Jonathan Dubay is the CEO and Curriculum Specialist at Handwriting Success. An educator for over 30 years, Dr. Dubay is the son of Inga Dubay, co-author of the Getty-Dubay® Italic Handwriting Series which has been in use in classrooms and homeschools across North America and around the globe since 1979.
Research is telling us that the handwriting experience is a powerful tool for literacy. And yet, parents know first hand that the process of learning handwriting can be fraught with challenge, especially for students with learning disabilities. You are not alone if you wonder if it is worth it, given the increasing availability of typing, speech-to-type, and other technologies.
It’s safe to say that part of your plan for success is going to be individualized instruction that meets your students where they are. Many parents are utilizing technology for assessments and instruction as a strategy which offers the promise of doing this differentiation efficiently. However, this usually means involving non-motor or gross-motor skills. In other words, the student is responding to the instructional device by viewing only, viewing and selecting from a list of answers, and/or typing.
But, there is a substantial and compelling body of evidence from research about handwriting which suggests that the human brain learns language best via the fine-motor skills involved in transcribing that language by hand. And these findings lead to specific best-practice guidelines for using handwriting to make the most of your classroom time.
Young students
Most notable among recent studies are the fMRI studies involving pre-literate students in pre-K to grade 2 by Dr. Karen James which demonstrate that the handwriting experience can have significant effects on the ability of young children to recognize letters. (1)
You may have heard glib statements about how handwriting can “light up the brain.” What’s meant is that fMRI images capture information on brain activity by showing blood oxygen levels in the brain in real time. Since blood oxygen correlates with brain activity, more brain activity appears brighter (or in color) on the researchers’ screen, allowing them to identify areas of the brain that activate during specific tasks.
Dr. James has shown that when young students copy single manuscript letters freehand, there is much more activity in areas of the brain associated with literacy compared to typing those letters. This is also true — to a lesser extent — when tracing letters.
Learning a language involves orthographic mapping, the mental connections made between a visual mark, the physical movement associated with making the mark, and its sound. Students make these mental constructs with varying ease, and some only with great difficulty. The handwriting experience appears to encourage orthographic mapping, and therefore is most important for diverse learners.
Incidentally, these studies sometimes have been misrepresented in the press and elsewhere by the false assumption that “cursive” handwriting is being studied. Far from it, the children in these fMRI studies were drawing single unjoined letters.
Grades 2-4
Variability in students’ handwriting samples correlate to compositional skill. In other words, students who handwrite more fluently write more, and what they write is of better quality.(2)
There is a tendency for parents to switch out the pen with the keyboard when a student has difficulty with handwriting. But, it turns out, that practice treats the symptom, not the problem, ignoring the student’s underlying need to build orthographic mapping.
Older students and adults
Perhaps the most elegant and compelling evidence on the science of handwriting comes from a recent study at Johns Hopkins University (3) comparing the use of handwriting with gross-motor and non-motor practices. Forty-two adult volunteers were given the task of learning a new language, in this case Arabic. One third of the participants learned via a tablet app that did not include handwriting. One third learned via video sequences. The remainder used handwriting.
The results: The handwriting group learned the material three times faster than the other two groups. This pattern continued when the participants were given new untrained tasks that utilized their new Arabic vocabulary.
”The question out there for parents and educators is why should our kids spend any time doing handwriting," says Brenda Rapp, a Johns Hopkins University professor of cognitive science. "Obviously, you're going to be a better hand-writer if you practice it. But since people are handwriting less, then maybe who cares?”
And yet, Dr. Rapp continues, “The real question is: Are there other benefits to handwriting that have to do with reading and spelling and understanding? We find there most definitely are.” (4)
The evidence suggests that for all ages the handwriting experience is a key component in literacy.
Write to learn
So, research is showing us that if you want to close the reading gap, and if your focus is on incorporating the science of reading, then you need to think about how you are going to bring the science of handwriting into your instruction.
Doctors Berninger and Wolf have created an important resource for parents and educators in their book Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, OWL LD, and Dyscalculia: Lessons from Science and Teaching. From their decades of research, they outline what explicit early instruction in handwriting that can prevent writing composition problems later. I can only fault this resource in their focus on continuous cursive and exclusion of modern cursive styles. More on that below.
Vocabulary
Before going any further, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page with the vocabulary of handwriting.
There are three basic types of handwriting, which sometimes overlap: Handwriting, Lettering and Calligraphy.
With handwriting, the focus is on legibility and speed. And that’s often a balancing act — the faster you write, the less legible it may be. And the converse is true, that if you focus exclusively on letter formation you will miss the opportunity to make handwriting useful as an everyday tool.
Lettering refers to handwriting that typically involves multiple pen lifts per letter. This type of writing is typical for signs, titles and other text that you might intend to stand out where it is also highly legible.
Calligraphy literally means “beautiful writing”. The emphasis is on form and expression. It also typically requires special tools, such as an edged pen nib.
Within the basic category of everyday handwriting, there are three subsets:
writing without joins (called basic, manuscript or print),
joined writing (variously referred to as cursive — which literally means “a flowing or running hand” — longhand, or script), and
a signature, which is a personal mark for signing documents.
