title: The relation between language and arithmetic in bilinguals: insights from different stages of language acquisition.
abstract: Solving arithmetic problems is a cognitive task that heavily relies on language processing. One might thus wonder whether this language-reliance leads to qualitative differences (e.g., greater difficulties, error types, etc.) in arithmetic for bilingual individuals who frequently have to solve arithmetic problems in more than one language. The present study investigated how proficiency in two languages interacts with arithmetic problem solving throughout language acquisition in adolescents and young adults. Additionally, we examined whether the number word structure that is specific to a given language plays a role in number processing over and above bilingual proficiency. We addressed these issues in a German-French educational bilingual setting, where there is a progressive transition from German to French as teaching language. Importantly, German and French number naming structures differ clearly, as two-digit number names follow a unit-ten order in German, but a ten-unit order in French. We implemented a transversal developmental design in which bilingual pupils from grades 7, 8, 10, 11, and young adults were asked to solve simple and complex additions in both languages. The results confirmed that language proficiency is crucial especially for complex addition computation. Simple additions in contrast can be retrieved equally well in both languages after extended language practice. Additional analyses revealed that over and above language proficiency, language-specific number word structures (e.g., unit-ten vs. ten-unit) also induced significant modulations of bilinguals' arithmetic performances. Taken together, these findings support the view of a strong relation between language and arithmetic in bilinguals.
authors.affiliation: Education, Culture, Cognition and Society, Institute of Cognitive Science and Assessment, University of Luxembourg Walferdange, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Amandine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Rinsveld
authors.affiliation: Berlin-Brandenburg Institute for School Quality, Free University of Berlin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Landerl
authors.affiliation: Education, Culture, Cognition and Society, Institute of Cognitive Science and Assessment, University of Luxembourg Walferdange, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schiltz
authors.affiliation: Luxembourg Center for Educational Testing, University of Luxembourg Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ugen
keywords: addition; arithmetic; bilingualism; language learning; numbers
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