The Implications of Handwriting in Education
The process of putting pen to paper to communicate has been around for more than six thousand years (Trubek, 2009). This means that handwriting has been part of the traditional school system from the very beginning. It has only been since the invention of the typewriter in the late 19th century that we have begun to question the role of handwriting in education. This is not the argument that students should be proficient in cursive only that students should be able to express themselves legibly using pen and paper whether in printing or cursive.
In the age of computers, we have heard a lot of about the benefits of handwriting. There is a clear correlation in ability to write letters and the ability to read (Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, & Velay, 2005). Studies have been done on patients who sustained brain injuries that affected their ability to recognize letters and when these patients physically traced the letters, some were able to recall the letter name (Longcamp et al., 2005). There is also evidence that when right-handed individuals look at letters and words, the left side of their brain is activated and the opposite is true of left handed individuals. There exists a close connection between the visual cortex and the sensorimotor perception of the shapes of letters (Longcamp et al., 2005). There is not the same encoding involved when letter making consists of pressing a key. Memorization is easier when we are more invested in the task and writing is a task that requires more thought and attention. Japanese children learn ideograms by repeatedly writing them and Japanese adults have reported tracing ideograms in the air to identify complex characters (Longcamp et al., 2005).
In our education systems computers are being used by children at an increasingly young age. This does not mean that students are using computers to word process at young age and even when they are, they are also learning how to form letters with pencils on paper. It is at this early stage where the benefits between typing and handwriting are the most murky. There is a lot of evidence showing that using a typewriter to compose helps students write more, writer faster, and feel more pride in their work but there is less research on completely replacing handwriting skills with typing skills.
Longcamp et al. (2005) studied the letter recognition abilities of preschool aged students using only typed letters versus printing the letters with a pencil and a paper. Their study was interested in how children memorize letters. The results of the study showed that older preschool aged children memorized letters better when they learned how to write the letters with a pencil. With the previous studies on brain activation these results support the idea that learning how to write is innately connected to how we memorize letters.
It is clear that writing letters aids in memorization of letters and better writers are better readers however we are not clear on when the benefits of typing come into play. As children learn how to write, writing problems inevitably crop up and some students have great difficulty overcoming the problems while some never become proficient writers. According to Graham, Harris and Fink (2000) these difficulties fall into four categories . They include misinterpretations due to illegible writing, teachers’ perceptions about a child’s competence as a writer, difficulties in the composing process, and writing avoidance due to student self-perception (Graham et al., 2000).
Illegible writing makes no difference in the basic composing process however the editing and revising processes become impossible. Poor penmanship can be fixed by moving this process to the computer or typewriter however poor spelling can only be remedied to a small extent on a word processor using a spellcheck function. If the child is a poor speller, there is a benefit to handwriting (Longcamp et al., 2005). Teachers perceptions about writing competence is a difficult situation to remedy. It is clear that neater work is consistently graded higher than messy work which is cause for students to be proficient writers however there is more evidence that work done on computers looks cleaner and crisper (Kalmbach, 1996; Turbeck, 2009). Students who have difficulty handwriting have difficulty composing because the focus is no longer the story but the actual process of forming each letter. There may be benefits to composing stories on a computer but students should continue to gain proficiency in handwriting so that they can be successful writers and successful hand-writers. A mix between typing and handwriting may also be the best remedy to student writing avoidance. The answer is not to replace handwriting with typing the moment difficulties arise however a mix between the two may ensure a positive student outlook on the process of writing.
In the age of computers, we have heard a lot of about the benefits of handwriting. There is a clear correlation in ability to write letters and the ability to read (Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, & Velay, 2005). Studies have been done on patients who sustained brain injuries that affected their ability to recognize letters and when these patients physically traced the letters, some were able to recall the letter name (Longcamp et al., 2005). There is also evidence that when right-handed individuals look at letters and words, the left side of their brain is activated and the opposite is true of left handed individuals. There exists a close connection between the visual cortex and the sensorimotor perception of the shapes of letters (Longcamp et al., 2005). There is not the same encoding involved when letter making consists of pressing a key. Memorization is easier when we are more invested in the task and writing is a task that requires more thought and attention. Japanese children learn ideograms by repeatedly writing them and Japanese adults have reported tracing ideograms in the air to identify complex characters (Longcamp et al., 2005).
In our education systems computers are being used by children at an increasingly young age. This does not mean that students are using computers to word process at young age and even when they are, they are also learning how to form letters with pencils on paper. It is at this early stage where the benefits between typing and handwriting are the most murky. There is a lot of evidence showing that using a typewriter to compose helps students write more, writer faster, and feel more pride in their work but there is less research on completely replacing handwriting skills with typing skills.
Longcamp et al. (2005) studied the letter recognition abilities of preschool aged students using only typed letters versus printing the letters with a pencil and a paper. Their study was interested in how children memorize letters. The results of the study showed that older preschool aged children memorized letters better when they learned how to write the letters with a pencil. With the previous studies on brain activation these results support the idea that learning how to write is innately connected to how we memorize letters.
It is clear that writing letters aids in memorization of letters and better writers are better readers however we are not clear on when the benefits of typing come into play. As children learn how to write, writing problems inevitably crop up and some students have great difficulty overcoming the problems while some never become proficient writers. According to Graham, Harris and Fink (2000) these difficulties fall into four categories . They include misinterpretations due to illegible writing, teachers’ perceptions about a child’s competence as a writer, difficulties in the composing process, and writing avoidance due to student self-perception (Graham et al., 2000).
Illegible writing makes no difference in the basic composing process however the editing and revising processes become impossible. Poor penmanship can be fixed by moving this process to the computer or typewriter however poor spelling can only be remedied to a small extent on a word processor using a spellcheck function. If the child is a poor speller, there is a benefit to handwriting (Longcamp et al., 2005). Teachers perceptions about writing competence is a difficult situation to remedy. It is clear that neater work is consistently graded higher than messy work which is cause for students to be proficient writers however there is more evidence that work done on computers looks cleaner and crisper (Kalmbach, 1996; Turbeck, 2009). Students who have difficulty handwriting have difficulty composing because the focus is no longer the story but the actual process of forming each letter. There may be benefits to composing stories on a computer but students should continue to gain proficiency in handwriting so that they can be successful writers and successful hand-writers. A mix between typing and handwriting may also be the best remedy to student writing avoidance. The answer is not to replace handwriting with typing the moment difficulties arise however a mix between the two may ensure a positive student outlook on the process of writing.