1. The definition of "speech activity"

From the very beginning of its inception, the domestic psycholinguistics developed and developed as a theory of speech activity. Since the mid 1930s. in the framework of the psychological school LS Vygotsky intensively developed an activity approach to the interpretation of the human psychic sphere, presented in the most complete and complete form in the works of the Academy of Sciences. Leontiev (1974; 1977 and others). The very concept of activity, philosophically ascending to the ideas of G. Hegel, in the history of Russian psychology is associated with the names of I.M. Sechenov, P.P. Blonsky, S.L. Rubinstein. The psychological concept of the activity of A.N. Leontiev and his students (137, 8, 50, 98) directly rely on the approach outlined in the works of L.S. Vygotsky and S.L. Rubinstein. According to the concept of an. Leontiev, “every objective activity meets the need, but always objectified in the motive; its main constituents are the goals and, accordingly, the actions that correspond to them, the means and methods of their implementation, and finally, those psychophysiological functions that realize the activity, which often constitute its natural prerequisites and impose known limitations on its course, are often rearranged in it and even by it are generated ”(135, p. 9).

The structure of activity (for the Academy of Sciences Leontief) includes the motive, purpose, actions, operations (as methods of performing actions). In addition, it includes personal attitudes and the results (products) of activity.

Different activities can be classified according to different characteristics. The main one of them is the qualitative originality of activity - on this basis it is possible to divide work, play, and cognitive activity as independent types of activity. Another criterion is the external (material), or internal, mental nature of the activity. These are different forms of activity. External and internal forms of activity are interrelated and pass each other in the processes of interiorization and exteriorization (8, 50, 98, etc.). At the same time, the action of one type can be included as a forming element in the activity of another type: theoretical action can be part of practical, for example, labor activity, labor action - part of game activity, etc.

In general psychology, speech is defined as a form of communication mediated by language historically formed in the process of the material transforming activity of people. Speech includes the processes of generation and perception (reception and analysis) of messages for the purposes of communication or (in a particular case) for the purposes of regulating and controlling one’s own activities (51, 135, 148). Modern psychology regards speech as a universal means of communication, that is, as a complex and specifically organized form of conscious activity in which two subjects participate - the forming speech statement and the perceiver of it (133, 243).

Most domestic psychologists and linguists consider speech as speech activity, acting either as an entire act of activity (if it has a specific motivation that is not realized by other activities), or as speech actions included in any non-speech activity (L.S. Rubinshtein (185); AN Leont'ev (135); AA Leont'ev (120, 133, etc.); NI Zhinkin (81); IA Zimnyaya (92, 94) and others.

According to AA. Leontiev, speech activity is a specific activity that is not directly correlated with "classical" activities, for example, with work or play. Speech activity “in the form of separate speech actions serves all kinds of activity, being part of acts of labor, play, and cognitive activity. Speech activity as such takes place only when speech is valuable in itself, when its underlying motive cannot be satisfied in any other way than speech ”(133, p. 63).

According to the concept of the Moscow psycholinguistic school, a person’s speech memory is not a passive repository of information about a language. This is a dynamic (mobile) functional system. In addition, there is a constant interaction between the process of acquiring speech experience and its product. In other words, receiving new information of the speech plan, a person not only processes it, but also rebuilds the entire system of his speech experience. This allows us to consider speech activity as a rather complex self-organizing system. The focus of psycholinguistics is precisely the organization and mechanisms of speech activity and human behavior, as well as the characteristics of their formation and functioning.

This interpretation of human speech was first given in the science of LS Vygotsky (1934). In his attempt to create a new approach to the definition of the human psyche, LS Vygotsky proceeded simultaneously from two main points. First, from the position that the psyche is a function, a property of man as a material being; secondly, from the fact that the human psyche is social, that is, its features must be sought in the history of human society. The unity of these two positions L.S. Vygotsky expressed in the theory of socially mediated nature of human activity. The human psyche is formed as a kind of unity of biological (physiological) premises and social means. Only by assimilating these means, “appropriating them,” making them a part of their personality in their activities, a person becomes himself. Only as a part of human activity, as an instrument of the psychic subject — of man, these means, and above all, language, manifest their essence (43, 44).

However, the "word" (speech) arises, according to LS. Vygotsky, in the process of social practice, and therefore, is a fact of objective reality, independent of the individual consciousness of man (43, 46).

Speech activity is defined by AA Leontyev, a leading Russian psycholinguist, as the process of using language to communicate during any other human activity (120, p. 27-28; 133 and others). According to A.A. Leontiev (shared by far not all domestic psycholinguists), speech activity is some kind of abstraction that is not directly correlated with “classical” activities (cognitive, playing, learning) that cannot be compared with work or play. It - in the form of separate speech actions - serves all types of activity, being part of acts of labor, play, and cognitive activity. Speech activity as such takes place only when speech is valuable in itself, when its underlying motive cannot be satisfied in any other way except speech (133, p. 63). Speech actions and even individual speech operations can also be included in other activities, primarily in cognitive activity. Thus, speech (RD) is defined as one of the means of carrying out non-speech activity, the speech (language) process, the process of generation (production) and the perception (understanding) of speech, providing all other human activities. This applies to all forms of speech: (1) oral (sound), (2) written (reading and writing) and (3) kinetic (i.e., mimic-gestural) speech.

