Another study on the benefits of handwriting

[TSherbs]

For those interested, here is another study concluding that handwriting (not about "cursive") had clear benefits to literacy learning, and beyond.

Interestingly, the study used Arabic letters and words, and the subjects were adult English speakers.

Authors are from Univ of North Carolina and Johns Hopkins Univ

Here: Article in abstract, and extensive list of references

from the conclusion (in abstract): "Our results clearly show that handwriting compared with nonmotor practice produces faster learning and greater generalization to untrained tasks than previously reported. Furthermore, only handwriting practice leads to learning of both motor and amodal symbolic letter representations."

[RobJohnson]

Thanks for posting

There was a head teacher in the East End of London that placed cursive handwriting at the centre of the school curriculum during the 1950s. Bear in mind that the East End was multicultural and a poor working class area with many of the children being first generation immigrants who had no knowledge of English. They were taught to speak and to write well and neatly by the school, the head teacher even bought fountain pens herself, ball point pens were still unreliable at this date.

On reaching the age of 11 the children took an exam to determine secondary schooling and it was noticeable that this school achieved academic results much higher than was thought possible.

The headmistress was given an MBE by the Queen for her achievements.

[Lloyd]

While I like the results, this study wasn't very good. There were only 14 individuals in each of the three learning approaches. That's a VERY small sample size to get quality representation. It didn't look into better/deeper understanding, just quicker letter identification and reading ability (not comprehension).

Typos courtesy of Samsung Auto-Incorrect™

[TSherbs]

Yeah, I hear ya.

[Deb]

While I still think it must be an all-round benefit to be taught to write properly, I'm no longer so sure that cursive is essential. My husband corresponds with his grandchildren. Neither one writes in cursive though the writing of one is joined up, to an extent. Both are doing very well academically so maybe the connection isn't as strong as all that.

For myself, I love cursive handwriting. Nothing special, no calligraphy, just the letter-forms I learned at five, maybe a bit tidier and more legible than they once were. I suppose cursive will always survive, even if it is only in the hands of geeks like us. It's already gone as the main means of communication.

[RobJohnson]

While I still think it must be an all-round benefit to be taught to write properly, I'm no longer so sure that cursive is essential. My husband corresponds with his grandchildren. Neither one writes in cursive though the writing of one is joined up, to an extent. Both are doing very well academically so maybe the connection isn't as strong as all that.

For myself, I love cursive handwriting. Nothing special, no calligraphy, just the letter-forms I learned at five, maybe a bit tidier and more legible than they once were. I suppose cursive will always survive, even if it is only in the hands of geeks like us. It's already gone as the main means of communication.

My first job on coming home from school was to go to the post box with the letters and cards that my mother had hand written that day, cheques, birthday cards, even post cards which I think were a halfpenny cheaper to post than a letter.

I can also remember sending a stamped (self) addressed envelope for a business to send back their brochure.

Sorry OP, drifted down Memory Lane a little too much.