Links between early literacy and early numeracy during preschool education in France

ABSTRACT

Children develop early literacy and numeracy skills from an early age. The primary aim of the current study is to examen links between early literacy skills and early numeracy skills during preschool education in France. This study involves 313 kindergarten students (152 girls and 161 boys), aged between 3.44 and 7.02 years (mean age = 5.07 years, standard deviation = 0.88). Regression analyses accounting for children’s characteristics and early literacy skills revealed that letter knowledge was a significant predictor of numeral identification and verbal counting in the three years of French école maternelle. Children’s characteristics (age and socioeconomic status) have an impact on early numeracy skills but only for the youngest students in school (petite section). These findings suggest that young children’s early numeracy skills are related to the acquisition of early literacy skills and to children’s characteristics. Implications for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Preschool
• early numeracy
• early literacy
• phonological awareness
• letter knowledge

Disclosure statement

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