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CHAPTER - I I I

HANDWRITING

THEOKf & RELATED STUDIES.

1. 2. 3.

Studies on Handwriting Definition of Handwriting Handwriting & G r a p h o lo g y (a) History of Graphology

4.

The UNESCO

o n H a n d w r it in g

First UNESCO M onograph (b ) The Second UNESCO nonograph Wisconsin Study Some Magor issues of the Teaching of Handwriting ; (a) Style of writing ; Manuscript V /s Cursive Script (b) The Use of Handwriting instruments (c) Tracing ys copying (d) Speed v s . Quality (e) Race Difference and Handwriting (fl) intelligence and Handwriting (a )

3* 6.

Monographs

The

#**

U

STUDIES OH H A ND IM TIN G :

Writing serves an important function in human communication, f t is universally recog­ nised. together with reading as a fundamental aspect of literacy, in view of the fact that very l i t t l e has been done by Indian research workers in this field , a survey of some of the important studies is attempted below. However, before proceeding to discuss the theories of handwriting, the term its e lf needs defined preci­ sely. 2.

D EEIH IT10N OF HANDWRITING :

The term 'handwriting* should be carefully defined before developing an objective measuring instrument thereof, some of the usual defini­ tions are given below : (1)

The Thorndike junior Dictionary : "Writing by hand, writing with pen, pencils, etc. (1)

(2 )

A

Learner's Dictionary of current English ; "A person's style of wri­ ting by hand, writing by hand", (2)

Basic Dictionary of American English : "way a person writes, writing done by hand, not typed or printed". (3) The Oxford Dictionary of current English : "writing with the hand especially of a particular per­ son" . ( 4) Encyclopaedia Britallica ; "Handwriting or Ghirography, writ­ ing with the hand as distinguished from p r in t.. . .restricted to mean the form of writing peculiar to each person... in addition to the actual motor act and the resulting scrip t, handwriting includes also handwriting identification and graphology". (5) Warren's Dictionary of psychology "Symbolic tracing or marks made on paper or other material by the human hand or i t s equivalent as a . record of thought or as a means of communication". (6)

The above definitions are basically similar in the scope of their meanings but the la st definition is more comprehensive as compared with the earlier ones, in the present study the term handwriting is defined, bearing in mind all the relevant ideas involved. Acco­ rdingly, handwriting is defined as, "any record of language symbols, used to convey thoughts or ideals, made by the hand using certain common materials like a pen, a pencil, etc. on certain standard media like a sla te , paper, etc. aiming at conveying thoughts or ideas through the symbol s.1' 3.

HAJbWfilTIi-JG

AHD GRAPHOLOGY :

The earlier studies of handwriting were mainly devoted to the determination of perso­ n ality tra its by examining a person*s hand­ writing. This branch is known as graphology* According to Dorothy Sara, "Graphology (hand­ writing analysis) reveals aperson*s inner tr a its of character as they are expressed in the le tte r formation". (7) B illie pesin Rosen elaborates the same idea when he says -

"Graphology teaches th a t each of mis­ w rites a l i t t l e d i f f e r e n t l y ; no two hand­ w ritin g s are e x a c tly a lik e , ju s t as no two fin g e r p r in ts are ever i d e n tic a l.

Every unique

v a ria tio n in our s c r ip t is m eaningful, because i t rev eals p a r tic u la r p e rs o n a lity t r a i t s .

The

grap h o lo g ical a n a ly sis of a handw riting specimen CL

becomes a behavioural in d ic a to r and^remarkably ac cu rate gauge of th e w rite r *s c h a ra c te r" . (S) Robert Holder in his book "You can Analyze Handwriting" gives a speedy o v e ra ll view of what handw riting a n a ly sis covers ; Handwriting c h a ra c te ri s t ic s

p e rs o n a lity c h a r a c te r is tic s

Spacing of w ritin g

S ta te of mind

Speed of w ritin g

Amount of energy

Slope of w ritin g

Degree of a f f e c tio n

Size of w ritin g

C oncentration powers

Line of w ritin g

S ta te of d is p o s itio n

Terminal stro k e s

Degree of g en e ro sity

C apital l e t t e r s

personal t a s t e s

Small' l e t t e r s

Mental development

S ignature

in d iv id u a lity

F lo u rish es

S u p e rfic ia l i t i e s

Style

Sharpness of mind

Margins

Sense of proportion

pressure

Emotional State*

Robert Holder also pointed out th at for a quick picture of an in d iv id u al's personality what one may need is any scrap of his haPnd w riting,

i t can be in pen or p en cil,

i t can

b.e a signature on the back of a cheque, a h a s tily w ritten in te r-o ffic e memo. (9). C linical investigation of handwriting specimens has disclosed large q u a litie s of information concerning the v a lid ity of hand­ writing' as a fin e indicator of character.

