Voice—whether ideational, interpersonal or textual—, is socially and historically constructed (Ivanič & Camps, 2001). Any piece of writing bears the seal of the author’s background, ideology, world perception, learning experience, etc. Assigned readings explicitly/ implicitly acknowledge the cultural/multicultural impact in writing process.
Therefore, going beyond liberal multiculturalism where people just celebrate diversity, will composition teachers, researchers in L2 writing step further to critical multiculturalism and help L2 learners be aware of and sustain their voice as it is genuinely constructed in their home society? Or will they encourage them to slightly, but irreversibly, merge into Western one-way traffic flow (with regard to voice and rhetoric) with risk of getting high tickets in case they (learners ) drive the other way round?
How will non-Western societies take advantage of knowledge of their sons and daughters graduating from western institutions if, to some extent, the imported knowledge may possibly clash with local social and cultural values?
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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I believe they need to adapt to fit into the contexts where one is in. However, the problem is how we as educators raise students with the sense of awareness that they are not and should not impose ideas or concepts which "clash" to their traditions.
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