When we learned as infants and children,
thinking aloud or
saying what we are thinking was accepted as a way of
demonstrating our knowledge, or of opening ourselves to "get it right."
We
sounded out words, expressed ideas, formed sentences.
When corrected, we
practiced until we imitated correctly, or conformed to the model of our family,
neighborhood, school, etc.
Thinking aloud
was essential to our
early learning.
Thinking aloud is also called private speech.
As we grow older and mature, thinking aloud is internalized, and
speech shifts to communicating with others.
"Nevertheless, the need to engage in private speech never disappears.
Whenever we encounter unfamiliar or demanding activities in our lives, private
speech resurfaces. It is a tool that helps us overcome obstacles and
acquire new skills". 1
We tend to use only phrases and incomplete sentences in private speech.
What is said reflects our thoughts, but only what is puzzling, new, or
challenging. We omit what we already know or understand. So also
private speech decreases as our performance or understanding improves.
Applications of private speech in learning include planning, monitoring
progress, or guiding ourselves in working through challenging tasks and mastering
new skills. It can help us manage situations and control our behavior by
verbalizing our feelings, or venting to ourselves.
Private speech is a useful tool in learning. The more we engage our
brain on multiple "levels," the more we are able to make connections and retain
what we learn. We read, create images or diagrams, listen, use music or
motion, talk with others (collaborative learning) and with ourselves. Some
of us like to talk things through with someone or in a group, either to help us
understand or to remember better. And some of us don't need another person
around to talk with in this process! This can be a learning style, and a
very effective one.
We use multiple senses and experiences to process and reinforce our
learning, and the combination of these strategies is very individual.
Applications of private speech in learning include;
- memorizing vocabulary by saying the words
- appreciating poetry by "dramatising" it
- editing papers by reading the text aloud
- talking through math problems to arrive at solutions
"Nevertheless, the need to engage in private speech never
disappears. Whenver we encounter unfamiliar or demanding activites in
our lives, private speech resurfaces. It is a tool that helps us
overcome obstacles and acquire new skills".
Berk. L.E, Why Children Talk to
Themselves, Scientific American, November 1994, pp 78 - 83 as seen at http://www.abacon.com/berk/ica/research.html
10/23/00
"In a think-aloud activity, the teacher shares with students
the thinking process..."
U.S. Department of Education, 4. Modeling is an important form
of classroom support for literacy learning.
(http://www.ed.gov/pubs/StateArt/Read/idea4.html, October 30, 2000) State of
the Art: Transforming Ideas for Teaching and Learning To Read, November
1993
"Adults who are not smooth readers also read out loud, but
they have learned to muffle it for social purposes - they subvocalize, or just
move their lips when they read, because they know that other people will think
less of them if they read out loud. However, it is the easiest and most
natural way to absorb concepts."
Wenger, Susan, Image-Streaming, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1179/
10/25/00
"As stated in Child Development, “Research has confirmed
that children, like adults, use private speech when they find tasks difficult
or when they made errors, and that when they use task-relevant private speech,
their performance on a variety of tasks improves”
Agres, Jaime, Why do Chilren Talk to Themselves?, http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jbattenb/ling/
Student Research Papers, 10/25/00
Website overview: Since 1996 the
Study Guides and Strategies web site
has been researched, authored, maintained and supported by
Joe Landsberger
as an international, learner-centric, educational public service. Permission is granted to freely copy, adapt,
and distribute individual Study Guides in print format in non-commercial educational settings that benefit learners. Please be aware that the Guides welcome, and are under, continuous review and revision. For that reason,
digitization and reproduction of all content on the Internet
can only be with permission through a licensed agreement.
Linking to the Guides is encouraged!
