For this project, I would like to research the construct
of voice in writing. At the high school level, voice is a reading and a writing
standard; students are asked to identify an author’s voice as well as
demonstrate using their own voice throughout the year in the classroom and on
standardized tests. However, the language used within the academic content
standards themselves vaguely indicates what voice is; in fact, the articles I’ve
read throughout my research do not even agree on how to define it. Consequently,
teachers do not adequately explain the concept of voice to students, who then
confuse voice with style and tone. One of my sources is Peter Elbow’s “Voice in
Writing Again: Embracing Contraries,” which illustrates that the discourse
arguing for and against voice in writing has essentially fallen silent; Elbow
emphasizes that voice must be used in rhetoric to in order to effectively influence
audience. I intend to argue that the uncertainty at the fundamental level of definition
clearly prevents teachers from modeling proper use of voice in writing to
students and that the discussion of voice in literacy needs to be reawakened to
improve both teacher education in writing and the quality of our students’
writing experiences.
This looks great, Katie! Your perspective is very well-rounded, as you are at once a student, college-level teacher, and a former high school teacher. Will you propose your own definition of voice in this paper? I really like this!
ReplyDeleteKatie,
ReplyDeleteI find it really interesting that voice seems essentially undefinable by your sources. Yet, students often really value their voices in their own writing, and further resent when they think they must squelch that voice in an objective, formal research paper. I think looking at voice in lieu of working on Writing about Writing is an excellent fit-- you'll be addressing questions that will be relevant to teaching this year and beyond.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteYour approach has some depth due to your experiences.
It will be important to go directly to some of the anti-voice sources that Elbow quotes in order to see what he is doing with them. For example, Darsie Bowden has a whole book on voice in which she critiques it, partly on the grounds that is is not adequately definable (not that it needs to be better defined). Voice is one of those qualities we think we know it when we see it. But it is basically a metaphor for . . .
Also keep in mind that students' belief that they must squelch their 'voice' in academic writing is arguable a classic writing construct deconstructed by Kantz and many others.
AR
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI am interested to see how you are going to define "voice" in your own paper. Will you acknowledge different definitions of the term, or is your purpose to come up with one universal definition? Will understanding the term more completely change the way we view and teach voice? For better or worse?