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To examine the relationship between early number sense and later symbolic arithmetic competence and how they are connected in young Chinese children. The present study utilized a longitudinal sample of 115 Chinese children aged 3 to 6. Young children completed measures to assess number sense, visual spatial skills (in the fall of their second kindergarten year, K2), arithmetic competence (in the spring of their second kindergarten year, K3), working memory, verbal comprehension, and inhibitory control (in the fall of their first kindergarten year, K1). The results showed that number sense predicted arithmetic competence six months later. Meanwhile, visual spatial skills played a mediating role in this association, but it became non-significant when working memory, verbal comprehension, and inhibitory control were added as covariates. These longitudinal findings confirm the close association between number sense and arithmetic competence in young Chinese children.

This study aims to examine whether a maths-unrelated reading intervention can improve children's mathematical performance and to compare the effects of maths-related and maths-unrelated reading interventions. Furthermore, this study examines whether the effects of reading interventions are moderated by individual differences, including gender, pre-test maths performance and general cognitive ability. One hundred thirty-four second-grade Chinese children were recruited into three different groups. In the control group, the children received business as usual teaching, while in the two experimental groups, the children received a maths-related or maths-unrelated reading intervention. The results showed that the maths-unrelated reading intervention could significantly improve children's mathematical performance, and the beneficial effect did not differ from the maths-related intervention. Moreover, the effects of the two reading interventions were not moderated by children's individual differences. These findings support the function hypothesis of language for mathematics.