Handwriting versus typing for children’s literacy
Pencil and paper could lead to better learning in kindergarten
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Many classrooms have embraced computers and tablets, even for children who are young and still learning how to read and write. Such digital technology can motivate students who struggle or have specific learning disabilities. But handwriting and related fine motor skills are linked to better academic performance in preschool.
“Handwriting and related fine motor skills are linked to better academic performance in preschool.”
Is handwriting or typing better for children’s literacy?
A recent study put the handwriting versus typing question to the test. “Our study goes straight to the question of whether we should teach children to read and write from the very beginning with digital devices,” says Joana Acha, Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea. Acha researches the cognitive processes involved in language development and reading. She works closely with teachers in local schools to implement activities that support literacy skills.
In the last few years, local schools were seeing more literacy problems in children, Acha says. “Teachers were observing a developmental delay in reading and language acquisition, and wondering if they should attribute this to digital devices.”
Previous research mostly tested how handwriting versus typing impacts children learning their own language. For example, French children aged 3 to 5 years old were taught to copy letters of the alphabet either by hand or by typing; after three weeks, the handwriting group could recognize more letters than the typing group. But Acha and her colleagues wanted to make sure children were learning from scratch, so tested artificial letters and words that were completely new to the children.
In Acha’s study, 50 children in the last year of kindergarten, aged 5 to 6 years old, were taught 9 Georgian and Armenian letters and 16 pseudowords invented by combining the letters. Letters and words were presented with their pronunciations, simulating children’s usual process of learning to read. Half of the children hand-copied or traced letters and words using pencil and paper, while the other half typed them out on a keyboard.
Children who learned through handwriting outperformed the children who learned through typing in naming, writing, and identifying letters and words.
Learning letters and learning words are the most important steps in learning to read, Acha says. “Ideally, we want children learning whole chains of letters, and being able to read them accurately and identify them automatically,” says Acha.
“The largest differences between the handwriting and typing groups were in tasks requiring the most memory effort.”
The largest differences between the handwriting and typing groups were in tasks requiring the most memory effort, such as letter and word writing. Handwriting requires paying close attention to hand movements and the shapes made on the page. This may enhance the memorization and retrieval of letters and words. The findings support the graphomotor hypothesis, that the fine motor actions involved in handwriting help to integrate visual shapes with mental representations of letters and words.
Handwriting skills are foundational for reading
Acha isn’t completely against digital devices for literacy development. But she believes such technology should be used in a complementary way after handwriting is mastered. The fine motor abilities necessary to draw letters and words “are foundational for reading,” she says. “Teaching fine motor skills like tracing, drawing, painting, and learning letters and words should be key steps for ensuring that children learn to read.”
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