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Experts Debate the Issue
At stake is not only writers' creative processes, but what
is best for learning to read for young children. Namely, the trade-off in
elementary schools across the nation from cursive writing in favor of printing in Kindergarten and first grade, then on to keyboards. What
is lost, if anything? What is gained?
In Favor of Longhand: A 2012 study discussed by quite a few
articles I read, conducted by Karin James, a psychologist at Indiana
University, asked five-year-old children who had not yet learned to read or
write to copy a letter or shape by typing into a computer, draw on a blank
sheet of paper, or trace over dotted lines. An MRI scan on the children drawing
freehand revealed areas of the brain "lit up." The other two ways showed
much weaker brain activity. Read articles by Tom Chatfield and New York Times Article by Maria Konnikova
A study with children in grades two through five, conducted
by Virginia Berninger, a psychologist at the University of Washington, found
that children who wrote material by hand "not only consistently produced
more words more quickly than they did on a keyboard, [they] expressed more ideas."
Visit Joe Buhlig's May 20, 2016 Blog Post
College students who take notes by hand retained the
information better than their peers on laptops. In 2013, researchers Pam
Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer asked this question. Conclusion: students who
wrote by hand had to summarize rather than simply type out the lecture, which
aided in comprehension. From Maria Konnikova's article
Rewriting your notes by hand helps to retain the
information. It is the method I discovered in college; the only way I could
learn the material. I learned how to expand this method while teaching, using
such tools as Venn diagrams, a sketch of adjoining spheres to simplify complex concepts
for easier comprehension, skimming a textbook chapter, noticing what the
headings and subheadings are about and jotting notes on post-its to isolate main
points during reading.
In Favor of Keyboard: Some experts believe the method of
learning makes no difference in learning to read and write. Anne Trubek,
associate professor of rhetoric and composition at Oberlin College in Ohio,
believes the fast action of typing allows more time to think.
There is no substitute for having the world at our
fingertips on a computer.
Engages both hands rather than the dominate one in longhand
writing.
A teacher once told me: Children must be prepared for the
future, and computers are the future.
Tip of the Iceberg
When I began reading about this topic, I had no idea its complexity. Also under consideration
is the significance of the dominant hand; the issue of what could be lost in
reading comprehension if children don't learn to form letters thereby memorizing
them as they draw them; the very effort of doing so teaches them the letters by trial and
error, which helps them recognize the letters later when learning how to read. The
Anne Chemin article mentioned "body memory" when letters are
written by hand and understanding the science behind the debate.
I have experienced "finger or muscle memory" as a piano student. Eleven (long) years of lessons as a child abruptly ended upon entering college. Thirty-five years later when I took up piano again, the pieces came back to me with little difficulty. Granted, they were rusty, but after practice it's as if I had never stopped. I suppose, much like never forgetting how to ride a bicycle.
I have experienced "finger or muscle memory" as a piano student. Eleven (long) years of lessons as a child abruptly ended upon entering college. Thirty-five years later when I took up piano again, the pieces came back to me with little difficulty. Granted, they were rusty, but after practice it's as if I had never stopped. I suppose, much like never forgetting how to ride a bicycle.
Why I Believe What my Instructor Said
Throughout my writing career, I have ping-ponged between
writing drafts by hand and typing them on the computer. It has become my writing
process. While under deadlines when freelance writing, I did do away with paper
and pen and did all the work on my computer. Now no longer under deadlines, I
write first draft in longhand, type it on the computer, print that out, and during
editing go back and forth until done.
Teaching reading and writing at school and to my own children was mostly the old-school
method where the children learned their letters by hand and then learned to read.
However, by the time I started substitute teaching in the 90s, cursive had
already been phased out and typing on the keyboard was emphasized. The children's
little hands printed everything (computer lab took place several times a week;
there were only one to three computers in the classrooms then. Teachers
teaching with their own laptops had just begun). Gone was each child's
signature handwriting and the pride that went with it, since they didn't know
how to write in cursive.
What Does this Mean for Writers?
Imagine my joy when my instructor suggested writers should
undertake the very process I've been exploiting all these years. It makes sense that different parts of the brain are involved. Perhaps
the same principle applies when composing in your beach chair by the sea or
even simply finding a nook in your house that gives you a different perspective.
Typing on the computer can never take the place of these intimate moments; so
close to the experience of the feel of a book in your hands compared with reading on a digital device.
For a
deeper understanding of the issues involved, I invite you to read the
articles for yourself and weigh in on what you think by commenting. Also, what is your process? How did you discover it? How does it work for you?
Additional Resources:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/33508/4-benefits-writing-hand
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/cognitive-benefits-handwriting-decline-typing
Additional Resources:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/33508/4-benefits-writing-hand
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/cognitive-benefits-handwriting-decline-typing
Clipart courtesy of: http://clipart-library.com/clipart/c797893.htm
