Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences ISSN: 2231– 6345 (Online) An Open Access, Online International Journal Available at www.cibtech.org/sp.ed/jls/2015/02/jls.htm 2015 Vol. 5 (S2), pp. 866-873/Mirvani and Gholami Research Article © Copyright 2014 | Centre for Info Bio Technology (CIBTech) 866 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ROLE OF PRIVATE SPEECH IN IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNER’S GRAMMAR DEVELOPMENT Farahnaz Mirvani *Hamid Gholami Department of Foreign Languages, Kermanshah Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT Grammar development is an important part of any language learning process and researching how to enhance grammar development of EFL learners is one of the main concerns of educators in language learning and teaching areas. This paper focuses on the role of languaging in grammar development of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. The participants in this experimental study were seventy two male and female intermediate EFL learners, assigned to three groups, languaging group, Inductive group and deductive group, each including twenty four learners, receiving different treatments of grammar teaching during three sessions each lasting 90 minutes. A pre-test/pos-test design was used and the attitudes of the participants in languaging group were gathered based on an interview after the treatment procedure. Analysis based on ANOVA and Post-Hoc tests indicated that languaging in comparison with inductive and deductive grammar teaching leads to a better grammar development of Iranian EFL learners in short- term, the findings also showed that inductive grammar teaching in comparison with languaging and deductive grammar teachings leads to a better grammar development of Iranian EFL learners in long- term. Nearly seventy percent of the participants in languaging group had a positive view on the langauaging technique as a tool to learn grammar. Keywords: Sociocultural Theory, Private Speech or Languaging, Deductive Grammar Teaching, Inductive Grammar Teaching INTRODUCTION Lev (1896–1934) provided a foundation for SLA research through the analysis of the development of mental systems as humans acquire and develop the ability to communicate through language, indeed he did not write extensively about language, he was a psychologist and theorist of child development, but what he did, made a strong foundation for understanding the interrelationship between thinking and language processes involved in communicating meaning in a second language. Since that time his views on child development have became increasingly influential, psychologist such as Bruner (1985), Wertsch (1985,1991) and others took up his main ideas (meditation and mediated learning, scaffolding and zone of proximal development, microgenesis and private and inner speech), indeed they introduced current Sociocultural theory or Neo-Vygotscian theory. Review of Literature According to Ellis (2008), in Sociocultural theory, second language acquisition and learning is viewed as the product of mediated activity, in which learner progresses from object- and other- regulation to self- regulation through interacting with others. Research findings by Frawley and Lantolf (1985) showed that in order to organize their thoughts, focus their attention and overcome difficulties during a language task; language learners externalize their thinking process. Within the Sociocultural framework, interaction is a focused and highlighted element that is directly related to one„s development. Active interaction is a key element that brings a student success in development. In Vygotsky„s point of view (1962) language plays a great role in cognitive development; first language is the main tool by which adults transmit information to children, later this tool itself will be a very powerful mean for growing intellectual adaptation, Vygotsky (1978) believed that almost all mental functions of