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Chinese traditional calligraphy is an important part of Chinese culture, with rich cultural value, historical value, artistic value and educational value. Traditional calligraphy art has shown new characteristics in the current era. This research objectives are: 1) to study the historical development and cultural value of Chinese calligraphy; 2) to analyze the current situation and issues of Chinese calligraphy; 3) to identify the way in which inheritance and literacy of Chinese calligraphy art can be protected. This research adopts qualitative methods, collecting field data through literature document, surveys, interviews, observations, and group discussions. Our results summarize the multiple eras through which the historical development of Chinese calligraphy took place. Our study focused on the content and artistic styles of Chinese calligraphy, categorizing its development into four periods; namely (i) Primitive Society to 2070 BC, which is characterized by pictographic writing and primitive symbols, (ii) 2070 BC to 221 BC, the period of formation of written characters and invention of the writing brush and ink, (iii) 221 BC to 589 AD, characterized by the standardization of Xiaozhuan and the invention of papermaking, and (iv) 589 AD to 1905 AD characterized by development and refinement of the five script styles influenced by the imperial examination system. Our results also depict the current situation and problems of Chinese calligraphy and the problems it faces. Finally, the results also show the multiple ways in which Chinese calligraphy could be preserved. As an excellent cultural heritage, traditional Chinese calligraphy art will shine with new light in modern society.

The difficulties faced by teachers at a Special Public School in teaching Balinese script literacy to visually impaired children have resulted in low literacy skills in Balinese script among these students. In order to maximize Balinese script learning, appropriate learning media tailored to the characteristics of visually impaired children are necessary. This study aims to determine the design, feasibility, and effectiveness of the Relief Balinese Script Media ("Reaksi") assisted by audio to improve the Balinese script literacy of visually impaired students at a Special Public School. The study utilizes the ADDIE development model with a quantitative research design. Data collection methods include written tests assessing Balinese script writing. The subjects of this study are 12 visually impaired students. The results of this development study are as follows: (1) the design of the audio media achieved a score of 93.15%, qualifying as excellent; (2) the "Reaksi" media was deemed feasible, scoring 91.44% and qualifying as excellent; (3) the obtained t-value was 77.97, while the t-table value at a significance level of 5% was 2.101. These results indicate that the t-value is greater than the t-table value, thus rejecting H0 and accepting H1. Therefore, it can be concluded that the Relief Balinese Script Media ("Reaksi") assisted by audio is effectively applied to improve the Balinese script literacy of visually impaired students at a Special Public School. This audio-assisted Relief Balinese Script Media ("Reaksi") helps visually impaired students recognize the actual forms of Balinese script, thereby enhancing the literacy skills of Balinese script reading and writing among visually impaired students.

This study sought to examine the influence of transcription skills, evaluated using graphonomic measures, on the proficiency of text generation in students attending primary schools in Spain. A longitudinal design was employed involving 278 Spanish students distributed across three cohorts (cohort 1: 1st-2nd-4th grade; cohort 2: 2nd-3rd-5th grade; and cohort 3: 3rd-4th-6th grade). Two data collection points were used to administer the graphonomic measures, and a composition letter task was conducted at the conclusion of the study. Four multigroup structural equation models were employed, examining the direct pathways from graphonomic measures (i.e., pressure, speed, pauses, and road length) on text generation (i.e., length, fluency, planning, revision, and organization). The models demonstrated a good fit to the data. The findings from the four models, analyzed within the three cohorts, indicated that the significant effect of transcription (i.e., handwriting) on text production was primarily observed in Cohort 1 (early grades), while no significant effects were found in Cohort 2 (intermediate grades). This suggests that the importance of handwriting in text production in a transparent orthography may be more pronounced during the initial stages of writing development when students are acquiring foundational writing skills.

Children's writing depends on strategic and self-regulated behaviors as well as on attention and transcription skills. Despite the well-established effectiveness of interventions based on the self-regulated strategy development model (SRSD), little is known about their effects when combined with the explicit teaching and systematic training of attention or transcription. This study compared the effects of SRSD interventions that taught students a planning strategy and how to use it compose text, with additional components of attention (via focused meditation exercises) or transcription (via copy and alphabet exercises). We used a quasi-experimental design with three groups of Portuguese third graders: SRSD + attention (n = 42), SRSD + transcription (n = 37), and wait list (n = 34). Measures of transcription, executive functions, motivation, written production, and academic achievement were collected before and after the interventions. Analyses of co-variance revealed that the SRSD + transcription group surpassed the others in terms of handwriting fluency as well as in terms of spelling accuracy, though only among the weakest spellers at pretest. Moreover, in comparison to the wait list group, both SRSD groups showed better planning skills, wrote more complete texts, and displayed better executive functioning at posttest. After the intervention, though the SRSD + transcription group produced better texts than their peers, the SRSD + attention group achieved better academic performance, but only among those with poorer grades at pretest. Regarding motivation, we only found an effect of the SRSD + transcription intervention on self-efficacy for ideation, among students with lower self-efficacy at pretest. These findings suggest the importance of articulating writing and self-regulation strategies with attention and transcription training in early schooling.