The only legal requirement for a signature is that it be intended to represent your name. If ever you hear someone say that a signature must be in cursive mode, show them a dollar bill with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s signature on it — written in print.
The ‘P’ word
“Penmanship” implies a quest for perfection for its own sake, and as such has a lot of cultural and historical baggage. There is nothing wrong with seeking skill for its own sake — ask any artist, musician, or athlete. But in the classroom, the focus needs to be on handwriting as a robust tool for learning, communication, and organization. Call handwriting by its name, and leave the baggage behind.
Cursive
Cursive is a word that requires a closer look, because it often means different things to different people.
Cursive is a mode of writing, not a style. It refers to handwriting that is flowing, where letters are frequently — but not necessarily always — joined. Cursive came about long ago as a way to keep the ink flowing from the brush or pen during the writing of a word. With modern writing tools, cursive is now used mainly for fluidity of writing.
The writing in Image 1 moves from the print mode at the top to a highly ornate cursive mode at the bottom. Where do you draw the line between cursive and print?
People tend to agree that the cursive mode starts somewhere in the middle of “this” list. And it so happens that studies show this is typically the fastest form of writing (5) — where some, but not all letters are joined. Think of the print and cursive modes as a spectrum, not two distinct modes.
Mixed mode
Is writing in the cursive mode better? It depends. As mentioned above, many benefits attributed to cursive on social media are not supported by evidence. Research does suggests that: 1) unjoined writing appears to be better for word recognition, 2) joined writing may be better in some cases for learning spelling and in combination with unjoined writing for fluency, unless the letterforms of the chosen cursive style are difficult for the student, and 3) typing may be best for longer work samples where handwriting would be onerous. Print, cursive and typing used in combination is called mixed mode. (6)
Modern cursive
The world-wide compendium of educational handwriting styles known as Primarium calls the various current-day Italic styles “modern cursive”. (7) Looped cursive styles derived from Spencerian and Palmer are called “continuous cursive”.
Italic is the modern name for the Chancery style, invented in Italy in the 15th century. Some confusion with the term “Italic” (no ’s’ at the end) comes from the fact that some 16th-century scribes also developed typeface styles. Their slightly sloped designs for moveable type has come to be known as “italics” (’s’ at the end).
Choosing a style
How you are going to include handwriting in your language arts program starts with the fundamental question of which handwriting style you will use.
Among the four major handwriting styles available in the US in Image 2,(8) the left column represents the modern cursive style, and the three other columns on the right are continuous cursive styles. One can easily see a great variety in the consistency of letter forms and stroke sequence between print and cursive modes. (Red letters indicate a letter path change from print to cursive.)
Continuous cursive styles have many new starting points and new letterforms for young cursive learners, whereas modern cursive typically retains letter path between print and cursive modes (Image 3).
If you think of each new letter path as a new lesson plan, continuous cursive styles require as many as 42 new lesson plans for children to learn joined writing (Image 4). Watch this video for more information.
How much time?
Experts say that handwriting should be an everyday activity, with direct instruction occurring daily in small, focused segments. Here is one method’s recommendation in minutes per week: K 25-50, 1st grade 30-100, 2nd 45-100, 3rd 60-120, 4th 60-120, 5th 60-120, 6th 40. (9)
Direct instruction should encourage students to gain ownership of their handwriting. For instance, do not be the sole arbiter of what a perfect letter looks like, but rather help the student to decide which examples best match the models. Also, allow for the task to dictate the quality of the work sample. Worksheets can be a place to be experimental, but also should have evidence of best efforts. Final drafts would be at the other end of the spectrum.
In summary
Today’s handwriting instruction has less to do with perfecting loops and curlicues, and everything to do with literacy and communication. With a mixed-mode approach, a careful selection of handwriting style and method, and a focus on integrating handwriting, parents can better accomplish their language arts curriculum goals.
Citations
James, Dr. Karin. “The Importance of Handwriting Experience on the Development of the Literate Brain.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 2017, Vol. 26(6) 502–508.
Baker, S., Gersten, R., & Graham, S. (2003). “Teaching expressive writing to students with learning disabilities: Research-based applications and examples”. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(2), 109-123.
Robert W. Wiley, Dr. Brenda Rapp. The Effects of Handwriting Experience on Literacy Learning. Psychological Science, 2021;
Johns Hopkins University. "Handwriting beats typing and watching videos for learning to read." ScienceDaily, 8 July 2021.
Graham, Berninger, and Weintraub. “The Relationship between Handwriting Style, Speed, and Legibility.” The Journal of Educational Research, 91(5):290-297, 1998;
Hebert M, Kearns DM, Hayes JB, Bazis P, Cooper S. “Why Children With Dyslexia Struggle With Writing and How to Help Them.” Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2018 Oct 24;49(4):843-863.
Primarium: https://primarium.info
Handwriting Success https://handwritingsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/compasison-chart-2023-3.pdf
Getty, B. and Dubay, I. Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Series Instruction Manual, 4th Edition. Scope and Sequence, page 52.
Interesting points, but what about people with physical disabilities that make handwriting difficult, if not impossible?