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Understanding words, understanding numbers: an exploration of the mathematical profiles of poor comprehenders

Understanding words, understanding numbers: an exploration of the mathematical profiles of poor comprehenders
Understanding words, understanding numbers: an exploration of the mathematical profiles of poor comprehenders
Background: Poor comprehenders are children who show significant deficits in their reading comprehension performance, despite average, or above-average word reading ability. To date, there have been no in-depth studies of the mathematical performance profiles of such children.

Aims: This study aimed to explore the mathematical profiles of poor comprehenders. Given that language impairment is associated with difficulties with mathematics, and that poor comprehenders tend to have oral language weaknesses, we hypothesized that poor comprehenders would show relative weaknesses in aspects of mathematical performance.

Sample: From a sample of 109 children aged 7–8 years, we selected 14 poor comprehenders and 14 controls with age-appropriate reading comprehension ability. The groups were matched on non-verbal ability, multiple measures of reading accuracy, and chronological age.

Methods: We compared the performance of the group of poor comprehenders with that of the matched controls on two standardized measures of mathematical ability, one measuring procedural arithmetic prowess and the other tapping higher-level mathematical reasoning.

Results: Although there were no group differences in performance on the arithmetic measure, the poor comprehenders showed significantly lower scores than the controls on the mathematical reasoning task. The poor comprehenders exhibited impaired verbal ability relative to controls, with these differences in verbal ability associated with the group differences found on the test of mathematical reasoning.

Conclusions: Poor comprehenders' deficits are not limited to the domain of literacy; their underlying profile of impairments also seems to selectively impact on certain components of mathematical ability.

0007-0998
255-268
Pimperton, Hannah
705a9281-403e-4b1a-8de3-d46bf8f0a30a
Nation, Kate
327407ce-32b6-4efa-88f9-b5c21d63db9c
Pimperton, Hannah
705a9281-403e-4b1a-8de3-d46bf8f0a30a
Nation, Kate
327407ce-32b6-4efa-88f9-b5c21d63db9c

Pimperton, Hannah and Nation, Kate (2010) Understanding words, understanding numbers: an exploration of the mathematical profiles of poor comprehenders. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80 (2), 255-268. (doi:10.1111/(ISSN)2044-8279). (PMID:19857376)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Poor comprehenders are children who show significant deficits in their reading comprehension performance, despite average, or above-average word reading ability. To date, there have been no in-depth studies of the mathematical performance profiles of such children.

Aims: This study aimed to explore the mathematical profiles of poor comprehenders. Given that language impairment is associated with difficulties with mathematics, and that poor comprehenders tend to have oral language weaknesses, we hypothesized that poor comprehenders would show relative weaknesses in aspects of mathematical performance.

Sample: From a sample of 109 children aged 7–8 years, we selected 14 poor comprehenders and 14 controls with age-appropriate reading comprehension ability. The groups were matched on non-verbal ability, multiple measures of reading accuracy, and chronological age.

Methods: We compared the performance of the group of poor comprehenders with that of the matched controls on two standardized measures of mathematical ability, one measuring procedural arithmetic prowess and the other tapping higher-level mathematical reasoning.

Results: Although there were no group differences in performance on the arithmetic measure, the poor comprehenders showed significantly lower scores than the controls on the mathematical reasoning task. The poor comprehenders exhibited impaired verbal ability relative to controls, with these differences in verbal ability associated with the group differences found on the test of mathematical reasoning.

Conclusions: Poor comprehenders' deficits are not limited to the domain of literacy; their underlying profile of impairments also seems to selectively impact on certain components of mathematical ability.

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Published date: June 2010

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 181465
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/181465
ISSN: 0007-0998
PURE UUID: 5525abdc-0584-4007-95cd-23c50cb586cf

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Date deposited: 18 Apr 2011 13:04
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:55

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Author: Hannah Pimperton
Author: Kate Nation

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