Private speech

Benefits and uses for children

Evidence has supported Vygotsky's theory that private speech provides many developmental benefits for children. Above all, private speech aids children in different types of self-guidance and self-regulation. More specific uses and benefits of private speech are listed below.

Behavioral self-regulation and emotion regulation

Young children's behaviors are strongly influenced by the environment. For instance, the presence of an interesting new toy in the preschool classroom is likely to draw a child's attention and influence his or her play. Private speech helps children to verbally guide their own behavior and attention by helping them to detach themselves from stimuli in their environment. As private speech is very important for children to engage in at early ages, this speech should not be interrupted or limited by parental control. For example, a child may use private speech to direct themselves away from the distracting toy and toward the activity that the teacher told the child to do. Thus, private speech helps children to be less strongly influenced by their immediate environment and instead to self-control their behavior.

The relationship between private speech and behavioral self-regulation is further demonstrated by research showing that children use more private speech when asked to do more difficult tasks or when asked to do tasks without the help of a teacher or parent. In other words, in circumstances when more behavioral self-regulation is required of a young child, the child is more likely to use private speech. Private speech has also been linked to three-year-old's' ability to engage in task-related goals when explicitly taught to use private speech as a strategy for this purpose.

Young children also use private speech to help them regulate their emotions. One way that children regulate their emotions and comfort themselves through private speech is by mimicking their parents' comforting speech. For instance, a child may help themself calm down for sleep by repeating nighttime phrases that their parents have said to them previously to calm down. Young children who are better at controlling their emotions have also shown an increase in the amount of private speech they use.

Memory, motivation, communication, and creativity

Private speech is used by children spontaneously and is a learned strategy to enhance memory. Private speech is used as a repetitive strategy, to enhance working memory by maintaining information to be remembered. For instance, a child might repeat a rule or story to themselves in order to remember it. Children also use private speech to aid their ability to suppress certain responses or information, and instead use other, less common responses or information, a process known as inhibitory control.

By expressing goals, opinions, feelings, and self-thoughts through private speech, private speech increases children's motivation. For instance, a child may talk themselves through a challenging task. This type of motivating private speech is associated with self-efficacy. Moreover, children have been observed using motivational private speech especially during difficult tasks, and using motivational private speech is related to improved outcomes on the task.

Some researchers have hypothesized that private speech helps young children to master speech communication, by immersing themselves in speech more than they could with others. In doing so, children gain insight about their own communication abilities, practice communication, and build effective speech and communication skills.

Children often use private speech during creative and imaginative play. For instance, children often talk to themselves when playing imaginative and pretend games. Private speech is related to more creative play – the more frequently children engage in private speech, the more creative, flexible, and original thought they display.

Research

Current research is becoming focused on use of private speech in the early childhood classroom setting and teachers' practices and attitudes regarding children's private speech. Many studies have shown that preschool aged children engage in a considerable amount of overt private speech in their early childhood classrooms. Specifically, researchers have found that children use more self-talk when they are busy with a goal-directed task activity (e.g., completing a puzzle). It was also found that preschool aged children were least likely to use private speech in the presence of a teacher.

Many methodological advancements and tools can now be used to better examine the role of speech in self-regulation. With these advancements, there will be more research in the future on children's awareness of inner and private speech. There is also a possibility that researchers will perform additional work on the early precursors of self-talk, early childhood interventions and better understanding the role language has on the formation of inner and private speech.

In adults

In a self-reported questionnaire, young adults reported high levels of private speech, particularly when engaged in tasks with cognitive, mnemonic, and attentional components. This suggests that private speech may be retained to some extent into adulthood, serving a similar purpose as it does in children. Adults who stutter are much less likely to do so during private speech.