Foreign language anxiety has influenced reading achievement in English as a second language learning (ESL). However, less is known about how foreign language anxiety affects Chinese students learning English as L2 and the interplay between foreign language anxiety and cognitive-linguistic factors on L2 reading performance. This longitudinal study…

This study investigated the stability of latent classes of students with learning disabilities among a heterogeneous sample of elementary-aged children whose first language is Spanish. To this end, children (N = 284) in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 (Year 1) were administered a battery of vocabulary, reading, math, and cognitive measures…

Intelligence, as well as working memory and attention, affect the acquisition of mathematical competencies. This paper aimed to examine the influence of working memory and attention when taking different mathematical skills into account as a function of children's intellectual ability. Overall, intelligence, working memory, attention and numerical…

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a mathematics learning disorder that affects approximately 5% to 7% of the population. This study aimed to detect the underlying domain-specific and domain-general differences between DD and typically developing (TD) children. We recruited 9-year-old primary school children to form the DD group via a 2-year…

The purpose of this study was threefold: to examine unique and shared risk factors of comorbidity for reading comprehension and word-problem solving difficulties, to explore whether language minority (LM) learners are at increased risk of what we refer to as "higher order comorbidity" (reading comprehension and word-problem solving…

Background: In several countries, children's math skills have been declining at an alarming rate in recent years and decades, and one of the explanations for this alarming situation is that children have difficulties in establishing the relations between arithmetical operations. Aim: In order to address this question, our goal was to determine the…

This cohort-sequential study explored the working memory (WM) structures that underlie growth in mathematical word problem solving (WPS) performance in elementary school emergent bilingual children whose first language (L1) is Spanish. To this end, children (N = 429) in Grades 1, 2, and 3 in southwest U.S. school districts at Wave 1 were…

The development of executive functions (EF) in bilingual children with a specific learning disorder (SLD) is a growing area of research interest. Our objective is to study the development of EF in Lebanese children with typical development (TD) and presenting SLD, in the primary grades (Grades 2, 3, and 4). Ninety TD and ninety SLD children, in…

We examined the role of visuo-spatial working memory in different types of arithmetic ability in children. Previous research had suggested that arithmetic is not a single entity (Dowker, 2005, 2015), and also that visuo-spatial working memory is specifically involved in mathematical cognition (McKenzie et al., 2003) There has, however, been little…

Some children struggle with mathematics. Among these children, some of them may be learners with mathematical difficulties. While research has revealed multiple deficits as candidate causes for mathematical difficulties and probable subtypes, the cognitive profiles of these subtypes are not fully understood. Moreover, we have yet to discover…

Using kindergarten up to fourth-grade data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (2010--2011 cohort), we investigated systematic variability in English language learners' (ELLs; n = 303) mathematics growth as well as relations of kindergarten language growth and working memory (WM) to ELLs' mathematics growth. Using growth mixture modeling,…

This study explored the role of growth in the executive components of working memory (WM) on second language (L2) mathematical problem-solving in elementary school children who are emerging bilinguals whose first language (L1) is Spanish. To this end, children (N = 429) in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 were administered a battery of math, reading,…

Vocabulary is key to English language learning; it is the basis of all languages. However, learning long lists of words and their meanings can be ineffective, tedious, and boring. This is especially true for lower elementary students as they navigate school life and development. Can digital gamification solve this problem? The purpose of this…

Purpose: Compared to children with typical development, children with dyslexia, developmental language disorder (DLD), or both often demonstrate working memory deficits. It is unclear how pervasive the deficits are or whether the deficits align with diagnostic category. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different working memory…

This study investigated the role of strategy instruction and working memory capacity (WMC) on word problem solving accuracy in children with (n = 100) and without (n = 92) math difficulties (MD). Within classrooms, children in Grades 2 and 3 were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: verbal-only strategies (e.g., underlining…