The current study examined the effectiveness of a "writing is caught" approach with young developing writers in Norway. This method is based on the premise that writing competence is acquired naturally through real use in meaningful contexts. Our longitudinal randomized control trial study tested this proposition by examining if increasing first grade students' opportunities to write in various genres for different purposes and for a range of audiences over a two-year time period improved the quality of their writing, handwriting fluency, and attitude towards writing. The study included data from 942 students (50.1% girls) in 26 schools randomly assigned to the experimental treatment, and 743 students (50.6% girls) in 25 schools randomly assigned to the business-as-usual (BAU) control condition. Across Grades 1 and 2, experimental teachers were asked to supplement their typical writing instruction by implementing 40 writing activities designed to increase students' purposeful writing. Increasing experimental students' writing over the two-year period did not result in statistically detectable differences in the writing quality, handwriting fluency, and attitude towards writing of students in the experimental and BAU control conditions. These findings did not provide support for the effectiveness of the "writing is caught" approach. Implications for theory, research, and practiced are discussed.

Background: Taking notes during learning has benefits both during class (through writing things down to encode information) and after class (by using written notes as external storage for revision). Comparisons of note-taking methods (i.e., using paper or a computer) have mainly shown that paper leads to better learning. However, previous studies have mostly been conducted in laboratory contexts. Aims: The current study investigates university students' perceptions of the efficacity of their own preferred note-taking method, along with the strategies they employ. Sample: Data were collected from 108 university students. Methods: Students answered a questionnaire about their note-taking strategies during initial note-taking (in class) and revision (after class). Results: The results show that students who take notes on paper do not consider their method to be more effective, but they report engaging in more reformulation and less multitasking. Students who take notes on a computer are more likely to reformat their notes, and thus to reformulate at a later stage. For all students, review sheets are mostly done on paper. Conclusions: These results suggest that although students are not necessarily aware of the benefits of reformulation associated with handwriting on paper during initial note-taking, when revising, they tend to choose handwriting and benefit from reformulation when aiming for deeper processing. Therefore, revision activities remain mainly paper-based.

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) have been widely used to enhance math learning, wherein teacher's involvement is prominent to achieve their full potential. Usually, ITSs depend on direct interaction between the students and a computer. Recently, researchers started exploring handwritten input (e.g., from paper sheets) aiming to provide equitable access to ITSs' benefits. However, research on math ITSs ability to handle handwritten input is limited and, to our best knowledge, no study has summarized its state of the art. This article fulfills that gap with a scoping review of handwritten recognition methods, characteristics, and applications of math ITSs compatible with handwritten input. Based on a search of 11 databases, we found eight primary studies that met our criteria. Mainly, we found that all ITSs depend on receiving handwritten input from a touchscreen interface, in contrast to recognizing solutions developed on paper. We also found that most ITSs focus on similar audiences (e.g., English speakers students), subjects (e.g., algebraic questions), and applications (e.g., in-class to understand student perceptions). Thus, towards enabling equitable access to ITSs, we propose ITS Unplugged (i.e., ITSs that i) run on low-cost, resource-restricted devices with little to no internet connection and ii) receive as well as return information in the format target users usually use) and contribute a research agenda concerning challenges of developing such ITSs.

There is widespread concern about declining literacy skills in recent young Japanese. The present study investigated how higher-level reading and writing proficiencies are underpinned by basic literacy skills in Japanese adolescents. From a large database of the most popular literacy exams in Japan, we retrospectively analyzed word- and text-level data for middle and high school students who had taken the exams during the same period in the 2019 academic year using structural equation modeling. We extracted main data for 161 students as well as six independent datasets for validation. Our results validated the three-dimensional view of word-level literacy (reading accuracy, writing accuracy, and semantic comprehension) and demonstrated that writing and semantic skills underpinned text writing and reading, respectively. The semantic comprehension of words affected text writing indirectly via text reading; however, it could not replace the direct effect of word writing accuracy. These findings, which were robustly replicated with multiple independent datasets, provided new evidence of dimension-specific relationships between word- and text-level literacy skills and confirmed the unique contribution of word handwriting acquisition to text literacy proficiency. The replacement of handwriting by digital writing (e.g., typing) is a global trend. However, the dual-pathway model of literacy development identified in this study suggests there are advantages in sustaining early literacy education by handwriting for the growth of higher-level language skills in future generations.

Calligraphy is the treasure of traditional Chinese culture and it is ubiquitous in China. Because of the unique aesthetic characteristics of calligraphy, the difficulty of calligraphy teaching lies in the assessment of calligraphy works. The major problems concerning calligraphy assessment are the low time efficiency of calligraphy assessment and low engagement of students in the assessing process. As an active learning method, peer assessment (PA) has been widely applied to education. This research aims to explore the application of PA to the calligraphy class. With reasonable training, elementary school students can act rationally as an assessing group. On the basis of students' scores, this study further takes the most reasonable scores based on clustering analysis as the final score. Through the comparative analysis of the students' scores and the teachers' scores, it shows that the students' scores of calligraphy writing can obtain results that are close to the teachers' scores. The significance of the study lies in enhancing the time-efficiency of calligraphy assessment and maintaining the learners' high levels of engagement in the assessing process. The results show that the use of PA in the assessment of calligraphy writing is an effective and accurate method of calligraphy assessment, which contributes to students' command of the key points of calligraphy marking and plays an integral role in guiding students' future calligraphy practice.

