by Jane Medwell, Steve Strand and David Wray
Original article: LINK
Some students (and teachers) think handwriting is just about making your writing look nice, but research from around the world shows that how fluently you write can actually affect how well you write stories or essays. This idea hasn’t been looked at much in the UK, especially for children around 10 or 11 years old (Year 6). Some people assume that by this age, handwriting is only about making your work look neat and isn’t connected to how well you write.
This article talks about a study that looked at nearly 200 Year 6 children and how fluently they wrote, and how well they put together stories or essays. It compared these findings to an earlier study with younger children. The study found that how well children write by hand is really important for how well they write stories or essays in Year 6. Some children struggle with writing fluently, and this might be making it harder for them to write well.