[2] Private speech is often thought to enhance developing early literacy skills and help increase a child's task performance, success, and achievement.
[2] Numerous sources trace the first theories of private speech back to two early well-known developmental psychologists, Vygotsky and Piaget.
[2] In Thought and Language, Vygotsky argued that egocentric speech was a part of normal development of communication, self-guidance, self-regulation of behaviour, planning, pacing, and monitoring skills.
[12] Vygotsky explains that private speech stems from a child's social interactions as a toddler, then reaches a peak during preschool or kindergarten when children talk aloud to themselves.
[2] Vygotsky's theory of private speech has been considered significant by more recent developmental psychologists and has served as a basis for research for over 75 years.
[3] Berk, Winsler, Diaz, Montero, Neal, Amaya-Williams, and Wertsch are amongst some of the current well-known developmental psychologists and researchers who have been specializing in the field of private speech.
[1][3][11] Although the concept dates back to the 1930s, private speech is still an emerging field in psychology with a vast amount of research opportunities.
[3] 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.
[12] Private speech is used as a repetitive strategy, to enhance working memory by maintaining information to be remembered.
[11] Many studies have shown that preschool aged children engage in a considerable amount of overt private speech in their early childhood classrooms.
[2] 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).
[12] In a self-reported questionnaire, young adults reported high levels of private speech, particularly when engaged in tasks with cognitive, mnemonic, and attentional components.
[16] This suggests that private speech may be retained to some extent into adulthood, serving a similar purpose as it does in children.