Basic font

This article covers the school script. For the meaning "Font in which the majority of a text is set", see bread script .

Possible basic font as the starting font in Hamburg from 2011

The basic font was developed as a starting and development font on behalf of the Primary School Association since 2005. The concept of writing didactics was presented for the first time in 2010 (Primary School Association 2010). The core idea is: The children develop their individual, legible and fluent cursive script from the first handwritten block letters when they started school. This direct route is intended to avoid the interruption in the development of fonts caused by the original scripts previously used in primary schools (Latin script, simplified script or school script).

The basic font was introduced in several German federal states as one of several fonts that schools can choose from (see basic fonts used in the federal states ).

concept

The basic writing concept takes into account the current state of research on psychomotor development in handwriting (e.g. Mahrhofer 2004), starts with the experiences of children, promotes their independence and gives new importance to the development of legible individual handwriting. The elaborated concept has been available since 2010 (Primary School Association 2010, Bartnitzky et al. 2011/2014). In the following years u. a. Experience reports from schools (e.g. Bartnitzky et al. 2018). All children have already had experience with printing when they started school; many have already started using block capitals. The lessons continue this development with the basic font. In the interaction of reading and writing, the children are encouraged to write scripts from the beginning of school and are supported in the further development of their handwriting. This further development includes a. also trying out and using letter combinations. Connections are prepared in the font template with upward swinging arcs in lowercase letters that end with a downward stroke in the usual printed scripts (a, d, h, i, k, l, m, n, t, u).

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The written conversations play an important role in the didactic concept of the basic script. The children reflect with the teacher and with each other on script samples, letter variants and connections. There are three main criteria: Clarity of form (can you recognize every letter well?), Legibility (can I read everything well?) And fluency (is it written with swing?). Good legibility and increasing fluency remain the guiding criteria in the further development of individual handwriting during primary school and beyond. In the critical examination of the basic font concept, two misjudgments play a role: The basic font displaces the cursive and the children can now write as they wish. Neither is true. • When working with the basic font, the traditional school fonts become superfluous, but the function and development of the basic font itself is a handwritten script. • The children do not write arbitrarily, but orient themselves to the given letter patterns and the guiding criteria of clarity of form, legibility and fluency apply to all individual expressions.

Explanation

In the summary of one of the co-authors, the intention is made clear again:

“The Primary School Association does not want to give up cursive script, but rather makes a very consistent distinction between printed scripts in books, etc., and scripts that are written by hand. That is why the first font for children, which consists of very simple, easy-to-read and write forms, is called BASIC SCRIPT. "

- in: Brinkmann / Brügelmann 2011

According to the authors, it is easy to learn from children and can be used early on for independent writing. The basic font is no longer a source font, but rather an aid in getting from the printed font to a personal, fluid font as easily as possible. This goal has long been anchored in all curricula, education and framework plans of the various federal states. The only new thing is that one of the three linked original fonts should no longer be switched between block letters and personal handwriting.

criticism

The teacher and author Maria-Anna Schulze Brüning has fundamental criticism of the new self-learning method for writing. In her book Who does not write stays stupid (2017), she accuses the initiators of leaving children alone with learning fundamental motor processes when writing. It is misunderstood “that the 26 upper and lower case letters of our alphabet (+ ß) contain a writing motor system that the child cannot understand for themselves.” Schulze Brüning sees a similarity to the approach in the concept by Hans Brügelmann / Erika Brinkmann by Jürgen rich in reading by writing . Schulze Brüning accuses Brügelmann / Brinkmann of having "significantly advanced the reorientation of learning to write" and even used their own children as practical examples.

One of the most important critics of the basic font is Ute Andresen, who herself developed the concept of handwritten print. The former president of the German Society for Reading and Writing from 1999 to 2002 is of the opinion that “children cannot teach themselves to write.” Introducing the basic font means doing away with cursive. This puts "a cultural technique at risk - the ability to write a common legible script". Andresen contradicts in the FAS interview the statement of the elementary school association that the basic font is a connected script. "That is wrong. The basic font is a modular font, which means the letters are placed next to each other. "Andresen u. a. by the writer Cornelia Funke . “In my opinion, mastering a print is not enough as handwriting. It doesn't flow like cursive and is therefore much slower. A flowing handwriting, on the other hand, promotes the flow of thoughts - and at the same time is so individual that you are completely with yourself. "

Andresen already pointed out in 2010 in a series of articles for the taz that learning a bound handwriting is a fundamental learning process for every child. Refraining from learning to write script increases the risk of educational poverty. It also takes into account the economic interests of those involved. It thus takes the same position as Wilhelm Topsch did against the simplified initial font . The Oldenburg educational scientist had proven in 1996 that there were no other scientific reports for the introduction of this in the 1970s than that of its inventor Heinrich Grünewald .

