Texts as Individual and Social
The individual nature of text is illustrated through the voice of the author, whose goal is to convey his or her individual ideas through language, whether printed or oral. However, author’s thoughts do not exist in a vacuum. Much of the understanding that authors possess comes from other voices, other authors (Bazerman, 1995). Thus, texts are both private and public in that the ideas, expressions, and language in them come through both the individual author and a social world (Brandt, 1990, 1992).
Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted July 2001