Exploring the impact of phonological awareness, visual-spatial working memory, and preschool quantity-number competencies on mathematics achievement in elementary school : findings from a 3-year-longitudinal study

Abstract

This longitudinal study explored the importance of kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, working memory, and quantity-number competencies (QNC) for predicting mathematical school achievement in third graders (mean age 8;8 years). It was found that the impact of phonological awareness and visual-spatial working memory, assessed at five years of age, was mediated by early QNC, which predicted math achievement in third grade. Importantly, and confirming our isolated number-words hypothesis, phonological awareness had no impact on higher numerical competencies (i.e., when number words had to be linked with quantities; QNC Level II and above), but predicted basic numerical competencies (i.e., when number words were isolated from quantities; QNC Level I), which explained the moderate relationship between early literacy development and the development of mathematical competencies.