Primary school children must be fluent in their spelling and handwriting if they are to be able to deal with the higher level aspects of writing such as planning and revising.

When they struggle with writing and have to put all their mental effort into the process, they run the risk of losing their train of thought and failing to get their ideas across in a way that demonstrates their subject knowledge or depth of thought. This is particularly the case when they are working under pressure during a timed exam.

A small pilot project was set up to look at whether children’s handwriting and spelling skills affect their ability to compose written work in later primary and early secondary school.

A group of 65 children aged 11 were asked to write a 15-minute essay which was assessed for fluency, content quality, vocabulary and spelling. It was found that, as in American studies, children who demonstrated speed in their handwriting and adequate spelling skills produced longer, better essays than those who took longer and whose spelling wasn’t good.

Overall, the researchers found that, at the end of their primary schooling, the majority of these children had not developed the handwriting speed and spelling knowledge that they needed to deal with the planning and reviewing that are part and parcel of writing a good essay under timed conditions. The implications are that they will be entering secondary school at a disadvantage.

The influence of handwriting fluency on writing quality in later primary and early secondary education by Vincent Connelly and Gemma Hurst, Division of Psychology, South Bank University. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Conference, September 2001