Bilinguals and Addition: Early Learning and Arithmetic Representations

Findings from behavioral studies and responses recorded by electroencephalogram indicate that language interacts with arithmetic cognition (Arsalidou & Taylor, 2011). A lesser researched area is the interaction between bilinguals and arithmetic, but the N400 component has been extensively used when examining linguistic processing in mathematics (Kutas & Federmeier, 2011 Niedeggen & Rösler, 1999) .To examine the effect of language proficiency on arithmetic representation between bilinguals and monolinguals, an event related potentials study examines the N400 component and Late Positive Component in tasks of correct/incorrect judgment. Salillas and Wicha (2012) report on the N400 and the LPC components for arithmetic representations in their bilingual study on the role of the first language in shaping brain network processing of multiplication facts. The current research proposal measures responses between tasks involving numeric-word equations or numeric-digit equations. For numeric-word equations, monolinguals have native language conditions while bilinguals have two conditions, native language and nonnative language. Inferences are drawn upon the nature of the role of early learning and later adult mathematical processing. Results of ERP wave patterns are presented and compared to the correct/incorrect task responses. Implications are presented regarding educational policies and the language of instruction for bilinguals’ in early math learning.