WHY HANDWRITING INSTRUCTION MATTERS Bev Wolf From the

WHY HANDWRITING INSTRUCTION MATTERS Bev Wolf

From the Greeks and Romans 428 B. C. to 100 A. D. Plato instructed the master to draw letters for the student to copy Seneca had the teacher guide the student’s hand as letters were traced Quintilian stressed learning the name and shape simultaneously

Times they are a-changin’ Late 1800’s. early 1900’s Penmanship was taught as a separate subject 1940’s Emphasis on language arts The computer age New research on writing

Has handwriting has been left behind? People have thought that electronics would eliminate the need to write by hand.

The Common Core Standards have virtually ignored handwriting. Kindergarten: Print many upper- and lowercase letters Capitalize the first word in a sentence Write own name (first and last) and the first names of some friends or classmates Write most letters and some words when they are dictated

First grade: Print all upper- and lowercase letters (letter style is not indicated) Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English – capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing. Capitalize dates and names of people. Use end punctuation for sentences. Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.

Common Core standards do not appear to be grounded in research on handwriting or writing development and effective writing instruction (Berninger & Wolf, 2016). Research supports direct, explicit instruction in letter formation and guided practice to become proficient in the task of handwriting across the grades. In grade 1, children are taught to form the letters so others can recognize them. In grade 2 they practice until they can form each letter automatically.

As a result: Many schools have discontinued handwriting instruction. Research is helping change those attitudes. Many states now mandate handwriting instruction.

The Idaho Senate passed a resolution requesting the addition of a cursive handwriting requirement to their state standards. North Carolina passed a “Back to Basics” bill that would make cursive handwriting a part of the curriculum in state elementary schools. The Indiana Senate voted to advance a “cursive bill” requiring schools to teach cursive writing. The Kansas State Board of Education unanimously adopted a policy statement encouraging public schools to teach cursive. Georgia now requires student proficiency in cursive handwriting. Ohio is looking at requiring handwriting instruction

Handwriting is important! Handwriting underlies all levels of written language— letters, written words constructed from letters, and written sentences constructed from multiple words. Teachers often judge students’ abilities and grade them based on the appearance of their written work.

Research Lessons Research supports handwriting instruction. Students with grade-appropriate hand-writing skills are more likely to complete written assignments (Mc. Menamin & Martin, 1980). Handwriting legibility contributes to better spelling skills (Strickling, 1974). Students whose notetaking is slow because of poor handwriting have difficulty with lecture comprehension (Blalock, 1985).

Some poor handwriting may be caused by students not having enough training to form letters automatically when rapid writing is needed. (Hamstra-Bletz & Blöte, 1990). For most students, grapho-motor skills (planning and sequencing and fine motor control) used in handwriting can be improved with correct models and guided practice. The part of the brain involved in these grapho-motor processes is very near the somatosensory region of the brain that receives sensory input from sequential movement (kinesthetic sense).

Writing is a simultaneous production: spatial organization, margination, letter forms, spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, vocabulary and syntax. It demands sufficient working memory to enable the student to remember and think at the same time.

The Need For Multisensory, Multimodal Approaches The act of writing letters with a writing tool not only draws on motor output but also kinesthetic sensory input. A multi-modal approach to handwriting instruction integrates: Visual input from letter form Oral motor output from naming letters and producing their corresponding sounds The associated auditory input from hearing those names and sounds from writing the letters

A multimodal approach integrates the channels of learning in which the strong channels reinforce the weak. These approaches allow the production of written language to express meaning via words, sentences, and text. The Slingerland Approach provides the multi-modal instruction that builds written language success.

The first research lesson: Manuscript handwriting helps children learn to read. It leads to improved word reading, even when only handwriting was taught. (Berninger et al 1997). Most of our reading material on paper and electronic format is in manuscript form. Learning to produce letters in the format children encounter when they read will help them read words which they identify more readily because they have learned to form and name (identify) the component letters.

Teaching children to write letters facilitates reading by not only recognizing the letters in words but also by accessing them in memory to aid in letter recognition (Niedo, Lee, Breznitz, & Berninger, 2014)

The second research lesson: Production enhances perception Producing letter forms stroke by stroke makes it easier for the brain to perceive the letters in written words during reading (James, Jao, & Berninger, 2015, Longcamp, Richards, Velay, & Berninger, 2017). It results in greater transfer to improved word reading than does keyboarding (selecting formed letter on the keyboard).

These findings do not mean that keyboarding is never appropriate. They do call attention to the contribution of handwriting to the process of learning to read and write, even in individuals experienced in using thumbs and fingers for pressing to operate phones or laptops

The third research lesson: teach both manuscript and cursive handwriting. Cursive was invented to speed up handwriting before we had typewriters or computers. Results of a study of first and second grade students showed the benefit of teaching manuscript in both first grade (to learn to write correctly formed letters that are legible to others) and second grade (an additional year of review and practice helps them learn to write the letters automatically).

The handwriting was embedded in structured, multileveled , multi-modal language instruction involving multiple sensory and motor systems and grounded in Slingerland methods. (Wolf et al. , 2016). Introducing cursive instruction without this additional year of manuscript instruction to develop automatic and legible handwriting was not as effective. Automaticity allows developing writers to use their limited working memory resources for generating ideas, choosing words, spelling words, and creating sentences rather than devoting their attention to how to form the letters (Berninger, 1999).

The fourth research lesson: Daily practice and review helps build automatic performance. In the first grade, 15 minute handwriting lessons, with an additional 5 minutes to compose are effective in learning to form letters and apply letter formation to their own writing for communication with others (Berninger et al. , 1997). A short daily handwriting warm up, followed by spelling and composing instructional activities, was effective in developing automatic handwriting in later grades as well (Berninger et al. , 2008).