There­

fore i t is important to note the . history and sta tu re of graphology. (a)

History of Graphology ;

in tracing the origin and growth of the study of handwriting analysis recorded history shows th a t graphology, as we know i t today, is a l i t t l e more than three hundred years old. in tracing the o rig in of graphology, Dorothy Sara w rites, "The f i r s t record of a book on the

subject of graphology is dated about 1630 A.D., w ritten by camillo Baldo, an I ta lia n professor. The very long

was 'T ratto come Una le tte r a

missiva s i Gognoscano la natura e q u a lita del S eritto re" - or How to know the nature and q u a litie s of a person by looking at l e tte r s which he has w ritte n 11 (10). i t created a tem porary"stir at the time, but nothing much was done about i t , since people then f e l t one had to possess a g if t of inner sight or in tu itio n to be able to understand character from hand­ w riting. About two hundred years la te r the subject of handwriting analysis -was revived in prance, when Abbe Flandrin, a scholarly churchman became greatly in terested in sal do* s book. The Abbe f e l t i t merited study and discussion. He formed a group who worked on the subject, classify in g handwritings of people of various in te re s ts and p u rsu its. From the work th at group did were born the basic rules of handwriting analy­ s is now in use * To give th is new science a name, the Abbe used two Greek words; grapho,

meaning "to w rite11 anci ology, which means "a science," — Thus we have the coined wordjj 1graphology. , , ■> in 1672,Abbe Michon wrote a book t i t l e d *Systeme de Graphologie* and i t was the f i r s t

time th at the word ‘Graphology1 appeared in p r in t,

in I860 Michon*s work was developed

by Grepieux jamin, into more concise methods of c la s s ific a tio n of various t r a i t s shorn through handwriting analysis. Scholars such as Goethe and Moreau la te r wrote le a fle ts on the subject. Keen in te re s t soon spread through Germany, then to England where a group of in te lle c tu a ls including Elizabeth and Robert Browning spent a great deal of time developing the study and applica­ tion of handwriting analysis.

Dr. Kleges of

Germany, the fath er of modern graphology, under­ took laborious task of proving and establishing the p rin cip les of graphology. Graphological so cieties have been in exis­ tence in many countries since the nineteenth century. The subject is taught in many European

u n iv e rsitie s as an integral p art of psychology, in united sta te s' graphology is s t i l l young.

The

pioneers were Louise Rice and Be Witt B* Luces whose books brought graphology to the atten tio n of A^merican people. THE STATUS OF HANDWRITING INSTRUCTION IN DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD,

Several research studies have been conducted £cm the statu s of handwriting in the world,

out

of them the following two are worth mentioning ; (a)

The Unesco Monographs on Handwriting

(b)

The Wisconsin

s tu d y -

A b r i e f su m m ary o f b o t h g i v e n b e lo w

th e s tu d ie s

a re

:

THE UNESCO MONOGRAPHS ON HM D WRITING : T h e UNESCO h a s s p o n s o r e d tw o m o n o g ra p h s of in te rn a tio n a l h a n d w ritin g .

s c o p e on th e . t e a c h i n g o f

.(a ,)

The First H’ESOO Monograph ;

I t provides a summary of replies from 48 countries to a questionnaire on the current practices in the teaching of handwriting (11). This report not only gives a concise summary of the status of handwriting throughout the world, but also contains a number of illu stratio n s of the types of characters which must be learned to produce handwriting in various languages. The chief findings of this report were la te r summarized and elaborated upon in a more formal. UNESCO report, the American version of which

was issued in 1256. This survey prepared by William S. Gray, was designed to investigate the related functions of reading and writing so that a concerted effort might be made to improve literacy on an international scale, especially among adults. After noting the nineteenth century emphasis upon the form and the quality in handwfriting, the report indi­ ct cates concern, since the turn of^century, with a learner and his problem in expressing his meaning with an acceptable standard of speed and quality. Handwriting is widely thought of

