{"id":17569,"date":"2025-04-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/?p=17569"},"modified":"2025-04-09T08:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:44:11","slug":"why-transcription-is-important-in-your-childs-writing-and-reading-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/2025\/why-transcription-is-important-in-your-childs-writing-and-reading-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Why transcription is important in your child\u2019s writing and reading journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I remember my mother picking me up from school in our orange VW camper one day in late October. I was in first grade and excited to tell her that, just like grown-ups, we had voted for president in the upcoming election and were going to find out which candidate won at our school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother asked me whom I voted for, and I told her. I could tell she didn\u2019t like my choice! I explained that I chose that person because his name was easier to write: the letters were easier to form, and his name was much shorter than the other person\u2019s. My mother didn\u2019t seem pleased with this answer either!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transcription\u2014forming letters, writing them correctly, and avoiding fatigue by writing at a fast enough pace\u2014affects how we communicate ideas and opinions. For me, transcription <\/em>was my primary concern as I cast my first-ever vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transcription\u2019s starring role in the Simple View of Writing\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If your child is learning to write, they\u2019re practicing transcription, even if they don\u2019t use that word to describe what they\u2019re doing. Transcription is simply the act of putting words on paper (or screen) through handwriting (or typing) and making those words understandable through correct spelling. Think of handwriting and typing as siblings\u2014and of spelling as a bossy aunt who takes charge, disciplining the letters to get in line and in the right order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Simple View of Writing describes how writing is dependent on three interwoven skills: text generation (creating the ideas), transcription (putting the ideas onto paper or screen), and executive function (organizing and revising the ideas). All three take place within the limits of a person\u2019s working memory, whether that\u2019s an adult or a kid.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at the graphic below, which shows these three key components visually.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Simple View of Writing<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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For children who are just learning to write, transcription takes up most of their working memory, making it really hard for them to come up with ideas of what to write (that text generation bit I mentioned). They have very little free space in their brain to think about planning or organizing their ideas or to think about spelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When transcription becomes more automatic, handwriting (or typing) and spelling stop requiring as much conscious thought and effort. Children then do not need to use as much brain power for those tasks and can redirect energy to generating text, including longer pieces, and executive functions, like organizing their ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transcription\u2019s three parts<\/h2>\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at each of the three components of transcription: handwriting, typing, and spelling.<\/p>\n

1. Handwriting <\/em><\/h3>\n

Handwriting<\/em> means writing by hand, of course, using a tool like a pen or a pencil. You may wonder: does it matter if children begin writing by hand or with a keyboard? It does!<\/p>\n

Handwriting activates areas in the brain more than other forms of fine-motor tasks, like tracing or typing letters. For young children without physical disabilities or impairments, learning to draw letters by hand is an important part of both the writing and reading processes. (For students who have disabilities that might interfere with handwriting, there are technologies such as speech-to-text software, as well as supports for positioning and holding a pen or pencil. Some students may be introduced to a keyboard or text-to-speech technology right away if a disability prevents them from writing by hand.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Children need to develop fluent (i.e., quickly produced and legible) handwriting<\/a> so they can focus on what is most important: generating and organizing ideas. Writing letters by hand also triggers key regions in the brain and puts in motion processes necessary for later reading development.<\/p>\n

Forming letters by hand, while associating them to the sequence of the sounds in a word, is important to a process called orthographic mapping<\/a>, which begins with hearing and identifying each sound in a word, then associating each sound with the letter that represents it before spelling out the word. For example, with \u201ctoad,\u201d children will need to understand that there are three sounds (\/t\/ \/\u014d\/ \/d\/), represented by four letters.<\/p>\n

Orthographic mapping is important to the reading goal of recognizing words automatically and, thereby, reading fluently. (For more information on how kids learn to read and tips you can use at home, check out our Teach. Learn. Grow.<\/em> eBook: How to support reading at home: A guide for families<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Think about this complex process and take note of what you think the role of handwriting might be. When a child is learning to write a word, they:<\/p>\n