A Comparison of Children's Handwriting Under Traditional vs. Whole Language Instruction

Abstract

The current study compared the speed and legibility of handwriting produced by children exposed to either traditional instruction (TI) or whole-language instruction (WLI) in an attempt to determine whether children who received traditional, intensive classroom instruction in handwriting produce more legible andfaster handwriting. Forty-four TI students in lower (4 & 5) and upper (7 & 8) grades were matched with WLI students on the basis of chronological age, sex, grade, and dominant hand. All participants provided three writing samples exemplifying their best cursive writing, their usual cursive writing, and their handwriting under the pressure of speed. Samples were codedfor legibility using the Test ofLegible Handwriting (Larsen & Hammill, 1989), and a total word count was computedfor speeded samples. The majorfindings showed that the TI children produced more legible handwriting than did WLI students, were able to write significantly more words under time pressure, and that these differences between the groups did not diminish with increased grade/age. The practical implications of the results are discussed, particularly the findings related to speed of transcription. Specifically noted in the discussion is the relationship between the automaticity of writing and compositional fluency that has emerged in recent research.La presente etude vise a comparer la vitesse et la lisibilite de lIecriture d'enfants exposes soit a une methode d'enseignement de la langue traditionnelle (TI) ou a une methode globale (WLI), dans le but de determiner si les enfants exposes a une me6thode d'enseignement traditionnelle, intensive et en classe, ecrivent plus rapidement et de faVon plus lisible. Quarante-quatre eleves TI de 4me et 5me anne6e et de 7me et 8me annee ont et6 jumeles a des eleves WLI selon leur age chronologique, sexe, niveau scolaire, et main dominante. Tous les participants ont fourni trois echantillons e'crits representant leur meilleure e6criture cursive, leur ecriture cursive ordinaire, et leur ecriture lorsque chronometr6s. Les 6chantillons ont ete codes pour la lisibilite selon le Atest de l"ecriture lisible@ (Larsen & Hammil, 1989), et un total du nombre de mots a 6te enregistre pour les echantillons ecrits lorsque chronometres. Les resultats montrent que les enfants TI ont produit une ecriture plus lisible que les enfants WLI, et ont ete capables de

Effects of a Kinesthetic Cursive Handwriting Intervention for Grade 4–6 Students

“…The quality of handwriting may influence academic outcomes, with higher marks assigned for neatly written papers (Sweedler-Brown, 1992). The nature and extent of instruction affects a student's ability to perform skilled handwriting, with explicit instruction increasing the legibility and efficiency of written work (Goldberg & Simner, 1999), as well as improving composition skills (Berninger et al, 1997;Graham, Harris, & Fink, 2000). Cursive script, in which the letters within words are connected by joined strokes, has been traditionally reported to be the form of writing preferred for efficiency in legibility and speed, although controversy does exist .…”

Developmental Trends in Handwriting Performance among Middle School Children

“…The authors explained these findings by the fact that in the higher grades, teachers focus mainly on higher-level and more complex writing tasks and therefore devote less time and energy to monitoring the quality of students' handwriting. In relation to gender differences, studies have shown that girls' handwriting is more legible than that of boys both in elementary school (Berninger & Fuller, 1992;Goldberg & Simner, 1999;Weintraub & Graham, 2000;Yochman & Parush, 1998) and in middle school (Graham et al, 1998;Hooper et al, 1993).…”