Bilateral Austria: three hundred-and-twenty-eight and 328: cross-format number integration and its relationship to mathematics performance

算术是识字中的灰姑娘，研究要少得多，但至少对就业和生活成功的重要性不亚于识字。这项研究项目将调查基本算术原理的发展，即数字词和数字符号之间的联系，目的是找出导致数字低的潜在风险因素。进入小学的儿童需要从主要使用口语数字词(例如‘23’)转变为能够在听到口语数字词后写下正确的多位阿拉伯字符串(例如‘23’)。这被称为数字单词代码转换，是数学发展的基础。这个项目将研究数字单词和阿拉伯数字之间代码转换的三个方面。首先，我们将分析单个阿拉伯数字(例如，‘8’)和相应数字单词(例如，‘8’)之间的映射，因为单个阿拉伯数字是所有阿拉伯多数字字符串(例如，28732)的基本构件。大多数小学儿童已经知道单一的阿拉伯数字。我们认为，在小学阶段，儿童在数字和数字词之间的映射效率仍在提高。在这个项目中，我们将通过测量不同年龄儿童的映射效率来测试这一点。我们还将测量儿童的数学能力，看看映射的效率是否与他们的数学能力有关。其次，本项目将研究多位数字转码。这一点很重要，因为儿童在小学处理的大多数数字都是多位数字(例如，2015)，而且指令通常是口头给出的(例如，‘32’)。我们将跟踪儿童从一年级到三年级，并每年测试他们对多位数字的代码转换能力以及其他数字技能。我们还将测试他们的数学表现。这项研究将使我们能够确定，一个孩子在第一年准确地对多个数字进行代码转换的能力，是否可以预测他们的数学能力在接下来的几年里会比其他数字技能更好地发展。第三，数字词取决于一个人所说的语言。进入小学的非母语儿童将不太熟悉母语数字单词及其与阿拉伯数字的对应关系。考虑到英国和整个欧洲许多小学儿童的多语言环境，重要的是要找出语言因素是否以及如何影响口语数字单词和阿拉伯数字之间的联系。我们将通过比较来自英语和德语两种语言背景的单语儿童来考察语言对数字转码的影响。除了增加我们对数字转码过程的了解外，这项研究项目还将带来评估儿童数字技能的新方法，并从长远来看，将帮助那些在数学方面遇到困难的本地人和非本地人的儿童。

Numeracy is the Cinderella of literacy, much less researched but at least as important for employment and life success as literacy. This research project will investigate the development of a fundamental principle of numeracy, the link between number words and number symbols, with the aim to identify potential risk factors for low numeracy.Children entering primary school need to shift from using mainly spoken numbers words (e.g., 'twenty-three') to being able to write down the correct multi-digit Arabic strings (e.g., '23') upon hearing spoken number words. This is called number word transcoding and fundamental for mathematical development.This project will investigate three aspects of transcoding between number words and Arabic digits. First, we will analyse the mapping between single Arabic digits (e.g., '8') and the corresponding number words (e.g., 'eight'), because the single Arabic digits are the basic building blocks for all Arabic multi-digit strings (e.g. 28732). Most children in primary school already know the single Arabic digits. We propose that the efficiency with which children map between digits and number words is still increasing in primary school. In this project we will test this by measuring the efficiency of the mapping in children of different ages. We will also measure children's mathematical ability to see whether the efficiency of the mapping is related to their mathematical ability. Secondly, this project will investigate multi-digit number transcoding. This is important because most of the numbers children are dealing with in primary school are multi-digit numbers (e.g., 2015) and instructions are often given verbally (e.g., 'thirty-two'). We will follow children from Year 1 to Year 3 and measure their ability to transcode multi-digit numbers as well as other number skills every year. We will also test their maths performance. This study will enable us to decide whether a child's ability to transcode multi-digits accurately in Year 1 predicts how their mathematical ability will develop over the next few years better than other measures of numerical skills.Thirdly, number words depend on the language a person speaks. Non-native children entering primary school will be much less familiar with native number words and their mapping to the Arabic digits. Given the multilingual context of many children in primary school in the UK and across Europe, it is important to find out whether and if so, how, language factors influence the association between spoken number words and Arabic digits. We will investigate the influence of language on number transcoding by comparing monolingual children from two language backgrounds: English and German. In addition to increasing our knowledge about the process of number transcoding, this research project will lead to new ways of assessing children's number skills and will in the long run help native and non-native children who struggle with maths.