Cambridge IGCSE™

FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/22

Paper 2 Directed Writing and Composition October/November 2022

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● This insert contains the reading texts.

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Read both texts, and then answer Question 1 on the question paper.

Text A: Writing wars: pens or keyboards?

This text is an article that explores the changing ways in which we write.

This past week you may well have scribbled down a quick shopping list or stuck a note on your
desk. But when did you last draft a long text by hand, or write a ‘proper’ letter, using a pen and
paper?

No one can say precisely how much handwriting has declined, but surveys give some indication
of the extent of the damage. According to one study by a printing company, one in three 5
respondents hadn’t written anything by hand in the previous six months! True or not, one thing is
certain: faster technology means that handwriting is disappearing in the workplace.

In the United States, schools already make allowances for this. Given that email and texting
have replaced conventional ‘snail mail’, and that students take notes on their laptops, ‘cursive’
writing – in which the pen is not raised between each character – has been dropped from the 10
common school curriculum. Since 2013, American children have been required to learn how to
use a keyboard and are allowed to stick with the easier non-cursive handwriting style. They no
longer need to worry about the up-and-down strokes involved in ‘grown-up’ cursive handwriting.

Unsurprisingly, this reform prompted controversy. Everyone needs to be able to write without
computers, to read birthday cards from grandparents and decipher comments by teachers on 15
assignments. Indeed, France has taken the opposite course from the USA. In the early 2000s,
schools started teaching cursive writing as soon as pupils entered primary school (aged six).
Meanwhile in China, millions every week watch ‘Character Hero’, a TV spelling challenge, where
young contestants must write by hand. ‘The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition
and culture,’ explains one bespectacled calligraphy teacher in the audience. 20

Since writing was first invented, the tools and media used have changed many times. Why worry
whether something is handwritten or typed?

Experts argue that handwriting is a better workout for your brain. ‘Handwriting’s a more complex
task than typing. It requires various skills – feeling the pen and paper, moving the writing
implement, and directing movement by thought,’ explains Professor Edouard Diaz. ‘Paper 25
creates a visual, tactile record of your work and its creative stage – draft ideas crossed out or
corrected, scribbles in the margin and later additions – and handwriting has always been seen as
expressing our personality.’

Despite omnipresent technology, Diaz believes handwriting will persist. ‘Touchscreens are taking
us back to handwriting,’ he argues. ‘From school examinations to labels for jam jars, handwriting’s 30
an important part of everyday life.’

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Text B: Putting pen to paper: the schools nurturing a love of writing by hand

This text is an article about the value of handwritten communication.

At a primary school in Wales, students are writing letters to residents of a local care home. The
initiative sees young children and their elderly ‘pen friends’ exchange updates about their lives,
helping to build relationships between generations while also giving the children an understanding
of the value of writing letters by hand – an activity that’s becoming less and less common.

The project was started by the care home as a way to create community links, whilst the 5
school stresses ‘the importance of taking time to write letters with pen and paper, making good
handwriting meaningful and real for the children’.

Teacher Lisa Johnston says she’s seen her students develop a real sense of empathy and
understanding of elderly people. ‘The pen friend scheme has made writing a more enjoyable and
exciting task. They love sharing their news. There’s something about a handwritten letter that 10
gives you a positive buzz – knowing that person has actually sat down and written it just for you,
and only you. Letter writing is a big part of what we do at school. All of our writing is for a purpose.
Knowing that someone out there is going to be reading it, there’s always the real sense of pride.’

That sense of pride in writing created by hand can be instilled in children from a young age. In
Abacus nursery, Sydney, children are given a letter of the alphabet each week to form in creative 15
ways, using finger-painting, sand or clay.

The school has created something called the pen licence. It allows younger children to move
from using a pencil to a pen once they’ve reached a certain standard. ‘There’s a lot of excitement
about reaching that pen licence stage,’ says headteacher Warren Handy.

He adds that developing students’ writing in this way matters for their life after school: ‘It’s 20
important we create citizens of the future with the life skills that can make them successful.’

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