Introduction to the special issue on the dynamics of written word production: methods, models and processing units

Abstract

During the three past decades, written production models were essentially aimed at proposing a static view of the processes implemented to produce words. However, there are an increasing number of studies with the aim of better understanding the dynamics of the course of the writing process. These studies have raised a number of issues regarding the method used to study written word production and the factors that influence the dynamics of writing (type of orthography, transparency of the orthography, level of development, etc.). The scope of this special issue is to advance knowledge of the dynamics of written word production through empirical studies that address the above issues. This issue is based on the first Writing Word(s) Workshop (W3), which took place in July 2015 in Poitiers, France. The issue contains 9 articles by leading scholars in the field of the dynamics of written word production.

Handwriting processes when spelling morphologically complex words in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder

“…Pseudo-suffixed words have the same letters at the end of the word as their suffixed match, e.g., geolette versus boulette but-ette does not serve as a suffix in goelette- ( Kandel et al, 2008 ). These findings ( Kandel et al, 2008 , 2012 ) support the idea that activation of representations during handwriting does not occur in a linear, letter-by-letter fashion but instead reflects the organization of underlying linguistic typology such as morpheme boundaries which in turn modulates the handwriting process ( Lambert and Quémart, 2019 ).…”

“…There is an analytic approach to studying writing that combines offline methodology (e.g., a traditional writing/spelling task) with real-time analysis (e.g., the use of digitizing tablets) supported by handwriting software such as Eye and Pen ( Alamargot et al, 2006 ) or MovAlyzeR ( Neuroscript, 2018 ). This allows exploration of the dynamics of writing alongside the finished product ( Lambert and Quémart, 2019 ). Two aspects of word writing can be considered simultaneously ( Quémart and Lambert, 2019 ).…”

“…The Cascade Model ( Van Galen, 1991 ) posits that the spelling knowledge and graphomotor processes operate in a parallel, interactive, and co-operative fashion. Thus, it follows that difficulties in the cognitive aspects of spelling can have a negative effect on handwriting performance ( Lambert and Quémart, 2019 ). Indeed, a study of text-level handwriting processes in children with DLD indicated that spelling difficulties appeared to interrupt the flow of children’s transcription and were associated with shorter bursts of writing ( Connelly et al, 2012 ).…”

Handwriting Legibility and Its Relationship to Spelling Ability and Age: Evidence From Monolingual and Bilingual Children

“…Other, more subtle, time-dependent behaviors that occur during handwriting and reveal the 'real-time handwriting dynamics' can be measured objectively thanks to technologies allowing detailed, real time tracking of pen movements (see below). Given the relative ease and measurement objectivity enabled by these tools, fluency in handwriting has been more extensively studied (Lambert and Quémart, 2019). It has been found to uniquely predict, across the developmental spectrum, the quantity and quality of text composition (Graham et al, 1997;Connelly et al, 2006;Puranik and Al Otaiba, 2012).…”

Spelling acquisition in a consistent orthography: The facilitatory effect of syllable frequency in novice spellers

“…This suggests that words are also segmented into their syllable constituents after the activation of the orthographic representation. Many results, therefore, converge towards the idea that syllables are processing units in word writing production [ 25 ]. From a developmental point of view, syllables were found to mediate visual parsing and the motor programming of primary school children, showing that syllable-oriented spelling strategies are present very early in handwriting acquisition.…”