Sociodramatic play enhances preschoolers’ private speech and motivation across activities

Abstract

Vygotskian theory suggests that sociodramatic play, private speech, and motivation are deeply intertwined in development. This study used fishing and puzzle tasks to explore how preschoolers (N = 47) used private speech to verbally mediate their engagement and motivation in activities with differing demands. We experimentally manipulated pedagogical contexts by framing activities as sociodramatic play or task completion to examine the impact on private speech and motivation. Children’s private speech and motivation were both greater in the sociodramatic play condition. Children demonstrated stable individual differences across activities in frequencies of private speech and level of speech internalization, while also appearing to tailor private speech functions to the demands of each activity. Children’s performance and persistence were uncorrelated across activities and were related to different private speech categories within each activity. The results extend research on activity-specificity in language use to private speech, while underscoring how sociocultural contexts influence motivational development.