General forms of speech activity.

Speech activity is provided with such kinds as speaking, listening, writing ability and reading (I.A. Zimnaya). These forms of SA are represented as main forms of people communication in verbal intercommunicating.

According to the opinion of I.A. Zimnaya, the definition of translation as a form of SA isn’t self-obvious. At any rate, it can’t be graded as a main form of SA, because it isn’t directly related with neither forming processes and thought formulating (as a subject of SA), nor activity due to its analysis and processing. It mainly provides a possibility of joint speech activity of people, speaking and writing in different languages (e.g. using different system of language signs in speech communications).

Especially we should mention such a form of conscious human activity as thinking ability.I.A. Zimnaya says that thinking ability is lawfully denoted as a SA form, if it is considered as a peculiar kind of intercommunication, communication of a human with himself. However unique grading of thinking ability as a form of speech activity, in our opinion, is not quite lawfully. The simplest, but unprejudiced analysis of thinking process indicates that it’s concerned equally with as speech activity (particularly, generation and perception processes of speech statements) so thinking processes of analytic synthesis human activity. Interpretation of thinking process in contemporary psychology also provides nonverbal, so-called non-vocal forms of its implementation (on basis of visual efficient and visual figurative thinking). Although non-verbal approaches of thinking process realization (in comparison with approaches of speech thinking) in analytic synthesis of human activity are not ranked so high (as major psychologist think, not more then 10%), it can’t be ignored completely. Hence thinking process ought to be considered as an approach of speech-thinking, but not as person’s speech activity. With references to the conditions and forms of realization of SA, thinking process, is directly related with internal human speech. According to the conception by I.A. Zimnaya, thinking process often precedes main forms of personal communication with other people (speaking, listening, reading and writing ability), by carrying out a role of mental “draft”, preparation of speech activity “in internal plan”, self-examination of execution correctness of such SA forms as speaking and writing ability.

All kinds of speech activity have many common things and at the same time differ from each other according to several parameters. Due to I.A Zimnaya, the most important parameters are:

a) the nature of verbal (speech) intercommunication;

b) the role of speech activity in verbal intercommunication;

c) the direction of SA to receive or to send messages;

d) the link with means of thought formation and formulation;

e) the nature of outer expression;

f) the nature of feedback, enabled in SA processes.

Let’s consider distinctive features of various forms of speech activity on the assumption of these parameters.:

1. According to the nature of speech intercommunication, SA can be divided into forms, realizing verbal communication, and forms, realizing written communication. Speaking and listening fall into first category. Exactly these forms of SA, in the first instance, develop in ontogenesis as realization approaches of personal communication with other people. A human has heritable predisposition to these forms of SA (“readiness”). It is based on the following points.

First of all, people have a unique specific apparatus to realize psychological intellectual activity (the outcome of which is - SA), namely availability of cerebral hemispheres of the cerebral cortex. The highest (cortical) sections of cerebrum, providing human ability to become proficient in speech activity, have been already formed to a considerable extent (approximately at two-thirds) by birth moment. Its intensive formation take place for the first year of a baby life, so-called “pre-speech period” of SA formation, and by the moment of acquiring expressive outer speech, cerebrum cortex have already been formed as morphofunctional thing to a considerable extent.

Secondly, “heritable readiness” is determined by a special structure of individual anatomic parts of human organism, “responsible for acquiring of sounding articulate speech” and taken after “ the peripheral speech system ”. By the moment of a baby birth, this speech system have formed to a considerable extent, and during the “pre-speech” period (the first year of life), its “psychic physiological tuning” takes place. “Breakage” of formation of specified structural systems of speech activity in the pre-natal development period or during the childbirth, always brings to the breaches of speech formation (SA). Therefore diagnosing a condition of the peripheral speech system and a neurophysiologic inspection along with psychological-pedagogic “testing” certainly are included to the program of complex special-pedagogic (logopaedics) examinations.

