Relationship Between Inner Speech, Concept Development, and Characteristics of Vocalized Responses

Abstract

The development of inner speech necessarily involves the internalization of language as a tool for thinking. From a theoretical perspective, such changes in thinking might be refracted as stages of concept development, which might be revealed in vocalized responses. In the current study, part of a larger pilot study on experimental methods, a group of adolescents participated in three focus groups while research questions were introduced as a tool for discussion. My analysis indicates that the phenomena of inner speech is characteristic of vocalized responses and that these responses align to stages of concept development. Furthermore, characteristics of concept development reveal the potential for inner speech to be constrained to organization that relies on direct sensory experience and restricts approaches to problem solving. More research can reveal support for these findings and social relationships that support the development of hierarchically more complex inner speech.KeywordsInner speechConcept developmentCultural-historical theoryStructural-systemic epistemology