Private Speech, Executive Functioning, and the Development of Verbal Self-Regulation

Seventy-five years after Vygotsky's death, scholarship exploring developmental relations between language and thought continues to be strong. This edited volume compiles contributions from international leaders in the field on the roles of language and private speech (self-talk) in the development of self-regulation and executive functioning in children and adults. New theoretical insights, empirical research, and potential clinical and educational applications of scholarship on private speech are presented. Relevant for undergraduate and graduate students and scholars of psychology, education, linguistics, and cognitive science, this text will be an essential volume for those interested in the interface between language, cognition, and behaviour, and the development of regulatory or cognitive control over behaviour.

Table of Contents:
Preface Laura Berk; Introduction/Overview Adam Winsler, Charles Fernyhough and Ignacio Montero; Part I. Overview, Theoretical, and Biological Foundations: 1. Still talking to ourselves after all these years: a review of current research on private speech Adam Winsler; 2. Dialogic thinking Charles Fernyhough; 3. The executive functions of language in preschool children Ulrich Müller, Sophie Jaques, Karin Brocki and Philip David Zelazo; 4. The neuropsychology of covert and overt speech: implications for the study of private speech in children and adults Simon Jones; Part II. Language, Communication, Social Cognition and Awareness: 5. Talking and thinking: the role of speech in social understanding Jeremy Carpendale, Charles Lewis, Noah Susswein and Joanna Lunn; 6. Private speech and theory of mind: evidence for developing functional relations Charles Fernyhough and Elizabeth Meins; 7. Development of communicative competence through private and inner speech Peter Feigenbaum; 8. Private speech in the framework of referential communication Conchi San Martín Martinez, Humbert Boada and Maria Forns Santacana; 9. Preschool children's awareness and theory of speech Louis Manfra; 10. Younger children's knowledge about overt and covert private speech John Flavell and Adrian A. Wong; Part III. Symbols and Tools Throughout the Lifespan: 11. Private pointing and private speech: development of executive function Begoña Delgado, Juan Carolos Gómez and Encarnación Sarriá; 12. Symbols as tools in the development of executive function Stephanie Carlson and Danielle M. Beck; 13. On the persistence of private speech: empirical and theoretical considerations Robert M. Duncan and Donato Tartulli; 14. Private speech beyond childhood: testing the developmental hypothesis José Sánchez-Medina, David Alarcón Rubio and Manuel de la Mata; Part IV. Motivational and Educational Applications: 15. Private speech and motivation: the role of language in a sociocultural account of motivational processes David J. Atencio and Ignacio Montero; 16. Creativity and private speech in young children C. Stephen White and Martha Daugherty; 17. Early childhood teacher's awareness, beliefs, and practices toward children's private speech Carla Deniz; Afterword James Wertsch.