To explore the dynamics of processing in manuscript production, it is necessary to possess a system for recording the writer's graphic activity. This work describes the new version of the Eye and Pen program (version 3.01). In addition to the fact that it is now freely available (https://www.eyeandpen.net), the improvements described focus on its use for handwritten word production. First, we give some examples of the new features and improvements included in this new version, e.g., compatibility with previous versions and with other writing dynamics acquisition programs; "in-air" measurements; the choice of driver for timestamping; signal processing tools. The second part is dedicated to the issue of synchronization and temporal precision for the display of stimuli. The material presented here is available on OSF (http://osf.io/afpvz; project Eye and Pen).

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect relations between short-term memory (STM), reading, oral language, and writing at the letter, word, and discourse levels in young, developing writers both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Method: Participants were 449 English-speaking kindergarten students (52% female) from 41 schools in the U.S. Results: The cross-sectional analysis indicated that STM was directly related to oral language ([beta] = 0.62), letter naming fluency ([beta] = 0.43), word reading ([beta] = 0.54), and reading comprehension ([beta] = 0.42), all of which were statistically significant. Results supported a complete mediation model with STM having an indirect effect on writing via reading and oral language. In the cross-sectional analysis, the total effects of STM on handwriting ([beta] = 0.51), spelling ([beta] = 0.57), and written composition ([beta] = 0.47) were substantial and statistically significant. In the longitudinal analysis, the total effects of Fall STM on Spring writing outcomes, handwriting ([beta] = 0.42), spelling ([beta] = 0.70), and written composition ([beta] = 0.44) were also substantial and statistically significant. Conclusion: Findings confirm that STM is a foundational cognitive skill necessary for early writing; however, they provide a more nuanced understanding by showing that the contribution of STM is indirect through reading and oral language. Writing is complex, requiring interaction among higher-order domain-specific and domain-general components. Along with other recent studies, our findings highlight the need to examine the direct and indirect effects for a more precise understanding of skills that support writing development.

Graphomotor and handwriting disabilities (GD and HD, respectively) could significantly reduce children's quality of life. Effective remediation depends on proper diagnosis; however, current approaches to diagnosis and assessment of GD and HD have several limitations and knowledge gaps, e.g. they are subjective, they do not facilitate identification of specific manifestations, etc. The aim of this work is to introduce a new scale (GHDRS--Graphomotor and Handwriting Disabilities Rating Scale) that will enable experts to perform objective and complex computer-aided diagnosis and assessment of GD and HD. The scale supports quantification of 17 manifestations associated with the process/product of drawing/handwriting. The whole methodology of GHDRS design is made maximally transparent so that it could be adapted for other languages.

Although the utilization of mobile technologies has recently emerged in various educational settings, limited research has focused on cognitive load detection in the pen-based learning process. This research conducted two experimental studies to investigate what and how multimodal data can be used to measure and classify learners' real-time cognitive load. The results found that it was a promising method to predict learners' cognitive load by analysing their handwriting, touch gestural and eye-tracking data individually and conjunctively. The machine learning approach used in this research achieved a prediction accuracy of 0.86 area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and 0.85/0.86 sensitivity/specificity by only using handwriting data, 0.93 AUC and 0.93/0.94 sensitivity/specificity by only using touch gestural data, and 0.94 AUC and 0.94/0.95 sensitivity/specificity by using both the touch gestural and eye-tracking data. The results can contribute to the optimization of cognitive load and the development of adaptive learning systems for pen-based mobile learning.

Students must be able to produce legible and fluent text when completing classwork and for exam purposes. Some students, however, present with handwriting difficulties in secondary school. When these are significant, intervention may be necessary or alternatives to handwriting may be offered (e.g. use of a word processor). Little is known about current practice of supporting secondary students with handwriting difficulties in England and how recommendations are made to transition to typing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 practitioners with a responsibility for supporting students with handwriting difficulties. Two themes were identified. The first theme, "doing the right thing," illustrated the tension between practitioners' commitment to supporting students with handwriting difficulties and their uncertainty around what is the "right" approach. The second theme, "influencing practice," described the contextual factors (student and family, school environment and national context) that impact on practitioners' practice and their decision to transition from handwriting to typing. Findings highlight the complexities of supporting this group of students and an urgent need for guidance at a national level to assist best practice. Implications for practice are discussed. Further research examining the effectiveness of handwriting interventions with secondary students and the optimum time to start typing is warranted.

