade II and III students. The sample selection was
done by purposive mix random sampling technique.
X variable (batik skills) obtained from the
calculation score X variable assessment consisting
of 6 aspects of assessment conducted by three
assessors of 30 respondents. Based on the analysis of
the score of the assessment results obtained range of
empirical scores batik skills are in between 42.33 to
85.00 from the range of theoretical scores 0 to 100.
Table 1: Frequency distribution of batik skill score.
From the table 1, it is 3 respondents or as much
as 10.00% get the score that is in the highest interval
class (78 - 86) and as many as 5 respondents or
16.67% get the score which is at the lowest interval
(42 - 50). The highest frequency of 11 respondents
or 36.67% is in the fourth interval (69 - 77) and the
lowest frequency is 3 respondents or 10.00% is in
the fifth interval (78 - 86).
The graph above shows that the respondents
whose scores are at the average level (64.90) are
those in the fourth interval (69 - 77) totalling 11
respondents or 36.67%, the number of respondents
who score below the average level 16 respondents or
53.33% and respondents who scored above the
average of 3 respondents or by 10.00%.
Y variable data (writing ability) is obtained from
the calculation of score of Y variable consisting of 6
aspects of assessment conducted by 3 (three)
appraisers to 30 respondents. Based on the analysis
of scoring results obtained range of fine motor
empirical scores ranging from 50.00 to 88.00 from
the range of theoretical scores 0 to 100. The data
distribution frequency table of writing ability (Y)
consisting of 5 interval classes with interval class
length 8.
Table 2: Frequency distribution of writing ability score.
From the table 2, it is 3 respondents or as much
as 10.00% get the score which is in the highest
interval class (82 - 89) and 3 respondents or 10.00%
57. The highest frequency of 13 respondents or
43.33% is in the third interval (66 - 73) and the
lowest frequency is 3 respondents or 10.00% are in
the first interval (50-57) and the fifth interval (82 -
89).
The table 3 shows that the respondents whose
scores are at the mean level (70.30) are those in the
third interval (66 - 73) of 13 respondents or 43.33%,
the number of respondents who score below the
average level of 7 Respondents or as much as
23.33% and respondents who scored above the
average of 10 respondents or 33.33%.
Table 3: Descriptive statistics recapitulation.
Data Analysis Requirements: The tests were
performed to prove that the research data is normally
distributed and homogeneous. Normality of data of
each variable that is X and Y is done by Lilliefors
test and homogeneity of data is done by Barlett test.
For regression linearity test and correlation test done
together in hypothesis testing.
Test Data Normality: The Lilliefors test is done
with the following steps: Sorting the sample data
from the smallest data to the largest data,
Determining the z value of each data, Determining
the probability for each z based on the z table called
F (z), Calculates the cumulative frequency of each
value of z called S (z), Determines the value Lo = | F
(z) - S (z) |, 6) finds the maximum Lo value, Find the
Lt value of the Lilliefors table then compare the Lo
with Lt. Basic decision making with the provision if
Lo < Ltabel then accept Ho which means that the
data is normally distributed. Based on the
calculation of normality test done obtained Lo
Variable X amounted to 0.0910, and Lo Variable Y
of 0.0752. As for Lt at the level of significance α =
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
216

0.05 with n = 30 is 0.1870. Since Lo of two data sets
is smaller than Lt, it can be concluded that the X and
Y data groups are from normally distributed
populations (see in Table 4).
Table 4: Normality test results.
Homogeneity test on research data using Barlett
formula on each data group with test criterion ꭓ²test
< ꭓ² table. Based on the calculation of homogeneity
test of Y over X the value of ꭓ² test is 2.03. The ꭓ²
table at significance level α = 0.05 and dk = k - 1 = 2
- 1 = 1 is 3.84. Since ꭓ²test < ꭓ² table is 2.03 < 3.84,
it can be concluded that the variant of the data group
Y over X is homogeneous.
Hypothesis Testing: The first hypothesis states
that there is a positive relationship between the skills
of batik (X) with the ability to write (Y). Based on
the results of model calculation of the relationship
between variables X and Y variables with the form
of simple linear regression equation Ŷ = a + bX
Retrieved regression equation Ŷ = 31.69 + 0.60X
Simple linear regression equation data pair between
batik skill variables (X) (Y) explains that the
regression direction coefficient is 0.60 and the
constant is 31.69, which means that any increase of
batik skill score of one unit can lead to an increase in
writing ability of 0.60 units at constant 31.69.
Figure 7. The sequence diagram of regression.
Linearity regression of batik skills with writing
ability is presented in table Anava, Significance Test
and Linearity Regression Ŷ = 31.69 + 0.60X.
Regresi Significant = F test (33,91) > Ftable (4,20).
Regresi Linear = F test (2,68) < F table (5,77). The
test results concluded that the regression model
between batik skills with writing ability is
significant and linear (see in figure 7).