Periodic tune-ups benefit students in grades 4 and above. (Berninger et al. , 2008) Without periodic practice, handwriting becomes less legible and/or more effortful for many students.

The fifth research lesson: cursive leads to better spelling Students benefit from cursive handwriting instruction in grades 3 and 4. The connecting strokes help link letters into word spelling units and to increase speed of writing words. Accessing and produce cursive letters legibly and automatically in alphabetic order contributed to better spelling and composing in grades 4 to 7 than did either manuscript or keyboarding on the same alphabet writing task (finding, accessing, and producing legible, automatic, ordered letters) (Alstad, et al 2015).

The sixth research lesson: alphabetic order matters In the mind, letters are accessed in memory in alphabetic order during reading and writing.

Once students learn both manuscript and cursive they can choose which form of handwriting they prefer— and in fact most students use a mix of formats (Graham, Berninger, & Weintraub, 1998), They continue to benefit from brief reviews of both formats, which they need not only to use in their own writing but also to be able to recognize letters in the writing of others.

Developmental Stages of Handwriting Preschool Imitation Kindergarten Usually Capitals 1 st/2 nd Grades Graphic representation of standard form – may reverse 3/4 th Grades Progressive incorporation, less conscious thought

4/7 th Grades Automatic – rate and efficiency become more critical 7/9 th Grades Elaboration, writing used to express a viewpoint. Written language exceeds everyday speech in complexity. 9 th and up Individual style and talent for writing

The goal is accurate automatic writing. Secure motor patterns eventually allow handwriting to be such a habitual skill that the mind is free to think while the arm and hand automatically produce the words chosen by the mind. Getman (1984)

REFERENCES Alstad, Z. . , Sanders, E. , Abbott, R. , Barnett, A. , Hendersen, S. , Connelly, V. , & Berninger, V. (2015). Modes of alphabet letter production during middle childhood and adolescence: Interrelationships with each other and other writing skills. Journal of Writing Research, 6(3), 199 -231. http: //www. jowr. org/next. html http: //dx. doi. org/10. 17239/jowr-2015. 06. 03. 1 #644747: NIHMS 644747 [NCBI tracking system #16689920] http: //audioslides. elsevier. com/getvideo. aspx? doi=10. 1016 /j. compedu. 2014. 10. 005 Pub. Med Central http: //www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC 4217090

Berninger, V. , Abbott, R. , Jones, J. , Wolf, B. , Gould, L. , Anderson-Youngstrom, M. , et al. (2006). Early development of language by hand: Composing, reading, listening, and speaking connections; three letter-writing modes; and fast mapping in spelling. Developmental Neuropsychology, 29(1), 61– 92. Berninger, V. W. , & Wolf, B. (2016). Dyslexia, dysgraphia, owl LD, and discalculia: Lessons from science and teaching. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Berninger, V. , Nagy, W. , Tanimoto, S. , Thompson, R. , & Abbott, R. (2015, published on line October 30, 2014). Computer instruction in handwriting, spelling, and composing for students with specific learning disabilities in grades 4 to 9. Computers and Education, 81, 154 -168. DOI information: 10. 1016/j. compedu. 2014. 10. 00 Berninger, V. (1999). Coordinating transcription and text generation in working memory during composing: Automatized and constructive processes. Learning Disability Quarterly, 22, 99 -112.

Graham, S. , Berninger, V. , & Weintraub, N. (1998). The relationship between handwriting style and speed and legibility. Journal of Educational Research, 91, 290 -296. Graham, S. , & Weintraub, N. (1996). A review of handwriting research: Progress and prospects from 1980 to 1994. Educational Psychology Review, 8, 7– 87. Hamstra-Bletz, L. , & Blöte, A. (1990). Development of handwriting in primary school: A longitudinal study. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 70, 759– 770.

James, K. , Jao, J. R. , & Berninger, V. (2015). The development of multi-leveled writing systems of the brain: Brain lessons for writing instruction. Mac. Arthur, C. , Graham, S. , & Fitzgerald, J. (Eds. ), Handbook of Writing Research (pp. 116 -129). New York: Guilford. Mc. Menamin, B. , & Martin, M. (1980). Right writing. Spring Valley, CA: Cursive Writing Associates. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors. See Writing Standards K to 5 and 6 to 12.

Niedo, J. , Lee, Y. L. , Breznitz, Z. , & Berninger, V. (2014, May; 2013, October 28 on line). Computerized silent reading rate and strategy instruction for fourth graders at risk in silent reading rate. Learning Disability Quarterly, 37(2), 100 -110. DOI 10. 1177/0731948713507263 http: //www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/P MC 4047714 Slingerland Institute for Literacy. (2008). The Slingerland multisensory approach: A practical guide for teaching reading, writing and spelling. Bellevue, WA: Author.

Strickling, C. A. (1974). The effect of handwriting and related skills upon the spelling scores above average and below average readers in the fifth grade. Dissertation Abstracts International, 34(07), 3717 A. Wolf, B. , Berninger, V. , & Abbott, R (2016, July 23 online). Effective beginning handwriting instruction: Multimodal, consistent format for 2 years, and linked to spelling and composing. Reading and Writing. An Interdisciplinary Journal, pp. 1 -19. DOI: 10. 1007/s 11145 -016 -9674 -4 NIHMS 805554 Available as ‘Online First’ http: //link. springer. com/article/10. 1007/s 11145 -016 -9674 -4

Acknowledgements: Preparation of this material was supported, in part, by grant P 50 HD 071764 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the University of Washington Learning Disabilities Research Center.