not only as a communication tool but also as a means of individualized, personal expression. There appears to be considerable agreement that ac tiv itie s which provide for simple perce­ ptual - motor coordination can be encouraged before the child is formally taught to write. A trend is evident in some countries to empha­ size the writing of word -■ "wholes" rather then le tte rs , especially during the phase of in itia l instruction. Evidence based upon the use of Roman type le tte rs is cited to support the position that the perception of word - "wholes" is both easier and more meaningful to the child during the stages of in itia l instruction', in handwriting than is corresponding perception of the parts of words. Many countries have7adopted simple forms of writing to help children overcome certain d iffic u ltie s in the beginning stages of instructions in handwriting, in countries using an alphabetic language, the simplified form of writing is variously called as scrip t, print script or manuscript writing. Handwriting is a very complex sk ill which involves consideration

of the maturation of the learner as well as appropriate practice opportunities. This idea seems to be wide-spread. (b)

The Second IMESGQ Monograph :

afepoxt directs attention to the increasing use of scales in evaluating handwriting end citjfes the recent development of two handwriting scales in Spain : (12). There also appears to be wide-spread interest in many countries in the techniques so as to diagnose and find out the remedy for poor handwriting. The report also touches on several controversial issues in the teaching of handwriting on the in ter­ national scene, including such questions as the extent to which an individual should be allowed to vary his style of handwriting, the relative hygienic values in the use of vertical versus slanted writing, and certain unresolved problems concerning the condition of practice in handwriting. Other aspects of the status of handwriting are discussed in connection with the nature and

extent of illite ra c y , as indicated, by data gathered, from responses to allESGO questionnaire received, from 109 countries and te rrito rie s , representing about 80 percent cf the world's population, i f literacy is thought of as the ab ility to write a simple le tte r , on the one hand, and the a b ility to read relatively simple materials in the vernacular on the other hand, then, the BfSSGO data suggest that approximately onehalf of the world's population is illite r a te . 5.

THE

VffSCONSIN

STUflf ;

This exhaustive study on handwriting practices was completed in 1951* I t was condu­ cted on a sample of 232 school systems in the State of Wisconsin in the m ited states of America (13)* While selecting samples care was taken to issue a representative sampling of sizes ana types of schools in rural and urban locations in a ll parts of the State* Some of the important findings of the study are as follows : (a)

Teachers r a te l e g i b i l i t y as the

most important objective of hand-

writing, They rate the specific leg ib ility factors like le tte r formation, slant and spacing as of next importance. Speed is a factor least stressed. Teachers, on the whole, seem to be aware of individual problems in learning to write, including the d ifficu ltie s encountered by the left-handed writer and the corres­ ponding adjustment needed in regard to handwriting position, the paper and the handwiriting instrument. Teachers expect children to learn a ll the symbols of handwriting at the beginning of the fourth grade and to acquire them in this order; numerals, lower case le tte rs , and capital le tte rs . Most teachers follow a commercial

system for the teaching of hand* writing and report that few other

outside resources are available except for visual aids and certain types of printed m aterials. Less than half of the schools reported the use of scales in evaluating handwriting quality. Wherever scales were used, they were commercially prepared, although a few locally developed scales wore also in use. Many oypes of handwriting instru­ ments are used by the children during and out of the time allotted for handwriting instruction. The most frequently used instruments are the pen, the fountain pen, the b e g in n e rp e n c il, the bail-point pen, crayon, chalk, the mechanical pencil and the steel pen, the holder, etc. children typically write on lined white paper of regular size, with space ranging from one inch in the Kindergarten

to three-eighth of an inch from grade iv onwards. (g)

6.

practice is a valuable factor in the acceptance and use of standard handwriting symbols. Those symbols showing the greatest variation in form were upper case cursive le tte rs and manuscript numerals, whereas the least variation in form was found for small cursive le tte rs .

SOME MAJOR IS S U E S IN THE TEACHING OF H A H M I T 1 N S :

There are certain controversial issues on the teaching of handwriting. An attempt is made here to discuss along with the solution, if any, provided by experimental studies. (a)

style for writing : Manuscript Vs. cursive Script ;

