Abstract
Previous research has consistently found an association between spatial and mathematical abilities. We hypothesized that this link may partially explain the consistently observed advantage in mathematics demonstrated by East Asian children. Spatial complexity of the character-based writing systems may reflect or lead to a cognitive advantage relevant to mathematics. Seven hundered and twenty one 6–9-year old children from the UK and Russia were assessed on a battery of cognitive skills and arithmetic. The Russian children were recruited from specialist linguistic schools and divided into four different language groups, based on the second language they were learning (i.e., English, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese). The UK children attended regular schools and were not learning any second language. The testing took place twice across the school year, once at the beginning, before the start of the second language acquisition, and once at the end of the year. The study had two aims: (1) to test whether spatial ability predicts mathematical ability in 7–9 year-old children across the samples; (2) to test whether acquisition and usage of a character-based writing system leads to an advantage in performance in arithmetic and related cognitive tasks. The longitudinal link from spatial ability to mathematics was found only in the Russian sample. The effect of second language acquisition on mathematics or other cognitive skills was negligible, although some effect of Chinese language on mathematical reasoning was suggested. Overall, the findings suggest that although spatial ability is related to mathematics at this age, one academic year of exposure to spatially complex writing systems is not enough to provide a mathematical advantage. Other educational and socio-cultural factors might play a greater role in explaining individual and cross-cultural differences in arithmetic at this age.
Highlights
Research has shown that East Asian children on average outperform other children in mathematics (Miura, 1987; Song and Ginsburg, 1988; Stevenson and Stigler, 1992; Geary et al, 1993; Stevenson et al, 1993; Imbo and Vandierendonck, 2007; Mullis et al, 2008; OECD, 2010; Rodic et al, 2014)
This was done separately for the UK and Russian samples, as the two samples could not be directly compared: UK sample was heterogeneous in terms of biological age and years of schooling; the Russian children were selected from specialist language schools
Despite curricular and other sample differences, the rate of learning on all tasks over one academic year was very similar for the UK and Russian children
Summary
Research has shown that East Asian children on average outperform other children in mathematics (Miura, 1987; Song and Ginsburg, 1988; Stevenson and Stigler, 1992; Geary et al, 1993; Stevenson et al, 1993; Imbo and Vandierendonck, 2007; Mullis et al, 2008; OECD, 2010; Rodic et al, 2014) This advantage might partly be explained by the regular structure of the East Asian number system, as well as by the shorter pronunciation of numbers that leads to a greater digit span (Dehaene, 1997). This suggests that using oral Chinese, with its transparent number system and faster pronunciation of numbers, does not lead to mathematical advantage, at least for early arithmetic
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