This research project attempted to test assumptions about the development of private speech' and its relationship to attentional modes of engagement, and task performance. Results showed an ontogenetic trend from audible, externalised types of private speech to less audible, more internalised forms, consistent with Vygotsky's assumption that private speech undergoes a curvilinear course of development. Use of on-task private speech was accompanied by greater task attentional focus in the form of motor and looking behaviourial modes of engagement and a reduction in non-attention behaviour and successful performance in problem-solving. "The relation of word to thought, and the creation of new concepts is a complex, delicate and enigmatic process unfolding in our soul." (Tolstoy, 1903, 143, in Vygotsky, 1986)

Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban, 2000