scholarly journals A Pedagogical Framework for Teaching Chinese College English Learners’ Argumentative Writing via Infusion of Critical Thinking

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Chunxia Lu ◽  
Rosukhon Swatevacharkul
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Writing Classes ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
College English ◽  
Pedagogical Framework

To compose an argumentative writing essay for a Chinese college student is a challenging activity as argumentative writing requires the high-order skills such as analysis, evaluation, reasoning. These skills are also termed as critical thinking skills. Thus this paper proposed to teach Chinese college English learners to compose an argumentative essay through the approach of infusing critical thinking skills into argumentative essay writing classes. It also put forward a pedagogical framework to facilitate Chinese college argumentative writing teachers to develop students’ argumentative writing ability.

scholarly journals FOSTERING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS THROUGH ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Widyastuti
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Writing Classes ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
English As Foreign Language ◽  
Writing Course

Abstract: The urgency for developing students’ critical thinking (CT) abilities has left English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers trying hard to integrate CT into their teaching practices. This study highlights the role of language as a way of thinking, judging and assessing. It seeks to investigate how the elements of CT are displayed in students’ essay so as to reveal the development of their CT skills. The data are in the form of essay written by the fourth semester Indonesian students taking essay writing course. The analysis is based on Stapleton’s   criteria of CT (2001), i.e. claims, kinds  of  reasoning,  the  extent  of   evidence,  recognition  of  opposing  arguments  and  refutation,  and  fallacies. The results show that there are many weak arguments in the essays due to the insufficiency of reasons and evidence. It is highly possible for an essay to have multiple arguments. However, the logical correlations between them are not clearly articulated in the essays and many students fail to show them. Students also lack of refutation skills as they tend to accept a claim from other sources without trying to judge and evaluate it. While most conclusions are in the form of suggestion, they can be made better by clearly showing the position of the writer in relation the arguments posed in the essay. Fallacies are mostly found in the form of generalization and over-simplification. The results are expected to give insights to teachers about how CT skills could be effectively taught and improved in writing classes. Key words: argumentative writing, critical thinking (CT), English as a Foreign Language (EFL)  MENGEMBANGKAN KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KRITIS MELALUI MENULIS ARGUMENTATIF Abstrak: Pentingnya mengembangkan kemampuan berpikir kritis (critical thinking atau CT) mahasiswa telah membuat para pengajar English as a Foreign Language (EFL) berusaha keras mengintegrasikan kemampuan berpikir kritis dalam pengajaran mereka. Penelitian ini menggarisbawahi peran bahasa sebagai sarana berpikir, menilai, dan mengevaluasi. Penelitian bertujuan untuk menggali bagaimana elemen-elemen berpikir kritis ditunjukkan dalam teks dan mengkaji perkembangan berpikir kritis dalam teks. Data berbentuk teks essay yang ditulis oleh mahasiswa semester 4 yang mengambil matakuliah Essay Writing. Data dianalisis berdasarkan kriteria Critical Thinking (CT) oleh Stapleton (2001), yaitu argument, reason, evidence, opposition and refutation, conclusion, dan fallacy. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa argumen sering lemah karena tidak didukung oleh  alasan dan bukti yang cukup. Suatu esai sangatlah mungkin mengandung banyak argumen. Namun demikian, hubungan logis antar argumen tersebut tidak jelas dalam esai dan bahkan banyak mahasiswa gagal menunjukkan hubungan tersebut. Mahasiswa juga lemah dalam hal refutation skill karena mereka cenderung menerima klaim dari sumber lain begitu saja tanpa mencoba mengevaluasi dan mempertanyakannya. Kebanyakan kesimpulan berbentuk saran dan bisa dibuat lebih baik dengan menyatakan dengan jelas posisi penulis dalam menanggapi argumen-argumen yang dikemukakan di awal. Fallacy kebanyakan dalam bentuk generalisasi dan penyederhanaan berlebihan. Hasil penelitian ini diharapkan dapat memberikan masukan tentang bagaimana kelas menulis dapat dirancang secara efektif supaya dapat menumbuhkan baik kemampuan berpikir kritis maupun kemampuan berbahasa. Kata kunci: tulisan argumentatif, berpikir kritis, English as Foreign Language (EFL)

scholarly journals A Framework for Infusing Critical Thinking into Chinese College EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing Process

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Chunxia Lu
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Written Argumentation ◽  
Critical Thinking Instruction

