ERIC Number: EJ890912
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Nov
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0965
EISSN: N/A
The Cognitive Profile of Chinese Children with Mathematics Difficulties
Chan, Becky Mee-yin; Ho, Connie Suk-han
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, v107 n3 p260-279 Nov 2010
This study examined how four domain-specific skills (arithmetic procedural skills, number fact retrieval, place value concept, and number sense) and two domain-general processing skills (working memory and processing speed) may account for Chinese children's mathematics learning difficulties. Children with mathematics difficulties (MD) of two age groups (7-8 and 9-11 years) were compared with age-matched typically achieving children. For both age groups, children with MD performed significantly worse than their age-matched controls on all of the domain-specific and domain-general measures. Further analyses revealed that the MD children with literacy difficulties (MD/RD group) performed the worst on all of the measures, whereas the MD-only group was significantly outperformed by the controls on the four domain-specific measures and verbal working memory. Stepwise discriminant analyses showed that both number fact retrieval and place value concept were significant factors differentiating the MD and non-MD children. To conclude, deficits in domain-specific skills, especially those of number fact retrieval and place value understanding, characterize the profile of Chinese children with MD. (Contains 7 tables.)
Descriptors: Learning Problems, Mathematics Education, Short Term Memory, Number Concepts, Cognitive Ability, Foreign Countries, Mathematics Skills, Arithmetic, Mathematical Concepts, Numbers, Numeracy, Cognitive Processes, Age Differences, Comparative Analysis, Reading Difficulties
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A