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The relationships between quantity‐number competencies, working memory, and phonological awareness in 5‐ and 6‐year‐olds
Author(s) -
Michalczyk Kurt,
Krajewski Kristin,
Preβler AnnaLena,
Hasselhorn Marcus
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/bjdp.12016
Subject(s) - working memory , phonological awareness , psychology , baddeley's model of working memory , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , short term memory , cognition , pedagogy , neuroscience , literacy
In this study, the interdependencies among phonological awareness, verbal working memory components, and early numerical skills in children 1 year before school entry are addressed. Early numerical skills were conceptualized as quantity‐number competencies ( QNC ) at both basic ( QNC Level 1) and advanced ( QNC Level 2) levels. In a sample of 1,343 children aged 5 and 6, structural equation modelling provided support for the isolated number words hypothesis ( K rajewski & S chneider, 2009, J . E xp . C hild P sychol ., 103 , 516–531). This hypothesis claims that phonological awareness contributes to the acquisition of QNC Level 1, such as learning the number word sequence, but not of QNC Level 2, which requires the linkage of number words to quantities. In addition, phonological awareness relied on verbal working memory, especially with regard to the phonological loop, central executive, and episodic buffer. The results were congruent with the idea that phonological awareness mediates the impact of verbal working memory on QNC s. The relationships between verbal working memory, phonological awareness, and QNC s were comparable in monolingual and bilingual children.