The common reproach: "think before you speak!," epitomises an educational paradigm in which speech is only the act of transmission finalised ideas. In his inspiring short essay "On the Gradual Formation of Thoughts During Speech" from 1805, the German writer Heinrich von Kleist challenged this approach when he described his…

The purpose of this article is to help instructors or other types of faculty to develop their own ST activity cues by working with individual students, or with the entire class in order to increase the students' role in affecting the learning process.

Self-monitoring has proven to be an effective strategy for improving academic performance for students with learning disabilities (LD). In addition to academics, these interventions have improved actions such as task completion, engagement, and on-task behaviors. As a supplement to self-monitoring, self-talk strategies have similar effects in…

Purpose: Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) also have difficulty with executive function. The presence of co-occurring deficits in language and executive function can obscure assessment results and lead to the implementation of ineffective interventions. It is also the case that inner speech, or the use of self-directed…

During the Third International Conference on the Teaching of English the author was conscious of a bewildering variety of ideas and impressions on almost every conceivable subject that had some relevance to the teaching of English. In this article, the author shares his thoughts on the conference and the speakers. Donald Graves' account of his…

In our L1 the person we talk to more than anybody else each day is ourself. We talk to ourselves all the time using our inner voice, both during our waking hours and in our dreams. We do so in order to make sense of the world, to understand what we see, read and hear, to comment and evaluate, to make decisions, to support ourselves, to entertain…

We can effectively mentor if in possession of qualities to empower mentees, which include: effective communication skills, knowledge of the professional realm, enthusiasm, passion and the ability to create an equitable and supportive organizational environment with the mentee. The authors of this article propose that self-talk (ST) or inner speech…

According to Lev S. Vygotsky (1896-1934), the highest levels of abstract thinking and self-regulation in preschool development are established in "pretend play using object substitutions." An extensive research literature supports Vygotsky's empirical model of the internalization of self-guiding speech (social speech > private speech…

Helping children find personal meaning and improve proficiency while submersed in the value of sport is critical to emotional/social development. Self-talk (ST) is a cognitive learning strategy that we can harness to encourage and prepare children to solve a problem or address an imminent situation, while acknowledging that they mature at…

This article argues that silence as a communication can be academically practised in the classroom as much as talk, simply because talk and silence are both essential components of everyday interaction (Nakane, 2012). These two constructs are interdependent in the sense that one would not exist without the other. Silence can be practised in two…

Prenatal exposure to alcohol causes a pattern of brain-based deficits and is associated with behavioral challenges (Wozniak et al., 2019). Understanding the neurocognitive behaviors common among individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) can increase teachers' effectiveness (Tremblay et al., 2017). Environmental changes, such as…

Self-talk (ST) is a strategy that has been found to change behavior by decreasing interference or distractions to better face challenges related to an impending task. Self-talk is typically a dynamic use of words, phrases or cues that may be positive, negative, instructional or motivational in nature. Physical education teachers and coaches have…

The main purpose of this article is to provide guidelines to physical educators for setting up a self-talk program during their lesson. The article briefly presents definitions of self-talk and research findings in sport and physical education to highlight the important benefits of positive self-talk in enhancing task performance. It also provides…

This article develops a theoretical understanding of the processes involved in the co-construction of a written text by a teacher and student from a Vygotskian perspective. Drawing on cultural-historical and sociocultural theories of writing and Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), this case study of a student and teacher…

There are many links between literacy and movement. Movement and language are both forms of communication and self-expression. Rhythm is an essential component of both language and movement. While people may think of rhythm primarily in musical terms, there is a rhythm to words and sentences as well. Individuals develop an internal rhythm when…