Should one learn the two writing styles? What’s the impact of the use of technology on the way children learn reading and writing? These questions concern certain researchers, who have recently completed studies on these issues.

 

The Conseil scolaire francophone (CSF) is also wondering about this. This is why the CSF invited Ms. Marie-France Morin, who holds a Research Chair in the learning of reading and writing in young children, and Mr. Denis Alamargot, Professor of cognitive and developmental psychology, to participate in a two-day meeting that took place in April.

 

The two renowned researchers presented the results of their research at this meeting. CSF senior management, teachers, school principals, and Fédération des parents representatives were invited to participate in these two very interesting days of reflection and information.

The research has shown that we should focus on a single kind of graphic writing, either printing or cursive writing, but not both. The reason is simple: a child who does not have integrated or automated writing motor skills puts a lot of energy into this, and performs less well in spelling and writing.

 

Hence, writing motor skills develop faster in a child who learns just a single style of writing. Researchers do not recommend one style, such as cursive writing, over the other, such as printing; each style has its advantages and disadvantages. However, for learning to read, one should be exposed to a wide variety in character styles (i.e., read texts of separated letters, attached letters, and of varied letter styles etc.).

Do you want to know what a child feels like who does not yet have integrated or automated writing motor skills? Write a sentence by hand. Rewrite this sentence entirely in uppercase letters. Then rewrite the same sentence by alternating uppercase and lowercase letters. Was that an easy exercise? Could you think of something else while writing? Probably not! When we linger a lot on letter formation, we have less attention available to check our spelling or writing.

The researchers also explained that learning to write using only technology (such as with a tablet or computer keyboard) is not the solution. A tablet can be used to show how to draw letters (there are applications for this), but for young children it’s very important to practice writing letters using paper and pencil.

 

This is because the tablet screen doesn’t give kinesthetic feedback, among other things. A training program for visual-motor writing (where a model is shown on the screen, and then the child copies the model with a pencil, chalk, or finger in sand) is more effective for successfully learning to write.

If you want to know more about this research, and about other research that is just as fascinating, visit http://lectureecriture.ca/ and click on the Publications tab to find the “Articles de revues professionnelles” section.