Recently, I decided to test my handwriting speed using, on the one hand, my lifelong Palmer method script and, on the other hand, my newly acquired Spencerian. The latter speed would, of course, be significantly slower since that script has only been recently acquired.
I timed my Palmer method to be between 22 and 25 words per minute. The top of that range is just where legibility begins to break down. This script is rather roundish, upright, and employs mainly printed capitals (a degeneracy from the original scripted capitals).
For the Spencerian, using the same copy, the speed came out at about 6-8 words per minute. Legibility was perfect. I would expect that the speed of writing in this script would increase significantly with usage.
For comparison, there is the following study (https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/hiat/resources/handwriting_speeds.pdf) showing that 8 wpm is about the average speed of copying text for 4th graders and increases by a couple of wpm each grade level thereafter. It appears that learning a new script may be like the original scripting one learns in that, at first, the speed is quite slow and only increases gradually after that with usage, though I would expect that the speed rate would increase at a faster rate for adults.
I would be curious to know what others' handwriting speeds are (for copying text, not composing) both in the usual script and in their newly acquired script (if applicable).
I timed my Palmer method to be between 22 and 25 words per minute. The top of that range is just where legibility begins to break down. This script is rather roundish, upright, and employs mainly printed capitals (a degeneracy from the original scripted capitals).
For the Spencerian, using the same copy, the speed came out at about 6-8 words per minute. Legibility was perfect. I would expect that the speed of writing in this script would increase significantly with usage.
For comparison, there is the following study (https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/hiat/resources/handwriting_speeds.pdf) showing that 8 wpm is about the average speed of copying text for 4th graders and increases by a couple of wpm each grade level thereafter. It appears that learning a new script may be like the original scripting one learns in that, at first, the speed is quite slow and only increases gradually after that with usage, though I would expect that the speed rate would increase at a faster rate for adults.
I would be curious to know what others' handwriting speeds are (for copying text, not composing) both in the usual script and in their newly acquired script (if applicable).
