Effect of Handwriting on Visual Word Recognition in Chinese Bilingual Children and Adults

Abstract

In a digital era that neglects handwriting, the current study is significant because it examines the mechanisms underlying this process. We recruited 9- to 10-year-old Chinese children (n = 24), who were at an important period of handwriting development, and adult college students (n = 24), for both behavioral and electroencephalogram (EEG) experiments. We designed four learning conditions: handwriting Chinese (HC), viewing Chinese (VC), drawing shapes followed by Chinese recognition (DC), and drawing shapes followed by English recognition (DE). Both behavioral and EEG results showed that HC facilitated visual word recognition compared to VC, and behavioral results showed that HC facilitated visual word recognition compared to drawing shapes. HC and VC resulted in a lateralization of the N170 in adults, but not in children. Taken together, the results of the study suggest benefits of handwriting on the neural processing and behavioral performance in response to Chinese characters. The study results argue for maintaining handwriting practices to promote the perception of visual word forms in the digital age.

Curved vs. Straight-Line Handwriting Effects on Word Recognition in Typical and Dyslexic Readers Across Chinese and English

“…Both the behavioral and ERP results show that HC facilitated the Chinese character processes, and when compared to the results for VC, HC facilitated the Chinese characters processing for typically developing but not dyslexic readers. The fact that the HC condition elicited a greater N170 than the VC condition indicates the N170 reflects efficient orthographic recognition due to handwriting experience, consistent with Liu and Perfetti's (2003) study results for Chinese-English bilinguals as well as other handwriting training (Guan et al, 2011(Guan et al, , 2021 and Chinese word recognition research . Handwriting training is hypothesized to improve recognition of the orthographic representation of the visual inputs in the human brain.…”

“…Handwriting connects visual word processing, a milestone for successful reading, with motor and auditory routines (Dehaene and Cohen, 2011). Early processing of visual word forms is constrained by the interaction with auditory and motor regions (Sekiyama et al, 2003;Wuerger et al, 2012;Callan et al, 2014), but the movement of handwriting promotes the integration of visual word forms through motor and auditory routines (Longcamp et al, 2006;Guan et al, 2011Guan et al, , 2021James, 2017). Even though handwriting seems crucial for reading development, 30-50% of children with dyslexia show significant handwriting difficulties (Montgomery, 2008;Di Brina et al, 2018).…”

“…Learning to read cannot be separated from handwriting in literacy development (James and Engelhardt, 2012;Tan et al, 2013;Ehir and Flugman, 2018). Handwriting practice and instruction are also essential to children's writing skills (Daly et al, 2003;van Reybroeck and Michiels, 2018) and reading development in Chinese (Guan et al, 2011(Guan et al, , 2021Tan et al, 2013) and western languages (James, 2010). Nevertheless, there is a dearth of research in handwriting effects of multisensory integration as a pathway to neural specialization for print in terms of word recognition among typical and dyslexic readers across writing systems.…”

“…The motor system produces variability (via handwriting in this case) that promotes behavioral performance and connects brain systems to functional networks (James, 2017). Moreover, much research with both Chinese beginning readers and native English-speaking adults has demonstrated that handwriting Chinese characters highlights strokes, the basic constituents of the orthographic representation of the Chinese characters, and therefore enhances orthographic recognition, facilitating Chinese learners' reading acquisition (Longcamp et al, 2006;James, 2010;Guan et al, 2011Guan et al, , 2015Guan et al, , 2021. Interestingly, drawing squared shapes or line drawing also seem to enhance cognitive ability in character acquisition among Chinese school-aged children (Tan et al, 2013).…”

Table_1.docx

“…We selected both Chinese characters and English words from children's curriculum details about the selection process can be found in Guan et al ( , 2021 and . The materials included the prompt, target 1, and target 2.…”