{"id":77740,"date":"2025-07-31T00:10:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T04:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=77740"},"modified":"2025-07-31T00:10:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T04:10:58","slug":"writer-identity-and-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/writer-identity-and-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Writer identity and voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Still reading. This month it\u2019s\u00a0Schmit, John S (2022)The sociolinguistics of written identity, Constructing a self.<\/em>\u00a0Cham, Switzerland: PalgraveMacmillan<\/a>. Schmit is a writing and linguistics professor. His book examines how students develop written identities in academic settings and the complex relationship between language, power, and social class in educational settings. I found it interesting- well, I always like to read what writing teachers do \u2013 and it\u2019d be a helpful book to get your university library to order.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a taste of what the book says and does.<\/p>\n

Schmit examines \u201cvoice\u201d as both individual expression and social accomplishment. While teachers often encourage students to \u201cfind their voice,\u201d Schmit shows that voice is largely determined by social institutions and community membership. Academic voice represents a form of symbolic power that grants access to educational and professional opportunities, but acquiring it can distance students from their cultural roots.<\/p>\n

Schmit argues that traditional writing instruction often requires students to abandon their usual voices in favour of Standard English, which he calls \u201cthe language of the bosses\u201d( after Sledd)(p.2). Schmit says that having to choose to write only in standard English creates problems for students from non-standard-speaking communities who must decide whether to fit into academic discourse or maintain connections to their home communities. The book challenges deficit perspectives that view nonstandard language as inadequate.<\/p>\n

Schmit traces how written identity emerges through register \u2013 the functional variations in language based on the particularities of context, audience, and purpose. Choosing a register allows writers to signal social relationships and establish credibility. This is what academic writers typically have to do, consider who they are writing for, why and in what context.<\/p>\n

But Schmit also talks about codes. Codes represent systematic language choices that reflect community membership. Schmit argues for recognising the sophistication of different (e.g. community and vernacular) language codes while acknowledging that students need access to powerful discourses for social mobility. He addresses controversies around code-switching versus code-meshing. Code-switching maintains hierarchies between standard and vernacular forms. Code-meshing, which Schmit advocates, blends varieties which honour students\u2019 home languages and vernaculars rather than demanding conformity.\u00a0He suggests you can bring formal standard English together with home, community and vernacular languages when writing for academic purposes.<\/p>\n

Schmit also offers some practical exercises that allow academic writers to explore their writer-researcher identity through different roles: storyteller, profile writer, explorer, and researcher. These genres let students practice academic discourse while maintaining their \u201cauthentic voice\u201d.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve summarised\u00a0\u00a0two of these roles, the explorer and the profile writer. There\u2019s more about these in the book, but this will give you a taste of Schmit\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n

The Explorer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adopting the role of explorer in your writing represents a return to the essay\u2019s original purpose which is not to demonstrate mastery of existing knowledge, but to think through complex problems and discover new insights through the act of writing itself. Schmit positions the explorer as someone who uses writing to \u201cclarify ideas and answers that need to be consciously framed\u201d (p. 128). This differs fundamentally from an assessment essay which summarises existing scholarship. As an explorer, you engage \u201cessaying, attempting to work through questions whose answers cannot be predetermined\u201d (p 132).<\/p>\n

The exploratory stance requires deliberate uncertainty. Rather than beginning with thesis statements that announce conclusions, you start with genuine questions that emerge from your lived experience as a scholar. Starting uncertainly allows you to surface your tacit knowledge \u2013 what you \u201cdon\u2019t know that you know\u201d about your field. The \u201cexplorer\u2019s voice\u201d, Schmit says, emerges through personal inquiry rather than systematic literature review. It creates a space for original thinking that connects abstract concepts to concrete experience.<\/p>\n

Exercise 1: Mapping Your Implicit Knowledge<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Begin with a question that genuinely puzzles you about your field \u2013 not one you can answer through more research, but one that requires you to examine your own assumptions and experiences.<\/p>\n

Following Schmit\u2019s framework (p. 133), address these questions in writing:<\/p>\n