Pros and Cons: Handwriting Versus Digital Writing

Abstract

This study compares three different writing conditions -pen and paper, tablet, and tablet with access to speech synthesis -within a class of fourth graders in Sweden. The aim was to examine if these different conditions for writing had any impact on students' creation of narrative text. The empirical data consists of students' texts, composed under these three conditions, completed with data from participant observations. The theoretical model, the Wheel of Writing, in combination with a process analysis described in Systemic Functional Linguistics, served as a basis for analysis of the texts. Observations were analysed using content analysis. Findings presented in this article are partly in line with previous research. Speech synthesis seemed to play a crucial role in improving students' writing. The texts were affected in terms of increased text length, spelling, structure, and content when using digital resources. These results were most obvious for students with Swedish as their second language. One core finding, which was true for most students, was that processes describing action verbs increased when students wrote digitally. Contradicting this, when students wrote by hand they used more processes, describing feelings and verbal processes.

Dealing with increased complexity. Teachers’ reflections on the use of tablets in school

“…The article's material reveals several opportunities, as well as challenges and dilemmas, for the use of tablets in teaching. Although these challenges may not be entirely clear, they are connected to key research findings in the field (Dahlström & Boström, 2017;Haugsbakk, 2010;Krumsvik, 2013;Mangen et al, 2019).…”

“…Teachers can also more easily adapt their teaching by, for example, supplementing text with sound (Berrum et al, 2016;Wollscheid et al, 2016). However, studies of tablets in early literacy teaching have raised some challenges in this regard noting that multiple modes of expression, more choices, and thus a greater degree of complexity, can result in reduced reading comprehension and memory (Dahlström & Boström, 2017;Mangen et al, 2019).…”

Digital writing tools from the student perspective

“…When using programs such as speech synthesis and spelling check, students write longer texts and struggling writers are included in writing activities to a greater extent (Agélii Genlott and Grönlund 2016; Hultin and Westman 2014; Liberg 2014). One group of students who can benefit from using digital software programs such as word processors and speech synthesis is students with Swedish as their second language, according to Dahlström and Boström (2017). These researchers compared student narrative texts, written under three different writing conditions: using pen and paper, using digital writing tools, and using digital writing tools with speech synthesis.…”

“…The current debate about what digital writing may provide in terms of possibilities and constraints has resulted in research on how students' writing is affected by the use of digital writing tools (Agélii Genlott and Grönlund 2016; Dahlström and Boström 2017;Mangen and Balsvik 2016). There is also research on students digital access in relation to equality (Samuelsson 2014; van Deursen and van Dijk 2014).…”

Digital Writing, Word Processors and Operations in Texts: How Student Writers Use Digital Resources in Academic Writing Processes

“…Often, researchers have been occupied by differences between constantly evolving digital technologies and the more traditional use of pen and paper. Mangen and colleagues (Mangen, 2016(Mangen, , 2018Mangen & Velay, 2010) studied how haptics, the movements of the hands, may have a positive impact on writing (see also Aldridge & Fontaine, 2016;Dahlström & Boström, 2017;Vlieghe, 2016). Digital writing is instead often judged to be superior when writing longer texts.…”