Voice and Expressive Power

While I understand many scholarly conceptions of voice and its ability to empower writers, I am much more interested in the different ways voice can apply to audience. Students should be writers of expressive voice--and perhaps one duty of English teachers is to encourage this process--who write in journals, blogs, letters, class notes, and other varied media. By reaching down into themselves to express personal feelings and somehow imbue themselves on paper, students do become empowered. I feel, however, that a great deal of students DO write expressively, and often. They scribble during lectures, text message their friends, communicate on the internet, and many have blogs or journals. This type of writing surrounds students and, in some ways, can define or limit the way they present themselves in less expressive writing. While some scholar somewhere may find enjoyment in reading through the instant messaging logs of 14-18 year olds, I think that the true function of "voice" is in how it comes across in communicative writing. A common mistake of college freshman in composition is a lack of consideration of the audience's (teacher or evaluator's) needs.

I draw an example from this semester: though I am not a CI or DI, I am responsible, as an employee of the Office of National and International Scholarships in the Honors College, for evaluating the personal statements of HC freshmen. In evaluating these, I find that the comment I'm making most runs along the lines of: "This is a good start, but I think you need to consider your audience more. Assuming I was a member of an academic scholarship committee, what more would I need to know in order to award you money to continue your education?" I am assuming most of them did not do subsequent drafts, for the majority of the writing is highly expressive. They talk in highly "voiced" ways about their pasts, describe their feelings, and try to define the characteristics they possess (or, perhaps, think that I want them to have, like "leadership" or "empathy" or "hard work"). What they fail to do is reflect maturely on these experiences, relate them to their present or future, or present details key to the reading of a scholarship statement (you might be surprised how many I had to ask, "what is your major? what careers are you considering?"). At least with these statements (and I'd be interested to see how it correlates to any of your DI or CI work), the case seems to be that voice overtakes the needs of the audience in freshman writing. What these students need to learn is to consider their audience and how to present themselves to that audience in way that still contains "voice," but does seem off-putting or awkward. With these expressive writings come other immature mistakes in grammar, sentence structure, organization, etc. In some cases, the students reveal ultra-personal details about their lives that, were the audience in mind, would have no place in a personal statement for an academic scholarship.

So let's allow students to develop that expressive side of their voice on their own--with perhaps a little guidance as it seems necessary. Teachers can certainly encourage students to engage in all sorts of writing activities like journaling, blogging, or even scrapbooking. Perhaps these could be a part of certain assignments in middle school and high school, but by the time they get to college, students need to understand how to translate that voice they have developed as an individual into writing that communicates specific information and details to an understood audience. The best writers are present in all of their writing, be it fiction, academic essay, or newspaper article. Good writers are aware of the rhetorical triangle and attempt to reach a sort of balance in their writing. The writer is present, the reader is considered, and the text is rich and correct. While the balance may shift for certain genres, it is always in view. I see voice not as the most important thing in writing, but one of many components that must be considered and taught in composition.