Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Hello all.

One of my assignment questions asks us to "describe the two key functions of language which Vygotsky believed to be important to the learning process"

Private speech and public speech.

So far I have answered that private speech is the type of speech that children direct towards themselves, and is not intended to be listened to by other people. It is a tool that children use to help think, complete tasks and guide themselves.

I can not find any information about public speech, only egocentric speech. Are they the same thing?
Did I misinterpret my information and mix up private and public?

Any help or links to some clear information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Jezzibeans

In the following extract it mentions social speech, private speech and silent inner speech. For your question maybe it's referring to social speech and private speech.

Vygotsky (1987) differentiates between three forms of language: social speech which is external communication used to talk to others (typical from the age of two); private speech (typical from the age of three) which is directed to the self and serves an intellectual function; and finally private speech goes underground, diminishing in audibility as it takes on a self-regulating function and is transformed into silent inner speech (typical from the age of seven).

Vygotsky Simple Psychology

,
Lorina