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.
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;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
(http://www.ed.gov/pubs/StateArt/Read/idea4.html, October 30, 2000) State of the Art: Transforming Ideas forTeaching and Learning To Read, November 1993
Wenger, Susan, Image-Streaming, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1179/ 10/25/00
Mary Jane
Mary Jane Go has been teaching English for over 13 years. She believes that it is very important to learn English and learn it by heart. For her, it's always the right time for a dance party and that hanging out with friends is indispensable.
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