The current study compared the speed and legibility of handwriting produced by children exposed to either traditional instruction (TI) or whole-language instruction (WLI) in an attempt to determine whether children who received traditional, intensive classroom instruction in handwriting produce more legible andfaster handwriting. Forty-four TI students in lower (4 & 5) and upper (7 & 8) grades were matched with WLI students on the basis of chronological age, sex, grade, and dominant hand. All participants provided three writing samples exemplifying their best cursive writing, their usual cursive writing, and their handwriting under the pressure of speed. Samples were codedfor legibility using the Test of Legible Handwriting (Larsen & Hammill, 1989), and a total word count was computedfor speeded samples. The majorfindings showed that the TI children produced more legible handwriting than did WLI students, were able to write significantly more words under time pressure, and that these differences between the groups did not diminish with increased grade/age. The practical implications of the results are discussed, particularly the findings related to speed of transcription. Specifically noted in the discussion is the relationship between the automaticity of writing and compositional fluency that has emerged in recent research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alston, J. (1985). The handwriting of seven to nine year olds. British Journal of Special Education, 12, 68-72.
2.
Andersen, D. W. (1969). What makes writing legible?Elementary School Journal, 69, 365-368.
3.
Askov, E. N., & Greff, K. N. (1975). Handwriting: Copying versus tracing as the most effective type of practice. Journal of Educational Research, 69(2), 96-98.
4.
Askov, E. N., & Peck, M. (1982). Handwriting. In H. E. Mitzel, H. Best, & W. Rabinowitz (Eds.), The encyclopedia of educational research (Vol. 2, pp.764-769). New York: Free Press.
5.
Askov, E. N., Otto, W., & Askov, W. (1970). A decade of research in handwriting: Progress and prospect. Journal of Educational Research, 64(3), 100-111.
6.
Ayres, L. P. (1912). A scale for measuring the quality of handwriting of school children. New York, NY: Russel Sage Foundation.
7.
Barbe, W. B., & Lucas, V. H. (1974). Instruction in handwriting: A new look. Childhood Education, 50, 207-209.
8.
Berninger, V. W., Vaughan, K. B., Abbott, R. D., Abbott, S. P., Rogan, L. W., Brooks, A., Reed, E., & Graham, S. (1997). Treatment of handwriting problems in beginning writers: Transfer from handwriting to composition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 652-666.
9.
Biemiller, A. (1994). Some observations on beginning reading instruction. Educational Psychologist, 29, 203-209.
10.
Briggs, D. (1970). The influence of handwriting on assessment. Educational Research, 13, 50-55.
11.
Corley, P. J. (1988). A developmental analysis of sentence comprehension abilities in good and poor readers. Educational Psychologist, 23, 57-75.
12.
Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1990). Early spelling acquisition: Writing beats the computer. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 159-162.
13.
Currie, A. B. (1981). Instruction in Handwriting in Ontario Schools. Toronto: Ministry of Education.
14.
Dudley-Marling, C. (1995). Whole language: It's a matter of principles. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 11, 109-117.
15.
Eaton, W. E. (1985). American school penmanship: From craft to process. American Journal of Education, 93, 252-267.
16.
Enstrom, A. (1967). Improving Handwriting. Improving College and University Teaching, 15, 168-169.
17.
Erlebacher, A., & Herrick V. E. (1961). Quality of handwriting today and yesterday. Elementary School Journal, 62, 89-93.
18.
Farris, P. J. (1991). Views and other views: Handwriting instruction should not become extinct. Language Arts, 68, 312-314.
19.
Freeman, F. N. (1959). A new handwriting scale. Elementary School Journal, 59, 218-221.
20.
Gee, M. (1989). Start the ‘write’ way. Reading, 23(3), 150-159.
21.
Glazer, S. M., & Curry, D. (1988). Word processing programs: survival tools for children with writing problems. Reading, Writing, and Learning Disabilities, 4, 187-199.
22.
Graham, S. (1992). Issues in handwriting instruction. Focus on Exceptional Children, 25, 1-14.
23.
Graham, S., & Harris, K. (1994). The effects of whole language on children's writing: a review of literature. Educational Psychologist, 29, 187-192.
24.
Graham, S., & Miller, L. (1980). Handwriting research and practice: a unified approach. Focus on Exceptional Children, 13, 1-16.
25.
Graham, S., & Weintraub, N. (1996). A review of handwriting research: Progress and prospects from 1980 to 1994. Educational Psychology Review, 8, 7-87.
