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Thinking Aloud/ |
Everything becomes a little
different |
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When we learned as infants and children, thinking aloud or saying what we are thinking (private speech), 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, thinking aloud is internalized, and speech shifts to communicating with others.
We tend to use only phrases and incomplete sentences in private speech. What is said reflects our thoughts, but only what is puzzling, new, or challenging. We omit what we already know or understand. So also private speech decreases as our performance or understanding improves. 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;
For more information: "Nevertheless, the need to engage in private
speech never disappears. Whenver we encounter unfamiliar or
demanding activites in our lives, private speech resurfaces. It is a
tool that helps us overcome obstacles and acquire new skills". "In a think-aloud activity, the teacher shares
with students the thinking process..." "Adults who are not smooth
readers also read out loud, but they have learned to muffle it for social
purposes - they subvocalize, or just move their lips when they read,
because they know that other people will think less of them if they read
out loud. However, it is the easiest and most natural way to absorb
concepts." "As stated in Child Development, “Research has
confirmed that children, like adults, use private speech when they find
tasks difficult or when they made errors, and that when they use
task-relevant private speech, their performance on a variety of tasks
improves”
Feedback to improve
this page The Study Guides and Strategies web site was created and is
maintained by Joe
Landsberger, Permission is granted to freely copy, adapt, print,
transmit, and distribute |
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