The Motivational Function of Preschoolers' Private Speech

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between children's metacognitive private speech and their mastery motivation when working on 3 age-appropriate but challenging tasks. Metacognitive private speech was defined as children's nonsocial utterances that reflected heightened awareness and regulation of their own thinking. Mastery motivation referred to the young children's disposition to work for a challenging goal. A total of 31 preschoolers, aged 3 to 5 years, participated in this study. The proportion of metacognitive private speech for each task to children's overall private talk across the 3 tasks was analyzed. Results for the 3 tasks indicated that children's metacognitive private speech was correlated with their mastery behavior. Specifically, young children who engaged in higher proportion of metacognitive private speech were more likely to strive to complete the challenging tasks or work without the direct assistance of an adult. Implications of these findings for research and education are considered.