Literature Review of “Voice” in Writing

孙婉秋

【Abstract】Voice has been a key concept in the writing classes and it also has been an integral part of the various rubrics used for the evaluation of students writing in many Western countries， but in China it is still an unfamiliar concept. There are many studies on voice whose conclusions are inconsistent abroad， yet few studies in china. This paper， therefore， provides an overall literature review on voice， furthermore， discuses the implications of voices studies for chinas EFL writing instruction.

【Key words】voice?literature review?writing

1 Introduction

Voice is the authors ideas reflected from the writing. A writers voice is something uniquely their own. It's the way they write and is as natural as everyones speaking voice. Since 1980s， researchers have drawn their attentions to the concept of voice. Voice plays an important role in writing instruction and assessment.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Theoretical Definitions of Voice

Many composition researchers who are regarded as “Expressivists” see the concept of voice as being closely related to the Western ideology of individualism. Voice in a written text is regarded as “the expression of the essential individuality of a particular writer” （Stewart， 1992）. Some researchers who are regarded as “Social Constructivists” think that voice and even languages are the production of social and cultural construction.

Based on all these insights， Matsuda （2001） presents a relatively more formal definition of voice： “voice is the amalgamative effect of the use of discursive and non-discursive features that language users choose， deliberately or otherwise， from socially available， yet ever changing repertoires” .

2.2 Empirical Studies on Voice

2.2.1 Descriptive Study on the Experience of Voice Building Experience in Writing

Among empirical studies on voice in writing， descriptive studies are in the majority. Hirvela and Belecher （2001），through depth interview， present and analyze all kinds of confusion and difficulties of three North American colleges and universities graduate encountered when the students in learning western academic writing， building academia personal voice which can be accepted by the western readers. They point out that these difficulties mainly come from identity conflict and cognitive barriers to their identity experienced in different social and cultural environment.

2.2.2 Analysis Studies on the Language Elements in the Process of Voice Building

These studies study voice building in writing through the analysis of the discourse of an individual or case studies. Ivanic and Camps （2001） analyses the writing of six graduate students studying in British universities and recommend that an L2 writing pedagogy that raises critical awareness about voice can help learners maintain control over the personal and cultural identity they are projecting in their writing. Matsuda （2001） studies web logs written in Japanese by a Japanese woman. He find that voice can be found in every language， even in languages associated with collective values.

2.2.3 Correlation Studies Between Intensity of Voice and Overall Writing Quality

Helms—Park and Stapleton（2003） examine the relationship between intensity of voice and overall writing quality in the context of undergraduate L2 argumentative writing. There is no significant association between the overall quality of writing and voice.

Matsuda and Tardy （2007） conducted a study to investigate whether and how voice plays a role in academic writing in the context of a simulated blind peer review of a manuscript submitted for publication in an academic journal in the field of rhetoric and composition studies. Contrary to Helms-Park and Stapletons （2003） conclusion， this study suggests that voice does play a role in academic writing. Zhao and Llosa （2008） builds on and extends the work of Helms-Park and Stapleton and examines a relationship in the context of an L1 high-stakes academic writing assessment. Results show a positive and significant relationship between voice intensity and writing quality. Zhao （2010） uses qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the definition of voice in second language argumentative writing， constructive elements and their relation with the quality of writing text. The results further verified the writing voice is an important factor in second language writing， thus strongly rejected Helms—Park and Stapletons research.

3 Implications of Voices Studies

Language teachers in China should help students strengthen reader awareness and author awareness in writing teaching， in addition to the traditional writing methods and skills， so that the students can show their voice in composition and build the author identity.