The hypothesis of the relationship of batik skills
with the ability to write hypothesis testing using
product moment correlation analysis technique from
Pearson. Based on calculation result obtained
correlation coefficient ry1 = 0,740. The value of
rtabel criticized r product moment at the significance
level of 0.05 and n = 30 is 0.361. Thus, rtest is larger
than rtabel (0.740> 0.361). The conclusion is there is
a positive relationship between batik skills with
writing ability.
Significance of correlation coefficient (ry1),
calculated by using t-test. From the calculation
results obtained t count of 5.82. From the list of
percentile values of distribution t with degrees of
freedom (n-k) = 30 - 2 = 28 at significance level α =
0.05 obtained rtabel = 1.70. When rtest compared
with rtable obtained t count is greater than table
(5.82 > 1.70). Thus, it can be concluded that the
relationship of batik skills with writing ability is
significant.
Coefficient of determination done to know the
amount of contribution of variable of batik skill in
influencing writing ability. From the calculation of
coefficient of determination for both variables
obtained value of 54.77%. The percentage indicates
that the writing ability is determined by the
contribution of batik skill variable by 54.77%, while
the rest of 45.23% is the contribution of other factors
beyond the variable of batik skills.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the results of testing and analysis that have
been done, concluded there is a positive relationship
between the skills of batik (X) writing ability (Y)
with correlation coefficient ry1 = 0.740. That means,
the better the batik skills will improve the writing
skills of children. Conversely, if the skills of batik
low then the ability to write children will also be
low. Batik skills require flexibility of arm muscle
movement, joints of the hands and fingers. Likewise,
with the ability to write, flexibility factor of arm
muscle movement, joints of the hands and fingers is
essential so that children are able to write well and
correctly. With the determination coefficient of
54.77% it can be said that about 54.77% of
children's writing ability is determined by the skills
of batik. Based on the value of the coefficient of
determination, it is seen that batik skills are not the
only factors that contribute to the ability to write
children.
Batik Skill, Indonesian Local Wisdom and Its Relation to Children Readyness in Writing - Correlational Study in Primary School, Jakarta
217

REFERENCES
Abdurrahman, M., 1996. Pendidikan Bagi Anak
Kesulitan Belajar, Depdikbud. Jakarta.
Ashman, A., Elkins, J., 1990. Educating Children with
Special Needs, Prentice Hall. Sydney.
Cameron, C. E., Brock, L. L., Murrah, W. M., Bell, L. H.,
Worzalla, S. L., Grissmer, D., Morrison, F. J., 2012.
Fine motor skills and executive function both
contribute to kindergarten achievement. Child
Development, 83(4), 1229–1244.
Clark, J. E., Metcalfe, J. S., 2002. The mountain of motor
development: A metaphor. In: Clark JE, Humphrey JH
(Edn,). Motor Development: Research and Review
NASPE Publications, Reston, VA.
Collins, C., Nigel, N., 1989. New Teaching Skill, Osford
University Press. Walton Street USA.
Crouch, A. L., Jakubecy, J. J., 2007. Dysgraphia: How it
affects a student’s performance and what can be done
about it. Teaching Exceptional Children Plus, 3(3)
Article 5.
Dinehart, L., Manfra, L., 2013. Associations between low-
income children's fine motor skills in preschool and
academic performance in second grade. Early Educ
Dev., 24: 138-161.
Dinehart, L. H., 2015. Handwriting in early childhood
education: Current research and future implications.
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(1), 97–118.
Erhardt, R. P., Meade, V., 2005. Improving handwriting
without teaching handwriting: The consultative
clinical reasoning process. Australian Occupational
Therapy Journal, 52, 199-210.
Feder, K. P., Majnemer, A., Synnes, A., 2000.
Handwriting: Current trends in occupational therapy
practice. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy /
Revue Canadienne D'Ergothérapie, 67(3), 197-204.
Henderson, S., Sugden, D., Barnett, A., 2007. Movement
Assessment Battery for Children-2, Pearson
Assessment. London.
Landy, M., Burridge, R., 1999. Fine Motor Skills and
Handwriting Activities for Young Children, The
Center for Applied Research in Education.
Luthan, L., Rusli, R., 1988. Belajar Keterampilan Motorik
Pengantar Teori dan Metode, Dep. P dan K Dirjen.
Pendidikan Tinggi, Jakarta.
McHale, K., Cermak, S. A., 1992. Fine motor Activities in
elementary school: Preliminary findings and
provisional implications for children with fine motor
problems. American Journal of Occupational Therapy,
46(10), 898-90.
Mudjiono, M., Dimyati, D., 2006. Belajar dan
Pembelajaran, Rieneka Cipta. Jakarta.
Richards, R., 1999. The source for dyslexia and
dysgraphia, LinguiSystems. East Mokine, IL.
Thompson, P. J. L., 1991. Introduction to Coaching
Theory, Internasional Amateur Athletik Federation.
England.
Zhang, C., Hur, J., Diamond, K. E., Powell, D., 2015.
Classroom writing environments and children’s early
writing skills: An observational study in Head Start
classrooms. Early Childhood Education Journal, 43,
307–315.
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
218