| A prevailing theory about composition is that it must initiate students into the "academic discourse community." To gain access to academe, students must learn to "write like us." Yet initiation pedagogies are problematized by those typically on the academic margins---e.g., working-class academics, students and teachers of color, feminists---who claim that learning to produce academically acceptable texts often results in a loss of "self" or "authentic voice." "Authentic voice" is frequently constructed as the site of critique. Very new composition theories, resulting from postmodern questioning of authenticity and a recognition of the "always already bespoke" nature of discourse, suggest that "voicing" might help to resolve the access vs. critique paradox teachers of composition feel. Pedagogies of voicing emphasize the permeable, shifting and conflicted nature of any set of discourse practices, including writing conventions, as well as the self. They recognize the possibility of students choosing among and playing with discourse to create a variety of "selves," opening possibilities for both access and critique. However, few concrete examples of voicing pedagogies currently exist.;This project develops one concrete tool for voicing pedagogy. The empirical research examined student writing in two composition classrooms, one service learning and one "standard." Using the methodologies of critical discourse analysis, it looked at both texts and their contexts to explain the textual patterns found and their significance. One of the most central features in both courses was reported discourse---the use of quotation, citation and paraphrase. Based on the theoretical work of Bakhtin, a method for reading for voicing was developed, focusing on reported discourse. The close analysis of three students in each course revealed more variety in the selves-on-paper of the service students. The words of "private" speakers complicated the tacit dichotomy between "us" (academic speakers) and "them" ("popular" or "naive" speakers) typically produced through reported discourse and found predominant in the standard course. These findings suggest that instructors need to look closely at reported discourse as a resource for fostering voicing and to find ways to invite "private" discourses into students' texts to be tested against disciplinary and popular discourses. |