Many studies have been conducted to find the su itab ility of these two forms of writing in schools, v/est concludes, from experimental evidence, that manuscript writing tends to be

written faster in the beginning grades and cursive writing, faster in the la te r grades and at the adult level (14) Hildreth (15) found that the eighth grade students could copy unjoined strokes significantly more rapidly than they could copy joined strokes, which gives some evidence th at manuscript writing may, at leant under some circumstances, be written rather rapidly. Herrick presented the arguments for each style of writing and summarized the researches prior to i 960 pertaining to each. His conclu­ sion favoured the retention of manuscript writing beyond the primary grades, but he also stated that the question is probably not important to most adults who should'be allowed to decide on their own style (16). According to Anderson (17) who examined earlier researches on the two styles in terms of the issues of le g ib ility , speed and ease of learning, concluded that manuscript writing not only is more legible than cursive but can also be written at least as fast and learned more

easily by children and adults. He suggested that longitudinal research is needed to provide definitive evidence of the superiority of the manuscript style over the other one. Discussing the problems regarding English Handwriting, an Indian author Mr. p.D.pathak raises the question, "which writing should be encouraged script oY cursive ?" He gave the solution specially for Indian pupils, "script writing is simple and easy, neat and legible. I t is adapted to the child is capacity because i t has no loops and flourishes. I t removes the confusion from the child»s mind due to two kinds of writing with which he has to contend in lear­ ning to read and to write. I t brings about an improvement in spelling because a comparison with the printed word is possible. I t produces less strain on the hand muscles because no effort is made to join le tte rs . For a ll these reasons, script writing suits children who sta rt writing for the f ir s t time". (IS) in the a rtic le , "A Decade of Research in Handwriting", in ‘The Education Digest1, Mr.Eunice

Askov, and others observe, ”on the question of manuscript ys cursive writing for in itia l instruction, only a few relevant studies were reported in the 196o*s« Those by Rudolf Meis, Loretta Byers and John Bolen compared the number of errors made while children used each style, but none offered conclusive evidence for the superiority of either style. Elaine, Tempi in, studying adults 10 years out of high school, found that those who had received only manuscript instruction in the elementary school wrote more legibly than any others. For practical purpose^, there seems to be no need to change from manusc­ rip t to cursive writing if manuscript writing is introduced f i r s t. Definitive data, to show that introduction of manuscript writing produces superior resu lts, has not yet been reported”. (1$). (b)

The Use of Handwriting instruments ;

The nature of handwriting instruments that fa s c ilita te learning to write is an important factor to consider. Research in this area is too scanty to permit any conclusion, y/hittaker compared the relative effectiveness of steel

40

pens and fountain pens in the attainment of speed and quality. He found that improvement in quality and speed favoured the fountain pen and that both children and teachers preferred fountain pens to steel pens. (20) The most notable series of studies during the decade of 1960-70 were by Herrick in this area. He reported that children prefer adult pencils over beginner pencils, which have not been shown objectively to be better for beginning w riters. (21) in another study the general conclusion was reached that the use of ball point pens is conducive to deterioration of handwriting quality. (22) More work is needed in this area to deter­ mine what modifications in writing instruments are associated with easier, faster and more legible writing. (c)

Tracing vs copying :

There are controversies as to which of the procedures is more suitable for the beginner. Research studies conducted in 1923 by Gates and. Taylor have proved that in learning handwriting,

copying is a b e tte r method than tracin g (23) Rertaberg in a study conducted in I926 comes to the sane conclusion (24). (d)

Speed versus Quality* j

A formula for expressing the relatio n sh ip between quality and speed in a combined hand­ w riting score was developed and validated by G ates. (25) • fhe relatio n sh ip expressed in a formula in which the •combined score equals quality times the cube root of speed* re fle c ts the more recent emphasis upon quality in the Instruction of handwriting.

Another study by

A.ft. y i l l s , conducted in England, showed that in successive age lev els from eight to twelve years, speed and quality in normal handwriting tended to vary, together with substantial posi­ tiv e correlation (26). (e)

Race Difference and Handwriting ;

Garth and others compared the handwriting speed and quality of Negro and yhite children in grade IV to V III. They found th at there was

I

ht

no significant differences in handwriting speed and quality between the two groups. (27)» (f)

intelligence and Handwriting ;

On the basis of several studies to find the relation between intelligence and hand­ writing i t appears that; there is a low but positive correlation between these two factors. The study of Gates and pa S adie, which proved -e

earlier this relationship has been verified by other research workers also. (2S).

Over and above, there are other issues like slant in writing, handwriting, end fatigue, the role of d rillin g , le ft handedness which also need £©3? further basic research. These factors also effect directly the handwriting process. I f we want to understand the factors

involved in the instruction of handwriting and to improve i t , some of the studies on the above issues must be conducted in each language sxea in our country. * **

Q t*

B I B L I 0 G R A P HY 1.

Thorndike, E.L., (1948) : The Thorndike junior D ictionary, London, university of London p ress, Warwick Square, p.393*

2.

