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Does composition mode matter? Comparing students' handwriting, keyboarding, and speech-to-text dictation performance.

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Title: Does composition mode matter? Comparing students' handwriting, keyboarding, and speech-to-text dictation performance.
Authors: Zajic, Matthew C.1 (AUTHOR) mcz2114@tc.columbia.edu, Hebert, Michael2 (AUTHOR), Hines, Heidi2 (AUTHOR), Moon, Youngsun2 (AUTHOR), Lovett, Benjamin J.3 (AUTHOR)
Source: Reading & Writing. Feb2026, Vol. 39 Issue 2, p461-484. 24p.
Subject Terms: *Handwriting, *Writing education, *Educational technology, *Elementary education, Keyboarding, Transcription (Linguistics), Text-to-speech software
Abstract: Transcription skills are crucial for children's writing development. While much attention has been given to handwriting, students now also use technology-mediated tools like keyboarding and speech-to-text (STT) recognition software. However, less is known about how these modalities compare in writing performance, particularly on standardized tests of writing skills. This study examines differences in transcription skills across three modalities (handwriting, keyboarding, and STT) and three writing tasks (sentence copying, writing fluency, and narrative word production). It also explores children's use of these modalities at school and home, based on caregiver reports. Sixty-four children in the elementary and secondary grades (age: M = 11.03 years, SD = 1.68) participated in the study and completed equivalent tasks in all three modalities. Results showed that children differed on sentence copying and narrative word production based on task modality. For sentence copying, children wrote most when using STT, followed by keyboarding and then handwriting. For narrative word production, children wrote more using keyboarding and STT relative to handwriting. There was no modality effect on sentence writing fluency. Age was most consistently associated with handwriting and keyboarding across writing tasks. In addition, handwriting and keyboarding performance correlated more strongly with each other than either one did with STT. Caregivers reported their children frequently used handwriting and keyboarding at school and home but minimally used STT. We discuss implications of these findings for educational practice and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:Transcription skills are crucial for children's writing development. While much attention has been given to handwriting, students now also use technology-mediated tools like keyboarding and speech-to-text (STT) recognition software. However, less is known about how these modalities compare in writing performance, particularly on standardized tests of writing skills. This study examines differences in transcription skills across three modalities (handwriting, keyboarding, and STT) and three writing tasks (sentence copying, writing fluency, and narrative word production). It also explores children's use of these modalities at school and home, based on caregiver reports. Sixty-four children in the elementary and secondary grades (age: M = 11.03 years, SD = 1.68) participated in the study and completed equivalent tasks in all three modalities. Results showed that children differed on sentence copying and narrative word production based on task modality. For sentence copying, children wrote most when using STT, followed by keyboarding and then handwriting. For narrative word production, children wrote more using keyboarding and STT relative to handwriting. There was no modality effect on sentence writing fluency. Age was most consistently associated with handwriting and keyboarding across writing tasks. In addition, handwriting and keyboarding performance correlated more strongly with each other than either one did with STT. Caregivers reported their children frequently used handwriting and keyboarding at school and home but minimally used STT. We discuss implications of these findings for educational practice and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:09224777
DOI:10.1007/s11145-025-10725-w