How the Science of Reading Links to Handwriting Skills

The science of reading is a vast body of research that spans multiple disciplines and has been compiled over decades to understand how people acquire reading skills. Traditionally, teachers consider the five pillars outlined by the National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

However, this critical study did not include the impact of writing instruction on reading development. Emerging research now highlights the effectiveness of integrating reading and writing instruction.

Timothy Shanahan, an emeritus professor of education at the University of Illinois Chicago, underscores this connection: "The body of research is substantial in both number and quality of studies. There's no question that reading and writing share a lot of real estate—they depend on a lot of the same knowledge and skills."

The Role of Handwriting in Literacy Development

Handwriting is more than just putting pencil to paper; it is a complex visual-motor skill that engages neural pathways crucial for literacy. The left hemisphere of the brain, responsible for language processing, planning, and organizing, is actively engaged during handwriting. This process supports letter recognition and enhances the transition of letters from short-term to long-term memory.

Research shows that reading and writing are interconnected, and explicit handwriting instruction improves the sound-symbol relationship, especially in early literacy development. Below, we explore how handwriting strengthens each of the five pillars of the science of reading.

Phonemic Awareness

Early writing skills reinforce essential foundational skills such as letter-sound correspondence, directionality, and alphabet knowledge. When students can automatically recognize letter shapes, their reading and writing fluency improves. Studies indicate that integrating letters into phonemic awareness instruction fosters orthographic memory, strengthens the sound-symbol connection, and enhances letter recognition.

Phonics Instruction

Phonics instruction benefits from the inclusion of handwriting. Writing letters while learning their sounds increases decoding accuracy and fluency. Encoding (spelling) and decoding (reading) are two sides of the same literacy coin, and handwriting reinforces this relationship.

According to David Kilpatrick, orthographic mapping—the mental process of turning unfamiliar words into easily recognizable sight words—relies on phonemic awareness, letter recognition, letter formation, and phonics skills. Teaching these components explicitly supports students in retaining and recalling words more efficiently.

Fluency

Fluency in reading is achieved when students can recognize letters and words effortlessly. Handwriting instruction plays a crucial role in this process by improving letter recognition and reinforcing print concepts such as directionality and spacing.

A meta-analysis by Santangelo and Graham (2016) found that students from kindergarten to 12th grade who received handwriting instruction demonstrated significantly greater fluency and legibility than those who did not receive such instruction. When students master letter formation, they free up cognitive resources to focus on spelling, grammar, and overall comprehension.

Vocabulary

Writing by hand activates more areas of the brain than reading alone. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies reveal that handwriting strengthens the neural connections between words and their meanings. Students who write words and definitions by hand develop a deeper understanding of vocabulary and retain new words more effectively.

Comprehension

Comprehension—the ultimate goal of reading—depends on multiple cognitive processes that begin with phonological awareness, letter recognition, and letter formation. Handwriting reinforces these fundamental skills, ensuring students develop the cognitive framework needed for comprehension.

Moreover, studies using fMRI scans and electroencephalograms (EEG) show that writing engages more brain regions than typing. The physical act of handwriting improves notetaking and comprehension, as it requires students to analyze and synthesize information actively. Writing about what they have read helps students process and retain content more effectively.

Best Practices for Handwriting Instruction

To maximize the benefits of handwriting instruction, educators should adopt a direct and explicit teaching approach. Automaticity in handwriting is achieved when students internalize the mechanics of letter formation, spacing, and directionality. When transcription skills become fluent, students can focus on higher-order writing skills such as spelling, syntax, and content organization.

Explicitly teaching and modeling handwriting ensures that students understand the connection between writing and reading development. As they grow in their literacy skills, they will be better equipped to comprehend and engage with written texts.

Handwriting is a foundational literacy skill that plays a crucial role in reading development. Explicit handwriting instruction enhances phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—core pillars of the science of reading.

By integrating handwriting into literacy instruction, educators can support students in developing stronger reading and writing skills, ultimately leading to greater academic success.