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ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0630-5716
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Psychology
Degree Type
Master of Science (M.S.)
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Month Degree Awarded
February
Abstract
Counting is the first formal exposure for children to learn numerals, which are constructed with a set of syntactic rules. Young children undergo many stages of rote-memorization of the sequence and eventually count through 100. What core knowledge is necessary to expand their number knowledge to higher numbers? The compositionality of numerals is a key to understanding the natural number system as in learning languages. Higher numbers (e.g., two hundred five) are constructed with the lexical items such as earlier numbers (e.g., one to nine) and multipliers. If children develop their understanding of the compositionality of numerals, they might comprehend complex numerals far beyond their count list. In a novel task, the Number Word Comparison task, we tested whether children’s skill to compare the ones (e.g., five versus eight) can extend to complex numerals (e.g., two hundred five versus two hundred eight). Sixty-eight preschoolers completed three tasks, which measured counting fluency, number word comparison skills, and their cardinal principle knowledge. Children who were capable of comparing the ones performed above chance on average in comparing complex numerals. The performance in comparing complex numerals was strongly associated with their counting fluency. Based on these empirical results, we discuss a linguistic account of number acquisition in early childhood, proposing a link between learning the syntax of numerals and understanding the meaning behind them.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/20255220
First Advisor
Joonkoo Park
Recommended Citation
Hwang, Jihyun, "Children's Understanding of Compositionality of Complex Numerals" (2021). Masters Theses. 1015.
https://doi.org/10.7275/20255220
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1015