Reading and writing ability belong to the second forms of speech activity. These forms of SA are being formed on the basis of two first ones - speaking and listening (writing ability unseldom is defined as the reflection of spoken language “in written form”). By being secondary ones due to appearing, reading and writing abilities represent more complex forms of SA. The pedagogical practice indicates that to possess this kinds of SA a special purposeful training (systemic education according to the specified program) is necessary.

– According to the role carried out during the communication process, forms of SA are divided to reactive and initial ones. Speaking and writing ability are initial processes of speech communication, which stimulate listening and reading. Listening and reading act as responsive reactive processes, and, at the same time, they are necessary conditions of processes of speaking and writing ability. I.A Zimnaya pays our attention on the fact that listening and speaking in the psychological view are as active as initial forms ofSA. In the regular version, they represent processes of “internal psychological activity”. The last circumstance has an important meaning in “the methodical plan” and must be taken into account by correction pedagogues who work with children, having problems in development.

According to the direction of speech activity, provided by person, to receive or to send speech messages, forms of SA are defined as receptive ones (e.g. based on perception processes, “receptions”) and productive ones. By means of productive forms of SA (speaking, writing ability), a person provides the creation and sending of a speech message. By means of receptive forms of SA (listening, reading), the receiving and further processing of a speech message are provided. These two pairs of SA’s forms differs among themselves according to approaches of its psychological-physiological arrangement. While providing receptive forms of SA, first of all, acoustic and optic analyzers operate, in productive ones speech-motive and speech-acoustic analyzers are mainly equipped. Receptive forms of SA in many respects are defined by a condition and particulars of acoustic and optic perception, but productive ones are defined by a condition and a development grade of the motion sphere.

- Different forms of speech activity suggest different ways of formation and formulation of a thought (the subject of SA), various forms of arrangement of speech communication and appropriate speech forms. There are three forms, according to I.A. Zimnaya’s definition, which are outer verbal, outer writing and internal speech. Speech, beingmainly a facility and a form of speech, provides this function by means of various kinds and forms of speech. Three main speech forms can be distinguished:

1) verbal (outer speech) - expressive (colloquial) speech and impressive speech (e.g. perception and speech comprehension);

2) written speech, including writing and reading abilities;

3) internal speech, providing and mediating both first two forms of speech, which are verbal and written ones.

At the same time, thinking can be considered as a process of thought formation by means of internal speech, speaking and writing abilities as outer approaches of formation and formulation of a thought in verbal and written ways of communication. (Writing ability serves to fixing purposes of written ways, and sometimes verbal ways of formation and formulation of a thought.)

The main forms of verbal expressive speech are monologic, dialogic and group speech (polylogue), which can be defined with the common notion “spontaneous speech”. Indicated kinds and forms of speech “constitute” live colloquial speech. However there are such forms of verbal speech, which don’t take the direct part in colloquial speech, although they are its essential conditions. It’s repeatable and so-called nominative speech.

– Similar forms of speech activity differ from each other according to the character of feedback, realizing these processes. So in both productive forms of SA (speaking and writing abilities) nerve-muscular feedback is realized from organ-performer (an articulation device of a writing hand) to cerebrum section, “organizing” the program of this activity. This feedback (by mechanism of “reverse afferentation”) executes the function of internal control and adjusyment. At the same time in regulating writing abilities at initial stages of its comprehension by children both forms of muscle control take part (internal “scoring” of a word which is planned to be written or its pronunciation in outer speech and afferent nervous impulses from arm muscles, executing both motions).

