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The influence of the place-value structure of the Arabic number ...

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<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> summands for carry compared to non-carry addition problems, <strong>the</strong> latter should<br />

lead to particular increase <strong>of</strong> fixations on <strong>the</strong> decade digit <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> result.<br />

Section 3: On <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> integration for arithmetic development<br />

1. Study 3: Language effects on children’s non-verbal <strong>number</strong> line estimations.<br />

In a recent study Zuber et al. (2009) showed <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong><br />

understanding for transcoding <strong>number</strong>s from one notation into ano<strong>the</strong>r as well as <strong>the</strong><br />

specific difficulties arising in a language (such as German) in which <strong>the</strong> order <strong>of</strong> tens<br />

and units is reversed in <strong>number</strong> words as compared to <strong>the</strong>ir symbolic instantiation<br />

when written in <strong>Arabic</strong> digits. Moreover, Moeller et al. (2009b) showed that in<br />

German speaking children <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> understanding is related to <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> spatial representation <strong>of</strong> <strong>number</strong> magnitude: mastery <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> <strong>structure</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>number</strong> system seems to be associated with <strong>the</strong> precision <strong>of</strong> children’s<br />

estimates when asked to mark <strong>the</strong> position <strong>of</strong> a given <strong>number</strong> on a hypo<strong>the</strong>tical<br />

<strong>number</strong> line. Children’s estimation performance was accounted for best by a twolinear<br />

model suggesting two separate representations <strong>of</strong> single- and two-digit <strong>number</strong>s<br />

indicating different processing <strong>of</strong> <strong>number</strong>s which require or do not require <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong><br />

integration to correctly understand <strong>the</strong>ir overall magnitude, <strong>the</strong>reby, again highlighting<br />

<strong>the</strong> impact <strong>of</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> properties. However, from <strong>the</strong>se studies it remains<br />

questionable whe<strong>the</strong>r this relation is specific for <strong>the</strong> German language (maybe driven<br />

by its inversion property) or ra<strong>the</strong>r culture invariant. This question was pursued in a<br />

cross cultural study replicating <strong>the</strong> results <strong>of</strong> Moeller et al. (2009b) in Italian speaking<br />

children who use a <strong>number</strong> word system without inversion and contrasting <strong>the</strong> results<br />

<strong>of</strong> German and Italian-speaking children in regard to <strong>the</strong> <strong>influence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong><br />

understanding on <strong>the</strong> results in a <strong>number</strong> line task.. This is particularly interesting as it<br />

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