According to Vygotsy, speech and language have two forms: “inner speech” and “external speech.” Inner speech is pure meaning—shifting, unstable, and fluttering between word and thought. If an ESL learner himself/herself unconsciously uses “internal discourse” to talk to himself/herself out loud in English, we may say that this person is taking his/her first step towards becoming a fluent writer. Further, let’s examine the aspect of external speech. Here, thought is embodied in words. Our thought is shaped by our external speech which serves as a tool to explore ideas and nourish thought. Our external speech has two forms too: private speech and social speech. When we talk or write to ourselves, we use “private speech” and we are our own audiences. When we talk or write to others, we create social dialogues with others. It is imperative that ESL educators use the social-cultural context around their ESL learners to encourage shifting their private speech/social speech from the mother tongue to English. Vygotsky’s scaffolding technique offers a way to achieve this goal. The starting point is to decide the ESL learners’ zone of proximal development and to promote their potential with the help of knowledgeable others. Secondly, the educator’s modeling technique should be used carefully to lead students in achieving conscious awareness of various writing styles. Finally, it is important to focus on students’ reflection on how they use their strategies and how they build their conscious awareness of their thinking. As long as international students follow these three stages when using Vygotsky’s inner speech/external speech concept, they may assume responsibility for their own learning and monitor their own progress when writing the American way required in U.S. graduate institutions.
