Through the use of multiple early writing assessments and a theoretically aligned refined coding system, this study examined preschool children's early writing skills. A total of 496 preschool-aged (3- to 5-year-old) children were assessed on writing tasks designed to measure their handwriting, spelling, writing concept, and composing skills.…

This article considers the geographies of literacy learning by analysing maps that children drew about their experiences. The maps were created during a mapping-and-talking session with the researchers. Sociomaterial ways of thinking were used to foreground the relationships between people, texts, tools, technologies and spaces, in which literacy…

In the digital age, handwriting literacy has declined to a worrying degree, especially in non-alphabetic writing systems. In particular, Chinese (and also Japanese) handwriters have suffered from character amnesia ([Chinese characters omitted]), where people cannot correctly produce a character though they can recognize it. Though character…

This study tests a handwriting model for children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that displays the relationships between handwriting process and product characteristics, and the predictors of these characteristics. Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the model for children and youth with ASD (n = 50) and typically…

The rise of the digital era has led to a decline in handwriting as the primary mode of communication, resulting in negative effects on handwriting literacy, particularly in complex writing systems such as Chinese. The marginalization of handwriting has contributed to the deterioration of penmanship, defined as the ability to write aesthetically…

Generalist primary school computer science (CS) teachers are often reluctant to introduce CS activities that go beyond CS unplugged tasks. To address this challenge, we drew from constructive alignment principles to implement a new programming modality for primary school: the handwriting programming language (HPL). HPL brings programming…

Educationally-oriented measures of handwriting fluency--tasks such as written alphabet recall and sentence copying--conflate graphomotor skill and various higher-level abilities. Direct measurement of pen control when forming letters requires analysis of pen-tip velocity associated with the production of sub-letter features that, in a skilled…

This paper investigates the relationship between the structural features of Chinese characters and the handwriting quality of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) beginners. The study involved 22 CFL beginners transcribing characters using digital ink technology. Correlations were analyzed between structural features (including stroke count, stroke…

To explore the dynamics of processing in manuscript production, it is necessary to possess a system for recording the writer's graphic activity. This work describes the new version of the Eye and Pen program (version 3.01). In addition to the fact that it is now freely available (https://www.eyeandpen.net), the improvements described focus on its…

This study was conducted by utilizing an experimental handwriting intervention using eight critical features as identified by Reutzel et al. (2019). The intervention used lower-case letters to group letters with similar features for instruction for preschool-age children. These features were used to facilitate instruction with letter-writing…

"Story dictation" and "story acting" are joint practices that were popularized some years ago by educator and author Vivian Paley and remain relevant today given their alignment with child-centred, play-based curricula. We review quantitative and qualitative research on these practices, with a focus on young children's writing…

There is widespread concern about declining literacy skills in recent young Japanese. The present study investigated how higher-level reading and writing proficiencies are underpinned by basic literacy skills in Japanese adolescents. From a large database of the most popular literacy exams in Japan, we retrospectively analyzed word- and text-level…

Integration of cognitive, sensory, and motoric processes is essential for the production of handwriting, however, challenging for children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The objective of this scoping review is to identify potential underlying mechanisms of handwriting of children and youth with ASD by reviewing cognitive, sensory,…

A growing number of primary school students experience difficulties with grapho-motor skills involved in handwriting, which impact both form and content of their texts. Therefore, it is important to assess and monitor handwriting skills in primary school via standardized tests and detect specific grapho-motor parameters (GMPs) which impact…

Handwriting difficulties may signal dysgraphia or other writing difficulties that can affect literacy performance. Existing instruments measure different handwriting features to identify students for interventions but can take extra testing time and restrict potential indicators appropriate for evaluating adolescents. This exploratory study aimed…