DOES THE HANDWRITING STYLE LEARNED IN FIRST GRADE DETERMINE THE STYLE USED IN THE FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES AND INFLUENCE HANDWRITING SPEED AND QUALITY? A COMPARISON BETWEEN FRENCH AND QUEBEC CHILDREN

An important issue relating to the teaching of handwriting concerns the style that should be learned at school (manuscript or cursive). Whereas some countries choose to teach both styles (e.g., Canada), other countries choose to teach only one (e.g., France). Our research had three main underlying goals, namely (1) to observe and describe the handwriting styles spontaneously used by fourth and fifth graders according to the first style learned at school; (2) to describe the evolution of handwriting between the fourth and fifth grades; and (3) to examine the relationship between speed, legibility, and handwriting style. The results revealed that the effects of country, grade level, handwriting style, and handwriting instruction were significant. Quebec children wrote faster than French children did, but their handwriting was less legible. Cursive handwriting was the slower style, whereas mixed handwriting seemed to be more efficient. Handwriting speed and legibility improved from fourth to fifth grade. C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Despite advances in computer technology and the availability of computers both at school and at home, handwriting continues to take up a large proportion of time in the course of daily school activities and, for this reason at least, handwriting is an important issue (Christensen, 2009). Handwriting is a complex task that requires attention and memory, as well as linguistic and motor skills As shown by Berninger et al. Correspondence to: Florence Bara, CREAD, IUFM Bretagne