TY - JOUR
T1 - Handwriting legibility and fluency and their patterns of concurrent relations with spelling, graphomotor, and selective attention skills
AU - Downing, Cameron
AU - Caravolas, Markéta
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Recent research suggests that handwriting comprises two separate subskills: legibility and fluency. It remains unclear, however, how these subskills differ in their relationship to other abilities associated with handwriting, including spelling, graphomotor, and selective attention skills. In this study, we sought to examine the extent and nature of concurrent relationships that may exist among these skills. Children in Year 3 (n = 293), Year 4 (n = 291), and Year 5 (n = 283) completed a large, group-administered battery to assess each of the above skills. Using multigroup structural equation modeling, we found that spelling, graphomotor, and selective attention skills together explained a moderate amount of variance in handwriting legibility (R2 = .37–.42) and fluency (R2 = .41–.58) and that these subskills differed in their concurrent relations. Graphomotor skills accounted for a relatively greater proportion of variance in legibility than did spelling. Conversely, there were relatively stronger contributions from variations in spelling ability to variations in fluency than from graphomotor skills. Furthermore, selective attention predicted handwriting fluency only, and it partially mediated the influence of graphomotor skills. This study further demonstrates that handwriting legibility and fluency are separable and complex skills, each differentially related to spelling, graphomotor, and attentional abilities even during later primary school years.
AB - Recent research suggests that handwriting comprises two separate subskills: legibility and fluency. It remains unclear, however, how these subskills differ in their relationship to other abilities associated with handwriting, including spelling, graphomotor, and selective attention skills. In this study, we sought to examine the extent and nature of concurrent relationships that may exist among these skills. Children in Year 3 (n = 293), Year 4 (n = 291), and Year 5 (n = 283) completed a large, group-administered battery to assess each of the above skills. Using multigroup structural equation modeling, we found that spelling, graphomotor, and selective attention skills together explained a moderate amount of variance in handwriting legibility (R2 = .37–.42) and fluency (R2 = .41–.58) and that these subskills differed in their concurrent relations. Graphomotor skills accounted for a relatively greater proportion of variance in legibility than did spelling. Conversely, there were relatively stronger contributions from variations in spelling ability to variations in fluency than from graphomotor skills. Furthermore, selective attention predicted handwriting fluency only, and it partially mediated the influence of graphomotor skills. This study further demonstrates that handwriting legibility and fluency are separable and complex skills, each differentially related to spelling, graphomotor, and attentional abilities even during later primary school years.
KW - Graphomotor skills
KW - Handwriting
KW - Spelling
KW - Writing development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166758009&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105756
DO - 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105756
M3 - Article
C2 - 37544070
AN - SCOPUS:85166758009
SN - 0022-0965
VL - 236
JO - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
JF - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
M1 - 105756
ER -