Does the transparency of the counting system affect children's numerical abilities?
The Welsh language uses a regular counting system, whereas English uses an irregular counting system, and schools within Wales teach either through the medium of Welsh or English. This provides the opportunity to compare linguistic effects on arithmetical skills in the absence of many other confound...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00945/full |
| _version_ | 1811216926347624448 |
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| author | Ann eDowker Manon eRoberts |
| author_facet | Ann eDowker Manon eRoberts |
| author_sort | Ann eDowker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Welsh language uses a regular counting system, whereas English uses an irregular counting system, and schools within Wales teach either through the medium of Welsh or English. This provides the opportunity to compare linguistic effects on arithmetical skills in the absence of many other confounding factors that arise in international comparisons. This study investigated the hypothesis that language properties influence children's performance in certain numerical tasks by comparing the performance of 20 Welsh- and 20 English-medium Year Two pupils in nonverbal line estimations and transcoding. Groups did not differ on global arithmetic abilities, but the pupils taught through the medium of Welsh on average performed better in the nonverbal line estimation tasks than the English-medium group. This superiority was most apparent in comparisons involving numbers over 20: a result which was complicated by the fact that Welsh-medium pupils showed a lower range of error scores than the English-medium pupils. These results were thought to be related to the increased transparency of the Welsh counting system. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T06:45:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2b7b6a34e53c432abdda30e28f48c4c2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T06:45:40Z |
| publishDate | 2015-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2b7b6a34e53c432abdda30e28f48c4c22022-12-22T03:43:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-07-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.00945129552Does the transparency of the counting system affect children's numerical abilities?Ann eDowker0Manon eRoberts1University of OxfordWorcester CollegeThe Welsh language uses a regular counting system, whereas English uses an irregular counting system, and schools within Wales teach either through the medium of Welsh or English. This provides the opportunity to compare linguistic effects on arithmetical skills in the absence of many other confounding factors that arise in international comparisons. This study investigated the hypothesis that language properties influence children's performance in certain numerical tasks by comparing the performance of 20 Welsh- and 20 English-medium Year Two pupils in nonverbal line estimations and transcoding. Groups did not differ on global arithmetic abilities, but the pupils taught through the medium of Welsh on average performed better in the nonverbal line estimation tasks than the English-medium group. This superiority was most apparent in comparisons involving numbers over 20: a result which was complicated by the fact that Welsh-medium pupils showed a lower range of error scores than the English-medium pupils. These results were thought to be related to the increased transparency of the Welsh counting system.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00945/fullCross-linguisticCross-culturalyoung childrennumber representationtranscodingnumber line estimation |
| spellingShingle | Ann eDowker Manon eRoberts Does the transparency of the counting system affect children's numerical abilities? Frontiers in Psychology Cross-linguistic Cross-cultural young children number representation transcoding number line estimation |
| title | Does the transparency of the counting system affect children's numerical abilities? |
| title_full | Does the transparency of the counting system affect children's numerical abilities? |
| title_fullStr | Does the transparency of the counting system affect children's numerical abilities? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does the transparency of the counting system affect children's numerical abilities? |
| title_short | Does the transparency of the counting system affect children's numerical abilities? |
| title_sort | does the transparency of the counting system affect children 39 s numerical abilities |
| topic | Cross-linguistic Cross-cultural young children number representation transcoding number line estimation |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00945/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT annedowker doesthetransparencyofthecountingsystemaffectchildren39snumericalabilities AT manoneroberts doesthetransparencyofthecountingsystemaffectchildren39snumericalabilities |