Spelling and handwriting are related skills which are critical for writing but are typically assessed separately. Doing so makes it more difficult to understand their respective development. We describe the creation and evaluation of a tool for their concurrent assessment: the Spelling and Handwriting Legibility Test (SaHLT). We examined whether (a) sentence spelling and handwriting legibility could be reliable and valid, independent measures of English spelling and handwriting legibility and (b) whether spelling and handwriting legibility can be measured concurrently. A total of 1461 primary-aged children (M[subscript age] = 9.14 years-old, SD = 12.80) completed the SaHLT and background tests. The SaHLT was a sensitive, reliable, and valid measure of spelling and handwriting. Multi-group factor analyses revealed the test to be a robust concurrent measure. The SaHLT offers a cost and time saving method of measuring two key skills of writing. This is important for assessments in practice and for furthering our understanding of the relationship between spelling and handwriting.

The automatization of handwriting and typing is sustained by both sensorimotor and linguistic abilities that support the integration of central-linguistic processes with modality-specific peripheral-motor programs. How this integration evolves when handwriting and, especially, typing is not fully automatized has not been well-understood yet. In the present work, we had two main aims: (1) to understand how spelling processing affects handwriting and typing word production in a sample of 9th-grade Italian students who have extensive handwriting practice but less experience with typing, and (2) to unveil if reading and visual-motor integration skills of the writer/typists have a role in integrating spelling processing and motor execution. Thirty-six 9th-grade participants handwrote and typed to dictation words and pseudowords of different lengths and orthographic complexity. To test spelling processing during handwriting and typing, we collected measures of latency (RTs)--i.e. the interval between spoken stimulus availability and starting to write--, of interletter interval mean--i.e., the mean of the intervals between consecutive letters--, and whole response duration--i.e. the execution time of the entire stimulus. We further assessed participants' reading and visual-motor integration skills to analyze their impact on the chronometric measures as a function of the linguistic proprieties of the stimuli. Our findings show a different pattern of processing for handwriting, the automatized process for our participants, and for typing, for which stronger lexical and sublexical effects emerged. Furthermore, reading and visual-motor skills interacted differently with the two transcription modalities unveiling a modality-specific role of individual skills according to the automatization of handwriting and typing.

The effects of transcription skills, comprising both spelling and handwriting fluency, on sentence writing among young Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners were evaluated and compared to those of reading and oral language using a one-year longitudinal study design. Various writing models postulated that transcription skills are essential in early writing development; however, studies have not yet clarified its role in CSL writing alongside other important writing component skills such as reading and oral skills. Participants included 204 primary-school-level CSL learners. These learners were evaluated in copying, spelling, character reading, oral language skills, and sentence writing at the end of the Grades 4 and 5 school year. Regression and path analysis evaluated the direct and indirect effects of the component skills on sentence writing. The results showed that, while controlling for non-verbal reasoning, (1) Time-1 transcription skills predicted sentence writing concurrently and longitudinally, but their influences at Time 2 diminished considerably for the substantial autoregressive effect of writing; (2) character reading predicted sentence writing both at Times 1 and 2, and contributed to spelling development; and (3) compared with transcription and reading, oral language skills weakly influenced writing, which was mediated largely by character reading. The findings suggest that transcription skills are vital constituents of CSL sentence writing and that reading plays a primary role in the reading-writing relationship in this stage.

This study tests a handwriting model for children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that displays the relationships between handwriting process and product characteristics, and the predictors of these characteristics. Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the model for children and youth with ASD (n = 50) and typically developing peers (n = 50), ages 10 to 15, for a copying and freestyle handwriting task. Findings suggest a generic handwriting model applying to both groups and both handwriting tasks. Unique effects for children and youth with ASD were identified for: (1) high interdependence of handwriting process characteristics; (2) longer pen stroke in air leading to better legibility; and (3) lower scores for executive functions leading to lower scores for legibility.

Research Findings: Fluent and legible handwriting is associated with longer texts and higher text quality and is therefore an important goal in the primary school curriculum. While girls' handwriting tends to be more proficient than boys', potential differences in the correlates of girls' and boys' early handwriting are poorly understood. In this exploratory study, we investigated early handwriting (legibility, fluency, and time) and potential motor (fine motor skills, visuomotor integration) and cognitive (executive functions: inhibition, shifting, working memory) correlates in a sample of 118 first-grade children (46% girls, M[subscript age]: 7 years, 5 months). We tested gender differences and explored correlates of early handwriting skills of girls and boys. Extending previous findings, fine motor skills and visuomotor integration were related to early handwriting legibility, fluency, and time. Furthermore, shifting and working memory, but not inhibition, were related to specific handwriting skills. Moreover, girls outperformed boys regarding fine motor skills, visuomotor integration, and handwriting legibility. Interestingly, while the correlates of handwriting were diverse and strong for girls, only a few weak correlates were identified for boys. Practice or Policy: These results lay the ground for tailoring adequate interventions to support girls and boys (differently) in acquiring fluent and legible handwriting.

