berg (et al. 1968) also found that private speech developed in a set progression, moving from one developmental stage, to another, becoming inner directed speech and then finally, thought (see Fig. 6).Fig. 6The three distinct stages in the progression from private speech to thought.Kohlberg, Yaeger and Hjertholm believed that private speech serves this one solitary purpose. This was viewed as an extreme assumption, and questions were asked if their theory would stand true universally.In 1984, Berk and Garvin made an in-depth appraisal of Vygotskys theory. Berk and Garvin observed the private speech patterns of 36 children aged between five and ten (Allyn & Bacon). Vygotskys belief that the origin of private speech was primarily, social, and that it increases when tasks become more difficult, was supported by their findings. The view of Kohlberg, that private speech only served one purpose, was not. We concluded that childrens private speech is multi-faceted and diverse, consisting of different types, each serving a distinct developmental purpose, and each running its own course (Berk and Garvin, 1984). These types that Berk and Garvin refer include:h Word playh Emotional expressionh Self-image development, andh Self-guiding / self-directional.The next step was to look at the relationship between private speech and academic performance, to investigate whether private speech assisted in the learning or outstanding of the child. In 1986, Berk observed 75 students from the first and third grades, whilst sitting a Mathematics test. She found that there was a strong correlation between certain type of private speech and the students test results, which means that a childs performance could be predicted by looking at the type of private speech that they used. Berk also made the generalization that younger children, with more audible private speech, performed better academically.Fig. 71st Graders Observed; those with more audible priva...
