Spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols: A unique component of children’s early mathematical development?

ABSTRACT

Children’s spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols (SFONS) has been identified as a relevant component of their early mathematical development. This study investigated whether SFONS is a separate construct from spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) and examined whether it is uniquely related to numerical abilities and mathematics achievement. Participants were 159 kindergartners (4-5-year-olds) who completed measures of SFONS, SFON, numerical abilities, mathematics achievement, spatial ability, and language ability. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a two-factor model representing a separate SFONS and SFON factor best fitted the data, indicating that SFONS is separate from SFON. Correlation and regression analyses showed that SFONS was associated with numerical abilities and mathematics achievement. These associations – except for verbal counting – remained after controlling for age, parental education, spatial ability, language ability, and SFON. These findings suggest that SFONS is a unique component of early mathematical development that deserves attention in early mathematics education.

KEYWORDS:

• Mathematics
• children
• spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols
• spontaneous focusing on numerosity

Acknowledgments

Sanne Rathé is a PhD Fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). We would like to thank all children, parents, schools, and teachers for their participation. Special thanks to Xan Boen for designing the pictures of the Picture tasks.

Notes

1. Of the 18 number items, 10 items included Arabic numerals.

2. Raw scores were used because age (in months) was used as a control variable in the analyses.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sanne Rathé

Sanne Rathé is a PhD fellow of the Scientific Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and conducts her PhD research at the University of Leuven, Belgium. She has a bachelor’s degree in Primary Education and a master’s degree in Educational Sciences. Her research focuses on the role of young children’s spontaneous attention to number in early mathematical development. She is also interested in how parents and teachers influence children’s development of early mathematical understanding. As part of her PhD research she has conducted a 3-year longitudinal study – i.e., from the second year of kindergarten (4-5-year-olds) until first grade of primary school (6-7-year-olds) - in which she followed the developmental trajectories of young children’s spontaneous number focusing tendencies (i.e., spontaneous focusing on numerosity and spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols) in relation to their early mathematical development, taking into account the home and classroom environment.

Joke Torbeyns

Joke Torbeyns (1976, Leuven, Belgium) obtained in 2004 the degree of Doctor in Educational Sciences at the University of Leuven, Belgium. After having been a research fellow and a post-doc researcher of the Scientific Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and the University of Leuven, she became tenure track docent in educational sciences of that same university, with a main interest in instructional psychology and technology, particularly in the domain of early mathematics. Her current research projects focus on the development of early mathematics competencies, preschool teachers' professional competence in the domain of early mathematics, and the characteristics and design of (technology-enhanced) powerful learning environments in the domain of early mathematics. She (co-)authored numerous articles in international peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. Joke Torbeyns is member of the editorial board of Contemporary Educational Psychology.

Bert De Smedt

Bert De Smedt is a tenured associate professor in Educational Neuroscience at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Leuven, Belgium. His primary interest is in understanding individual differences in children’s mathematical skills: why are some children good at math and why do others experience (life-long) difficulties in this basic academic competency. He and his team use both behavioral and brain imaging methods to understand how children develop arithmetical skills and what neurocognitive mechanisms underlie this typical and atypical numerical development. Bert De Smedt serves as an associate editor of the peer-reviewed journals Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Psychologica Belgica and Mind, Brain and Education. He is also an editorial board member of the Journal of Educational Psychology and Developmental Science. In 2013 he received the Erik De Corte Early Career Award of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) and in 2014 he was awarded the Early Career Award of the International Mind Brain and Education Society (IMBES). In 2016, he was elected as an Academic Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and in 2018 he was awarded the Laureate of the Royal Flemish Academy for Sciences and Arts. He is the current president-elect of the International Mind Brain and Education Society.

Lieven Verschaffel

Lieven Verschaffel (1957, Eeklo, Belgium) obtained in 1984 the degree of Doctor in Educational Sciences at the University of Leuven, Belgium. After having been a research fellow and a post-doc researcher of the Scientific Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), he became professor in educational sciences of that same university, with a main interest in educational psychology and more particularly learning and teaching in specific content domains, particularly mathematics. His main research topics are early mathematics education, whole number arithmetic, and word problem solving. He (co-)authored numerous articles in international peer-reviewed journals and also many (edited) books and book chapters. Lieven Verschaffel is member of the editorial board of various international journals in the domain of (mathematics) learning and teaching.