Linguistic influences on mathematical development: How important is the transparency of the counting system?
Wales uses languages with both regular (Welsh) and irregular (English) counting systems. Three groups of 6- and 8-year-old Welsh children with varying degrees of exposure to the Welsh languagethose who spoke Welsh at both home and school; those who spoke Welsh only at home; and those who spoke only...
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| 格式: | Journal article |
| 語言: | English |
| 出版: |
2008
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| 總結: | Wales uses languages with both regular (Welsh) and irregular (English) counting systems. Three groups of 6- and 8-year-old Welsh children with varying degrees of exposure to the Welsh languagethose who spoke Welsh at both home and school; those who spoke Welsh only at home; and those who spoke only Englishwere given standardized tests of arithmetic and a test of understanding representations of two-digit numbers. Groups did not differ on the arithmetic tests, but both groups of Welsh speakers read and compared 2-digit numbers more accurately than monolingual English children. A similar study was carried out with Tamil/English bilingual children in England. The Tamil counting system is more transparent than English but less so than Welsh or Chinese. Tamil-speaking children performed better than monolingual English-speaking children on one of the standardized arithmetic tests but did not differ in their comparison of two-digit numbers. Reasons for the findings are discussed. |
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