“Voice” in the 21st Century and the Development of Today’s Young Learners

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

The concept of “voice” is both ancient and contemporary. It is present in the dialogues of Plato and the rhetorical musings of Aristotle, and it facilitates our understanding of literacy, from early acquisition of reading and writing to socialization into the “new literacies” of digital media. Our symposium is a critical and theoretical examination of voice, and its current value as a concept undergirding literacy research. We unfold varied theoretical perspectives on voice, attempting to find the richness of the concept and the theoretic threads that might tie differences together. We ground our thinking in Bakhtinian and related perspectives, which account for the social, cultural, historical, and political nature of reading and writing and, hence, of voice.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Writing and Literacies

Chair

• Sarah W. Freedman, University of California - Berkeley

Papers

• Finding One’s Voice - Melanie Sperling, University of California - Riverside

• Voice as a Social/Cultural Accomplishment - Deborah A. Appleman, Carleton College

• Implications of a Sociocultural Concept of Voice - Colette Daiute, The Graduate Center - CUNY

Discussants

• Joanne C. Larson, University of Rochester

• Jabari Mahiri, University of California - Berkeley