Teachers of all junior school subjects should attend to teaching methods and contents related to academic fluency¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Based on their finding that specific processing speed — reflecting academic fluency in symbolic, arithmetic, and semantic processing — predicted achievement across mathematics, Chinese, and English over three years, the authors recommend that junior school instruction deliberately address fluency. They write that "teachers of all subjects should pay attention to teaching methods and contents related to academic fluency" and call for future studies clarifying the effect of academic fluency training on academic performance. The recommendation rests on predictive, not interventional, evidence.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Future research should clarify the effect of academic fluency training on junior high school students' academic performances, as the article itself notes

Constraints¶

• The supporting evidence is longitudinal prediction, not a test of fluency training

Target Learners¶

• junior high school students

Target Learning Goals¶

• academic fluency in symbolic, arithmetic, and semantic processing supporting achievement across subjects

Claims¶

• The prediction power of specific processing speed for mathematics decreases with reduced arithmetic fluency: complex multiplication did not predict mathematics although it predicted Chinese and English [+W]
• Specific processing speed generalises beyond mathematics, significantly predicting Chinese and English achievement in both Grade 7 and Grade 9 [+W]
• Specific processing speed (reading fluency and simple/complex subtraction fluency) makes a significant unique contribution to Grade 7 mathematics achievement after controlling for age, gender, and general cognitive abilities [+W]
• Specific processing speed measured at the start of Grade 7 predicts mathematics achievement on the high school entrance examination at the end of Grade 9 [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Cheng Dazhi, Shi Kaihui, Wang Naiyi, Miao Xinyang, Zhou Xinlin. (2022). Examining the Differential Role of General and Specific Processing Speed in Predicting Mathematical Achievement in Junior High School. Journal of Intelligence. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10010001