The Regulating Role of Speech

Abstract

This paper reexamines some theoretical and methodological questions relative to LURIA’S concept on the regulating role of speech. Five main points are demonstrated: (1) VYGOTSKY’S stage concept lacks the functional invariants of the subject’s activity, which determine the developmental course characteristic of Piaget’s stages; (2) LURIA’S methodology remains partly obscure in spite of WOZNIAK’S recent review of this topic; (3) silent control conditions indicate that children succeed on tasks without accompanying speech, hence the attribution of regulation to speech is unfounded; (4) difficulties in coordination between a vocal and manual response explain the results more adequately than the concept of inhibition; (5) LURIA’S concept of language neglects the syntactic aspect; however, it includes aspects of general intelligence which a theory such as PIAGET’S can separate from language.