26.
Grant, E. & Standing, L. (1989). Effects of rapid decoding training on reading speed and comprehension. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 69, 515-521.
27.
Groff, P. (1961). New speeds in handwriting. Elementary English, 38, 564-565.
28.
Groff, P. (1975). The future of legibility. Elementary English, 52, 205-215, 220-220.
29.
Groff, P. (1984). Successful remediation of cursive handwriting. Journal of Reading, Writing, and learning Disabilities International, 1, 11-15.
30.
Hagerty, P. J., Hiebert, E. H., & Owens, M. K. (1988). Students' comprehension, writing and perception in two approaches to literacy instruction. In S. McCormick & J Zuttell (Eds.), Cognitive and social perspectives for literacy research and instruction (pp. 277-309). San Diego, CA: Academic.
31.
Hamstra-Bletz, L., & Blote, A. W. (1990). Development of handwriting in primary school: A longitudinal study. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 70, 759-770.
32.
Hirsch, E., & Niedermeyer, F. C. (1973). The effects of tracing prompts and discrimination training on kindergarten handwriting performance. Journal of Educational Research, 67(3), 81-83.
33.
Horton, L. W. (1970). Illegibilities in the cursive handwriting of sixth-graders. Elementary School Journal, 70, 446-450.
34.
Johnson, D. J., & Carlisle, J. F. (1996). A study of handwriting in written stories of normal and learning disabled children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 8, 45-59.
35.
Larsen, S. C., & Hammill, D. D. (1989). Test of legible handwriting: An ecological approach to holistic assessment. Austin, TX: Pro-ed.
36.
Mabee, W. S. (1988). The effects of academic positive practice on cursive letter writing. Education and Treatment of Children, 11(2), 143-148.
37.
Mann, P., Suiter, P., & McClung, R. (1987). Handbook in diagnostic-prescriptive teaching, Abridged, 2nd ed.Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
38.
Manning, M. L. (1986). Responding to renewed emphasis on handwriting. The Clearing House, 59, 211-213.
39.
Markham, L. R. (1976). Influences of handwriting quality on teacher evaluation of written work. American Educational Research Journal, 13, 277-283.
40.
Ministry of Education and Training. (1995). The common curriculum: Provincial standards: Language, Grades1-9. Toronto, Ontario: Ministry of Education and Training.
41.
Niedermeyer, F. C. (1973). Kindergarteners learn to write. Elementary School Journal, 73, 130-135.
42.
Oakhill, J. & Garnham, A. (1988). Becoming a skilled reader. Oxford, EN: Basil Blackwell.
43.
Peck, M., Askov, E. N., & Fairchild, S. H. (1980). Another decade of research in handwriting: Progress and prospect in the 1970s. Journal of Educational Research, 73, 283-298.
44.
Phelps, J., & Stempel, L. (1987). Handwriting: evolution and evaluation. Annals of Dyslexia, 37, 228-239.
45.
Rankin, J. L. (1993). Information-processing differences of college-age readers differing in reading comprehension and speed. Journal of Reading Behavior, 25, 261-278.
46.
Roach, T. D., & Bevill, S. (1993). Handwriting: A hidden employment criterion. In T. W. Clipson & M. L. Bayless (Eds.), Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the South-West Region of the Association for Business Communication (pp. 27-33).
47.
Saarnia, D. A., Oka, E. R., & Paris, S. G. (1990). Developmental predictors of children's reading comprehension. In T. H. Carr, & B. A. Levy (Eds.), Reading and its development: Component skills approaches (pp. 57-79). Toronto, ON: Academic Press.
48.
Sovik, N. (1976). The effects of different principals of instruction in children's copying performances. Journal of Experimental Education, 45(3), 38-45.
49.
Stahl, S. A., McKenna, M. C., & Pagnucco, J. R. (1994). The effects of whole-language instruction: An update and reappraisal. Educational Psychologist, 29, 175-185.
50.
Stanovich, K. E., & Stanovich, P. J. (1995). How research might inform the debate about early reading acquisition. Journal of Research in Reading, 18, 87-105.
51.
Wiederholt, J. L., Hammill, D. D., & Brown, V. (1978). The resource teacher: A guide to effective practices. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
52.
Woodcock, R. W. (1973). Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests/Form A. Circle Pines, Minnesota: American Guidance Service, Inc.
53.
Ziviani, J., & Elkins, J. (1984). An evaluation of handwriting performance. Educational Review, 36, 249-261.
