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What is Cursive Handwriting? - Twinkl Teaching Wiki

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What is Cursive Handwriting? - Learn what cursive handwriting is and when your kids will learn about it in primary school.

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Cursive handwriting is dying. But some politicians refuse to accept it.

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Is handwriting becoming a lost art? The new Common Core Standards adopted by most states in the U.S. make teaching cursive optional and up to individual states. The rise of technology in and out of the classroom means fewer kids are writing by hand in general. But many psychologists and education experts argue that handwriting - both in print and cursive - is still a highly valuable skill. Read on to learn some of the benefits of putting pen to paper!

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Cursive Handwriting Benefits | Brain Development, Dyslexia Help & More

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Is handwriting becoming a lost art? The new Common Core Standards adopted by most states in the U.S. make teaching cursive optional and up to individual states. The rise of technology in and out of the classroom means fewer kids are writing by hand in general.

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According to the 41 states no longer require handwriting instruction. That's not surprising, since the Common Core has shifted the focus to skills which support technology, like keyboarding instruction. But the benefits of handwriting, and cursive in particular, have long been documented. In addition to the effects on brain development, handwriting helps students build fine motor skills and dexterity, and leads to greater engagement and retention. In addition, research shows that cursive writing is beneficial for students with learning disabilities.

Here are a few ways cursive instruction benefits students.

Brain development

According to a study conducted by the University of Washington, learning to print, write in cursive, and type on a keyboard all contribute to brain development in students. But instruction in cursive writing in particular seems to produce the greatest neurological effects.

The key difference is that cursive writing stimulates brain synapses and the synchronicity between both sides of the brain, unlike printing or typing. William Klemm , senior professor of neuroscience at Texas A&M University, states, "Handwriting (cursive writing) dynamically engages widespread areas of both cerebral hemispheres." He references brain scans taken during handwriting that show activation of extensive regions of the brain involved in thinking, language, and working memory.

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Handwriting expert Jeanette Farmer provides a strong argument for setting aside time for cursive instruction. "Handwriting has a physiological/psychological link in the brain," she states. "This link is so strong that nothing else done in the classroom can begin to compare with the powerful impact that repetitively manipulating the thumb and fingers over time has on the young brain."

Mental engagement

Handwriting contributes to greater retention and deeper learning in students. It only makes sense that students spend more time processing, and have a greater ability to remember, things they create by hand.

Learning how to write in cursive matters because it demands focused attention. First a child has to think about the structure of each letter, then figure out how to mechanically reproduce it. Repeating this active process over and over helps build a foundation of literacy learning.

This holds true for older students as well. According to researchers Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer , "Students who take notes on a laptop tend to transcribe lectures verbatim, while students who hand-write notes process information and reframe it in their own words, reinforcing learning."

Kinesthetic benefits

When students learn to write in cursive, they must coordinate fine motor skills with visual and tactile processing abilities. The physical act of touching pen to paper builds muscle memory that is foundational for learning. Writing in cursive requires knowledge of not just letter formation, but the curves and connections as well. This requires hand-eye coordination-a skill that is integral to learning to play a musical instrument, participate in sports, use tools, and even master a computer keyboard.

Benefits for students with learning disabilities

A 2012 review suggests that cursive may be particularly effective for individuals with neurological disorders such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. Dyslexia is caused by a disconnect between the auditory and language centers of the brain. As stated above, writing in cursive has the effect on the brain of joining together these two centers. In addition, cursive writing, with its connected letters and fluid motion, has been shown to help students with dysgraphia, which is characterized by motor control difficulties in writing.

We all know teachers only have so many hours in the day, and standards dictate other priorities. But the overwhelming evidence shows that cursive instruction has enormous benefits for our students. Setting aside a few minutes each week to teach cursive writing is something we need to invest in.
Do you make time for cursive instruction in your classroom? Come share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE! group on Facebook. Also, check out What Teachers Need to Know About Dysgraphia and 10 Things About Dyslexia Teachers Need to Know.

