The Three Stages of Voice

A writer’s voice is essentially how the writer incorporates their own imprint or beliefs into their writing. It allows the writer to institute their own perception and expression into their writing across different genres, assignments, and convey their identity. In Empowering Writers‘ article “Teaching Voice in Writing,” Barvara Mariconda conceptualizes different approaches to teaching voice to writers, which I used to frame how peer-tutors can potentially guide writers in incorporating their own voice in their writing. 

First Stage: Awareness

The first stage, awareness, is essentially making the writer aware of their own voice. In this stage, helping them become aware of the fact that a writer can have a voice regardless of genre allows them to reflect or rediscover their own voice in the writing process. This parallels with Charles Bazerman’s article, “The Sociocultural Cultural Studies of Writing” where Bazerman asserts that a writer’s voice can be characterized as, “…one’s self and their commitments” (13). In doing so, helping a writer identify the fact that they can have a voice, even in an academic genre, allows the writer to become aware of their role in realizing their agency in the process. This stage directly correlates with the first University Center for Writing-based Learning’s (UCWbL) core belief: “Collaboration among peers is an especially effective mode of learning.” This core belief expresses how peer tutors can lay the foundation for helping their writer realize that they have a voice in every genre of writing. The UCWbL beliefs reinforces this stage, because it conceptualizes how different genres can obscure the writer’s voice. 

Second Stage: Discovery

In the second stage, discovery, peer-tutors have the ability to help the writer identify the intricate details and reality their voice. In this stage, the peer tutor is essentially guiding the writer to realize their own voice. For instance, asking a writer to explain a concept or re-state a certain sentence using their own words as if the two of you were simply having a conversation gives the writer complete agency over maintaining their voice. This mirrors Bazerman’s article. In this stage, the writer is able to participate in a foundational way. In the discovery stage, the writer highlights their own voice by articulating certain concepts or statements from their own perspective. In doing so, the writer is able to discover their voice. Bazerman asserts that, through participation, writers are able to gain their voice. Through dialogue with the peer tutor, it can help show the writer how to implement their voice.

Third Stage: Guided Teaching 

Finally, the third stage, guided teaching, is how peer-tutors can help guide the writer in incorporating their voice into their writing. In this stage, we, as peer tutors, can help guide the writer to implement the voice both the peer tutor and the writer had established in the discovery stage of the process. Interacting with the text, their voice, and the writer allows the peer tutor and writer to collaborate and ultimately guide them in implementing it into their writing. In this stage, the peer tutor helps guide the writer toward implementing their voice in the context of their assignment; the peer tutor is opened up to the opportunity to ask, “How can we say this in your essay (or assignment)?” This way, the two can collaborate and ultimately institute their own perspective or impression onto their writing. Guided teaching relates to UCWbL’s core belief number six that peer tutors should, “adopt and adapt specific strategies for each particular writer and their particular writing context.” As a result of working together, both the writer and the peer tutor have the ability to collaborate with each other and incorporate feedback, assignment context and most importantly the writer’s voice. 

In the article “Coming back to voice the multiple voices and identities of mature multilingual writers” by Professors Alan Hirvela & Diane Belcher, Hirvela and Belcher discuss voice in relation to English learning writers. They assert that, “[The] interest in teaching voice is understandable but also problematic” (Hirvela & Belcher). While native English speakers have cultivated their own voice over the span of their academic career so have English learners. In helping guide ELA writers to their establishing their voice in their writing, it is critical that the peer-writer does not assume control or authority over this step or the writer’s identity. Ensuring that peer-tutors do not assume that ELA writers need to be taught their voice in writing, they have created their own writing identify and may express their voice differently from other native English writers (Hirvela & Belcher). Keeping this in mind, then, both tutors and writers can work together to begin to understand, explore, and implement the idea of voice into their writing, no matter how strict or ‘academic’ an assignment might be.

Sources

Bazerman, Charles. “The Sociocultural Cultural Studies of Writing”

Belcher, Diane & Hirvela, Alan. “Coming back to voice the multiple voices and identities of mature multilingual writers”

Mariconda, Barvara. “Teaching Voice in Writing”