Written argumentation, as a language skill and a cognitive skill as well, is not easy for EFL learners. In China, related studies found that college EFL learners are weak in written argumentation due to the deficiency of critical thinking. In order to enhance Chinese college EFL learners’ argumentative writing ability, this paper reviewed the nature of argumentative writing, the relationship between critical thinking and argumentative writing and previous studies on effects of critical thinking instruction into argumentative writing, and then pointed out that it is reasonable to infuse critical thinking into argumentative writing process in Chinese EFL context. With teachers’ feedback and students’ reflection as the pedagogical tool, the author synthesized an instruction framework for infusing critical thinking skills into Chinese EFL learners’ argumentative writing process hopefully to provide reference for further research and instruction.

scholarly journals Infusing Critical Thinking Skills into Argumentative Writing: A Study of Chinese College College Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Chunxia Lu
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Chinese College Students ◽  
College Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Persuasive Arguments

Argumentative writing plays an important role in higher education with college students needing to know how to compose persuasive arguments for academic and career purposes. While writing an argumentative essay, Chinese college students not only face the challenges of the activity itself but also the difficulties of writing in a foreign language. To facilitate their argumentative writing, a revised six-element argumentative model based on Toulmin’s framework infused with critical thinking skills was taught to 30 students in an English course at a Chinese Teacher-training University. Using an argumentative essay test in a pre- and post-test design, it was found that the students’ holistic argumentative writing ability significantly improved after the intervention. However, the students’ ability to rebut remained weak.

The Effect of Teaching Critical Thinking on Iranian EFL Learners' Essay Writing

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Miri ◽  
Danial Babajani Azizi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Writing Test ◽  
Experimental Group

The present study made an attempt to determine the effect of teaching critical thinking skills on Iranian EFL learners' essay writing ability. To do this, a sample of 60 EFL learners was selected based on their performance on Preliminary English Test (PET). The participants were randomly assigned to two equal groups of control and experimental. An essay-writing test functioning as pre-test was administered on both groups in order to ensure their homogeneity in terms of writing ability. The groups received 10 sessions of writing instruction; however, experimental group received additional instruction and practice regarding the techniques of critical thinking. Finally, both groups took an essay writing posttest in order to compare their writing achievements. Both pretest and posttest were scored by two raters using TOEFL rating scales. The results of paired and independent sample t-tests showed that critical thinking techniques significantly enhanced EFL learners writing ability.

scholarly journals A Study on Critical Thinking Assessment System of College English Writing

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian Dong ◽  
Lu Yue
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
College English ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Writing Competence

<p>This research attempts to discuss the validity of introducing the evaluation of students’ critical thinking skills (CTS) into the assessment system of college English writing through an empirical study. In this paper, 30 College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) writing samples were collected and analyzed. Students’ CTS and the final scores of collected writing samples were respectively regarded as two independent variables to make a correlation analysis through Pearson Correlation of SPSS17.0 software. In addition, Excel was also used as an instrument to analyze the research results. The findings suggest that the two variables are significantly and positively correlated with each other, that is, students’ CTS greatly influence their English writing proficiency. Thus, it is quite necessary to cultivate students’ CTS to improve their English writing competence.<strong> </strong></p>

scholarly journals LESSONS FROM CRITICAL THINKING: HOW TO PROMOTE THINKING SKILLS IN EFL WRITING CLASSES

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mojgan Rashtchi ◽  
Babak Khoshnevisan
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Writing Classes ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Modern Education

<p>Critical thinking as an issue with on-going importance has an immense influence on modern education. However, it is not a natural disposition but is a potential that needs cultivation. Training individuals to become critical thinkers is not an easy task, but by adopting appropriate strategies and classroom practices, it is attainable. The present article aimed to show how English writing classes in EFL settings could facilitate the practice of critical thinking skills. This paper suggests that critical thinking can be implemented as a classroom practice in writing courses by using several tasks that integrate writing and thinking skills. The article starts with an introduction to the definitions of critical thinking. Then, it underlines the classroom procedures, which can be implemented by teachers. Following this, some sample tasks and writing topics are proposed to help teachers employ critical thinking practices in their classes.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0663/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

scholarly journals Production-Oriented Approach and Its Implications for the Cultivation of Critical Thinking Skills in College English Instruction in Mainland China

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Junhong Ren ◽  
Na Wang
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
University Students ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
College English ◽  
Teaching Objectives ◽  
English Instruction ◽  
Oriented Approach

Absence of critical thinking skills is perceived to be a growing problem among many university students. The production-oriented approach, an initiative to college English instruction reform in mainland China, may offer a better solution to this problem. To cultivate critical thinking skills under this approach, reforms have to be implemented in teaching objectives, teaching materials, teaching approaches and assessment.

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