The Relations between Phonological Processing Abilities and Emerging Individual Differences in Mathematical Computation Skills: A Longitudinal Study from Second to Fifth Grades

Exploring the impact of phonological awareness, visual–spatial working memory, and preschool quantity–number competencies on mathematics achievement in elementary school: Findings from a 3-year longitudinal study

“…In a first step of analysis, we were able to replicate core findings of previous longitudinal studies that found substantial correlations not only between early quantity-number competencies and math performance in school (see Aunola et al, 2004;Gersten et al, 2005;Jordan et al, 2007;Koponen, Aunola, Ahonen, & Nurmi, 2007;Krajewski & Schneider, in press;Passolunghi, et al, 2007;Stern, 1997Stern, , 1999, but also between early phonological awareness and math school performance (e.g., Alloway et al, 2005;Bradley & Bryant, 1985;Hecht et al, 2001;Koponen, Aunola, Ahonen, & Nurmi, 2007;Leather & Henry, 1994;Simmons, Singleton, & Horne, 2008). The latter were comparable in size with correlations between phonological awareness and subsequent literacy achievement in school found in studies on literacy development (e.g., Schneider & Näslund, 1999).…”

“…Findings of a recent study by Alloway et al (2005) indicate that the central executive component of Baddeley's model may also affect literacy development, particularly in the case of children at-risk (see also Schuchardt et al, 2006). Similar relationships with early individual differences in the phonological component of working memory have also been reported for math achievement (Berg, 2008;Rasmussen & Bisanz, 2005;Hecht, Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 2001; but see Lee, Ng, Ng, & Lim, 2004;Swanson, 2006). Here, effects of the central executive seem particularly strong (Bull, Espy, & Wiebe, 2008;Geary, Brown, & Samaranayake, 1991;Geary & Hoard, 2001;Gersten, Jordan, & Flojo, 2005;Leather & Henry, 1994;Lee, Ng, Ng, & Lim, 2004;Lemaire, Abdi, & Fayol, 1996;Logie, Gilhooly, & Wynn, 1994;Passolunghi, & Siegel, 2004;Passolunghi, Vercelloni, & Schadee, 2007;Rammelaere, Stuyven, & Vandierendonck, 2001;Swanson, 2006;Swanson & Beebe-Frankenberger, 2004;Thomas, Zoelch, Seitz-Stein, & Schumann-Hengsteler, 2006).…”

“…Also, findings by Hecht, Torgesen, Wagner, and Rashotte (2001) suggest substantial interrelationships among indicators of phonological awareness (phoneme elision, phoneme segmentation, sound categorization, blending phonemes) and math performance in Grades 2 to 5, with correlations ranging between r = .47 and r = .56. In the cross-sectional study by Leather and Henry (1994) 31% of the variance in arithmetical achievement at seven years of age were predicted by the composite phonological awareness score (initial and final consonant task, blending task, phoneme tapping).…”

“…For instance, indicators of working memory have been identified as potentially relevant unspecific predictors of both literacy and mathematics development in school (see Berg, 2008;Bull, Espy, & Wiebe, 2008;Geary, Hamson, & Hoard, 2000;Geary, Hoard, Byrd-Craven, Nugent, & Numtee, 2007;Hecht, Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 2001;Landerl, Bevan, & Butterworth, 2004;Swan & Goswami, 1997;Wolf, 1984). Phonological aspects of working memory, in particular, phonological recoding and phonological rehearsal processes as conceptualized in Baddeley's (1986) working memory model have been shown to affect subsequent literacy development during elementary school (see Daneman, 1987;Schneider & Näslund, 1999;Schuchardt, Kunze, Grube, & Hasselhorn, 2006;Swanson & Howell, 2001;Wagner & Torgesen, 1987).…”

“…In a second step of analysis, we explored whether an direct impact of phonological awareness on school math performance, as already indicated by several studies (see Alloway et al, 2005;Aunola et al, 2004;Hecht et al, 2001;Koponen, Aunola, Ahonen, & Nurmi, 2007;Leather & Henry, 1994;Simmons, Singleton, & Horne, 2008) would prove stable when QNC skills as specific predictors of math performance were included in a causal model. Moreover, we were interested in exploring whether phonological awareness and visual-spatial working memory would contribute differently to the prediction of the different QNC skills and the school variable.…”