Reading to learn? The co‐development of mathematics and reading during primary school

Abstract

Understanding how early reading and mathematics co-develop is important from both theoretical and pedagogical standpoints. Previous research has provided mixed results. This paper investigates the development of reading and mathematics in a longitudinal sample of N = 355,883 students from the United Kingdom (2005-2019) aged 5 to 12 (49% girls). Results indicate a positive relation between the development of the two domains. In addition, a substantial statistically significant positive association between prior reading scores and subsequent changes in achievement in mathematics was found, whereas changes in reading were smaller for students with a higher prior performance in mathematics. The findings suggest that acquiring good reading skills is highly relevant for developing mathematics skills. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. Note:We only considered studies that investigated models with paths from prior reading to subsequent mathematics and vice versa. Note that the meaning of cross-lagged coefficients can differ substantially when different modeling strategies are applied (e.g., Usami et al., 2019).

Early Elementary School Interventions in Reading and Mathematics

“…The researchers found that good reading performance predicts changes in mathematics performance, affecting students with weak mathematics performance positively. These studies concluded that reading skills seem to be predictive of mathematics development (Erbeli et al, 2021;Hübner et al, 2022).…”

“…The decision to parallelly evaluate two interventions stems from an interest in investigating if extensive training in one content area affects outcomes in the other as mathematics and reading development and learning seem related (Erbeli et al, 2021;Hübner et al, 2022;Peng et al, 2020). The overall project design offered a unique opportunity to study transfer of effects of intervention in addition to the expected impact on reading and mathematics skills respectively.…”

“…Mathematics and reading skills typically develop rapidly because of instruction in early grades (Hübner et al, 2022). It is recognized that skills in both areas rely on domain-general and domain-specific abilities.…”

“…However, reading seemed to assert less impact on mathematics performance over time, instead working memory was a more predictive factor . Hübner et al (2022) investigated developmental paths in reading and mathematics in a large sample of elementary grade students. They were specifically interested in information that could inform education and intervention.…”

A-B-3—Associations and dissociations of reading and arithmetic: Is domain-specific prediction outdated?

“…Future studies should aim to investigate developmental changes in the predictive patterns in more detail. Furthermore, even though the association between reading and arithmetic appears to be quite stable throughout development [103][104][105][106], it will be important to investigate predictive patterns in older age groups.…”