Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Authorial voice is not understood as an explicit quality but is inferred upon by readers based on a combination of spoken and unspoken languages that underlie words on a page. In the classroom, issues of voice arise from the fact that audience and voice are culturally constrained. As a writer, I find the imperativeness in aligning oneself within a particular socio-cultural subject position. In doing so, one may either reproduce or challenge dominant practices and discourses. Writing at the university level is not about simply conveying an idea. Rather, it is about the representation of oneself. This process, albeit important, does pose a conflict for writing learners in higher education; undergraduate students are asked to engage with a self that is inscribed in academic discourse that is still new to them. It is likely that many of our students are presented with interests, values, beliefs, and practices inscribed in academic discourse conventions that are contradictory to their own lived experiences. Arguably, our most important duty as writing instructors is to encourage student engagement with these contradictions. Doing so helps to set up a range of possibilities for self-hood and the constructing of identity for students; these processes can be both challenging and empowering. This paper (1) argues that if voice is central to the act of writing, then so too is identity and (2) makes reference to theoretical methods alongside empirical evidence for best practices, providing practical applications to maximize instructional potential for student success.