Abstract: An interactive writing skills instructional apparatus includes a display device, such as an LCD panel, for displaying single or multi-stroke characters and an input digitizer for accepting user-entered characters that are representative of the displayed character. A program controller microprocessor grades the user-entered stroke or strokes by scanning the digitized representation of the user-entered stroke for extreme points, dividing the user-entered stroked into segments and then analyzing each segment in terms of the position of its start and end extreme points, segment orientations, curvature, relative position, direction drawn, and size. Deduction points are then assigned for deviations from the ideal value to yield a `grade`. The user is provided with a indication of performance including both audio and visual indications as a function of the performance grade.