Here’s an interesting thought from Doug Dickinson
Handwriting
Why is it given such an important place? Is it an essential learning skill? If it is – to what level does it need to be developed in a world where most communications are now made electronically and writing on paper with a device is usually for person notes etc? And what has it got to do with literacy?
All primary schools still include conventional handwriting teaching and I’m not sure how many routinely teach keyboard skills. The debate is challenging: it is imperative that we equip our children for the 21st century; but nevertheless we cannot pretend that every child has access to a computer whenever they need to write while in – or out – of school.
There is an important conversation to be had about the methods we use when teaching writing although ultimately of course, it is the content that matters. Certainly for learners with dyslexia, I have no doubt that word processing is infinitely superior to handwriting because of the obvious advantages of legible, relatively error-free presentation.
There is some research that claims that ‘writing by hand engages the brain in learning’.
During one study at IndianaUniversity published this year, researchers used an MRI machine to spot neural activity in the brain. Children were shown letters before and after receiving different letter-learning instruction. In children who had practiced printing by hand, the neural activity was far more enhanced and “adult-like” than in those who had simply looked at letters.
Recent research illustrates how “It seems there is something really important about manually manipulating and drawing out two-dimensional things we see all the time,” says Karin Harman James, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience atIndianaUniversitywho led the study.
This study did not appear to contrast writing with typing however. Another study, though, indicates improved cognitive activity and engagement when writing by hand.
In a 2008 study in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, adults were asked to distinguish between new characters and a mirror image of them after producing the characters using pen-and-paper writing and a computer keyboard. The result: For those writing by hand, there was stronger and longer-lasting recognition of the characters’ proper orientation, suggesting that the specific movements memorized when learning how to write aided the visual identification of graphic shapes.
Other research highlights the hand’s unique relationship with the brain when it comes to composing thoughts and ideas. Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says handwriting differs from typing because it requires executing sequential strokes to form a letter, whereas keyboarding involves selecting a whole letter by touching a key.
She says
pictures of the brain have illustrated that sequential finger movements activated massive regions involved in thinking, language and working memory – the system for temporarily storing and managing information.
This makes sense. Nevertheless, for children who struggle to recall letter shapes and patterns, whose motor skills are undeveloped, whose poor spelling inhibits creativity, I would suspect there is no contest: ICT will always be preferred. That’s if they have the skills in the first place.
Perhaps the combination of technology and handwriting is one way forward: an iPhone app can encourage little ones to draw letters with their fingers or a stylus: correct movements earn cheering pencils.
I am indebted to Gwendolyn Bounds for drawing my attention to this interesting research.
C.B. Wentworth
May 17, 2011 @ 16:31:02
A few colleagues and I discussed this topic a few weeks ago. In recent years, I’ve started to notice many of my students do not know how to write in cursive. We did a little digging and found out many of the primary and middle schools in our district have eliminated it from the curriculum to make room for other things. This concerns me greatly as the quality of handwriting continues to deteriorate even with just standard printing. While technology should be a key part of education, it should not override basic communication skills, like traditional handwriting. Text messaging has infiltrated grammar and I see students using crude abbreviations in place of actual words, (I’ve had formal essays submitted with b/c used in place of because). When things like that occur, it’s not just about handwriting. Language skills are also being effected. It makes me wonder just how much our students are losing in every content area with the absence of basic handwriting skills.
Hilery Williams
May 17, 2011 @ 17:49:48
Thanks for your comment.
I think it’s fine to use b/c in my own personal notes – I only ever write by hand for shopping lists, birthday cards and telephone calls! (And I’m nearly 60).
I wouldn’t dream of applying for a job or writing to the bank manager without checking and double checking my presentation.
I think the fundamental thing is for educators is to ensure that our students know, understand and respond to the difference between formal and informal writing.
Handwriting is increasingly becoming a craft rather than a necessary skill.
Hilery Williams
May 17, 2011 @ 18:02:13
Just found on Twitter a great parody by Katie Stansberry: 10 Reasons to Ban Pens and Pencils at http://mindshift.kqed.org/2010/11/10-reasons-to-ban-pens-and-pencils-in-the-classroom/
Good fun and very pertinent to this debate.
Alan Coady
May 17, 2011 @ 20:16:26
Fascinating post, Hilery, on a topic which, I’m ashamed to say, I haven’t given a moment’s thought until now. From your words, quotes and the comments contributed (along with some evidence-free intuition) I find myself believing that we need both hand-writing and keyboard skills. That said, I have to confess that I absolutely hate writing by hand for various reasons: legibility; speed; storage, retrieval, copying and distribution of text; post-hoc editing; cramp….
I’m wary of any conflation of hand-writing and grammar/punctuation concerns. I am the world’s most insufferable pedant but (I try to convince myself) it’s because I love language and because I think it’s helpful to avoid unintentional ambiguity. I don’t think technology can be blamed for poor language skills. It doesn’t seem to have done Stephen Fry much harm.
As children we were taught print-style hand-writing and then, in P3, ‘promoted’ to cursive. For some reason, as soon as I was free to do so, I picked apart this unnecessarily florid and antiquated imposition without really thinking it through. Ironically, I didn’t end up with a ‘lovely hand of print’ but with a wretched hybrid which looked, more than anything, like it needed a good meal.
I would love, more than anything, to be a student again. I would, however, bitterly resent the physical (and eventually psychological) stress of lengthy, hand-written exams. If assistance-free submission of internalised learning is the name of the game then this could more easily be done (at a speed more likely to represent the thoughts of the candidate) on cheap, off-line, spell-check-free, word-processors. To be honest, I don’t know why our pupils in school put up with this.
Hilery Williams
May 18, 2011 @ 17:48:40
Alan – you are a student already! And I too would love to have the opportunity to study without the constraints of having to work for a living. That choice might be made for me all too soon I fear!
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I, too, don’t know how youngsters cope with handwriting especially in exams. It seems so unnatural now.
On Cursive: this style (or at least ‘joined up writing from the start) is highly recommended for learners with dyslexia as it helps automatise letter shapes and patterns. But then I believe strongly that all little ones need to learn touch typing too. But where’s the time (and equipment)?
Decisions about whether to prepare children for the future or for the current school circumstances are ones I struggle with daily.
Alan Coady
May 23, 2011 @ 17:47:30
What a coincidence
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Students-to-use-laptops-in.6772266.jp
or is it? Perhaps I should go into “futures” 🙂
Hilery Williams
May 23, 2011 @ 18:20:13
Interesting.
I wonder (flippantly) whether they allowed undergraduates from the School of Divinity to use laptops because they could be trusted (as thoughttful, moral beings of course!).
More on the tension between handwriting and word processing « Hilery Williams
May 31, 2011 @ 20:55:06
John Wake
Jan 13, 2012 @ 18:40:23
It seems to me that it is a bad thing that pupils in some secondary schools are required to submit work in printed form.
Pupils can “cut and paste” without actually reading what they have written. I left school thirty-five years ago, and we would copy out passages from the text book, and some would argue that this is no better, but I believe that at least some of the information sinks in when you have to write it by hand.
Certainly, the introduction of word processing is having a profound effect on our society, but most people adopt a “technologically determinist” approach. There is nothing inevitable about this change.
I think that there should be a proper public debate on this issue. It should not be for individual schools to decide whether to implement changes that will profoundly affect our society.
Are there any governmental guidelines in Britain as to the use that is made in schools of word processing?
If not, there should be. It would be a disgrace if we were drift into a position where most of the population could not write by hand, without a proper debate on this issue.