The self-regulatory nature of preschool children's private speech in a naturalistic setting

Abstract

Private speech (PS) – or speech for the self – was studied in preschool-age children to determine how widely and with what characteristics it occurs when examined in the familiar home setting. Activities were selected that required several steps and that were intended to engage working memory or longer term recall. Both quantitative (numbers of words and utterances produced) and qualitative (utterance type) analyses were conducted on the children's PS. Across the age range from 4 ½ to 6 years, younger children had higher frequencies of PS than older children, which fits the predictions made by Vygotsky (1958/1962, 1978). Increased information loads resulted in more PS, indicating a relation between PS and task difficulty; however, total quantities of PS were not correlated with degree of task success. Self-regulatory utterances accounted for 89% of the PS produced; the majority of these utterances involved repetitions of the instructions that appeared to enhance recall, to help pace the children's activity, or to enable deliberation with respect to making choices. There was a strong age trend in which the amount of audible PS decreased with age. Qualitative differences across tasks are presented and considered in relation to how PS functions for different activities and possibly achieves adaptive significance.