The head of the primary school reading study IGLU, Wilfried Bos, complained about the lack of scientific basis for the project. "It is adventurous to start a reform project such as the introduction of a new typeface without a pilot project with well-founded accompanying research," said Bos of the FAS. In Germany there is so far no empirical study comparing basic and fluent cursive script. There are positive results from Switzerland for the German-speaking Swiss base font, which is analogous to the basic font ; they have led to the majority of the cantons switching to the basic font. However, 96 students took part in Sibylle Hurschler Lichtsteiner's investigation. Studies from Canada give a differentiated picture. They suggest that first graders who learn fluent cursive writing first write more slowly (and not more clearly), but have advantages in syntax - they learn more words. "We observed that Cursive students displayed more progress in word production than Manuscript / Cursive and Manuscript students." Steve Graham, who also did studies comparing cursive (combined script ) and manuscript (printed script ), sees no advantages for script. He also says that the days of handwriting are over. Currently, almost all US states only make learning to use the printed font mandatory - unlike the basic font concept, which expressly guides you through a linked personal handwriting based on the printed font.

The editor-in-chief of the Deutsche Sprachwelt newspaper , Thomas Paulwitz , collected signatures against the abolition of cursive script because it would destroy an important cultural asset. Only the big textbook publishers that could sell new materials would benefit from it. The teachers also expect less work from this, says Paulwitz. However, it could not be acceptable for the education sector to focus only on the weakest. Renate Tost , graphic designer and co-developer of the GDR's “school exit font” (introduced in 1968), has also been critical of the basic font (Deutsche Sprachwelt 49/2012).

literature

• Horst Bartnitzky et al. (Hrsg.): Grundschrift - So that children learn to write better . Primary School Association, Frankfurt am Main 2011, 2nd edition 2014, ISBN 978-3-941649-03-3 (= contributions to primary school reform , volume 132).
• Horst Bartnitzky et al. (Hrsg.): "Grundschrift. Children develop their handwriting. Primary school association, Frankfurt am Main 2016. ISBN 978-3-941649-20-0 (=" Contributions to the reform of the elementary school ", Volume 142)
• Erika Brinkmann, Hans Brügelmann: Learning to write today: from print to fluent handwriting. In: Theory and Practice of Social Pedagogy . Issue 8, Friedrich-Verlag, Velber 2011, ISSN  0342-7145 .
• Primary School Association (Hrsg.): Grundschule aktuell (2010): Issues 110 and 112 on "Grundschrift". ISSN  1860-8604 / ISSN  1430-7804 / ISSN  1860-8604
• Christina Mahrhofer: "Learning to write with graphomotor-simplified writing specifications". Klinkhard, Bad Heilbrunn / Obb., 2004, 404 pp. ISBN 3-7815-1332-7
• Maria-Anna Schulze Brüning / Stephan Clauss: Who doesn't write, stays stupid: Why our children forget to think without handwriting Munich: Piper, 2017. 304 pp. ISBN 978-3-492-05824-7

Web links

Wiktionary: Basic script  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• www.die-grundschrift.de
• Basic font of the media workshop. Retrieved September 7, 2011 . 
• http://deutschesprachwelt.de/archiv/papier/2012_DSW49_Tost_Grundschrift.pdf (Interview Renate Tost)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maria-Anna Schulze Brüning / Stephan Clauss: Those who don't write remain stupid: Why our children forget to think without handwriting . Munich: Piper, 2017. S. 88 (304 S.)
2. ↑ Schulze Brüning / Clauss: If you don't write, you stay stupid. Munich, p. 90 p.
3. ↑ hD's handwritten pamphlet. Retrieved September 19, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Christian Füller: Controversial reform of the curricula: The handwriting is dying out . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, FAZ.net , May 10, 2014
5. ↑ Ute Andresen: "Children cannot teach themselves to write", Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, May 11, 2014, p. 3
6. ↑ Handschrift-Blog [1] Handschrift
7. ↑ Cornelia Funke : "The handwriting should let thoughts fly" . In: FAZ, May 10, 2014
8. ↑ Ute Andresen: Back to good handwriting. The ABC in school. taz.de, September 28, 2010, accessed April 26, 2011 .  
9. ↑ Ute Andresen: The handwriting is irreplaceable. Plea from a writing teacher. taz.de, October 5, 2010, accessed April 26, 2011 .  
10. ^ Ute Andresen: Reviewers, lobbyists and authors. Learning to write in elementary school. taz.de, February 16, 2011, accessed April 26, 2011 .  
11. ^ ^{A b} Ute Andresen: No educational interests. Introduction of the basic font. taz.de, April 6, 2011, accessed April 26, 2011 .  
12. ^ Wilhelm Topsch: The end of a legend . The simplified original font on the test bench. Analysis of empirical work on the simplified original font. Auer Verlag, Donauwörth 1996, ISBN 3-403-02855-0 .
13. ↑ Sibylle Hurschler Lichtsteiner u. a. Writing motor skills in early primary school depending on the typeface taught . In: Research reports from the University of Education Central Switzerland , No. 18. Lucerne, 2008
14. ↑ Morin, M.-F., et al. (2012): The effects of manuscript, cursive or manuscript / cursive styles on writing development in grade 2. In: Language and Literacy, Vol. 14, No. 1, 110-124.
15. ↑ "learning cursive in the first grade helps students" in: alphagalileo September 13, 2013
16. ^ "The Effects of Manuscript, Cursive or Manuscript / Cursive Styles in Writing Development in Grade 2" Research Paper "Language and Literacy 1/2012"
17. ^ "Cursive handwriting disappearing from public schools" in: Washington Post, April 3, 2013
18. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Is the handwriting dying out? In: "Forum School 2012"