(page number not for citation purpose) 1 *Corresponding author. Email: satu-maarit.frangou@ulapland.f Research in Learning Technology 2019. © 2019 S.-M. Frangou et al. Research in Learning Technology is the journal of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), a UK-based professional and scholarly society and membership organisation. ALT is registered charity number 1063519. http://www.alt.ac.uk/. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license. Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2019, 27: 2239 - http://dx.doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v27.2239 Research in Learning Technology Vol. 27, 2019 ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE The effect of writing modality on recollection in children and adolescents Satu-Maarit Frangou a *, Jan Wikgren b , Sara Sintonen c , Leila Kairaluoma d and Pekka Vasari e a Centre for Media Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland; b Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland; c Faculty of Education, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; d Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; e Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland (Received: 21 February 2019; revised: 27 September 2019; accepted: 7 October 2019; Published: 28 10 2019) We set out to assess the extent to which writing modality affects recollection in children and adolescents. We examined 10- to 11-year-old children’s (N = 63) and 16-year-old adolescents’ (N = 43) handwriting, keyboarding with a laptop com- puter and keyboarding with a touchscreen tablet computer or mobile phone in a within-subjects experimental design. Participants were instructed to write down stories dictated to them in the three writing modalities. Recollection of the stories was assessed using free recall of details in the stories. The results indicate that the writing modality affects recollection, handwriting leading to better recol- lection. However, currently, digital writing tools are inundating classrooms and workplaces around the globe, making their competent use a necessity in today’s world. For example, in Finland, students are obligated to use a laptop in upper secondary education and in the national fnal examination. In light of the results, we highlight the importance of balancing the instruction and practice of different writing modalities. Given the limitations of this study, we suggest conducting a larger-scale study and further research on the educational and cognitive implica- tions of using and learning to write using multiple writing modalities. Keywords: handwriting; keyboarding; writing instruction; recollection Introduction Writing is communication through letters, words and sentences (Peterson and Grimes 2018) produced with writing mediums or tools (Haas 1996). Writing is an essential competence for social communication in the 21st century; however, the demands of contemporary society continually raise the bar for digital competence requirements, which also extends to the different modalities of writing. Keyboarding (i.e. typing) with different digital devices has taken precedence over writing with pen and paper (Mangen and Velay 2014), and literacy now encompasses much more than reading and producing linear text (Kallionpää 2017). Furthermore, digital tools are presently used in reading and writing instruction, and in Finland, information and communication