The effects of number naming systems and age factor variables on counting skills: Turkish and Dutch children

ABSTRACT

In this study, the effects of the number naming system and age factor on the counting skills of children speaking Turkish and Dutch at the ages of 4 (n = 50) and 5 (n = 50) were examined. Children were given four counting skill tasks which were designed with different scenarios for children’s counting skills under the sub-headings of rote counting, visual number knowledge, object counting, and partial sequence verbal counting. The tasks were planned to be analysed by considering errorless counting, verbal counting mistakes, and object counting mistakes. It was observed that the 4-year-old Turkish-speaking children tended to be able to count without errors more in rote counting, object counting, and partial sequence verbal counting tasks as compared with Dutch-speaking children. The findings from the tasks for counting skills suggest that the number naming system has an effect on some counting tasks. On the other hand, since 4-year-old Turkish-speaking children are more successful than Dutch-speaking children of the same age and this situation changes in favor of 5-year-old Dutch-speaking children, it is recommended that the factors related to this issue be examined in more detail for both the Netherlands and Turkey in terms of cultural differences.

KEYWORDS:

• Number naming system
• counting
• language effect
• preschool

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).