From: leung@DSG.Tandem.COM (Steven Leung)
Subject: Link bet'n math skill and linguistic characteristics
Originator: leung@bittemple
Organization: Tandem Computers
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 16:52:19 GMT


This is from CND:
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4. Newsfeature: Study Says Math Easier in Chinese ....................... 78
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Forwarded by: A CND Reader
Source: UPI Newsfeature, 12/29/1992
 
COLUMBIA, Mo. U.S.A. -- Little Johnny can't add as quickly as students in
China because his language has more tongue-tying arithmetic words, a new
study suggests.
 
And even the slight difference between the pronunciation of the Chinese word
"yi" and its English translation "one" contributes to a math gap that the
study says puts China's elementary school students ahead of those in the
United States.
 
The study, believed to be the first linking language and math skills, was
part of a three-year collaboration by researchers at the University of Mis-
souri in Columbia and China's national Institute for Educational Science in
Beijing. They've been observing groups of kindergartners and first graders
in each country.

...

Most English words for numbers are longer and, thus, take more time to pro-
nounce than the Chinese names. Also, number words above 10 are more arbi-
trary and harder to remember in English than the Chinese base- 10 system.
 
For example, Geary said, while an American student is pronouncing "seven-
teen" a Chinese student quickly says a two-syllable equivalent of "ten-
seven."

By focusing on kindergarten and first-grade students, Geary said, the
researchers sought to show why the math gap appeared even before children
were fully accustomed to and molded by schooling. Researchers tested stu-
dents in each country for their ability to memorize strings of up to nine
digits and solve additional problems with pencils and paper. They also were
asked to describe their adding methods.
 
Chinese students outperformed the Americans every time. In the memory test,
students were asked to recite a digit string such as "three, seven, nine,
four." Compared to the Americans, the Chinese kindergarten and first-grade
students correctly repeated an average 2.6 more digits and 2.7 more digits,
respectively, "since numbers are easier to pronounce in Chinese than in
English," Geary said.
 
In the addition test, the study said, beginning Chinese kindergarten stu-
dents solved 13 more problems within two minutes than their American coun-
terparts. Among students finishing first grade, the gap widened to a 39-
problem advantage for the Chinese.
 
When asked about their addition methods, researchers found that Chinese
students usually used verbal counting and "decomposition" -- breaking down
numbers like 12 into simpler equations like "five and five and two" -- while
American students usually counted with their fingers.
 
The Americans used "less sophisticated techniques" like finger counting
because the English language makes it harder to memorize numbers, Geary
said.
 
On the other hand, he said, the Chinese students' "use of this very sophis-
ticated decomposition strategy is more easily induced because of their
language."
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Well, as chinese, I guess we'd feel flattered by such researches. However,
I have some problems with their approach. I don't doubt that there are
certain facts such as average number of repeated digits or numbers of solved
problems etc., but the interpretation of these statistics seems to be pretty
arbitrary. In particular, if they are really serious about the thesis that
simpler lingustic characteristic of a language gives one an edge in math
skills, then not only they should show english-speaking is disadvantageous
w.r.t. chinese speaking, but also show that it is advantageous w.r.t. other
language that requires more complicated pronouciation. I don't understand why
the researcher doesn't provide results of the second part. I have the feeling
that if they compare the Indian language and english and their math skills, it
may not support their thesis. Does anyone know the pronouciation of numbers
in Indian?

Steven
-- 
328. Seek opportunity, not security. ...
        - Life's Little Instruction Book by H. J. Brown, Jr.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.china