Linguistic precursors of advanced math growth in first-language and second-language learners.
Teach both basic and advanced language to bilingual fifth-graders if you want to see gains in geometry and fractions.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Tijs and colleagues tracked fifth-grade students for one year. They compared first-language and second-language learners.
The team measured basic vocabulary, complex sentence skill, arithmetic, geometry, and fractions. They used school tests and language games.
What they found
Second-language learners scored lower in geometry and fractions. Basic word skill helped arithmetic. Advanced language skill helped geometry and fractions directly.
Language growth during the year predicted math growth. The link stayed strong even after controlling for early math scores.
How this fits with other research
Bonifacci et al. (2026) extend these results to heritage bilinguals with dyscalculia. They show low language can hide math disability, so use low-language math tasks when testing.
Titeca et al. (2014) seem to disagree. In children with autism, early language delays did not block average math. The difference: autism samples often have spared rote number skills, while Tijs studied typical bilinguals who need language to access grade-level word problems.
Leung et al. (2011) and MacFarland et al. (2025) show that early numeracy skills also predict later math. Tijs adds the language side: both early number and early language matter, but language becomes the driver for advanced topics like fractions.
Why it matters
If you work with bilingual or ESL students in upper elementary, check both basic and advanced language. Boosting vocabulary helps arithmetic, but teaching connective words and complex sentences feeds geometry and fraction learning. Add quick language probes to your math screening and weave language targets into word-problem drills.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Language plays an important role in the development of mathematics. Previous research has shown that both basic and advanced linguistic skills relate to fifth-grade advanced mathematics (i.e., geometry and fractions), but these effects have not yet been investigated longitudinally or in a linguistically diverse population. AIMS: The present study first examined the differences between first-language and second-language learners in advanced mathematics. Second, we investigated the extent to which the basic and advanced linguistic skills of first-language and second-language learners directly and indirectly (through arithmetic) predict their growth in advanced mathematics from fifth to sixth grade. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Participants were 153 first-language and 80 second-language learners from 10 to 12 years of age. Classroom as well as individual measures were administered. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: First, the results showed lower scores for second-language learners on advanced mathematics. Second, for both groups of language learners, basic linguistic skills were found to indirectly predict the growth in advanced mathematics via arithmetic skills, whereas advanced linguistic skills directly predicted the growth in geometry and fractions. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: These results highlight the general need for opportunities to learn the basic and advanced linguistic skills associated with mathematics over individual native language background.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103661