Unique and Combined Effects of Small-Group Fraction Vocabulary and Arithmetic Interventions for Students With Mathematical Difficulties

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a fraction vocabulary intervention with fraction arithmetic components on fraction vocabulary knowledge and fraction arithmetic competencies among fourth-grade Chinese students with mathematics difficulties. We randomly assigned 70 students with mathematics difficulties to three conditions: fraction vocabulary only (<i>n</i> = 23), fraction vocabulary with an arithmetic component (<i>n</i> = 23), and a business-as-usual (BaU) condition (<i>n</i> = 24). The students in the fraction vocabulary intervention conditions participated in 10 sessions, occurring three times per week. Students within both intervention conditions showed significantly better performance in fraction vocabulary knowledge than those in the BaU condition. However, no notable distinctions were observed between the two intervention conditions in terms of fraction arithmetic. Only students who received the fraction vocabulary intervention with an arithmetic component exhibited enhanced performance in subtraction with like denominators compared to the BaU condition.