ERIC/RCS: Handwriting Instruction: What Do We Know?Author(s): Karl KoenkeSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 40, No. 2, Children Reading and Writing (Nov., 1986), pp.214-216Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20199348 .

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Handwriting instruction:

What do we know? Karl Koenke

This Digest is part of a series of concise reports ERIC has prepared on topics of interest to educators. You are invited to photocopy this material and share it

with teachers, administrators, and other interested parties.

There is increased emphasis on children's writing today, but the emphasis is on

writing stories and essays that demonstrate the children are learning to think.

However, before children can write stories and essays, they must learn printing or cursive handwriting. Despite the influence of new technologies, the com

puter, word processing, and keyboarding have not replaced the need to learn how to print or write.

In the search for effective handwriting instruction, researchers have looked at

how printing and cursive handwriting are usually taught; whether printing should be taught first and then discontinued; what should be done with the chil dren who are poor printers; whether the special paper and pencils are neces

sary; and if there is a best method for teaching handwriting.

How is handwriting taught today? Surveys indicate that kindergarteners and first graders are taught to print. Cur sive handwriting is usually introduced in late second grade or third grade. In

struction typically takes place as a group activity rather than being individualized and diagnostic-prescriptive, even though there is some research to support the latter approach. Group lessons take place daily in grades one to

four, but after that they are less frequent, The lessons usually last from 15 to 20

minutes.

Materials and methods for printing and cursive handwriting abound. El-Hi

Textbooks and Serials in Print, 1985 contains 63 entries under the heading

"Handwriting." In addition, handwriting and printing have been successfully

taught through educational television, computers, and animated flip books.

214 The Reading Teacher November 1986

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Other successful experimental methods have included eye-hand coordination

training, perceptual and motor tasks, and verbalization of handwriting rules

(Askov and Peck, 1982).

Should children be taught printing first, then cursive handwriting? One primary justification for teaching children to print is that the letters a child first learns to print look more like the typeset letters found in books. This ra

tionale was taken on faith when the schools taught only traditional printing, called manuscript, which does not slant the letters as cursive handwriting does. Some schools now teach newer styles of printing, italic and D'Nealian, which slant the letters. Research evidence indicates that printing styles do not make a

difference-they are equally allied to the typeset letters in books. It also indi cates that cursive handwriting is not as closely allied as the various styles of

printing are to typeset letters (Duvall, 1986). In addition, there is some evidence to support the idea that the teaching of

printing should be retained in the lower grades because printing is more easily learned, is more legible, and is at least as fast to produce as cursive handwrit

ing. Also, Askov and Peck cite studies which show that learning to print creates ease and allows the student to produce better writing.

Since printing can be produced as speedily as cursive handwriting while being as legible and since it is obvious that the adult world generally accepts printing, it seems that tradition rather than research calls for the transition from some

form of printing to cursive handwriting.

Should poor printers be taught cursive handwriting at the same time as good printers?

While quality of instruction is of greater importance than the time of transition from print to cursive, some research supports the idea that second and third

graders make a smoother transition than do older children. In addition, there is little evidence to support the thesis that poor printers will necessarily become

poor writers. In fact, they probably will not. The confounding problem is the tendency to confuse neatness with legibility

of handwriting and printing. Legibility is marked by appropriate letter forma

tion, size, slant, spacing, and staying on the line. Holding a child back because he or she is sloppy but legible may not be productive, since more practice does not necessarily make a child a neater writer. Possibly, teachers should move all the children to cursive handwriting at the same time, because the delayed chil dren could lose self-esteem and motivation while not receiving adequate hand

writing instruction (Armitage and Ratzlaff, 1985).

Should children use wide-lined paper and beginner's pencils? It seems reasonable to use wide-lined paper when children are being introduced to both printing and cursive handwriting. Several studies have shown that chil dren's performance improves when special paper is used. Second graders who are still printing do not need the wide-lined paper, but second and third graders

who are being introduced to cursive handwriting perform better when they use

special paper (Trap-Porter et al., 1983). Not only does research indicate young children prefer adult pencils, but they

do not write better when using the beginner's pencil. By the time children reach the third grade, they produce more letters when they are writing stories if they are using ballpoint pens or felt tips (Askov and Peck, 1982).

