The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smart phone, writing by hand has become something of old skill. However, while today’s educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful--both in school and in life.
Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology(心理学) at the University of Washington, says it’s important to continue teaching handwriting and help children learn the skill of writing by hand.
Berninger and her workmates carried out a study that looked at the ability of students to complete different writing tasks---both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, people wrote longer articles and more complete sentences.
In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student’s writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to how well they can write. “Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us get our vocabulary, word meaning and ideas. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas.” Berninger said.
Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe(转换) “those words in the mind into written symbols(标志) on paper or keyboard and screen,” the study said. Seeing the words in the “mind’s eye” helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to notice spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct them over time.
“In our computer age, some people believe that we don’t have to teach spelling because we have spell checks,” she said. “But until a child has spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won’t have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the choices given by the computer.”
1. Which of the following best shows the role of spelling?
A. Spelling improves one’s memory of words.
B. Spelling ability is closely tied to writing ability.
C. Spelling benefits the translation from words into ideas.
D. Spelling slows down finding exact words to express ideas.
2. What does “mind’s eye” in paragraph 5 mean?
A. Window. B. Emotion. C. Picture. D. Imagination.
3. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Computers can help people with their choice of words.
B. Spell checks can take the place of spelling teaching.
C. Handwriting still has a place in today’s classrooms.
D. Spelling ability develops fast in the fifth grade.