The Analysis of Indonesian EFL Argumentative Writing Using Toulmin’s Model: The Structure and Struggles from the Learners

Abstract

<p>Argumentative writing plays an important role in academic writing at university level. However, learners mostly find that writing this essay a challenging and effortful task. This present study aims at exploring the structures of argumentative essay written by Indonesian EFL students from one university in Jakarta Indonesia. Moreover, it investigates their difficulty and constraints during composing the essay. Using a descriptive qualitative design, the authors selected writing assignment and questionnaire for collecting data. A layout of Toulmin model of arguments was used in analyzing the essays. The findings of the study show that the argumentative papers cover the main elements: claim (thesis statement), data, rebut, and rebuttal data using either in block pattern or point-by-point pattern. The elements show diverse in types. Logical analysis and explanation are the most frequently used on the papers. Though they present acceptable thesis with well-organized essay, some information is unrelated and data for supporting the claim are seemingly insufficient. In addition, the students think that this essay as difficult task. In general, lack of knowledge, vocabulary and practice cause the constraints. In specific level, the students report that giving argument, finding support and working on counterargument become source of difficulty and constraints.</p>

Problematizing Argumentative Writing in an Iranian EFL Undergraduate Context

“…In the last few decades, a number of studies have analyzed the structure of argumentative writing by using Toulmin's theoretical framework (Toulmin, 1958(Toulmin, , 2003Lea and Street, 1998;Németh and Kormos, 2001;Qin and Karabacak, 2010;Wolfe, 2011;Rapanta et al, 2013;Abdollahzadeh et al, 2017;Sundari and Febriyanti, 2021). The model proposed by British Philosopher Toulmin (1958) has been used to analyze the argumentative writing (Figure 1).…”

“…As Nesi and Gardner (2006) put it, the ability to display critical thinking and develop an argument is commonly pursued across academic texts of different disciplines. However, despite the importance of argumentative essay writing in the academic context, there are many studies in both L1/L2 writing contexts which demonstrate the difficulties the students have with argumentative writing (Qin and Karabacak, 2010;Abdollahzadeh et al, 2017;Altınmakas and Bayyurt, 2019;Saprina et al, 2020;Divsar and Amirsoleimani, 2021;Sundari and Febriyanti, 2021). One of the major struggles the students have is with the concept of argumentation.…”

“…Much has been written on the linguistic and rhetorical structure of the arguments (Al-Abed-Al-Haq and Ahmed, 1994;Hemmati, 2001;Khiabani and Pourghassemian, 2009;Rashidi and Alimorad Dastkhezr, 2009;Dastjerdi and Samian, 2011;Nimehchisalem et al, 2015). In addition, some other studies (Wingate, 2012;Abdollahzadeh et al, 2017;Altınmakas and Bayyurt, 2019;Saprina et al, 2020;Sundari and Febriyanti, 2021) specifically focused on the students' problems with developing sound arguments in the higher education contexts. The common thread of all these attempts is the fact that developing argumentative writing as the milestone of academic writing includes a body of linguistic, cultural, pedagogical and contextual factors.…”

Implementation of 5E Plus Learning Model on Energy Subject Matter to Improve Students’ Argumentation Skills

“…This means they could conduct claim and warrant, but not with backing or rebuttal (Setiawati & Nurlaelah, 2017). Meanwhile, a more recent study result, which involved students of an academic writing course as the sample, suggested that more practice should be given to the students to improve their argumentation skills (Sundari & Febriyanti, 2021).…”

Investigating Effects of Small-Group Student Talk on the Quality of Argument in Chinese Tertiary English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Argumentative Writing

“…Instead, it is the one with a clear claim backed up by relevant and sufficient data as well as counterarguments challenged by effective rebuttals ( Qin, 2020 ). In other words, a good argumentative writing integrates both the surface structure (i.e., essential elements including claims, counterclaims, rebuttals, and their accompanied data) and the substance (i.e., the quality of reasoning) ( Ho, 2011 ; Uysal, 2012 ; Stapleton and Wu, 2015 ; Qin, 2020 ; Siregar et al, 2021 ; Sundari and Febriyanti, 2021 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). As an essential marker of critical thinking and a significant feature of argumentative writing ( Wolfe, 2011 ; Hirvela, 2017 ), quality of argument has been measured with an increasing use of the Toulmin model that has gained broad acknowledgment in accounting for the various elements marking the progress of an argument ( Qin, 2020 ) and has been widely used to assess the quality of argumentative writing ( Yeh, 1998 ; Qin and Karabacak, 2010 ; Liu and Stapleton, 2014 ; Stapleton and Wu, 2015 ; Qin, 2020 ; Zhang and Zhang, 2021a , b ).…”