Does learning to write and type make a difference in letter recognition and discrimination in primary school children?

Abstract

A corollary of the increased use of computers at primary school is a decrease in handwriting time, which may adversely affect the ability to recognise and discriminate letters. Our purpose was to examine if in-classroom handwriting and touch typewriting tuition make a difference in the recognition and discrimination of letters in novel readers. 81 Dutch primary school children (4.0 till 6.1 years), participated in this study. They were assigned to either a handwriting, a touch typewriting or an alphabet tuition control group. During three weeks they received two 20-minutes classroom-based tuition sessions weekly. All children were assessed on a recognition and discrimination letter test before and after the tuition sessions. Children recognised and discriminated more letters after tuition, irrespective of the type of training they had received. The novice readers among primary school children did not learn to recognise and discriminate letters better after classroom-based handwriting than after touch typewriting, or alphabet tuition.