Influence of handwriting skills during spelling in primary and lower secondary grades

Virginie Pontart,Eric Lambert,Lisa Flouret,Christel Bidet-Ildei,Denis Alamargot,Pauline Morisset

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00818

Abstract

We sought to identify, the impact of handwriting skills on the efficiency and temporal course of word spelling across Grades 2–9. Eighty-four students, drawn from primary and lower secondary schools, were asked to perform a dictation task to assess their word spelling. They also had to write out the letters of the alphabet, as well as their firstnames and surnames, from memory to assess their handwriting skills. Handwriting kinematics were recorded using a digitizing tablet and a computer running Eye and Pen software. Results revealed that graphomotor skills (as assessed by the name writing task) influenced the success and temporal course of spelling, but only in primary grades, whereas the influence of orthographic knowledge (as assessed by the alphabet task) could still be observed in the lower secondary grades, even if it ceased to influence the temporal course and only affected errors. We discuss what these findings tell us about changes in transcription processes over the course of child development.

Highlights

IntroductionAccording to Berninger and Swanson (1994), the development of written production between Grades 1 and 9 can be divided into three stages: (i) the gradual emergence, during the lower primary grades, of the three main writing components (formulation, revision, and planning); (ii) the complexification, during the upper primary grades, of their constituent processes and operations, allowing increasingly large units (letters, words, sentences, paragraphs) to be taken into account; and (iii) the emergence, during the lower secondary of the ability to undertake parallel and interactive processing (between and within the three components)
According to Berninger and Swanson (1994), the development of written production between Grades 1 and 9 can be divided into three stages: (i) the gradual emergence, during the lower primary grades, of the three main writing components; (ii) the complexification, during the upper primary grades, of their constituent processes and operations, allowing increasingly large units to be taken into account; and (iii) the emergence, during the lower secondary of the ability to undertake parallel and interactive processing
The objective of the present study was to identify the impact of handwriting skills on the efficiency and temporal course of word spelling across grades

Summary

Introduction

According to Berninger and Swanson (1994), the development of written production between Grades 1 and 9 can be divided into three stages: (i) the gradual emergence, during the lower primary grades, of the three main writing components (formulation, revision, and planning); (ii) the complexification, during the upper primary grades, of their constituent processes and operations, allowing increasingly large units (letters, words, sentences, paragraphs) to be taken into account; and (iii) the emergence, during the lower secondary of the ability to undertake parallel and interactive processing (between and within the three components). Writers who have not yet mastered handwriting have to attend to the lower-level skills that tax WM resources, interfering with higher-order processes, such as text composition and/or spelling

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