EVALUATING VOICE IN WRITING

I was trying to keep up with my readings and I found something about voice in ESL learners writing.  It was very interesting how there are universally applied standards concerning voice evaluation.  There were many points discussed in the article including whether if voice should be considered as both, personal and social elements.  It is argued that every utterance exists “within the consciousness of the speaker (or the writer) and within the sociocultural-historical context of its production.”  Teachers or/and English composition instructors should take into account the multidialectal society which is part of the active learning system of ESL students, in order to evaluate ESL voice in writing.  The so called “universally applied standards,” should be modified into a holistic framework approach designed to instruct second language learners about the different ways through which they can express their voice in writing, but without imposing rules attempting to ignore students’ language dichotomies.  Obviously, the manner through which L2 writers express themselves would greatly differ from that of Native speakers of English, and there is nothing wrong about it.  ESL minds are loaded with two languages, which in some instances, this would implied having two different identities, so two different consciousness and two different ways to perceive the world and to make meaning out of it.