Speech as a mediator of children's mastery of cognitive competencies

In the socio-cultural approach of Lev Vygotsky individual development is conceptualized as the product of semiotic mediation. Among other semiotic systems, such as, numerical symbols, graphic representations, mnemonic techniques, schemas;, diagrams and other auxiliary aids (Kozulin, 2005), speech occupies a central position because it is both a mediating means and a mediated process. Verbal mediation is in essence the ontogenetic fusion of speech with any other mental function, the foundations for which are set during the early years of the child (Vygotsky, 1997a). In the course of ontogeny, speech is progressively incorporated in the child s interactions with others, the self and the objective material and cultural reality, and becomes the intermediary of these interactions. As the developmental paths of speech and other mental functions intersect, transformations occur at both intra-functional and inter-functional levels (Mirolli Parisi, 2011). For instance, when around two years of age the developmental lines of thought and speech intertwine, speech begins to serve intellect and thoughts begin to be spoken (Vygotsky, 1986, p. 82). In the course or this unification, speech makes thought processes and cognition amenable to sell-regulation. Speech is employed as a tool that directs and subordinates one s thoughts and cognitive operations to particular goals, and allows for the accomplishment of these goals by activating and organizing the necessary cognitive resources.