Pencil and keyboard: a helpful duo at primary level? Answers from pupils and researchers

This article presents findings from a study which sought to better understand how using a keyboard or pencil impacts the motivation and written achievements of pupils in the second, fourth, and sixth years of primary school (aged 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12 respectively). The data have been interpreted with respect to learner choice of writing implement (motivation: analysis of questions to establish participants’ opinions on keyboard and pencil) and researcher choice with regard to the richest possible text independent of the implement used (achievement: comparative analysis of both texts produced by a learner, that typed on a keyboard and that written in pencil). Alongside other conclusions, the findings show that the advantages pupils see in working at a keyboard (attractive and more straightforward and – with older pupils – faster) are not in evidence in their texts, at least not in those written by younger pupils (with less creative typed texts in the 2nd and 4th classes).