Hornby, Gatenly & walace F ie ld , (1948) • A t,earner »s- Dictionary of current E n g lis h : London, Oxford university press, p. 56S.

3*

Basic Dictionary of American English : (1966) : Holt Rine Hart & yinston -Inc.-New-York, p . 352. -

4.

Fowler, H.F. & Fowler, f .G. (Eds), (1950): Concise Oxford Dictionary of current English, Oxford, clarendon p ress, p.547»

5*

william Benton, (1964) ; Encyclopaedia Bri-tanica, London, vol. i l l .

6.

warrens, Howard c», (1934) ; Dictionary of psychology,.Massachusetts, Honghton Miff in company.

7*

Doroth, Sara, (I96S) ; Handwriting Analysis, New York:-pyramid Books, p. 15*

8.

B illie , pesin Rosen, (1 968) ; The Science of Handwriting Analysis, New York : paperback Library Edition; park Avemie South, p. 1.

128 9*

Robert, Holder, (1963) : You can Analyse Handwriting ; Bombay, D.B.Taraporevala Sons & oo., p.- 13-14.

10.

Dorothy, Sara, (I968) : Handwriting Analysis; lew York ; pyramid Books, p. 11.

11.

"international conference on public Educa­ tion" . The Teaching of Handwriting, international Bureau of Education, publication Ho. 103 Golumbiauniversity, 1948, p. 125.

12.

Gray, william s* (1956) ; The Teaching of Reading and writing ; An in tern atio n al Survey on Fundamental Education No.lO Columbia u n iv ersity , p. 281.

13*

University of Wisconsin, (1951) : Department of Education, committee for Research in Handwriting. Handwriting in Wisconsin,p .77•

14.

west, Paul 7 . (1350) ; Handwriting : in Monrol Walter S*(Ed), Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Rev.Ed., lew York; Macmillan Go., p. 524-529.

15.

H ildreth, Gertrude, (1945) : "Comparative

16.

Harrick, y irg ile : "Handwriting & Children's Writing", Elementary English, journal of Educational Research, vol* 647' ~ No.3, Nov. 1970, P. 106.

Speed of joined and unjoined waiting Strokes", journal of Education psycho­ logy, 36 . 81-102.

129 17.

Enderson, Dan w. (1965) : "Handwriting

IS*

pathak, p.D ., (1974) ; Teaching of English in In d ia , Agra, yinod pustak BhandarTp»133 •

19*

The Education Digest, volume 36, No*7, March, 1971• p. 46.

20*

Whittaker, F orest, M*, (1934) ; An Experi­ mental Study of the Relative Efficiency of Steel Pens and Fountain Bens in Teaching penmanship* M aster's Thesis, University of Southern C alifornia.

21.

Herrick, Virgil, E* > (1961) : "Handwriting

Research, Style and practice" in Horn, Thomas 4..(Ed). Research on Handwriting and S pelling, National council of Tea­ chers of England, champaign, i l linos is p. 18-28, Journal of Education Research V Q l. 64, n o . 3, Nov. i9 /0 , p. 107.

Tools for Children", National Education Association, 50; 49-50. journal of Educational Research, vo'lY 64, No.3 Novr. 1970, Madison Wisconsin, p. I 08. 22.

B ulletin of the in tern atio n al surea-u of Education 37 : (No. 147) Geneva, Second quarter, 1963.

23.

Gates, Arthur. 1 . & Taylor, G.A., (1923) : Acquisition of Motor Control in Writing by pre-school children, Teachers college records, 24, p .459-68.

24.

Hertzborg, osoar, E* : A comparative study Of D ifferent Methods Used' in Teaching Beginners to w rite, I.C . 1 9 2 6 ,p .61.

u

25 •

Gates, A rther, 1 . , "delation of Quality and Speed of performance : A Formula for combining the Two in the case of Handwriting, j ournal of Educational psychology, No. 15. 1924, p. 129-44.

26.

w ill is , A.R. : "investigation of the Relationship Between Rate and Quality of Handwriting in primary Schools", B ritis h journal of Educational Psycho­ logy, No. 6, 193%, p. 229- 5gT

27.

Garth, Thomas, R. & others : "The Handw riting of Negroes", journal of Educa­ tional Bsychology, 30, 1939, p.69-73.

28.

Gates, Arthur, I . & La S alle, j . , "study of writing A bility and i t s Relation to Other A b ilitie s Based on Repeated Tests During a period of 20 months", journal of Educational psychology, 1924,-15, P. 205-16. * * *