Progress tests (PT) are a popular type of longitudinal assessment used for evaluating clinical knowledge retention and long-life learning in health professions education. Most PTs consist of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) whose development is costly and time-consuming. Automatic Item Generation (AIG) generates test items through algorithms, promising to ease this burden. However, it remains unclear how AIG-items behave in formative assessment (FA) modalities such as PTs compared to manually written items. The purpose of this study was to compare the quality and validity of AIG-items versus manually written items. Responses to 126 (23 automatically generated) dichotomously scored single best-answer five-option MCQs retrieved from the 2021 University of Minho PT of medicine were analyzed. Procedures based on item response theory (IRT), dimensionality testing, item fit, reliability, differential item functioning (DIF) and distractor analysis were used. Qualitative assessment was conducted through expert review. Validity evidence of AIG-items was assessed by using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The PT proved to be a viable tool for assessing medical students cognitive competencies. AIG-items were parallel to manually written-items, presenting similar indices of difficulty and information. The proportion of functional distractors for both AIG and manually written items was similar. Evidence of validity for AIG-items was found while showing higher levels of item quality. AIG-items functioned as intended and were appropriate for evaluating medical students at various levels of the knowledge spectrum.

ESL writing teachers face the challenge of providing written feedback that is both effective and motivating to students. Thus, many end up making use of praise (or positive feedback) before offering criticism. Only limited research has examined how students perceive praise, and few studies among the most recent have focused on praise above other types of feedback. Moreover, researchers have not accounted for the effect of person-focused vs. performance-focused praise. We developed an original survey to understand how L2 learners perceive and value person and performance praise in written feedback. A total of 106 adult participants from two language groups (Asian and Romance) and at two English ability levels (intermediate and advanced) rated six different samples of praise based on how clear, helpful, valuable, encouraging to revision, kind, and motivating they found praise comments to be. Ultimately, praise type appeared to be the most significant variable as participants showed preference to performance over person praise. These results can be useful for teachers as they consider how to word statements of praise, particularly in response to student writing.

Educationally-oriented measures of handwriting fluency--tasks such as written alphabet recall and sentence copying--conflate graphomotor skill and various higher-level abilities. Direct measurement of pen control when forming letters requires analysis of pen-tip velocity associated with the production of sub-letter features that, in a skilled handwriter, are typically produced in a single, smooth movement. We provide a segmentation and coding scheme that identifies these features in manuscript letters and gives criteria for whether or not a feature is accurately formed. We demonstrate that, in skilled handwriters, these features are the product of smooth movements: The velocity profiles of adult writers (N = 27 performing a letter-copying task) producing straight-line features and curved features gave modal velocity-peak counts of 1 and 2 respectively. We then illustrate the utility of our segmentation and coding scheme by describing the velocity profiles of beginning writers (176 first grade students with minimal handwriting training). This sample produced the same features with less accuracy and with a substantially greater number of velocity peaks. Inaccurate features tended to be produced more slowly and less fluently.

Little is known about students' engagement in school writing tasks and the methods that should be used by the researchers to assess this engagement. This exploratory study examines the relationship between the engagement reported by elementary school students (N = 136) in a handwriting and keyboarding activity (Likert scale questionnaire) and their actual behaviors in such situations. An observational checklist was created to capture engagement behaviors in these writing contexts. Correlational analyses showed that, overall, self-reported engagement scores were positively correlated with the frequency of the behaviors observed in both contexts. The discussion focuses on the relevance of observational checklists and questionnaires for capturing students' engagement in writing tasks, and opens to the conceptual links between engagement and motivation.

The influence of fonts in marketing education may be underestimated as font usage/selection may benefit both department programs and courses in terms of attracting students and enhancing student learning outcomes. Across four studies, this research examines the effects of handwritten fonts on student inferences from course information. A course description presented in handwritten fonts appears more interesting than information in regular fonts. As a result, students like a course more and show more favorable behavioral intentions when it is described in handwritten fonts. Consistently, handwritten fonts improve recalling performances and student engagement in class activities, further indicating that they attract learners. Implications for understanding the effects in the contexts of student recruitment, course presentation, and pedagogical practice are discussed.

For the effective expression of feelings and thoughts, handwriting should be produced fluently at a certain speed. The aim of this study was to examine the development of handwriting speeds in 4th-8th grade primary and secondary school students in terms of some variables. In line with this aim, answers were sought to the question, "Do 4th-8th grade primary and secondary school students' handwriting speeds differ significantly depending on their grade, gender, hand preference, and handwriting style?" The study was designed in the survey method, and the study group consisted of 322 students attending the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades of primary and secondary school. A form developed by the researchers for all grade levels was used as the data collection tool in the study. In the data collection process, the students were required to copy a given text within one minute. The research results revealed that while the primary and secondary school students' handwriting speeds differed significantly according to their grade level, gender, and handwriting style, they did not differ significantly according to their hand preferences. As the grade level increased, mean handwriting speeds also increased. Female students wrote faster than male students. Students using the manuscript handwriting style wrote faster than students who used the cursive handwriting style.

