Cursive handwriting: A necessity in primary education

By Raffy B. Baao

Teacher I, Lagonoy North Central School

Handwriting is a vital skill that must be acquired by learners. This can be developed first at home the moment a child shows interest in writing such as playing and holding a pen and looking for sheets of paper to write onto. It is a key ability that lays the groundwork for academic achievement. Students practice the alphabetic principle through handwriting, which leads to a lifetime of literacy knowledge. Proper handwriting is the first step to brilliance, from letter formation to phonemic awareness. A pupil who excels in penmanship excels for the rest of his or her life. By practicing handwriting skills early on, your pupils are developing a skill set that will serve them well throughout their academic careers.

When kids learn to write by hand, they are doing much more than remembering letter formations. In fact, handwriting and other parts of writing are inextricably intertwined and can have an impact on kids’ reading, writing, language use, and critical thinking.

Poor handwriting can lead to spelling and letter formation issues, making it difficult for pupils to read and write fluently. Furthermore, handwriting errors might undermine a student’s confidence in communication, leading to more serious problems in the future.

As a result, it is critical to develop good handwriting skills early on in order to maximize a student’s communication ability.

Few people still write with a pen and paper, let alone in cursive script, in today’s modern world. Cursive writing, according to academics, is vital for cognitive development and the sensorimotor part of the brain. Handwriting cursive letters differ significantly from typing or tracing the same letters in terms of learning. But, with so many cellphones, laptops, and tablets for reading and writing text, is writing cursive still necessary, or has it become an obsolete learning tool?

Using a pen or pencil to form letters with the hand differs cognitively from pressing a physical or virtual key on a keyboard. Forming letters by hand while learning establishes a link between the movement of the hand and the visual response of seeing the letter on the page. There are several processes going on at the same time: the movement of the hand, the thinking of the letter, and the visual cue of the letter. This is a necessary talent of reading and writing at the same time.

This process is necessary for children to completely learn the English language and relate words to muscle memory. Learning cursive handwriting is beneficial to spelling skills because it allows youngsters to recognize words when they read them later. Because typing does not involve the same fine motor skills and simultaneous engagement, it does not have the same effect on the brain.

In the study conducted by Fellasufah and Ali Mustadi (2019), they stated that cursive handwriting offers great benefits for it helps learners to develop cognitive improvements at early grade levels. They also added that this skill has various purposes, and one is to enhance written communication that can be realized through writing practices. Moreover, they found out that teachers must provide and require learning activities written in cursive form for they believe that this skill must take place in every learning experience.

In one study conducted by Eva OseAskvik et al., (2020) where they highlighted the importance of cursive handwriting over typewriting, they concluded that although both methods give benefits, learners and teachers must have an awareness as to when is the best time to use one writing method. In this regard, cursive handwriting plays an important role in learning and teaching activities.

Nathalie Bonneton – Botte et. al (2019) concluded that digital tablets have multiple benefits in teaching cursive handwriting in terms of learners’ motivation and skill efficiency. However, they added that this tool is only one of the accepted methods in teaching cursive handwriting thus teachers must consider other types as long as it enhances the said skill.

School Culture where the writing skills of learners are shaped by teachers, parents, and school leaders, Handwriting Pedagogy, and Personal/Professional Perspective are the emerged themes found in the study conducted by Tiffany Brown and Laurie Sharp (2015). Teachers really do affect the cursive writing performance of learners. Their direct instruction and modeling help a lot in the improvement of the skill. Plans, programs, and implementations supported by the school leaders are also of big help. Parents or even other members of the family can assist the learners at home in doing writing exercises. The writing knowledge acquired by the learner is affected by how he/she is taught by his/her educator. From this, it can be asserted that teachers must have full knowledge pertaining to cursive handwriting.

The study conducted by Semeraro et. al (2019) concluded that learners who practice more and are able to do cursive handwriting improved more in reading rather than those who use other types of writing. Thus, they suggested that learning a single type of handwriting, which is cursive, will bring more improvement in reading and other writing skills such as note-taking. In the previous classes where face-to-face teaching was still allowed, the researcher observed that those who were fluent readers were actually the best writers whether in cursive or other types of handwriting.

References:

Bonneton-Botté, Nathalie et al., (2019). Teaching cursive handwriting: A contribution to the acceptability study of using digital tablets in French classrooms. Retrieved from January 14, 2022 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332297965

Fellasufah, Fetty et al., (2019). Cursive handwriting skills of primary school pre service teachers.Retrieved from January 14, 2022 from ERIC - EJ1270329 - Cursive Handwriting Skills of Primary School Pre Service Teachers, Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 2019-Nov

OseAskvik, Eva et al., (2020). The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over Typewriting for Learning in the Classroom: A High-Density EEG Study of 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults. Retrieved from January 14, 2022 from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810/full

Semeraro, Cristina et al., (2019). Teaching of cursive writing in the first year of primary school: Effect on reading and writing skills. Retrieved fromJanuary 14, 2022 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6366728/

Sharp, Laurie et al., Handwriting Instruction:An Analysis of Perspectives from Three Elementary Teachers.Retrieved from January 14, 2022 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286560567