Arab Educational Information Network

The concept of application refers to the process of behavioral elements combining to form a behavioral compound, which is essential in any advanced learning skill. The purpose of this study was to examine how the concept of application related to multiplication performance measured by percent correct (accuracy) and correct responses per unit of time (frequency, a measure of fluency) among students from the United States, Taiwan, and Japan. A total of two hundred eighty-nine students participated in this study. A testable model of how element and compound skills relate in computation proficiency was proposed and analyzed. The results showed that although the majority of the students achieved high levels of accuracy in single digit and multi-digit multiplication problems, students from Taiwan and Japan were more fluent in their basic multiplication than those from the United States. As predicted, these students were also more fluent in multi-digit multiplication. The results confirm previous research that fluency in basic skills can serve as a powerful predictor for the concept of application. (Published abstract)