Many college students prefer to type their lecture notes rather than write them by hand. As a result, the number of experimental and quasi-experimental studies comparing these two note-taking mediums has flourished over the past decade. The present meta-analytic research sought to uncover trends in the existing studies comparing achievement and note-taking outcomes among college students. Results from 24 separate studies across 21 articles revealed that taking and reviewing handwritten notes leads to higher achievement (Hedges' g = 0.248; p < 0.001), even though typing notes benefits note-taking volume (Hedges' g = 0.919; p < 0.001), among college students. Furthermore, our binomial effect size display shows that taking handwritten lecture notes is expected to produce higher course grades than typing notes among college students. We conclude that handwritten notes are more useful for studying and committing to memory than typed notes, ultimately contributing to higher achievement for college students.

Background: Learning which letters correspond to which speech sounds is fundamental for learning to read. Based on previous experimental studies, we developed a serious game aiming to boost letter-speech sound (L-SS) correspondences in a motivational game environment. Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of this game in training L-SS correspondences in pre-readers. Additionally, an extended version of the game was developed given the importance of handwriting in audio-visual integration. We established whether including a motoric component in the game boosted the letter-speech sound training on top of the effect of the game without the motoric component. Methods: One-hundred forty-five kindergartners were randomly allocated to play either the standard audio-visual version of the game, the motoric version or a control math game. All children were pre- and post-tested on L-SS knowledge and reading accuracy. Results and conclusions: We found that playing the game enhanced pre-readers' L-SS knowledge, but not reading accuracy, after a short, intensive intervention period of 3 weeks. However, children who played the motoric version of the game did not differ significantly from either the standard or the control condition. Implications: This game was efficient in training L-SS correspondences in pre-readers. These results suggest that this game might be useful as a preventive evidence-based intervention for at-risk children in kindergarten who might benefit from a head start before learning how to read. Future studies are needed to examine whether a longer intervention period results in L-SS knowledge being translated into reading skills.

In this study, we examined burst length and its relation with working memory, attentional control, transcription skills, discourse oral language, and writing quality, using data from English-speaking children in Grade 2 (N = 177; M[subscript age] = 7.19). Results from structural equation modeling showed that burst length was related to writing quality after accounting for transcription skills, discourse oral language, working memory, and attentional control. Burst length completely mediated the relations of attentional control and handwriting fluency to writing quality, whereas it partially mediated the relations of working memory and spelling to writing quality. Discourse oral language had a suppression effect on burst length but was positively and independently related to writing quality. Working memory had an indirect relation to burst length via transcription skills, whereas attentional control had a direct and indirect relation. These results suggest roles of domain-general cognitions and transcription skills in burst length, and reveal the nature of their relations to writing quality. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED618147.]

Education in Japan has drawn attention widely from overseas, including a quantity of research pointing out that the context of Japan's modernization and its present-day advanced science and technology can be found in the high literacy rates and prevalent education of Japanese society. However, there has been insufficient examination of the effect of high literacy rates in early modern society on everyday life. Pointing out that at the beginning of the early modern period, character formats, grammar, writing styles et cetera became used in common throughout the country, while the use of written text became compulsory as well, this paper asserts that the establishment of this lettered society was deeply involved with Japan's modernization.

Reading and writing rely on related foundational literacy skills (e.g., phonological processing, phonological memory, phonemic awareness). Therefore, students struggling with reading often have literacy difficulties that continue throughout their school years. However, lack of time and resources may make it difficult for schools to implement interventions for both reading and writing. Interventions that combine instruction for both skills may help to mitigate time and resource constraints. This paper reports the results of two pilot studies designed to examine the effectiveness of the Write Sounds integrated handwriting intervention for students with word-level deficits in reading and writing. Study 1 included 33 students struggling with handwriting and word-level reading or spelling difficulties in second and third grade. We randomly assigned participants to receive the Write Sounds intervention or a business-as-usual control. At posttest, students who received the Write Sounds intervention (n = 17) significantly outperformed the control group (n = 16) on researcher-created measures of handwriting quality and overall legibility. In study 2, three first-grade students who showed difficulty with reading, spelling, and phonemic awareness received instruction with Write Sounds. We implemented a multiple-baseline design. Results showed that Write Sounds increased participants' word reading abilities. Results of both studies suggest that Write Sounds showed promise of effectiveness. Limitations such as small sample sizes and the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the findings.

This study suggests a digital assessment tool - Smart Equation Exam System (SEED) - as a substitute for traditional multiple-choice and paper and pen exams. SEED includes a question bank, an answer platform, mathematical equations, and physics formulae. The novelty of SEED is that it allows all students with or without physical disabilities via creation of an equal and non-discriminatory platform to solve the physics questions step by step and submit all the solution steps as well as the final answer. The study population was composed of students enrolled in the General Physics (II) course at university level. The sample consisted of fifty students who were selected randomly. The results showed that more than eighty presents of the participants had a positive perception of SEED compared to traditional exams, and they found it more flexible in reviewing solution steps, and getting feedback, especially for the student with handwriting disabilities.

