Self-regulation in EFL writing composition: from private speech to the triadic system

This study examines the functions of private speech and its interrelation with social speech and written speech in EFL students’ writing development. From a sociocultural perspective, private speech is viewed as a communicative tool that serves self-regulatory writing. Microgenetic analysis of private speech, occurring moment-by-moment in writing activity, reveals that EFL students produce private speech when they struggle to master difficult writing tasks transforming thought into L2 written language. Unlike previous studies of private speech, this qualitative study examines the relation between private, social, and written speech as a part of triadic system. From a theoretical perspective, analysis of the data suggests that this triadic system of private, social and written speech play complementary roles in supporting individuals’ writing composition. During the compositional process, private speech, or compositional self-talk, serves a number of self-regulatory functions, including directing attention, generating ideas, organizing ideas, memorizing words and meanings, evaluating ideas and language use, and expressing feelings. The study also reveals individual differences in the use of private speech between experts and novices. Experts tended to use private speech while sharing their understanding and providing assistance to peers, whereas novices tended to produce private speech while asking for help from their peers.From a practical perspective, a number of implications for EFL writing classroom were identified. These include the need to provide mediational spaces for writing, scaffolded instruction during the writing process, and creating opportunities for other- and self-talk to promote EFL students’ self-regulation while writing