ERIC/RCS 215

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What should be remembered when selecting a handwriting instruction program?

The research literature does not seem to support the superiority of a single print ing or cursive handwriting method. For example, there is a major concern about the difficulty children encounter when making the transition from print to cur

sive. Research does not show that D'Nealian, one of the newer methods, is bet ter than Zaner-Bloser, one of the traditional methods, for children during this time. In one study, when first graders were trained to print in either D'Nealian or Zaner-Bloser they produced initial cursive letters of similar quality. In an

other, children in the transition group produced more legible work if they had had Zaner-Bloser training. However, children in the D'Nealian group reversed fewer letters (Trap-Porter et al., 1984; Farris, 1982).

Since there does not seem to be a best method, some guidelines are in order. Effective model handwriting programs have been found to have the following characteristics: They provide opportunities for students to verbalize the rules of letter formation and evaluate their own success. They also combine verbal and visual feedback with rewriting or reinforcement (Furner, 1985).

Regardless of the program, copying leads to better results than just tracing or

discrimination training (which helps one to read a letter more than to write it). However, children do not transfer their knowledge of letters that they have

learned to copy to letters that they have not yet learned to copy without some

demonstration by the teacher or discrimination training. When verbal instruc

tions, such as rules for correct letter formation, are added to the demonstration, children do even better (Peck, Askov, and Fairchild, 1980).

References

Armitage, Doreen, and Harold Ratzlaff. "The Noncorrelation of Printing and Writing Skills."

Journal of Educational Research, vol. 78 (January/February, 1985), pp. 174-77.

Askov, Eunice N., and Michaeleen Peck. "Handwriting." In Encyclopedia of Educational

Research, 5th ed., edited by Harold E. Mitzel, John Hardin Best, and William Rabino

witz. New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, 1982.

Duvall, Betty. Kindergarten Performance for Reading and Matching Four Styles of Handwrit

ing. Arlington, Va.: ERIC Document Reproduction Service, 1986. [CS 209 466] El-Hi Textbooks and Serials in Print, 1985. New York, N.Y: Bowker Company, 1985.

Farris, Pamela J. A Comparison of Handwriting Strategies for Primary Grade Students.

Arlington, Va.: ERIC Document Reproduction Service, 1982. [CS 209 360] Furner, Beatrice A. "Handwriting Instruction for a High-Tech Society: Will Handwriting Be

Necessary?" Paper presented at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual

Meeting, Houston, Tex., March 1985. [ED 257 119] Peck, Michaeleen, Eunice N. Askov, and Steven H. Fairchild. "Another Decade of Re

search in Handwriting: Progress and Prospect in the 1970s." Journal of Educational

Research, vol. 73 (May/June 1980), pp. 283-98.

Trap-Porter, Jennifer, Mary Ann Gladden, David S. Hill, and John O. Cooper. "Space Size

and Accuracy of Second and Third Grade Students' Cursive Handwriting." Journal of

Educational Research, vol. 76 (March/April 1983), pp. 231-33.

Trap-Porter, Jennifer, John O. Cooper, David S. Hill, Karen Swisher, and Louis J. LaNun

ziata. "D'Nealian and Zaner-Bloser Manuscript Alphabets and Initial Transition to Cur

sive Handwriting." Journal of Educational Research, vol. 77 (July/August 1984), pp. 343-45.

Most ERIC materials are available on microfiche or in paper copy. Consult your library for

the monthly indexes to the full ERIC collections, Resources In Education (RIE) and

Current Index to Journals in Education (CUE). For information on ordering and current

prices, see the most recent issues of RIE and CUE or write to ERIC/RCS, 1111 Kenyon

Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.

216 The Reading Teacher November 1986

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