| What is writer's voice and how do prelingually severely or profoundly deaf/Deaf honors program student writers develop and define writer's voice? To answer these two questions and seventeen other primary research questions, I conducted a two-semester, cross-cultural, qualitative case study using participants who were or had been students at “Laurent University” (a pseudonym), a four-year liberal arts university for the deaf/Deaf and hard of hearing. Data consist of video- and audiotaped discourse-based, free- and stimulated-recall interviews with six student-participants; transcriptions of the interviews; assignments written for students' honors level and standard level courses; personal writing; published writing; and literacy autobiographies.; Data analysis followed methods suggested by Sharan Merriam, Matthew B. Miles and Michael Huberman, and Egon G. Guba and Yvonna S. Lincoln.; Coding occurred on two levels: data identification and interpretive construction of analysis.; Data analysis reveals that parents with at least one deaf child should adopt a family systems paradigm and participate in the Deaf community and culture. Reading is integral to both professional and student writers. Parents who are eager, passionate readers create indelible positive images for their children; parents who read on their own and to their children instill a love of reading and writing in their children.; There are significant correlations among how teachers, professional writers, and deaf/Deaf honors student writers develop and define writer's voice, just as there are significant correlations between how professional, award-winning writers and deaf/Deaf honors student writers understand, employ, and articulate their writing and revising processes. Writing suffers in translation no matter how expert the translator—just as signing suffers from interpretation no matter how expert the interpreter. The education system must embrace and nurture progressive, unconventional teaching techniques, particularly with deaf/Deaf students, who do not rely on hearing to learn. Unconventional pedagogy fosters student motivation, and motivation plays a foundational role in student writer's voice. Additionally, while “Laurent University” non-honors-level writing instructors must increase their academic demands upon and expectations of their students, honors and non-honors students must share the personal responsibilities that come with the demands of student sovereignty. |
