Memory & Retention

Does being good at reading help with times tables?

Times tables look like a math problem, so people assume that kids who struggle with them have a math problem. But because of how the brain stores them, language skills are one of the strongest signs of how quickly and how well a child learns them.

What the research says

Research published by the Chartered College of Teaching (Guy, Cragg & Gilmore, 2025) reports a finding that goes against what many parents expect: learning multiplication facts takes language skills, not just math skills.

The reason is how they’re stored. Times tables sit in long-term memory as sequences of words, patterns of sounds, not as relationships between numbers. Learning them is more like learning the words of a song than understanding how addition works. That’s why the same skills that help children learn to read (hearing the sounds in words, verbal working memory, language processing) also help them learn times tables.

This works both ways. A child who reads well but struggles with times tables almost certainly isn’t practicing enough or the right way: their verbal memory works fine, what’s missing is practice recalling. A child who struggles with both reading and times tables may have a difficulty with sounds or language behind both, and may need a different kind of help than just more drill.

There’s also the finding by Dotan & Zviran-Ginat (2022): even children with strong language skills can trip over interference. When similar-sounding facts are introduced together, they compete in verbal memory, however good the child is with language.

What this means in practice

A child who struggles with times tables but reads well is a different case from one who struggles with both. The first needs better practice. The second may need an assessment and a different approach.

Try this

If your child reads well but struggles with times tables, focus on regular reviews and on recalling the answers, not on explanations.
If your child struggles with both reading and times tables, consider whether a speech and language assessment might help.
Ask your child to say the times tables out loud: you’ll hear how easily the answers come.

→ TabTabTab uses voice: answering in words comes naturally for a memory made of words, and lets you hear right away whether the answer is automatic.

Sources

Guy, Cragg & Gilmore (2025) — expert commentary
Dotan & Zviran-Ginat (2022) — peer-reviewed study

Last reviewed: 2026-08-01