ABSTRACT

Children’s spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols (SFONS) has been identified as a relevant component of their early mathematical development. This study investigated whether SFONS is a separate construct from spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) and examined whether it is uniquely related to numerical abilities and mathematics achievement. Participants were 159 kindergartners (4-5-year-olds) who completed measures of SFONS, SFON, numerical abilities, mathematics achievement, spatial ability, and language ability. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a two-factor model representing a separate SFONS and SFON factor best fitted the data, indicating that SFONS is separate from SFON. Correlation and regression analyses showed that SFONS was associated with numerical abilities and mathematics achievement. These associations – except for verbal counting – remained after controlling for age, parental education, spatial ability, language ability, and SFON. These findings suggest that SFONS is a unique component of early mathematical development that deserves attention in early mathematics education.

摘要

儿童对阿拉伯数字符号（SFONS）的自发关注已被确定为他们早期数学发展的相关组成部分。本研究调查了 SFONS 是否是独立于自发关注数字 (SFON) 的独立结构，并检验了它是否与数字能力和数学成就唯一相关。参与者为 159 名幼儿园儿童（4-5 岁），他们完成了 SFONS、SFON、数字能力、数学成绩、空间能力和语言能力的测量。验证性因子分析表明，代表单独 SFONS 和 SFON 因子的双因子模型最适合数据，表明 SFONS 与 SFON 是分开的。相关和回归分析表明，SFONS 与数字能力和数学成就相关。在控制了年龄、父母教育、空间能力、语言能力和 SFON 之后，这些关联——除了口头计数——仍然存在。这些发现表明，SFONS 是早期数学发展的一个独特组成部分，在早期数学教育中值得关注。