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All posts by Elizabeth Mulvahill, B.A. Liberal Arts, Certified Teacher

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Research Shows Huge Benefits to Learning Cursive, But Most States Don't Require It

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According to the USA Today, 41 states no longer require teaching handwriting. But there are big benefits to cursive instruction. See what they are.

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Developing an attractive, legible cursive handwriting style certainly has great aesthetic value, but it also has numerous mental, physical, social, and practical benefits. Here are the Top 10 reasons to learn cursive!

1. Improved neural connections. Cursive handwriting stimulates the brain in ways that typing cannot. It improves the dynamic interplay of the left and right cerebral hemispheres, helps build neural pathways, and increases mental effectiveness. According to Virginia Berninge r, a researcher and professor at the University of Washington, "Pictures of brain activity have illustrated that sequential finger movements used in handwriting activated massive regions of the brain involved in thinking, language, and working memory. Handwriting differs from typing because it requires executing sequential finger strokes to form a letter, whereas keyboarding only involves touching a key."

2. Improved ability to read cursive. When individuals cannot read cursive, they are cursively illiterate in their own language. The ability to read cursive is required in many settings.

3. Increased writing speed. The connectivity of a simple cursive style is faster to write than the stop and-start strokes of printing. Speed has been shown to increase attention span during writing. This increases continuity and fluidity in writing, which in turn encourages greater amounts of writing.

4. Improved fine motor skills. "Cursive handwriting naturally develops sensory skills. Through repetition the children begin to understand how much force needs to be applied to the pencil and paper, the positioning of the pencil to paper at the correct angle, and motor planning to form each letter in fluid motion from left to right. This physical and spatial awareness allows them to write, but more importantly, builds the neural foundation of sensory skills needed for a myriad of everyday tasks such as buttoning, fastening, tying shoes, picking up objects, copying words from blackboards, and most importantly, reading." ( Cutting Cursive, The Real Cost. Candace Meyer, CEO, Minds-in-Motion, Inc.)

5. Increased retention. The act of taking notes by hand instead of on a computer encourages a student to process the content and reframe it, which leads to better understanding and retention. Studies indicate that college students remembered information better one week later when they transcribed a paragraph in cursive than when they printed it or used a keyboard.

6. Ease of learning. Printing is more difficult than cursive due to the frequent stop-and-start motion when forming letters. In addition, some printed letters look similar and are easily reversed, like the b and d, which is often confusing to children. Cursive is of particular value to children with learning challenges such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and difficulties with attention.

7. Improved legibility and spelling ability. Cursive requires children to write from left to right so that the letters will join in proper sequence and with proper spacing, making their writing easier to read. It also aids with spelling through muscle memory, as the hand acquires memory of spelling patterns through fluid movements that are used repeatedly. This is the same phenomenon that occurs when pianists learn patterns of hand movements through continued repetition.

8. Increased self-discipline. Cursive handwriting is complex, and is inherently associated with the development of fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Learning cursive prompts children to also develop self-discipline, which is a useful skill in all areas of life.

9. Higher quality signature. Cursive handwriting will improve the attractiveness, legibility, and fluidity of one's signature.

10. Increased self-respect. The ability to master the skill of writing clearly and fluidly improves the students' confidence to communicate freely with the written word. Handwriting is a vital life skill.

Top 10 Reasons to Learn Cursive by Iris Hatfield, author of New American Cursive

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Top 10 Reasons to Learn Cursive - Memoria Press

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Developing an attractive, legible cursive handwriting style certainly has great aesthetic value, but it also has numerous mental, physical, social, and practical benefits. Here are the Top 10 reasons to learn cursive! 1. Improved neural connections. Cursive handwriting stimulates the brain in ways that typing cannot.

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benefits-of-cursive | The Optometry Center for Vision Therapy

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Vision Therapist in Austin & San Antonio, TX

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Should All Schools Teach Cursive? (Published 2019)

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A 10-year-old cursive champ makes an argument in its favor. Is he convincing?