First graders' cognitive representation of number and understanding of place value: Cross-national comparisons: France, Japan, Korea, Sweden, and the United States.

Abstract

This study represents an attempt to replicate the results of earlier research comparing U.S. and Japanese 1st graders' cognitive representation of number and understanding of place value. First graders from France, Sweden, and Korea were also included in the study. This investigation examines the idea that variability in mathematics performance may be due, in part, to differences in cognitive representation of number that is affected by numerical language characteristics differentiating Asian- and non-Asian-language groups. Comparison of Asian- and non-Asian language speakers revealed that the performance of the children was different across the 2 groups but similar within the groups. There is strong evidence that cognitive representation of number may differ depending on the language spoken