Four Benefits of Teaching Handwriting
Research studies have shown that effective handwriting instruction can significantly enhance student performance in ELA and across disciplines.
What is handwriting?
Handwriting is any form of writing that is done by hand. This includes print (manuscript) and cursive writing. This excludes keyboarding and other electronic means of producing text unless a writing instrument is used.
The Present State of Handwriting
Some handwriting instruction occurs in grades K and 1
Overall, handwriting instruction in the elementary grades has been on the decline over the past decade or more
The primary reason: the Common Core standards, which most districts follow, do not include standards for handwriting, even in Kindergarten
There are CC standards, however, for keyboarding
The prevalence of electronic devices in the classroom has diminished the emphasis once placed on handwriting
Often handwriting instruction consists of tracing dashed-line letters without any modeling by the teacher
1. Handwriting Promotes Letter Recognition
“Children who learn letter formation learn to recognize letters more quickly.”
Handwriting helps to cement recognition and recall of a letter better than typing on a keyboard, visual study, or tracing
Additional brain activation (sensory-motor integration) takes place when a child later sees a letter after having learned to write it
“The delicate and precisely controlled movements involved in handwriting contribute to the brain’s activation patterns related to learning.”
2. Handwriting Helps Children Become Better Readers
Letter recall and recognition are key initial steps in reading development
Proficiency in letter recognition leads to more rapid understanding of sound-symbol correspondences
“Learning to form letters by hand contributes to better reading and spelling.”
3. Good Handwriting Leads to Improved Writing Quality
Writing requires holding information about content in working memory as writing is produced
Students who are more fluent at letter production can spend fewer mental resources on transcribing and more on the content and structure of the written output
“Students with strong handwriting skills have been shown to be better, more creative writers.”
4. Fluent Handwriting Increase Quality and Quantity of Note-Taking
The speed of handwriting is directly related to the ability of a student to keep up with note taking in a lecture setting
The ease and speed at which students were able to write also played an important part in the volume of notes taken
The volume of notes produced often predicted performance on tests
“Handwriting speed appears to be important to writing outcomes of different types: essays, lecture notes, and text notes.”
-Peverly et. al., 2012
Handwriting Without Tears Curriculum
What Does Effective Handwriting Instruction Look Like?
It is explicit
It is systematic
It is developmentally appropriate
It is multisensory
It lasts no longer than 10-15 minutes each day
Written by
Frederick Lorber
Berninger, V. (2012), May/June). Strengthening the mind's eye: the case for continued handwriting instruction in the 21st century (pp.28-31). Principal. Alexandria, VA: National association of elementary school principals.
Ose Askvisk, E. Van Der Weel, F.R. & Van Der Meer, A.L.H. (2020). The importance of cursive handwriting over typewriting for learning in the classroom: a high-density EEG study of 12-year-old children and young adults. Frontiers. Psychology., 27 July 2020Sec. Educational Psychology Volume 11 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810
Peverly, S.T., Verkaria, P.C., Reddington, L.A., Sumowski, J.F., Johnson, K.R., and Ramsay, C.M. (2012). The relationship of handwriting speed, working memory, language comprehension and outlines to lecture note-taking and test-taking among college students. applied cognitive psychology 27:113-126 (2013) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/acp.2881