Distinctive features of speech activity (RD), according to A.A. Leontiev are as follows.

• Subject nature of activity. It is determined by the fact that the RD, according to the figurative expression of the Academy of Sciences. Leontyeva, proceeds "face to face with the outside world" (135, p. 8). In other words, “in the activity there occurs, as it were, an opening of the circle of internal mental processes towards the objective objective world, imperiously bursting into this circle, which does not close at all” (ibid., P. 10).

• Purposefulness, which means that any act of activity is characterized by the ultimate goal, and any action is an intermediate goal, the achievement of which, as a rule, is planned by the subject in advance.

• Motivation of taxiways. It is determined by the fact that, in reality, the act of any activity is simultaneously motivated by several motives merged into one whole.

• Hierarchical (“vertical”) organization of speech activity, including the hierarchical organization of its units. In the works of the school psychologists LS Vygotsky's concept of the hierarchical organization of the RD is interpreted differently. So, V.P. Zinchenko introduced the concept of a functional block (98); A.A. Leontiev differentiated the concepts of macro-operations and micro-operations and introduced the concept of three types of systematic activity (120, 122); A.S. Asmolov introduced the concept of installation levels in activities and, together with V.A. Petrovsky developed the idea of ​​a “dynamic paradigm of activity” (8).

• Phase (“horizontal”) organization of activities (119, 133).

The most complete and successful methodological definition of speech activity was proposed by a well-known domestic psycholinguist, prof. I.A. Winter “Speech activity is a process of active, purposeful, language-mediated and conditional communication of the interaction of people among themselves (with each other). Speech activity can enter into another, broader activity, for example, social-production (labor), cognitive. However, it can also be an independent activity; ... each type of RD has its own “professional embodiment”, for example, RD of speaking determines the professional activity of the lecturer, the letter of the writer ... ”(92, pp. 28–29).

Describing speech activity, I.A. Zimnyaya indicates that the RD is an active, purposeful, motivated, substantive (meaningful) process of giving out or receiving a thought formed and formulated through a language aimed at satisfying a person’s communicative and cognitive needs in the process of communication (95).

It is clear that in these cases the RD is considered both as a communicative, and as a professional activity of people. It acts as an independent, socially “fixed” human activity. Based on this provision, I.A. Zimnaya makes a very important methodical conclusion that is directly related to the methodology of speech development (and, accordingly, to the theory and practice of speech therapy work): teaching of speech activity should be carried out from the standpoint of forming it as an independent one, possessing all its characteristics.

Any type of activity is aimed at achieving a specific goal, which determines the choice of action, the way to take into account the conditions in which these actions are carried out. Any activity (as a rule) goes through the stage of orientation and development of a plan of action, in the process of implementation of which control and correction mechanisms are used to compare the result with the outlined plan and, if necessary, make some changes.

It should be emphasized that any activity includes a stage (or phase) in which the goal is realized and a plan for achieving it is developed. “The whole course of activity must be subordinated to the achievement of the intended result ... and therefore requires planning and control of execution” (S.L. Rubinstein, 185, p. 572).

A particular problem of human psychology and psycholinguistics is the ratio of speech activity and communication activity (AA Leontiev, 132, 133). Communication is defined in psychology as an activity for solving problems of social communication. The activity of communication acts as a general type of specifically human activity, the particular manifestations of which are all types of human interaction with other people and objects of the surrounding reality.

The main and universal type of interaction between people in human society is speech, speech activity. Thus, the activity of communication and speech activity are considered in general psychology as general and particular, as a whole and a part. Speech in this case can be considered as a form and at the same time a way of communicating. “Speech activity,” says AA. Leontiev, is a specialized use of speech for communication, and in this sense is a special case of the activity of communication ”(133, p. 64).

It should, however, be borne in mind that speech activity is not limited to the framework of communication, communication in human society. It plays a huge role in a person’s life; the formation and development of RD is closely connected with the formation and development of the whole personality of a person as a whole. A.A. Leontiev emphasizes that “speech actions and even individual speech operations may also be included in other activities, primarily in cognitive activity” (ibid., P. 64). As rightly pointed out by I.A. Winter (95) speech, speech activity is an integral part of a person’s personality , it is closely connected with his consciousness. Thus, RD is one of the most important conditions for the implementation of intellectual activity (cognition, awareness, analytical-synthetic activities, creativity).

It is important to note that a language, acting as the main means of speech activity and being its integral part, is, by definition, LS Vygotsky, is the unity of communication and generalization (as a product of intellectual activity) - this is its essence. The correlation and interrelation of taxiway and communication activities can be reflected in the form of the following rather simple scheme:

From what has been said, it is clear that speech activity has two main options for its implementation (aka implementation, embodiment). The first is the process of speech communication (verbal communication), which accounts for about two thirds of the entire “layer” of speech activity; the second is an individual verbal and cognitive activity realized through inner speech.