Comparing the effects of typing and handwriting on spelling performance in school

The widespread integration of digital tools into students' daily lives has raised important questions about their impact on academic performance, particularly in relation to writing and spelling mastery. Three studies investigate how writing modalities-pen-and-paper versus keyboard-and-computer-affect spelling performance in school tasks. A total of 305 students from Grades 4 to 7 participated, completing a standardized copying task and narrative task in both writing conditions. Results showed that, in the copying task, younger students (Grades 4-5) produced higher-quality handwritten texts with greater spelling accuracy, longer text length, and fewer errors per word. However, spelling accuracy in the narrative task did not significantly differ across grades or between writing modalities. Interestingly, no significant differences were found in the types of spelling errors between the two conditions for either task, although an increase in morphological errors was observed in the narrative task from Grades 4-7, possibly reflecting the growing linguistic complexity of French. Overall, task type and grade level strongly influence written production, with the pen-and-paper modality providing an early advantage in spelling during copying tasks, but no consistent impact in narrative tasks. These findings highlight the nuanced role that writing medium and task complexity play in students' academic development.