Abstract
BACKGROUND: A growing body of research has demonstrated that phonological processing skills are associated with arithmetic performance. The present study intended to further investigate which among the numerical abilities might explain the underlying mechanism of the relationships between phonological processing skills and arithmetic. METHODS: We examined Grade 3-5 elementary students (N = 230; aged 9 to 12 years). Data were collected in March 2021. Measures included phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), two symbolic numerical skills (i.e., number ordering and number comparison), two nonsymbolic numerical abilities (i.e., dot comparison and counting), and simple arithmetic tasks. Structural equation modeling was employed, with age and gender controlled as covariates. RESULTS: Phonological awareness and RAN showed direct effects on arithmetic skills. Among the four basic number skills, only number ordering significantly mediated the association between phonological awareness and arithmetic. CONCLUSIONS: Symbolic numerical skills (i.e., number ordering ability) rather than nonsymbolic numerical skills are important for explaining the relationship between phonological processing and arithmetic in primary school children.