diff --git a/__tests__/react/type.js b/__tests__/react/type.js
index f2b61552..ca804e9b 100644
--- a/__tests__/react/type.js
+++ b/__tests__/react/type.js
@@ -20,6 +20,28 @@ describe("userEvent.type", () => {
     expect(getByTestId("input")).toHaveProperty("value", text);
   });
 
+  it("should append text one by one", () => {
+    const onChange = jest.fn();
+    const { getByTestId } = render(
+      <input data-testid="input" onChange={onChange} />
+    );
+    userEvent.type(getByTestId("input"), "hello");
+    userEvent.type(getByTestId("input"), " world");
+    expect(onChange).toHaveBeenCalledTimes("hello world".length);
+    expect(getByTestId("input")).toHaveProperty("value", "hello world");
+  });
+
+  it("should append text all at once", () => {
+    const onChange = jest.fn();
+    const { getByTestId } = render(
+      <input data-testid="input" onChange={onChange} />
+    );
+    userEvent.type(getByTestId("input"), "hello", { allAtOnce: true });
+    userEvent.type(getByTestId("input"), " world", { allAtOnce: true });
+    expect(onChange).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(getByTestId("input")).toHaveProperty("value", "hello world");
+  });
+
   it("should not type when event.preventDefault() is called", () => {
     const onChange = jest.fn();
     const onKeydown = jest
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 6c602907..075e3edb 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -185,11 +185,15 @@ const userEvent = {
 
     const computedText = text.slice(0, element.maxLength || text.length);
 
+    const previousText = element.value;
+
     if (opts.allAtOnce) {
       if (element.readOnly) return;
-      fireEvent.input(element, { target: { value: computedText } });
+      fireEvent.input(element, {
+        target: { value: previousText + computedText }
+      });
     } else {
-      let actuallyTyped = "";
+      let actuallyTyped = previousText;
       for (let index = 0; index < text.length; index++) {
         const char = text[index];
         const key = char; // TODO: check if this also valid for characters with diacritic markers e.g. úé etc
@@ -211,7 +215,7 @@ const userEvent = {
           });
 
           const isTextPastThreshold =
-            (actuallyTyped + key).length > computedText.length;
+            (actuallyTyped + key).length > (previousText + computedText).length;
 
           if (pressEvent && !isTextPastThreshold) {
             actuallyTyped += key;