What constitutes effective teaching of letter learning in early school years is still uncertain. We assessed the impact of a teacher-implemented visuomotor intervention program to teach 5-year-olds' cursive letter knowledge. We compared a program in which letters were explored with the arm and whole body, with a typical visual training program. Children were tested before and after the intervention with different measures of letter knowledge. We showed a greater improvement in letter recognition following the visuomotor intervention, compared with the visual intervention. Results were mixed for letter handwriting for which we found higher scores on stroke direction and overall quality, but lower scores on fluency following whole body visuomotor teaching. We discuss our results in terms of the link between action and perception, the interaction between the different components of letter knowledge, and the link between fine and gross motor development and handwriting.

Digital technologies are increasingly being used to support school learning, but few studies have assessed the effectiveness of these new teaching methods for very young students. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of implementing a digital notebook application designed for a stylus-oriented tablet in kindergarten classrooms. This digital notebook was dedicated to the acquisition of handwriting skills by beginning writers. Using artificial intelligence to finely analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of handwriting (i.e., shape, order and direction of the segments), the exercises were personalized, and extrinsic feedback was delivered at the end of each trial to inform learners of their results. A total of 22 kindergarten classes participated in a 12-week teacher-implemented program, half working exclusively with paper and pencil, and half partially undertaking their handwriting training with the digital notebook. A paper-and-pen writing task was administered as a pre-test and post-test to assess the progress of all the children. Data analysis showed that learning outcomes with the digital notebook were contingent upon the students' initial handwriting level, as the benefits of training with the app were only demonstrated for children with a medium level at the start of the study. The results are discussed in the light of the literature on the impact of extrinsic feedback and learners' initial levels.

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The process of teaching and learning handwriting is complex and laborious. A digital learning environment in the form of a tablet app could enhance teachers' knowledge of writer characteristics and their management of classroom diversity. This study aims to identify the needs of cursive writing teachers from a survey of 164 kindergarten teachers in France teaching writing skills for children aged 5 to 6 years. The results provide insights into teacher needs and, therefore, can be used to identify the acceptability criteria of a tool designed to scaffold the teaching of writing gestures. The results of needs analyses have been interpreted in the light of new scientific findings on reading and writing skills, and there is a discussion on the potential of such a digital learning environment for the classroom, particularly during the training and Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 0(0) 1-24 ! The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions skills assessment phases. Questionnaire answers show that the teachers interviewed rarely use digital tools in the classroom and this prompts reflection on the value and meaning that preschool children give to the digital trace.

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