The role of number naming systems and numeracy experiences in children's rote counting: Evidence from Turkish and Canadian children

Cardinal Number Acquisition of Turkish Children

“…They stated that the mistakes of young children when they are counting are caused by the method these authors used and by cardinal numbers. In addition to these results, subsequent researchers have revealed the influence of culture in cardinal number acquisition (Campbell and Xue, 2001;Sarnecka et al, 2007;Aunio et al, 2014;Cankaya et al, 2014). In this study, we aimed to contribute to the discussion in the literature by examining the acquisition of cardinal numbers by Turkish children.…”

“…In English, after 10, the number words progress in the form of "ten, eleven, twelve", whereas in Turkish, they progress in the form of "ten, ten-one, ten-two" (in Turkish, "on, on-bir, on-iki"). Differences in language structure can play an important role in children's acquisition of numbers (Miller et al, 1995;Lefevre et al, 2002;Göbel et al, 2011;Krinzinger et al, 2011;Cankaya et al, 2014).…”

Morphological awareness longitudinally predicts counting ability in Chinese kindergarteners

“…The base-10 structure is not transparent in the English number naming system, particularly for teen quantities (e.g., Cankaya, LeFevre, & Dunbar, 2014). For example, "11" is "eleven," which does not indicate a clear semantic relation to the prior number words, one to ten, or the base-10 structure.…”

Basic mathematical cognition

“…Cankaya et al replicated the above advantage in the context of Turkish students (whose language, like Chinese, exhibits a regular pattern with respect to the names of number words) and English‐speaking Canadians. However, they also found that all students who participated in the experiment (which involved a counting and number‐naming game) improved in their numerical competence, suggesting both that the advantage of a regular language may be quite limited and that other factors, such as the participation in activities that incorporate mathematical ideas and inferences, may prove to be just as or more important components of explaining variations in mathematical proficiency even within narrow domains . Hence, while it is clear that language plays a role in many instances of normal mathematical cognition, evidence of a strong connection between our capacity for mathematics and that for language is scarce and most commonly observed in tasks that involve language in a more‐or‐less direct way (such as learning number words).…”

“…However, they also found that all students who participated in the experiment (which involved a counting and number-naming game) improved in their numerical competence, suggesting both that the advantage of a regular language may be quite limited and that other factors, such as the participation in activities that incorporate mathematical ideas and inferences, may prove to be just as or more important components of explaining variations in mathematical proficiency even within narrow domains. 69 Hence, while it is clear that language plays a role in many instances of normal mathematical cognition, evidence of a strong connection between our capacity for mathematics and that for language is scarce and most commonly observed in tasks that involve language in a more-or-less direct way (such as learning number words). Moreover, both subjects with linguistic impairments that interfere with speed and accuracy in verbal counting tasks and those with impairments affecting their ability to utilize and compare symbols can nevertheless be as good as controls in tasks that do not involve the impairment (such as non-verbal/non-symbolic number comparison tasks).…”