Mathematical vocabulary in preschool children: Effects of linguistic and socio-economic factors on the production and comprehension of quantitative and spatial words and concepts

The objective of the present study was to explore the acquisition of mathematical vocabulary by French preschoolers. Two tasks involving quantitative and spatial vocabulary (one focused on production and the other focused on comprehension) were administered to 128 children aged 3 to 6. The children came from a monolingual vs. multilingual environment and from an advantaged vs. disadvantaged socio-economic family background. The tasks were administered in the language of instruction (French language). Our results revealed an effect of the linguistic environment: children from a multilingual environment performed worse in the production of mathematical words and concepts (and especially spatial ones) than children from a monolingual environment. Furthermore, children from disadvantaged backgrounds performed worse than children from advantaged backgrounds in the comprehension and concept production tasks. Lastly, we observed an interaction between the socio-economic environment and the linguistic factor in the comprehension task. The present results might prompt new ideas and initiatives with regard to the content of educational programs.