Pupils with poor handwriting are significantly less likely to do well in school tests, according to a new study.
Researchers said children who struggled to write fluently devoted more brain capacity to getting words ont o a page.
This often interfered with their ability to generate ideas, select vocabulary or plan what to write, it was claimed.
Academics from Warwick University said boys were more likely to have poor handwriting, which may explain why they lag so far behind in Sats tests.
Just 60 per cent of boys achieved the standard expected of their age in this year's writing exam for 11-year-olds compared to 74 per cent of girls.
It follows the disclosure earlier this year that some examiners were now struggling to mark work because pupils' handwriting is so illegible.
One of Britain's biggest exam boards said some writing was now so bad that adults should be allowed to act as "scribes" during tests.
In the latest study, researchers said: "Handwriting is not just about training the hand. It is about training the memory and hand to work together to generate and correct mental images and patterns of letters, and translate these into motor patterns of letters, automatically and without effort."
According to the Times Educational Supplement, Professor David Wray, Dr Jane Medwell and Dr Steve Strand tested the handwriting speed and ability of almost 200 pupils in three schools.
They found that pupils with average or poor handwriting had onl y a 40 per cent chance of reaching national standards in Sats taken at the age of 11.
"It may be that handwriting can crowd out the composing processes we value," the study said.
They recommended handwriting lessons for pupils struggling the most at a young age, insisting it was "not an issue that improves spontaneously"
Telegraph.co.uk
This often interfered with their ability to generate ideas, select vocabulary or plan what to write, it was claimed.
Academics from Warwick University said boys were more likely to have poor handwriting, which may explain why they lag so far behind in Sats tests.
Just 60 per cent of boys achieved the standard expected of their age in this year's writing exam for 11-year-olds compared to 74 per cent of girls.
It follows the disclosure earlier this year that some examiners were now struggling to mark work because pupils' handwriting is so illegible.
One of Britain's biggest exam boards said some writing was now so bad that adults should be allowed to act as "scribes" during tests.
In the latest study, researchers said: "Handwriting is not just about training the hand. It is about training the memory and hand to work together to generate and correct mental images and patterns of letters, and translate these into motor patterns of letters, automatically and without effort."
According to the Times Educational Supplement, Professor David Wray, Dr Jane Medwell and Dr Steve Strand tested the handwriting speed and ability of almost 200 pupils in three schools.
They found that pupils with average or poor handwriting had onl y a 40 per cent chance of reaching national standards in Sats taken at the age of 11.
"It may be that handwriting can crowd out the composing processes we value," the study said.
They recommended handwriting lessons for pupils struggling the most at a young age, insisting it was "not an issue that improves spontaneously"
Telegraph.co.uk
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