Abstracts - Earli

The development of elementary math: Results form a large scale longitudinal studyKrisztián Józsa, University of Szeged, HungaryRita Kelemen, University of Szeged, HungaryA number of studies have examined mathematical skills in kindertgarten- and school-age children.However, the literature does not seem to be rich in large-scale longitudinal studies, although it isthese that uncover individual developmental processes and the factors influencing thisdevelopment. The paper presents the results of a longitudinal study on the development ofelementary arithmetic. The sample (N=5000) is representative for Hungary regarding the students’gender, the parents’ education, territorial distribution and settlement type. At the time of the pretest,October 2003, the subjects attended grade 1. The instrument was an elementary arithmetictest, administered in individual sittings. It consisted of 58 items, its reliability was .925. This test ispart of the DIFER programme package, a standardised Hungarian diagnostic assessment battery.At the time of the post-test, May 2005, the children attended grade 2. A paper and pencil test wasadministered, which was developed in accordance with the Hungarian National Curriculum andthe American Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. It consisted of 95 items and itsreliability was .915. There are huge differences in the development of arithmetic skills even at thebeginning of schooling. There is a moderate correlation (r=.47) between the pre- and the post-test.The data makes it clear that the school cannot compensate for the disadvantages of childrenstarting school with less developed arithmetic skills: the vast initial differences remainedunchanged in the intervening 18 months. The mother’s education correlated at r=.44 with the pretestand at r=.35 with post-test. A regression analysis showed that the pre-test and the mother’seducation together explain 25% of the variance of the 2nd graders’ developmental level inarithmetic. The data also calls attention to the significant role of the family background and to thehighly selective nature of the Hungarian school system.Working memory contributions to young children’s oral comprehension of text: Merely mediatedby vocabulary comprehension?Elisavet Chrysochoou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GreeceZoe Bablekou, Aristotle Univerity of Thessaloniki, GreeceOur aim was to study whether the contributions of working memory (WM) to the oralcomprehension of text in childhood are direct or merely mediated by vocabulary comprehension.Our research was conducted in the frame of Baddeley and Hitch’s (1974; Baddeley, 1986) WMmodel. With regard to language comprehension, the phonological loop of the model (PL) isthought to maintain a phonological record that can be consulted during off-line processing. Thecentral executive (CE) of the model is assumed to be involved in the syntactic and semanticprocessing, in storing the products, in retrieving relevant information from long-term memory andin coordinating activities within WM. Both components could accordingly contribute either to thecomprehension of text words that are unknown to children or to the retrieval, from the lexicon, ofword meanings that are not accessed automatically yet. However, relevant studies are limited andhave not taken vocabulary comprehension into account. In the present study, we assessed 180children, divided into three groups (C.A. 5:7, 7:7 and 9:7, respectively), using PL and CE tasks, avocabulary task, as well as texts with accompanying comprehension questions. The results ofhierarchical regression analyses showed that the contribution of the CE measures was not merelymediated by vocabulary comprehension; it was also direct, in contrast to the PL measures. In linewith its role in text comprehension, the CE seems to also support higher-level processes involvedin text comprehension (e.g. inference making, simile comprehension, or comprehension control).Future research is proposed with regard to both oral and reading comprehension of text.– 80 –