# Designing Pedagogically Effective Haptic Systems for Learning: A Review
## 3 Haptics Applications for Learning
### Language and Handwriting Acquisition  
At first glance, language learning may seem like an unlikely candidate to benefit from the incorporation of haptic technology. However, there is increasing evidence that linguistic cognition is rooted in sensorimotor engagement [16; 49; 50] and that linguistic expression is directed toward action [16]. It is even possible to communicate language though touch [51]. Achievement data in early literacy learning indicate two concerning trends: overall, general slippage in early literacy development outcomes and, secondly, a persistent and growing achievement gap over time in the shift to academic literacy development among linguistically vulnerable populations of children including those raised in poverty or of language minority background. Emergent research findings suggest the etiological underpinnings to these trends may be found in children's control over fine motor skills and their influence on language learning as these are the major drivers of literacy development over time [49]. Hands-on exploration is an innate method of learning for children [49]. [PERSON] et al., sought to understand the impact of \"multi-sensory training\" on children's understanding of alphabetic principles. To explore this effect, kindergarten children from low socio-economic status families were studied in two different conditions: a visual-haptic exploration of letters (referred to as HVAM or Haptic-Visual-Auditory-Metaphonological) and a solely visual exploration of letters (referred to as VAM or Visual-Auditory-Metaphonological). When the participants received HVAM training, higher scores of performances in a phenome identification task and a letter recognition task were reported. This finding suggests the embodied interaction with letters led to better learning outcomes, possibly by creating a link between the biologically primary interactions (haptic exploration of letters) and the biologically secondary knowledge (letter recognition). In addition to assisting with child literacy learning, it has been found that haptic systems provide a viable route for language interpretation. In addition to assisting in the collection of knowledge, haptics has been found to effectively convey language. [PERSON] et al. [51] conducted a study investigating two different haptic learning approaches to teaching a language via tactile stimulation. This haptic translator turns English phonemes into haptic patterns termed \"haptic symbols\" which can be detected by skin on the forearm. The haptic device is strapped onto the non-dominant arm and produces tactile stimulation via haptic vibrotactile patterns to represent phenomes or words. The study compares word-based and phenome-based approaches to teaching a haptic language. It was determined that both language learning methods were effective, however the [PERSON] approach was determined to be the most reliable choice [51]. In a similar vein, [PERSON] et al. [52] proposed a multi-sensory haptic device called MISISVE that communicates the full English phenome set via haptics. This novel approach to conveying language may be beneficial for those with impairments, or those with auditory and visual channels already in use. [PERSON] et al. [52] evaluated their approach by teaching subjects a set of 23 phenomes and participants demonstrated an 86% accuracy in a 50-word identification task after 100 min of training [52]. These study results show promise for learning, conveying, and interpreting language via haptics, and corroborate the ability of haptic technology to conceivably provide additional routes of communication and access to information for hearing impaired individuals. Handwriting of individual letters has been associated with proficiency in both reading and spelling [53]; according to [PERSON] et al. [53], \"Handwriting is a fairly complex sensorimotor task that requires perceptual, motor, cognitive and linguistic skills\".