The role of private speech in the transition from collaborative to independent task performance in young children

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Abstract

This study was designed to examine the following central Vygotskian hypotheses about the functions of preschool children's private speech: (1) that private speech facilitates the transition from collaborative to independent task performance, and (2) that children's use of private speech is conducive to task success. Age-related changes in children's use of private speech were also examined. Forty preschoolers, ranging in age from three to five, completed a selective attention task with scaffolded assistance given from an experimenter when needed. In an effort to overcome several methodological limitations found in previous research, a new microgenetic method of analyzing speech-performance relations based on assigning task items to discrete categories reflecting six possible co-occurrences between private speech (item-relevant speech, item-irrelevant speech, silence) and performance (success, failure) was introduced. Results were that (1) item-relevant speech was used more often during successful than during failed items while the opposite was true for item-irrelevant speech; (2) children were more likely to use private speech on successful items after scaffolding than they were on similar items not following scaffolding; (3) after scaffolding, children were more likely to succeed on the next item if they talked to themselves than if they were silent; and (4) hypothesized curvilinear, age-related patterns in children's item-relevant private speech and silence were found, however, only when analyzing speech during successful items. Implications of this research for preschool teachers and parents are discussed.

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      “Private speech” (PS) is talking aloud, whispering, or silently muttering to one’s self, and is thought to be an example of the child internalizing the socio-cultural tool of language, and using it for motivational and self-regulatory purposes (Atencio & Montero, 2009; Berk, 1986; Winsler et al., 2000; Vygotsky, 1986). The origin of PS is social, having emerged from previous “other”-regulation via adult-child scaffolding and social interaction (Winsler, Diaz, & Montero, 1997). Between ages 3 and 6, children typically transition from first talking aloud to themselves, then moving to the use of more covert muttering speech, and finally fully internalized PS in the form of silent, verbal thought or inner speech (Berk, 1986; Winsler et al., 2009).

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