Exploring mechanisms of rapid automatized naming to arithmetic skills in Chinese primary schoolers

Abstract

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) is associated with children's arithmetic performance, which is multifactorial by nature and consists of arithmetic fluency, arithmetic procedure, and word problems. Yet, it is unclear whether RAN can predict all key aspects of arithmetic skills independently and what cognitive mechanisms may explain this relation. Using a sample of Chinese primary school students (N = 170), results showed that while RAN was associated with all key aspects of arithmetic skills, the relations of RAN–arithmetic procedure and RAN–word problems may be dependent on that of RAN–arithmetic fluency. Supporting the processing speed hypothesis, results further suggested that processing speed may underlie the relation between RAN and arithmetic performance. Findings made unique contribution to understanding the effect of RAN on arithmetic performance and cognitive mechanisms that may underpin this association in the context of Chinese culture.

Language Ability Accounts for Ethnic Difference in Mathematics Achievement

“…Moreover, language intervention might also be useful to improve mathematical ability for majority group students. The difference in language ability can explain not only the ethnic differences in mathematical abilities between minority group students and majority group students, but also the individual differences in mathematical abilities among majority students (e.g., Singer et al, 2019;Peng et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020;Lin et al, 2021). Previous studies usually paid attention to the effect of mathematical language training on mathematics performances (e.g., Gibson et al, 2020;Purpura et al, 2021), the intervention effect of pure natural language itself should also be into our sight in future.…”