Links between teaching and learning largely concern researchers in developmental psychology with an interest in motor learning. Motor knowledge is an area subject to the implicit learning (Vinter, Perruchet, 2002), and we know that the perception-action links are crucial in the construction of motor representations (Velay, Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, 2004). Thus, if psychology highlights implicit learning, the question arises naturally for Educational Sciences specialists: should such knowledge be explicitly conveyed? This research follows a questionnaire (that we proposed to 33 teachers) which focused on the difficulties of learning cursive handwriting. This investigation was aimed at identifying problems encountered by teachers during this learning. The data were analyzed by using software (version 4.5 The Sphinx, 2003). Among several difficulties, respect for the letters writing direction in handwriting (grammar of action) is the difficulty that has been most frequently mentioned. The second phase of the research was to objectivise these difficulties among pupils. An evaluation of the handwriting (BHK: Charles, Soppelsa, Albaret, 2004) was offered to pupils in first grade. This assessment was based on quality, writing speed and respect for the grammar of action in tracing letters. 135 pupils (average age: 6 years 9 months) were assessed. The results indicate that by the end of first grade 30% of pupils make at least one mistake (out of 5 lines of writing) and 12.6% make two or more. In addition, the number of errors was significantly correlated with the writing speed ie the pupils who perform the most mistakes are also the slowest. A year later, the pupils who made at least one fault were encountered and evaluated again, and only 5.9% of the original sample (N = 135) that is 8 students were still having some difficulties in complying with the grammar of action (10 errors on average). The analyses have failed to highlight the correlation between the different variables identified (quality, speed, number of faults direction). As a result of these findings, a second study was undertaken to understand if the grammar of action is a regularity of the handwriting identifiable by perception in kindergarden last year, second grade and fifth grade. The challenge is for the child to say whether the hand (video presentation) has a “strange” way of writing or not. In a second stage, the experimenter asks the child to justify his answer. The results show that pupils in second grade can detect irregularities in the grammar of action of pseudo-words writing in cursive script but it is not until the fifth grade that they are able to explain correctly what seems incongruous to them.

The discussion will focus on the necessary contribution to developmental psychology to deal with the issue of the relationship between teaching and learning. Indeed, it seems inevitable to question the status of knowledge (explicit vs. implicit) and the developmental sequence of development of this knowledge, before questioning their mode of transmission.