Abstract
Many studies have suggested that the concept of “number” is relatively independent from linguistic skills, although an increasing number of studies suggest that language abilities may play a pivotal role in the development of arithmetic skills. The condition of bilingualism can offer a unique perspective into the role of linguistic competence in numerical development. The present study was aimed at evaluating the relationship between language skills and early numeracy through a multilevel investigation in monolingual and bilingual minority children attending preschool. The sample included 156 preschool children. Of these, 77 were bilingual minority children (mean age = 58.27 ± 5.90), and 79 were monolinguals (mean age = 58.45 ± 6.03). The study focused on three levels of analysis: group differences in language and number skills, concurrent linguistic predictors of early numeracy and, finally, profile analysis of linguistic skills in children with impaired vs. adequate numeracy skills. The results showed that, apart from the expected differences in linguistic measures, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in numerical skills with a verbal component, such as semantic knowledge of digits, but they did not differ in a pure non-verbal component such as quantity comparison. The multigroup structural equation model indicated that letter knowledge was a significant predictor of the verbal component of numeracy for both groups. Phonological awareness was a significant predictor of numeracy skills only in the monolingual group. Profile analysis showed that children with a selective weakness in the non-verbal component of numeracy had fully adequate verbal skills. Results from the present study suggest that only some specific components of language competence predict numerical processing, although linguistic proficiency may not be a prerequisite for developing adequate early numeracy skills.
Highlights
The development of calculation skills is a strong predictor of academic achievement and a key goal of education, but few studies have addressed the determinants of the intuitive development of these skills in preschool years (Purpura et al, 2011), that is, how basic calculation and number skills spontaneously develop in children prior to formal instruction
This assumption is based on the consideration that in many cases bilinguals are less proficient than monolinguals in verbal measures of linguistic proficiency in their L2, and, if numerical processing tested in L2 is highly dependent on linguistic abilities, it follows that bilinguals should underperform compared to monolinguals
Our research has focused on this aspect, investigating what happens in very young children who have not yet been exposed to formal academic instruction and who learn Italian as their L2
Summary
The development of calculation skills is a strong predictor of academic achievement and a key goal of education, but few studies have addressed the determinants of the intuitive development of these skills in preschool years (Purpura et al, 2011), that is, how basic calculation and number skills spontaneously develop in children prior to formal instruction. LeFevre et al (2010) and Sowinski et al (2015) tested a set of cognitive precursors of early numerical skills, referred to as the Pathways to Mathematics Model, which, in its latest version (Sowinski et al, 2015), includes three main components – quantitative, linguistic, and working memory – as predictors of numerical (backward counting, arithmetic fluency, calculation, and number system knowledge) and reading variables It emerged that the quantitative pathway (subitizing, counting, and magnitude comparison) accounted for substantial portions of variance in numerical skills and that the linguistic pathway (vocabulary and phonological awareness) was related to all numerical dependent variables and was the sole significant predictor of reading. An analysis of early numeracy skills in this population and of the relationship with linguistic competence provides important theoretical contributions to the connection between language and mathematics and has implications for assessment procedures and targeted interventions in this understudied population
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