DO HANDWRITING AND TYPEWRITING INDUCE THE PRODUCTION OF DIFFERENT TEXTS? A PILOT STUDY ON A SAMPLE OF ITALIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The topic of the differences between handwriting and typewriting has been approached from many angles, but almost never with regard to the effects that the different writing modes have on the structure of the texts produced. Generally, the benefits that handwriting has in the learning phase are highlighted (on areas such as students’ cognitive skills, reading ability, and spelling accuracy). On the other hand, typewriting has a positive effect on the amount of writing and on motivation. Instead, this contribution aims to investigate possible differences between handwritten and typed texts. The analysis conducted on a small sample of handwritten and typed texts from a sample of 200 students enrolled in the first year of the Bachelor’s degree in Humanities at the University of Bologna shows that the texts are very similar for almost all the parameters investigated. However, some differences emerge for the parameters concerning textual cohesion and coherence. In this case, data suggest that typewriting ultimately seems to favour the production of better organised and better structured texts.