title: Differences in Arithmetic Performance between Chinese and German Children Are Accompanied by Differences in Processing of Symbolic Numerical Magnitude.
abstract: Symbolic numerical magnitude processing skills are assumed to be fundamental to arithmetic learning. It is, however, still an open question whether better arithmetic skills are reflected in symbolic numerical magnitude processing skills. To address this issue, Chinese and German third graders were compared regarding their performance in arithmetic tasks and in a symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task. Chinese children performed better in the arithmetic tasks and were faster in deciding which one of two Arabic numbers was numerically larger. The group difference in symbolic numerical magnitude processing was fully mediated by the performance in arithmetic tasks. We assume that a higher degree of familiarity with arithmetic in Chinese compared to German children leads to a higher speed of retrieving symbolic numerical magnitude knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Human Development, German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF)Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Center for Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at RiskFrankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lonnemann
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Human Development, German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF)Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Center for Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at RiskFrankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Janosch
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Linkersdörfer
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Human Development, German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF)Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Center for Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at RiskFrankfurt am Main, Germany; Department of Educational Psychology, Institute for Psychology, Goethe-UniversityFrankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasselhorn
authors.affiliation: Center for Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at RiskFrankfurt am Main, Germany; Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Paderborn UniversityPaderborn, Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lindberg
keywords: arithmetic; cross-national comparison; elementary school; magnitude comparison; symbolic number representation