Peter Elbow's Argument on Ignoring Audience in Writing
Peter Elbow writes in his article, Closing My Eyes As I Speak: An Argument for Ignoring Audience, how audience awareness suppresses creativity and personal intuition in writing. He notes that in most instances, his mind would go blank while trying to address an audience, but when he closes his eyes, he is able to think clearly. This reaction, as he has noted in many other speakers or writers, is an illustration of how the audience can hinder one's creative ability. Thus, he proposes the strategies through which the audience can be blocked from the mind in order to allow free thought: limited claims and ambitious claims. To support these strategies, the author utilized the Piagetian and Vygotskian development models which explore the strengths and weaknesses of student writing. He explains that the Piagetian heresy advocates for the reliance in audiences in order to be creative, with the misconception that writers are unable to think singularly by disregarding the social context. However, Vygotskian model offers a counterargument in which the need for individualism is advocated to permit learning.
The Concept of Limited Claims
In the limited claim, Elbow argues that ignoring the audience may aid writers towards better writing than when they involved the audience in their thoughts. Although some audiences may create an enabling environment, others may act as inhibiting factors to thoughts and creativity. According to the author, "There are certain people who always make us feel dumb when we try to speak to them: we can't find words or thoughts" (Elbow, 1987). Many instance writers get confused by the audience who end up shaping their thoughts. The author, therefore, proposes the need to ignore the audience altogether; this can help dissipate confusion. After the personal thought, a writer can then reconsider giving the audience attention.
The Argument for Ambitious Claims
The second argument, more ambitious claim, posits that a writer-based prose is always better than a reader-based prose thereby suggesting the need to ignore the audience. When writers think of the audience, their language and thoughts are constrained; this limits free writing, thus, leading to "mediocre" content. However, if writers are free from any entanglement, they are able to write interesting expressive, descriptive writings. According to Elbow (1987), freewriting has been found by teachers to always be stronger since students are never constrained by a topic. Similarly, many teachers in the classroom realize that freewriting passages are always more striking compared to assigned content (Elbow, 1987). The author adds that by ignoring the audience, the voice and tone of the writing also improves. It is noted that, "the voice that emerges when we ignore audience is sometimes odd or idiosyncratic in some way, but usually it is stronger."
Considering Audience versus Ignoring Audience
It is true, as stated by the author, that deemphasizing the audience than aid in creativity and critical writing. Considering the audience strains one's reasoning since all the generated ideas tends to be shaped on the audience needs (Elbow, 1987). Personally my thoughts are always limited, particularly in a classroom wetting when my professor expects me to address a particular audience. Rather than thinking freely, I would always ensure the writing considers a tone, content, and voice that are appealing to the audience demands. This idea has been supported by Kuhi, Asadollahfam, " Amin (2014) who found in their study that specifying the audience before writing creates the opportunity of considering the expectations and needs of the audience during the writing process. This leads the writers to discussing their ideas in a manner that facilitates understanding of the audience.
Counterargument against Ignoring Audience
The above argument, however, may be disputed by authors who believe that freedom in thought may actually be a hindrance to writer creativity and considering of relevant ideas. Some scholars believe that the actual involvement of the audience is essential in directing the overall worldview, and that deemphasizing the audience would mean encouraging consumerism. According to Biocca (n.d), "freedom and consumerism had been integrally joined in the American psyche." Promoting freedom of choice among writers is a cornucopia of consumerists who prefer individualism. The author, thus, argues that having a passive audience may not only promote "consumerism" behavior, but also further limit the thoughts of a writer.
Rebuttal to Counterargument
However, Biocca's argument can still be argued using the Elbow's concepts. Unlike Biocca's ideology of consumerism as the basis for writers' selfish need of audience seclusion, Elbow believes that writers can only think clearly when they separate themselves from the audience. The Vygotskian model, as proposed by Elbow, acknowledges the need to be "alone" in order to be able to produce clear and good thinking. The mental life can be enhanced gradually through learning, growth, and practice. Those who learn to think about ideas are able to sustain and train their thoughts to individually think over the years. By relying on the audience, many students remain unable to think for themselves or possess innovative skills. Thus, deemphasizing the audience can greatly improve the cognitive abilities of writers who get a writing experience without coercion.
References
Biocca, F. A. 2 Opposing Conceptions of the Audience: The Active and Passive Hemispheres of Mass Communication Theory. Annals of the International Communication Association, 11.
Elbow, P. (1987). Closing my eyes as I speak: An argument for ignoring audience. College English, 49(1), 50-69.
Kuhi, D., Asadollahfam, H., " Amin, S. (2014). An Investigation of the Effect of Audience Awareness-Raising on EFL Learners’ Use of Interpersonal Resources in Essay Writing. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 1016-1025.
