Sociocultural influences on the development of verbal mediation: Private speech and phonological recoding in Saudi Arabian and British samples

Al-Namlah, A.S.; Fernyhough, C.; Meins, E.

Abstract

Cross-national stability in private speech (PS) and short-term memory was investigated in Saudi Arabian (n = 63) and British (n = 58) 4- to 8-year-olds. Assumed differences in child-adult interaction between the 2 nationality groups led to predictions of Gender x Nationality interactions in the development of verbal mediation. British boys used more self-regulatory PS than British girls, whereas there was no such difference for the Saudi group. When age, verbal ability, and social speech were controlled, boys used slightly more self-regulatory PS than girls. Self-regulatory PS was related to children's use of phonological recoding of visually presented material in a short-term memory task, suggesting that PS and phonological recoding represent different facets of a domain-general transition toward verbal mediation in early childhood.

Citation

Al-Namlah, A., Fernyhough, C., & Meins, E. (2006). Sociocultural influences on the development of verbal mediation: Private speech and phonological recoding in Saudi Arabian and British samples. Developmental Psychology, 42(1), 117-131. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.1.117

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2006-01
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 23, 2009
• Journal: Developmental Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0012-1649
• Electronic ISSN: 1939-0599
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 117-131
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.1.117
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1591692