Subjectivity, intentionality, and manufactured moves: Teachers’ perceptions of voice in the evaluation of secondary students’ writing

Composition theorists concerned with students’ academic writing ability have long questioned the

application of voice as a standard for writing competence, and second language compositionists

have suggested that English language learners may be disadvantaged by the practice of emphasizing

voice in the evaluation of student writing. Despite these criticisms, however, voice continues

to frequently appear as a goal in guidelines for teaching writing and on high-stakes writing assessment

Composition theorists concerned with students’ academic writing ability have long questioned the

application of voice as a standard for writing competence, and second language compositionists

have suggested that English language learners may be disadvantaged by the practice of emphasizing

voice in the evaluation of student writing. Despite these criticisms, however, voice continues

to frequently appear as a goal in guidelines for teaching writing and on high-stakes writing assessment

rubrics in the United States. Given the apparent lack of alignment between theory and

practice regarding its use, more empirical research is needed to understand how teachers apply

voice as a criterion in the evaluation of student writing. Researchers have used sociocultural and

functionalist frameworks to analyze voice-related discursive patterns, yet we do not know how

readers evaluate written texts for voice. To address this gap in research the present study asked: 1)

What language features do secondary English teachers associate with voice in secondary students’

writing and how do they explain their associations? 2) How do such identified features vary

across genres as well as among readers? Nineteen teachers were interviewed using a think-aloud

protocol designed to illuminate their perceptions of voice in narrative and expository samples of

secondary students’ writing. Results from an inductive analysis of interview transcripts suggest

that participating teachers associated voice with appraisal features, such as amplified expressions

of affect and judgment, that are characteristic of literary genres.

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Leiden University Scholarly Publications