The Importance of Teaching Handwriting
The importance of teaching handwriting has been grossly underestimated in recent years, and teachers have been given the wrong messages about the critical role handwriting plays in literacy development. Handwriting instruction has dropped out of fashion and its teaching has been neglected in many classrooms.
The increased use of technology across primary schools, has meant that many of our learners are not receiving the critical instruction in handwriting that they require. This has in fact hindered the development of many learners’ reading and writing skills.
It is time to make handwriting ‘cool’ again!
Numerous studies have confirmed that handwriting is fundamental to progress in both reading and writing.
“Handwriting can be an effective way for students to learn important early reading and writing skills. As noted in a recent systematic review, handwriting instruction during kindergarten can improve both writing and reading outcomes, such as knowledge of letter names and sounds, spelling, and word reading.” (Ray et al, 2022)
When children can form letters correctly to the point of automaticity it frees up their mental space to express their ideas. When a child has not learnt to form letters automatically, the burden on their cognitive load makes it incredibly difficult for them to focus on other aspects of writing such as sentence structure, ideas and thinking.
Handwriting is the strongest single predictor of writing success in five-year-olds, therefore it is essential that we commit to teaching it well right from when our students begin school.
Handwriting instruction
Explicit teaching of handwriting should happen daily in all classrooms across the primary school.
An explicit handwriting lesson should include:
- Modelling to a small group or whole class (teacher actively demonstrates and describes the letter formation in front of their students)
- Short, concise sessions
- Simple verbal prompts or instructions
- Opportunities for ample practice, closely monitored by the teacher
- Immediate feedback so that students do not fix incorrect formation in their minds
- Re-model for students as necessary
The main teaching points are:
- Teach grip and stable seating position while forming letters
- Letter shapes and movements
- Beginning letters at the correct points
- Increasing speed and endurance without losing quality
General recommendations
It is critical to teach handwriting to the point of ease and automaticity as soon as possible.
Take the time you need each day to explicitly teach handwriting. We cannot NOT teach it.
Don’t rush. It is better to take the time you need to ensure correct formation and starting points rather than rush.
Begin with lower case automaticity by six months at school. Everything in writing improves once those skills have been mastered.
Use mini blackboards and chalk in the junior school as an effective multi-sensory tool. Using chalk encourages correct pencil grip and develops students’ fine motor skills.
In upper primary, handwriting instruction can address legibility and letter formation issues, but the main emphasis will be on building stamina and fluency. Cursive may be taught.
Connect handwriting lessons to the sound/letter correspondences or spelling patterns you are explicitly teaching and where possible teach letters of similar formation at the same time.
It is critical that we schedule handwriting back into our literacy blocks, every day across all year levels. The research is clear on the benefits to students’ literacy development. Handwriting boosts students’ confidence and motivation for writing while also reinforcing alphabet knowledge, enhancing letter recognition and visual tracking skills. The physical act of forming letters by hand helps build the connections between sounds and symbols, which then improves reading fluency, comprehension and overall literacy development.
Johnna Alborn
Deputy Principal/Literacy Facilitator
References:
Teaching Handwriting – Te Tāhuhu te Mātaranga, 2025
The Writing Teacher – Dr Helen Walls, 2025