Manuscript and/or Cursive: The Contribution of Research Conducted Since 2012 on Handwriting Instruction

ABSTRACT

Learning how to trace out letters constitutes an important technical element in the mastery of writing. Teaching students how to do so requires decision-making: either teaching manuscript writing, cursive writing or both and choosing which instructional practices to favor. This synthesis aims to take stock of the knowledge that comes from the research that can allow us to shed light on these choices. In the footsteps of a synthesis published in 2012, we found 41 scholarly writings published between 2012 and 2021. These articles confirm and specify some elements of this synthesis through a snapshot of choices made according to country: learning prerequisites for handwriting acquisition and the effect of different types of intervention on the handwriting acquisition. These scientific papers also highlight new knowledge that concerns learning how to handwrite in general and the consequences of choices made on the learning of reading and writing.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning
• handwriting
• teaching
• cursive
• manuscript

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Jeanne Bouchard and Marie-Christine Côté, from the Centre de Services Scolaire de la Jonquière and Caroline Leroux, from the Centre de Services Scolaire des Rives-du-Saguenay who initiated the questioning that led to this article.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The number of references in these categories exceeds the total number of references because some references concern several age groups.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.