Background: Math learning is a complex process that entails a wide range of cognitive abilities to be fulfilled. There is sufficient evidence that both general and specific cognitive skills assume a fundamental role, despite the absence of shared consensus about the relative extent of their involvement. Moreover, regarding general abilities, there…

Background: The awareness of the formal structure of language has been widely studied in the literature but less in a bilingualism context. Even less with second-language learners (SLL) who are acquiring their second language (L2) and are not considered as bilinguals. Aims: This study aimed at providing an investigation of young SLL's skills…

Background: The ability to compare numbers, as the most basic form of number sense, has been related to arithmetical achievement. Aims: The current study addressed the predictive value of non-symbolic and symbolic (number word (NW) and Arabic number (AN)) comparison for arithmetics by means of a longitudinal design. Sample: Sixteen children with…

Background: Remarkably few studies have investigated the nature and origin of learning difficulties in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Aims: To investigate math achievement in terms of word-problem solving ability in children with CP and controls. Because of the potential importance of reading for word-problem solving, we investigated reading…

Background: Many contributing factors, both domain specific and domain general, influence children's performance in school achievement. Aims: This research aims to verify the importance of kindergarten measures of cognitive abilities and numerical competence in the role of predicting mathematical school achievement at the end of first grade.…

Background: The relationship between executive functions and mathematical skills has been studied extensively, but results are inconclusive, and how this relationship evolves longitudinally is largely unknown. Aim: The aim was to investigate the factor structure of executive functions in inhibition, shifting, and updating; the longitudinal…

Background: Many countries rely on immigrants for population growth and to maintain a skilled workforce. However, many such immigrants face literacy-related barriers to success in education and in the labour force. Aims: This meta-analysis reviews experimental and quasi-experimental studies to examine strategies for teaching English literacy to…

Background: There are two approaches to the differential examination of school motivation. The first is to examine motivation towards specific school subjects (between school subject differentiation). The second is to examine school motivation as a multidimensional concept that varies in terms of not only intensity but also quality (within school…

Background: In the context of the British Government's policy directed on improving standards in schools, this paper presents research on the effects of a programme intended to promote the cognitive development of children in the first 2 years of primary school (Y1 & 2, aged 5-7 years). The programme is based on earlier work dealing with…

Background: A strong link between phonological awareness (PA) and literacy exists, but the origins of this link are difficult to investigate, since PA skills are hard to test in young, pre-literate children, and many studies neither include such children nor report children's initial literacy levels. Aims: To examine PA and literacy in children…

Background: The behavioural and academic performance of young children with teachers' reported hyperactivity, conduct problems or inattention is under debate. Aim: This study investigates the associations between teachers' reported behavioural difficulties and academic and cognitive performances in two large samples of preschool and school…

Background: Various studies on analogical problem solving have shown that children can be taught to use analogies within a single session, but it is not known whether they can be taught a strategy for using analogical problem solving that persists over a period of time. Aim: Our study focused on the effects of prior assistance in analogy use on…

Peer mediation with young children is a relatively novel approach aimed at teaching young children how to mediate to their peers. The main benefits of peer mediation are in developing children's mediation teaching style and cognitive modifiability. The peer mediation developed recently is based on Vygotsky's sociocultural and Feuerstein's…

Background: It has been suggested that children's learning motivation and interest in a particular subject play an important role in their school performance, particularly in mathematics. However, few cross-lagged longitudinal studies have been carried out to investigate the prospective relationships between academic achievement and task…

Background: Studies focusing on reading errors can help to understand how children learn to read and to structure key components of reading instruction. However, no prior studies have examined which letters might be a greater source of difficulty for beginning readers in Spanish. Aims: First, to examine the pattern of reading errors in beginning…