Lined paper : its effects on the legibility and creativity of young children's writing

Abstract

This study examines the effects of lined and unlined paper on the writing ability of young children. 101 children at four age levels, from mean age 6 years 2 months to 9 years 2 months, wrote two pieces of free writing. These were rated for both creativity and legibility. Creativity was found to be unaffected by the type of paper used. Legibility, however, showed an interaction with both type of paper and age: younger children's legibility was greater with unlined paper, while the opposite was true of the older sample. The implications of these findings for educational practice are discussed