Beginning Writers: Diverse Voices and Individual Identity

Abstract

As I teach and observe beginning college writers, I am struck by their frustration and confusion as they try to negotiate a voice of their own while they attempt to satisfy the requirements of the institution. The assumptions they carry from previous school experiences clash with expectations about writing and self in college classes, and they struggle to understand the new roles writing in the broader academic community requires of them. Our professional discussions as teachers and theorists are preoccupied with corresponding concerns expressed in our ongoing debate about whether we ought to give priority to teaching the language of the academy or to encouraging the growth of students' own language. Patricia Bizzell's article, Arguing about Literacy, and discussions which fill hotel ballrooms at meetings of the Conference on College Composition and Communication are evidence of this concern. One current view of the function of writing instruction describes it as a process of socialization to the dominant community. David Bartholomae, for example, says of the student:

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