Measuring the tilt and slant of Chinese handwriting in primary school students: A computerized approach

Abstract

Background“Horizontal strokes should be level and vertical strokes should be straight” is a common guideline in the teaching of Chinese handwriting. Measuring deviations in level horizontal and straight vertical strokes in students’ Chinese handwriting is usually assessed manually. However, this task is time-consuming and may have inconsistent outcomes when judged by different people. In this paper, we aim to formulate a method to automatically evaluate the tilt and slant degrees of students’ Chinese handwriting using digital handwriting tablets. Furthermore, we analyze the relationship between the tilt and slant features of students’ Chinese handwriting and other demographic and handwriting features.MethodsFive hundred and ninety-one primary school students from grades 1 to 6 were recruited in Hong Kong. Before the assessment, a grid paper was attached to a digital handwriting tablet. The participants were then asked to copy 90 Chinese characters from a template to the grid paper. Their handwriting processes were recorded as two-dimensional points and then analyzed. The tilt and slant of the students’ handwriting were calculated based on the inclination level of their horizontal and vertical strokes. Linear regressions between slant/tilt degree of the manuscripts and other handwriting features were performed. The students’ demographic information was also explored.ResultsSlant was found to be significantly correlated to Gender (p < 0.001) and tilt×standard deviation of pen pressure (p < 0.001). Tilt was found to be significantly correlated to ground time (p < 0.001), slant (p < 0.001) and slant×special education need (p = 0.021).ConclusionsOur results demonstrate the relationship between slant, tilt and Chinese handwriting performance in primary school children. Slant and tilt can be adopted as an indicator in students’ special education need diagnosis, as tilt level in the students’ Chinese handwriting was related to ground time and slant× special education need, while slant is related to tilt×standard deviation of pen pressure and female students. These findings may also inspire ways to increase special education need students’ writing speed.

Evaluating Chinese Handwriting Performance of Primary School Students Using the Smart Handwriting Analysis and Recognition Platform (SHARP)

“…The “SHARP” system was installed into a portable A4-sized tablet for data collection and recording [10]. The handwriting data used in this research was recorded with handwriting tablets Digit Note (Type PH-1410).…”

“…These traditional computerized approaches might neglect some subtle non-intuitive variables that contribute to a more accurate model in handwriting evaluation. Thus, Li and colleagues have further established the Smart Handwriting Analysis and Recognition Platform (SHARP), which utilizes deep learning techniques in analyzing the handwriting product [10]. The deep learning approach has been regarded as superior to traditional algorithms, with higher efficiency in development, better accuracy, and supreme flexibility [11].…”

“…Handwriting assessments often take a product-oriented approach [12] and adopt speed and accuracy as main constructs [9]. CHAS and SHARP have been developed to depict the readability of Chinese characters, including wrong stroke, additional stroke, missing stroke, concatenated stroke, reverse stroke, and wrong stroke sequence as key parameters [9, 10]. Chinese is a logographic language, which is composed of different characters.…”

Effects of biscriptuality on graphomotor coordination dynamics.

“…Four variables were analyzed (see Figure 2): (a) the frequency, corresponding to the number of loops drawn per second; (b) the mean RP, with values ranging between 0° (line) and 90° (circle); (c) the standard deviation of the RP, with lower values indicating that the RP is stable across the eight loops while higher values show variability; and (d) the mean slant, indicating the inclination angle of the axis of the loop relative to the baseline (Li et al, 2019), with minimum and maximum values of 0° and 180, indicating the orientation of the main axis of the ellipse. Values between 0° and 90° indicated a rightward slant, whereas 90° to 180° values meant that the loops were slanted to the left.…”

“…When the slant is not constrained experimentally, graphomotor patterns are produced with an average 64° slant by expert adults (Dounskaia et al, 2000). The lack of slant in handwriting (values around 90°) is associated with slow (Dounskaia et al, 2000) or less mature handwriting (Danna et al, 2012; Li et al, 2019; Phelps et al, 1985).…”