Similarities among the shapes of writing and their effects on learning

Abstract

Writing systems are usually studied in terms of the level of language that they represent, with little attention to the shapes that are used to do so. Those shapes are not random or accidental, however. They tend to be similar to one another within a script. Many of the Latin letters have a roughly vertical stem or hasta with an appendage or coda to the right. This arrangement is more common than one with the coda on the left of the hasta. We present data to show that young children are generally better at copying and writing from memory shapes such as <b> and <F>, which have the typical arrangement with the coda on the right, than those such as <d> and <J>, which do not. The results suggest that children start to learn about the statistics of the letter shapes before they know how or that these shapes represent language.

Into the Looking Glass: Literacy Acquisition and Mirror Invariance in Preschool and First‐Grade Children

“…The engagement in these conversations, especially about the child's initial, was associated with better reading outcomes even after other factors, such as vocabulary, were controlled for (Treiman et al., ). More important, even before children know what letters represent (i.e., the letter‐sound correspondence), they are already sensitive to letters’ visual statistical patterns (Pollo, Kessler, & Treiman, ; Treiman, Cohen, Mulqueeny, Kessler, & Schechtman, ; Treiman & Kessler, ). Preschoolers are better at copying and writing letters with the most frequent arrangement of visual features in the Latin alphabet, that is, letters with a hasta on the left and a coda on the right (e.g., b and F) than letters with the opposite arrangement (Pollo et al., ) and, hence, make more mirrored errors on letters of the latter type (e.g., writing b instead of d; Treiman & Kessler, ).…”

“…More important, even before children know what letters represent (i.e., the letter‐sound correspondence), they are already sensitive to letters’ visual statistical patterns (Pollo, Kessler, & Treiman, ; Treiman, Cohen, Mulqueeny, Kessler, & Schechtman, ; Treiman & Kessler, ). Preschoolers are better at copying and writing letters with the most frequent arrangement of visual features in the Latin alphabet, that is, letters with a hasta on the left and a coda on the right (e.g., b and F) than letters with the opposite arrangement (Pollo et al., ) and, hence, make more mirrored errors on letters of the latter type (e.g., writing b instead of d; Treiman & Kessler, ). The present study adds to this literature, showing that mirror discrimination, which is a necessary condition for mastering the Latin alphabet, can be promoted by literacy‐related activities about letter forms, and this could happen at home during parent–children interactions or at the kindergarten.…”

Developmental mirror-writing is paralleled by orientation recognition errors

“…We would further predict that variations in mirror-writing errors for specific letters should be paralleled by orientation recognition errors for those same letters. This is highly testable, because there are pronounced variations in the tendency to mirror-write different letters: reversals are more common for letters that are 'left-facing' (Fischer, 2011;Simner, 1984;Treiman & Kessler, 2011;Watt, 1983). Most left-facing characters have their distinctive features on the left (although this is not true for all; e.g.…”

GraphCom: A multidimensional measure of graphic complexity applied to 131 written languages

“…An emphasis on continuity and discontinuity echoes the criteria for making a well-designed written language suggested by Watt (1983Watt ( , 1994; see also Treiman & Kessler, 2011). Watt argued that shapes in such written language should be (1) similar, or have a degree of homogeneity; (2) contrasting, or distinguishable from one to another; (3) economical, or easy to perceive and produce; (4) redundant;…”