Mathematics, Reading comprehension and Word decoding
Mathematics, Reading comprehension and Word decoding
Mathematical skills and Reading skills: How are they related?
Mathematics is related to different kind of reading skills like decodification of words and reading comprehension.
In the study of Harlaar, Kovas, Dale, Petrill & Plomin, (2012), the authors stated that decoding skills (word recognition) are distinct from reading comprehension, and thus may have different relationships with mathematics.
In fact, looking at phenotypic analyses, correlations between word decoding and mathematics subtests were moderate (0.27 – 0.35), but still significantly lower than reading comprehension and mathematics subtests (0.46 – 0.51). Even so, word decoding and reading comprehension measures correlated moderately (0.36 – 0.42). Accordingly, phenotypic correlations among the association between mathematics and reading comprehension were significantly greater than the association between mathematics and word decoding. Besides, word decoding and reading comprehension were also substantially correlated.
On the other hand, looking at genetic analyses, reading comprehension showed high genetic correlations with both mathematics (0.76) and word decoding (0.66), even though the genetic correlation between word decoding and mathematics was significantly lower than with reading comprehension.
Therefore to sum up, phenotypic and genetic correlations between mathematics and reading comprehension were significantly greater than with word decoding. But it is important to point out that it does exist a relation with both.
Do numerical domain specificity contribute to the development of reading skills?
The Number System constitutes a domain-specific cognitive scaffolding on which high-level mathematical competence is assembled (Reigosa-Crespo et al., 2013). These authors have studied the relationship between basic numerical capacities (BNC) like Numerical Distance Effect (NDE), Counting Effect (CE) and Subitizing Effect (SE) and subsequently development of mathematics skills. Moreover, they have analyzed whether the domain specificity of the numerical effects contribute to the development of reading skills, such as decoding skills and reading comprehension in children who are 9-11 years old (elementary school).
Results showed that the size of the SE was a significant predictor of fluency in calculation and mathematics achievement, but not in reading skills. Therefore, Reigosa-Crespo et al. (2013) found out that domain-specific capacities, especially SE and to a lower extent CE, were related to more sophisticated mathematics skills.
References:
Harlaar, N., Kovas, Y., Dale, P. S., Petrill, S. A., & Plomin, R. (2012). Mathematics is differentially related to reading comprehension and word decoding: Evidence from a genetically-sensitive design. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(3). doi:10.1037/a0027646
Reigosa-Crespo, V., González-Alemañy, E., León, T., Torres, R., Mosquera, R., & Valdés-Sosa, M. (2013). Numerical Capacities as Domain-Specific Predictors beyond Early Mathematics Learning: A Longitudinal Study. PLoS ONE, 8(11). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079711