Alongside with an internal feedback productive kinds of SA are regulated also by an external feedback (acoustical perception). In both receiptive kinds of SA - hearing and reading - the feedback is carried out mainly on internal channels of the semantic control and the semantic analysis, its mechanism is still insufficiently studied and clear. If during reading the feedback effect can be noticed in regressive movements of eyes and pauses of look fixing, at hearing this effect in general doesn’t observed and controlled by internal nervously-muscular communication. It defines great complexity of management and a data structure of kinds of SA. Special experimental researches (L.A.Chistovich, А.Н. Sokolov, V.I.Beltjukov, etc.) established, that the feedback mechanism of speaking process is used in receiptive kinds of SA, first of all in hearing processes. It has been established, that the feedback mechanism of speaking process is used and in receiptive kinds of SA, first of all in hearing processes. During perception of speech “motor-speaking activity” is manifested in two basic forms: in increase of a muscular tone in peripheral organs (mainly articulation) of the speech device and in the form of specific micromovements of these bodies (first of all movements of language). According to “the kinematic scheme” these micromovements almost completely correspond to movements of articulation bodies of speaker, whose speech the listener perceives. Thus, listener as though reproduces (in internal motor speaking plan) after the speaker his speech statement. Such, minimally delayed reproduction of perceived speech provides its more exact and full perception. Experts, who deal with children’s speech formation (or its restoration at adults), must consider this feature of process of hearing as kind of SA. Here it is possible to allocate two basic aspects.

First, a methodical substantiation of use of loud and whispered pronunciation of the text during reading, repetition of the speech statement for the best perception of the turned speech.

Secondly - interpretation of "phenomenon" of a correct pronunciation not only from the point of view of conformity to phonetic norms of the native language, but also from the point of view of a qualitative level of formation of universal psychology physiological mechanisms of "feedback", which provides realization of speech activity. The Logopaedist in his correctional work should make a start from following methodical position: the better the child speaks, the better he perceives the speech of people addressed to him.

All kinds of speech activity differ from each other according to the character of external expressiveness. Speaking and writing act as external clearly defined processes of creation and expression of a mental problem (and also transfers of the information) for others. Hearing and reading (in its typical variant of reading «silent reading») are externally not expressed - by language means - processes of internal mental activity. This circumstance, must be considered by correctional teachers during lessons with children having deviations in development. The constant ("continuous") monitoring by teacher the speech activity of hearing and reading can be carried out by means of adjusting references and the instructions, "specifying" questions, the educational and game tasks, activating children’s attention and perception process, etc.

The analysis of qualitative features of the basic kinds of SA shows, that this activity in all cases is carried out by two subjects: on the one hand, speaking and writing (the individual who is carrying out an initial, productive kinds of SA), and with another - listening and reading (the person perceiving and analyzing speech, speech statements speaking or writing).

At the same time for speech activity in all its kinds there is a number of general characteristics. According to concept I.А Ziminya such characteristic are:

1) the structural organization including phase or level structure and operational structure;

2) the subject (psychological) content;

3) the unity of the internal and external parts;

4) unity of its content and realization forms.

The major characteristic of SA is the unity of the internal and external maintenance - the external executive, realizing part and internal, externally not observable part.

Recently the feature of speech formation in ontogenesis were studied by many researchers - psychologists, linguists, teachers, defektologists, physiologists, representatives of other sciences within the framework of which speech activity was studied from various positions. Among works of domestic scientists it is necessary to name, first of all such researchers as L.S. Vygotsky, D.B. Elkonin, S.L. Rubinstein, F.A. Sohin, G.L. Rozengard, P.M. Boskis, etc. In research works of scientists on linguistics of children's speech the certain sequence of speech formation was defined: from a stage of babble till seven-nine years (A.N. Gvozdev, N.I.Lepskaja, S.N.Tsejtlin, A.M.Shahnarovich).

In psycholinguistic laws of speech activity’s formation in ontogenesis are the subject of special research works; recently they have made separate area of this science – developmental psycholinguistics. For some decades of existence of psycholinguistics in different scientific schools several theoretical concepts were worked out in which from the psycholinguistic positions were identify common patterns of first language acquisition and development of child’s skills of speech activity.

The most objective and scientifically proved concept about laws of formation of speech activity in ontogenesis, in our opinion, is the theoretical model developed by A.A. Leontiev. In his works the detailed critical analysis of psycholinguistic models of speech ontogenesis, developed by foreign scientists.

Ontogenesis of linguistic ability represents the most complicated interaction, on the one hand, process of dialogue of adults with the child, on the other hand - development of child’s subjective and cognitive activity.