New Study Finds Handwriting Still Key to Literacy Development in Young Children
A recent study from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has found that handwriting significantly improves young children’s ability to learn letters and word structures compared to typing on a keyboard. Researchers studied 5- to 6-year-olds, an age when reading and writing skills begin to take shape, by introducing them to unfamiliar letters and made-up words to ensure they were learning from scratch.
The children were divided into two groups: one practiced writing letters with a pencil, while the other used a keyboard. Those who learned through handwriting, especially those allowed to write freely rather than tracing, performed better in identifying, writing, and remembering both individual letters and entire pseudowords. This suggests that the physical act of shaping letters plays a key role in literacy development.
Typing, while easier, bypasses what experts call the “graphomotor function”—the fine-motor process involved in writing by hand. Researchers say this hands-on effort strengthens memory and understanding of how words are structured, giving handwriting an educational edge. In contrast, children who typed showed weaker results in mastering letter sequences and word patterns.
The study also tested how different methods within handwriting and typing affected learning. Children who wrote without tracing outperformed those who traced, and those exposed to a variety of fonts when typing didn’t gain any advantage. This reinforces the idea that active manual engagement, more than visual or digital variation, makes the biggest difference in learning outcomes.
Overall, the findings make a strong case for preserving handwriting in early education. While digital tools have their place in the classroom, they should complement, not replace, traditional writing methods. Early literacy, the study suggests, is built not just by recognizing letters on a screen, but by physically drawing them with a child’s own hand.