This article presents the application of the interactive dynamic literacy (IDL) model (Kim, 2020b) toward understanding difficulties in learning to read and write. According to the IDL model, reading and writing are part of communicative acts that draw on largely shared processes and skills as well as unique processes and skills. As such, reading and writing are dissociable but interdependent systems that have hierarchical, interactive, and dynamic relations. These key tenets of the IDL model are applied to the disruption of reading and writing development to explain co-occurrence of reading-writing difficulties using a single framework. The following hypotheses are presented: (a) co-occurrence between word reading and spelling and handwriting difficulties; (b) co-occurrence of dyslexia with written composition difficulties; (c) co-occurrence between reading comprehension and written composition difficulties; (d) co-occurrence of language difficulties with reading difficulties and writing difficulties; (e) co-occurrence of reading, writing, and language difficulties with weak domain-general skills or executive functions such as working memory and attentional control (including attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]); and (f) multiple pathways for reading and writing difficulties. Implications are discussed. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED618728.]

The aim of this study is to determine the metaphor perceptions of Generation Z teacher candidates towards handwriting and typing. Based on the metaphors obtained, elective courses related to handwriting may be included in undergraduate programs according to their point of view on handwriting. Many researches are carried out on the area created by the change that comes with the use of new technology. However, it is still necessary to ask new questions and seek answers. Therefore, in this study, according to the medium in which it is presented, whether in print or digital, how the nature of the content of the article changes according to the medium; what are the consequences of the superficialization of the content in terms of mental processes and what are the pre-service teachers' perspectives on handwriting. Study group of this research consists of 70 students among the Teacher Candidates in Istanbul in the fall semester of the 2020-2021 school year. For the data collection, a form with incomplete sentences such as "Handwriting is like... Because…" and "Keyboarding (typing) is like… Because…" was used to allow students to write down metaphors they attribute to "writing". Generation Z Teacher Candidates produced metaphors in the category of handwriting respectively the life (27.1%), thought and feelings (20%) attention and production (15.7%), skill (15.7%), functional (12.9%) and share/transfer (8.6%). Teacher Candidates produced metaphors in the category of keyboarding (typing) high level attention/production (24.3%), superficiality/forgery (21.4%), easy/effortless (17.1%), thought and feelings (12.9%), sound (10%), skill (8.6%) and future (5.7%). Teacher Candidates should provide content and environments that will increase the longing for handwriting in their students to create awareness of writing and make them feel the need for writing. The determination of the meanings attributed by the Generation Z Teacher Candidates to traditional writing and typing with keys, and the perspective of Teacher Candidates on this subject were discussed.

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) for Math still use traditional data input methods: computers' keyboard and mouse. However, students usually solve math tasks using paper and pen. Therefore, the gap between the manner the students work and the requirements imposed by these typing-based systems expose students to an extraneous cognitive load, impairing their learning. Our study investigates the impact of the data input method on students' learning and fluency in solving equations using step-based math ITSs. More specifically, we have considered the standard typing and handwriting input methods. We hypothesized that the students would be more fluent using their handwriting with online recognition to solve math equations than using the typing input method. This fluency indicates a reduction in cognitive load, freeing working memory for logical reasoning instead of interface preconditions, leading to improved learning. We have conducted an experiment with 55 seventh-grade students from a private school to validate the hypothesis, randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. Each group used one of the input methods on two different devices (desktop computers and tablets). Although students using handwriting solved more equations and were faster than students who typed their equations, we could not find statistically significant differences in the learning between students that used typing or handwriting. Additionally, we have found that the input method used in a not ideal device (e.g., handwriting with a computer's mouse instead of using a touch screen device) can negatively affect the students' performance.

Math computation is a foundational skill for students developing higher-level mathematics problem-solving skills and represents a primary deficit for students struggling in mathematics. Students with mathematics difficulties also tend to have difficulties with other executive functions. One domain that is systematically part of most mathematical computation tasks but is not directly related to mathematics is handwriting. Handwriting fluency serves as a proxy for fine motor and domain-general cognitive functions (like executive functions) that are important for math fact fluency, yet handwriting carries very little domain-specific skill on its own. Handwriting can potentially be used to partial out the aspects of fact fluency that are not domain specific. In the current study, we tested the robustness of basic fact fluency in relation to general math fluency when accounting for handwriting. Third-grade students (N = 144) participated in the current study with measures of handwriting, basic fact fluency, and general math fluency taken at pretest prior to an intervention. We found that basic math fact fluency was a robust predictor of general math fluency across quantiles of the outcome distribution. Handwriting fluency did not improve model predictive performance beyond basic fact fluency. Limitations, as well as implications for future research and practice, are discussed.

