Confronting the Challenges of Undergraduates’ Argumentation Writing in a “Learning How to Learn” Course

Abstract

In this article, we share what we learned about undergraduates’ struggles in writing quality summaries, comparison texts, and argumentative essays that were components of a unique course, Learning How to Learn. This course was designed to address core psychological issues that impede optimal learning for students from all majors, many of whom are preparing to attend professional or graduate school. Although never intended to be a course devoted to academic writing, the struggles we uncovered made it apparent that without addressing these students’ writing difficulties, especially with argumentation, optimal learning was not achievable. For each form of writing central to the course (i.e., summaries, comparisons, and argumentation), we not only describe the challenges we have documented over the past six years, but also the instructional responses we instituted to counter those challenges. We conclude by sharing insights we have garnered from this experience that may serve others who are confronting similar issues in their students’ writing abilities.

Perspectives about Disciplinary Argumentation in the Era of Post-truth: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…The authors end with a call to further explore this instructional approach to promote scientific reasoning and writing for all students. Alexander et al (2023) demonstrate that the difficulties associated with argumentative writing are not limited to school age students. The authors illustrate these challenges in an undergraduate course, "Learning How to Learn," which is focused on promoting students' effective and efficient learning.…”

“…Only 27% of 12th- and 8th-grade students were at or above proficient levels of writing performance, and only 1% of English Language Learners (ELL) and 5% of students with disabilities (SWD) were at or above proficient in writing. These limitations are also seen in the argumentative writing of college students (Alexander et al, 2023), students with disabilities (De La Paz et al, 2023), and students with limited English proficiency (Booth Olson et al, 2023).…”

“…Students are expected to develop the advanced literacy skills needed to read, write, and make and evaluate interpretative claims by using disciplinary strategies and standards when reading and writing. These factors have given impetus to interventions that improve students’ written disciplinary arguments (Alexander et al, 2023; Booth Olson et al, 2023; De La Paz et al, 2023; Nokes & De La Paz, 2023; VanDerHeide, et al, 2023).…”

“…Long before children have the capacity to write argumentative essays, they demonstrate surprisingly deft argumentative capacities when engaged in cooperative problem solving with their peers (Köymen & Tomasello, 2020; Köymen et al, 2020). Well-designed instruction that supports collaborative dialogic interactions about controversial issues has been shown to improve students’ argumentative writing (Alexander et al, 2023; De La Paz et al, 2023; Newell et al, 2011; Nokes & De La Paz, 2023; VanDerHeide et al, 2023). However, many novice writers, including students with disabilities (De La Paz, et al, 2023) and students with limited English proficiency (Booth Olson et al, 2023), are challenged to regulate the demands of goal setting, planning, writing, and revising their essays (Graham et al, 2013).…”

Citation and Referencing Practices in Argumentative Essay Writing by Upper-Intermediate EFL Students

“…The rationale behind offering argumentative writing to doi: 10.15584/sar.2023.20.4 undergraduate EFL students rests with the linguo-didactic tenets that are aimed at fostering an EFL student's awareness of argumentative and, more broadly, rhetorical thinking that is coupled with the ability to produce a clearly written, cohesive and coherent argumentative piece of writing in the academic register of English (Kapranov, 2020b;Paquot et al, 2013). Importantly, the linguo-didactic premises of the teaching and learning of argumentative essay writing involve a substantial focus on argumentation that is supported by credible sources, which, in turn, are appropriately referenced in accordance with referencing conventions, such as the American Psychological Association (APA) or Harvard referencing style (Alexander et al, 2023;Sato, 2022;Tabari & Johnson, 2023). However, the literature routinely points out that undergraduate EFL students encounter multiple challenges in their learning trajectory that is associated with the mastering of a range of skills that encompass the rhetorical underpinnings of argumentative essays writing, academic writing in general, and citation and referencing skills in particular (Kapranov, 2021a;Awada et al, 2020;Kamimura, 2014;Van Weijen et al, 2019).…”