[en] Number transcoding is the cognitive task of converting between different numerical codes (i.e. visual “42”, verbal “forty-two”). Visual symbolic to verbal transcoding and vice versa strongly relies on language proficiency. We evaluated transcoding of German-French bilinguals from Luxembourg in 5th, 8th, 11th graders and adults. In the Luxembourgish educational system, children acquire mathematics in German (LM1) until the 7th grade, and then the language of learning mathematic switches to French (LM2). French `70s `80s `90s are less transparent than `30s `40s `50s numbers, since they have a base-20 structure, which is not the case in German. Transcoding was evaluated with a reading aloud and a verbal-visual number matching task. Results of both tasks show a cognitive cost for transcoding numbers having a base-20 structure (i.e. `70s, `80s and `90s), such that response times were slower in all age groups. Furthermore, considering only base-10 numbers (i.e. `30s `40s `50s), it appeared that transcoding in LM2 (French) also entailed a cost. While participants across age groups tended to read numbers slower in LM2, this effect was limited to the youngest age group in the matching task. In addition, participants made more errors when reading LM2 numbers. In conclusion, we observed an age-independent language effect with numbers having a base-20 structure in French, reflecting their reduced transparency with respect to the decimal system. Moreover, we find an effect of language of math acquisition such that transcoding is less well mastered in LM2. This effect tended to persist until adulthood in the reading aloud task, while in the matching task performance both languages become similar in older adolescents and young adults. This study supports the link between numbers and language, especially highlighting the impact of language on reading numbers aloud from childhood to adulthood.
Disciplines :
Neurosciences & behavior
Author, co-author :
LACHELIN, Remy ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS)
Van Rinsveld, Amandine; Stanford University > Graduate School of Education
Poncin, Alexandre; Institute of Cognitive Science and Assessment > Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences
SCHILTZ, Christine ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS)
External co-authors :
no
Language :
English
Title :
Number transcoding in bilinguals—A transversal developmental study
Publication date :
29 August 2022
Journal title :
PLoS ONE
eISSN :
1932-6203
Publisher :
Public Library of Science, San Franscisco, United States - California
scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.
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