Acquiring the cardinal knowledge of number words: A conceptual replication
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Rousselle, Laurence
Vossius, Line
Abstract / Description
Understanding the way in which counting represent numerosities was shown to be a long-lasting process. As shown in the Give-a-number task, acquiring the meanings of verbal number words goes through successive developmental stages in which children first learn the cardinal meanings of small number words one at a time before generalizing the cardinal principle they have induced from the first three number words to all number words within their counting range. This acquisition would take about a year, and would be completed by the age of 3 ½ years. The aim of the present study was to provide a conceptual replication of the developmental sequence described in Wynn’s study nearly 30 years ago using the Give-a-number task. A first cross-sectional study was conducted on 213 Belgian children aged between 39 and 74 months using the Give-a-number task to examine the developmental pattern and the influence of age on this acquisition. The time span of acquisition was examined in a second study in which 34 children were tested five times every months between the age of 36 to 52 months. Results showed that acquiring the cardinal meanings of number words spread out over a protracted period, far more extended than assumed by Wynn. Furthermore, children do not generalize all-at-once to large number words, the cardinal knowledge they learned on small number words. Rather, number words were found to be learned one at a time in a really progressive manner. Results were discussed with regard to their implications for the existing theories and in relation with other tasks assessing the acquisition of verbal number symbols.
Keyword(s)
numerical development mathematics education cardinality cardinal principle number words number meaning preschoolers counting Give-N knower-levelsPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2021-11-30
Journal title
Journal of Numerical Cognition
Volume
7
Issue
3
Page numbers
411–434
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Rousselle, L., & Vossius, L. (2021). Acquiring the cardinal knowledge of number words: A conceptual replication. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 7(3), 411-434. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.7029
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jnc.v7i3.7029.pdfAdobe PDF - 8.89MBMD5: 2c02d7b108dfd3d954730e926ad8bcea
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Rousselle, Laurence
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Vossius, Line
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-04-14T11:22:09Z
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Made available on2022-04-14T11:22:09Z
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Date of first publication2021-11-30
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Abstract / DescriptionUnderstanding the way in which counting represent numerosities was shown to be a long-lasting process. As shown in the Give-a-number task, acquiring the meanings of verbal number words goes through successive developmental stages in which children first learn the cardinal meanings of small number words one at a time before generalizing the cardinal principle they have induced from the first three number words to all number words within their counting range. This acquisition would take about a year, and would be completed by the age of 3 ½ years. The aim of the present study was to provide a conceptual replication of the developmental sequence described in Wynn’s study nearly 30 years ago using the Give-a-number task. A first cross-sectional study was conducted on 213 Belgian children aged between 39 and 74 months using the Give-a-number task to examine the developmental pattern and the influence of age on this acquisition. The time span of acquisition was examined in a second study in which 34 children were tested five times every months between the age of 36 to 52 months. Results showed that acquiring the cardinal meanings of number words spread out over a protracted period, far more extended than assumed by Wynn. Furthermore, children do not generalize all-at-once to large number words, the cardinal knowledge they learned on small number words. Rather, number words were found to be learned one at a time in a really progressive manner. Results were discussed with regard to their implications for the existing theories and in relation with other tasks assessing the acquisition of verbal number symbols.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationRousselle, L., & Vossius, L. (2021). Acquiring the cardinal knowledge of number words: A conceptual replication. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 7(3), 411-434. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.7029en_US
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ISSN2363-8761
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5509
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6113
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.7029
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Is related tohttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5166
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Keyword(s)numerical developmenten_US
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Keyword(s)mathematics educationen_US
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Keyword(s)cardinalityen_US
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Keyword(s)cardinal principleen_US
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Keyword(s)number wordsen_US
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Keyword(s)number meaningen_US
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Keyword(s)preschoolersen_US
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Keyword(s)countingen_US
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Keyword(s)Give-Nen_US
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Keyword(s)knower-levelsen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleAcquiring the cardinal knowledge of number words: A conceptual replicationen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue3
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Journal titleJournal of Numerical Cognition
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Page numbers411–434
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Volume7
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Visible tag(s)Version of Recorden_US