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Writing speed and legibility of 7–14‐year‐old school students using modern cursive script
Author(s) -
Ziviani Jenny,
WatsonWill Amanda
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1630.1998.tb00783.x
Subject(s) - legibility , handwriting , cursive , alphabet , psychology , font , curriculum , medicine , mathematics education , medical education , visual arts , pedagogy , computer science , linguistics , speech recognition , art , artificial intelligence , philosophy
Modern cursive script, along with its precursor the beginner's alphabet, is now well established in the curricula of most Australian schools. However, debate continues regarding the advantages of this script over the previous print and cursive style. Beyond this debate, occupational therapists continue to assess and treat children with handwriting difficulties. Therefore, how children are writing using modern cursive now warrants attention, as this is the mode of choice in most Australian schools. Three hundred and seventy‐two children aged between 7 and 14 years who attended Queensland government primary schools were asked to complete the speed subtest of the Handwriting Performance Test. The same writing sample was used to rate legibility on a scale from 1 (poor legibility) to 7 (good legibility). Handwriting speed (in letters per minute) did not differ significantly between boys and girls (mean (±SD) = 69.9±33.8 and 68.9±25.9 letters/min, respectively). In contrast, legibility was significantly better (t(370) = 3.79, P < 0.0001) for girls than boys (4.2±1.2 and 3.5±1.0, respectively). There was a low correlation between speed and legibility (r = 0.23, P > 0.05). The results are discussed in light of the shift to this new writing style and current occupational therapy practice.