The connection between linguistic and mathematical performance in different content areas

Abstract

The relationship between linguistic and mathematical performance was examined for third-year pupils with regard to two language measures and three mathematical content areas (N = 215). For both language measures, considerable correlations were found with the performance in mathematical text tasks, but also with relatively language-poor, iconic geometric tasks. It becomes clear that known correlations between linguistic and mathematical performance should be analyzed in greater depth with regard to the task design, but also with regard to the mathematical content area, in order to be able to develop a corresponding potential for language-conscious and subject- or content-focused learning support and encouragement.