TY - JOUR
T1 - THE ROLE OF HANDWRITING INSTRUCTION IN WRITERS’ EDUCATION
AU - Limpo, Teresa
AU - Graham, Steve
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization, supported by FEDER and national funds allocated to the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology [NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-028404].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Society for Educational Studies.
PY - 2020/5/3
Y1 - 2020/5/3
N2 - Based on the Writer(s)-within-Community Model, this article focuses on the role of handwriting in writers’ composing process. With the goal of highlighting the importance of researching and promoting handwriting, we provide an extensive summary of current evidence on the topic. It is well established that an important condition for skilled writing is handwriting automaticity. As here reviewed, there are at least four reasons why poor and slow handwriting can interfere with writing: it has a negative impact on the reader, creates a mismatch between ideas generation and recording, imposes heavy demands on working memory, and turns writing into a painful experience. Grounded on this, we make the case for providing child and adolescent writers with explicit and systematic practice in handwriting through evidence-based practices. The best practices at the letter (e.g., alphabet exercises), word/sentence (e.g., copying exercises), and text (e.g., authentic writing tasks) levels are reviewed. We conclude that the integration of handwriting practices into the educational program of beginning and developing writers is particularly important. It may allow the creation of solid basis for other writing abilities to flourish and therefore contribute to the emergence of capable and motivated writers.
AB - Based on the Writer(s)-within-Community Model, this article focuses on the role of handwriting in writers’ composing process. With the goal of highlighting the importance of researching and promoting handwriting, we provide an extensive summary of current evidence on the topic. It is well established that an important condition for skilled writing is handwriting automaticity. As here reviewed, there are at least four reasons why poor and slow handwriting can interfere with writing: it has a negative impact on the reader, creates a mismatch between ideas generation and recording, imposes heavy demands on working memory, and turns writing into a painful experience. Grounded on this, we make the case for providing child and adolescent writers with explicit and systematic practice in handwriting through evidence-based practices. The best practices at the letter (e.g., alphabet exercises), word/sentence (e.g., copying exercises), and text (e.g., authentic writing tasks) levels are reviewed. We conclude that the integration of handwriting practices into the educational program of beginning and developing writers is particularly important. It may allow the creation of solid basis for other writing abilities to flourish and therefore contribute to the emergence of capable and motivated writers.
KW - evidence-based practices
KW - handwriting fluency
KW - handwriting legibility
KW - instruction
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U2 - 10.1080/00071005.2019.1692127
DO - 10.1080/00071005.2019.1692127
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85075179897
VL - 68
SP - 311
EP - 329
JO - British Journal of Educational Studies
JF - British Journal of Educational Studies
SN - 0007-1005
IS - 3
ER -