The study investigated interactions between learner expertise and task complexity evaluated from both cognitive and affective perspectives. One hundred and seventy-three students, both novices and advanced learners, were asked to learn Japanese writing in a pen-tablet-based digital learning environment with varying task complexity levels. Cognitive load and learning-centred emotions were measured at intervals during learning, while writing performance was monitored by runtime tracking. Results indicated that while advanced learners performed better than novices across the range of task complexity, the moderate task complexity was shown to be superior in enhancing performance for both levels of expertise. Results for learning-centred emotions showed that advanced learners reported lower enjoyment and higher frustration when completing the low complexity task, whereas the moderately complex task was reported to be the most enjoyable and less frustrating for these learners. No significant difference in emotions was found across levels of task complexity for novices. Finally, a constructed composite indicator of cognitive-affective efficiency of instructional conditions showed a significant interaction between levels of learner expertise and task complexity primarily caused by affective factors.

The aim of this study was to examine the handwriting legibility and writing errors of first grade primary school students who were learning early literacy through distance education during the pandemic period, according to various variables. The research was designed according to the survey method, and the study group consisted of 211 students studying in the first grade of primary school. The "Multidimensional Legibility Scale", "Writing Errors Form", "Dictation Text" and "Copying Text" were used as data collection tools in the research. For the analysis of the research data, the legibility of the first grade primary school students' handwriting was analysed according to the "Multidimensional Legibility" scale. According to the results of the research, female students wrote more legibly than male students. Students made more writing errors in the dictation writing task than in the copying writing task. Students at state schools made more errors in their writing than students at private schools. Considering that the distance education process will also be a part of education life in later periods, research studies on the adequacy of the distance education process for fostering basic skills can be included in order to advance this process more beneficially, especially in primary school. The effect of distance education on handwriting legibility and writing errors at other grade levels can be investigated. Within the framework of the results obtained, different activities can be designed for writing skills in distance education.

The aim of this study was to improve the reading and writing performance and reading motivation of a third grade primary school student who does not have any cognitive or physical disabilities. In the study conducted by the action research method, one of the qualitative research methods, the student's reading and writing performance and reading motivation were evaluated by scales. While fluent reading strategies were used to improve the student's reading performance, the strategy of identifying the main idea at the sentence level was used to improve his reading comprehension skills. On the other hand, the programmed instruction approach was adopted to improve the student's writing skills. At the end of the study, there was an improvement in the student's word recognition level, reading speed, comprehension percentage and reading motivation. While planning support programs for students with reading and writing problems, it is recommended that it is necessary to decide whether to develop both skills together or only one skill by considering the intensity of the students' needs and that reading books prepared for students should consist of stories short enough to end in one reading.

Many college students believe that typing lecture notes on computers produces better notes and higher achievement than handwritten lecture notes on paper. The few studies investigating computer versus longhand note taking yielded mixed note-taking and achievement findings. The present study investigated computer versus longhand note taking but permitted note takers to revise or recopy notes during pauses interspersed throughout the lecture. Moreover, the present study analyzed notes recorded while a lecture was ongoing and following revision pauses to determine if lecture ideas and images were recorded completely or partially. Findings did not support the belief that computers aid note taking and achievement and, instead, favored longhand note taking and revision. Computer and longhand note takers recorded a comparable number of complete and partial ideas in notes while the lecture was ongoing, but longhand note takers recorded more lecture images. Among note revisers, longhand note takers added three-times-as-many complete ideas to their notes during revision as computer note takers--an important finding because note completeness predicted achievement. Achievement results showed that longhand note takers who revised notes scored more than half a letter grade higher on a lecture posttest than computer note takers who revised notes. Present findings suggest that college instructors should provide students with revision pauses to improve note taking and achievement and encourage students to record and revise notes using the longhand method. Finally, regarding the computer versus longhand note-taking debate, the need to investigate further the interplay between note-taking medium and lesson material is discussed.

Often considered an enhancement to the learning experience, technology can also stifle creativity and higher levels of thinking. This study repositions students away from technology and back to the basics to stimulate engagement and higher levels of learning. It investigates the relationship between learning outcomes and the reflective journaling process in the context of an undergraduate marketing class in the United States. In addition, this study investigates a technique in which students are introduced to topics that are sensitive in nature, yet relevant to the real world. Although reflective journaling has been utilized in courses in areas such as educational psychology and social work, it has not been widely practiced in business courses such as marketing. Through the lens of Bloom's Taxonomy, we qualitatively analyze handwritten reflective journaling assignments about loneliness and social media to determine how the process highlights higher levels of learning. The opportunity to use handwritten journals provided a unique learning experience and a hands-on approach to allow marketing students to experience learning in a new light.

Early detection is key to intervening with students diagnosed with a specific learning disorder (SLD), which includes problems with spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity and organization of written expression, as a means of preventing potential negative consequences from this disorder. Deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) perform better than human beings in many visual tasks such as making a medical diagnosis from visual data. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of a deep CNN to detect students with a diagnosis of an SLD based on their handwriting. A so-called MobileNetV2 deep CNN architecture was used by applying transfer learning. The model was trained using a data set of 497 images of handwriting samples from students with a diagnosis of an SLD as well as students without this diagnosis. The detection of an SLD on the validation set yielded a mean area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.89. This novel attempt to detect students with the diagnosis of an SLD using deep learning can potentially provide fast initial screening of students who may meet the criteria for a diagnosis of an SLD, thereby improving their chances of effective intervention.