📖Program Curriculum
Project details
A growing body of research suggests that different aspects of language influence the way we think about, represent and apply numbers and mathematical concepts. One aspect of language that has repeatedly been shown to affect numerical processing concerns the way numbers are named. Indeed, number-naming systems vary significantly across languages. For example, in English, two-digit numbers above twenty are named in the same order as they are written: first the tens and then the units (“forty-eight”). In Dutch or German, however, it is the opposite (“48” in Dutch or German is named “eight and forty”). Increasingly more studies show that such irregularities in number words can be a stumbling block for children’s mathematical development and can even affect numerical processing in adulthood. Given that bi and multi-lingualism is becoming increasingly common in our globalised world, considering how language influences the processing of numerical information in bilingual speakers and second-language learners becomes increasingly relevant.
This project aims at increasing our understanding into how the languages that we speak affect numerical and mathematical development which will in turn inform interventional approaches for multi-lingual language contexts and enhance educational practice.
The successful applicant will join the vibrant community of the Centre for Mathematical Cognition and the Mathematics Education Centre. The Centre for Mathematical Cognition, founded in 2019, includes new research facilities and brings together academics who conduct research in three different areas:
basic research on mathematical cognition
the design of research-based educational resources
the evaluation of educational interventions.
For informal enquiries about the project, please contact Dr Iro Xenidou-Dervou.
