The Influences of Executive Function and Relational Language on Number Relation Skills
2019-01
Loading...
View/Download File
Persistent link to this item
Statistics
View StatisticsJournal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Title
The Influences of Executive Function and Relational Language on Number Relation Skills
Authors
Published Date
2019-01
Publisher
Type
Thesis or Dissertation
Abstract
Executive function (EF) skills (i.e., inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) and relational language (e.g., more, equal, before, between) predict mathematical skills and may be particularly important for number relation skills, a component of early numeracy skills that involves the knowledge of cardinal (e.g., 5 is more than 4) and ordinal (e.g., 5 comes after 4) number relations. Specifically, comparing and making connections between numbers may require EF skills and relational language. I used a pretest – training – posttest paradigm to examine (a) whether EF skills and relational language influence number relation skills, (b) whether number relation skills mediate the reported relations between EF skills and mathematical skills, and between relational language and mathematical skills, (c) whether incorporating EF prompts and relational language instruction in number training has additional effects on number relation skills beyond number training alone, and (d) whether children’s initial EF skills predict pretest to posttest gains in number relation skills beyond their initial number relation skills. I found that (a) EF skills and relational language separately predicted number relation skills, (b) number relation skills fully mediated the associations between EF skills and mathematical skills, and between relational language and mathematical skills, (c) incorporating EF prompts and relational language instruction in number training did not have additional effects on children’s number relation skills, and (d) children’s initial EF skills did not predict improvement in number relation skills beyond their initial number relation skills. The results extend previous findings on the influences of EF skills and relational language on mathematical skills and have implications for future research and educational practices.
Description
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. January 2019. Major: Child Psychology. Advisors: Michèle Mazzocco, Maria Sera. 1 computer file (PDF); xi, 152 pages.
Related to
Replaces
License
Collections
Series/Report Number
Funding information
Isbn identifier
Doi identifier
Previously Published Citation
Suggested citation
Chan, Jenny Yun-Chen. (2019). The Influences of Executive Function and Relational Language on Number Relation Skills. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/219330.
Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.