Understanding and processing numbers among Chinese children

Chinese children learn mathematics using a user-friendly, regular number naming system. Such a number naming system has been suggested to facilitate Chinese children’s mathematical development. Recent studies investigated how Chinese children, with such a language advantage, understand and process Arabic numerals. These studies consistently indicate that Chinese children become able to process numerals proficiently and automatically and make sense of the place-value Arabic number system in the first grade, and children who fail to do so are apt to encounter difficulties in later mathematical learning. Moreover, recent findings show that Chinese children with mathematical difficulties have deficits in number-fact retrieval and the place-value concept. These studies prompted the first steps to explore Chinese children’s number processing and understanding. Yet, further studies are needed to provide a complete picture of how Chinese children process and understand numerals using a user-friendly number naming system. Copyright © 2014 American Psychological Association.