An Action Research On High School Students’ Argumentation Teaching Based On Toulmin Model

The main purpose of argumentative essay writing is to evaluate an issue or opinion.The writing process is completed by persuading the audience to accept or reject a particular viewpoint caused by a controversial issue or by discussing and analyzing the points from multiple sides in order to establish a certain position.Argumentative writing plays an essential role for students in generating rigorous logic,enhancing the mental space of negotiation,and improving students’ critical thinking.It’s cognitively demanding for students and stands for the students’ language application ability.Toulmin’s argument pattern(or TAP)systematically presents the logic of argumentative reasoning that embodied in practical argumentative activities,and it also provides plausible procedural steps for argumentative activities at a macro level.Owing to its abstract concepts and rigorous argumentation requirements,argumentative writing instruction based on the Toulmin model has been used mostly for high-level L1 and L2 learners.Few studies had explored the effectiveness of Toulmin model for secondary language high school students,let alone the practical research on how to implement argumentative writing in regular L2 high school classrooms.Therefore,this study adopts an action research paradigm,using the six elements of the Toulmin model as the theoretical basis and indicators for teaching adjustments in order to investigate how to conduct the action on teaching English argumentative essay writing for high school students in the regular English classrooms as well as to discuss the effects of the action research on students’ argumentative essay writing.The study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches.One one hand,the average frequencies of the six elements of Toulmin model in students’ writing texts were used as the quantitative basis for the overall effectiveness of students’ argumentative essay writing by determining the inclusion and absence of the elements.On the other hand,by combing the analysis of students argumentative writing quality,we adopted the action research paradigm and constantly changed the scaffolding tools in order to pave the way for students’ writing and improve their writing quality.The preliminary research found that the students’ organizational structure was messy,the cohesive words students used were monotonous and tangle-some,and they barely included counter claims.Based on the status quo,the teacher implemented the first round action by designing and implementing a series of scaffolding tools to deconstruct the model,such as the demonstration of evidence types and cohesive ties,the presentation of graphic organizer and the Pros and Cons sheet.After the first round,it was found that all the elements were improved to some extent.But students still struggled with rigorous reasoning production and counterargument integration owing to the result of their overall writing quality and interview.In the same vein,the teacher then designed a series of scaffolding tools in the second round,such as the real-life analogies for Toulmin model understanding,the presentation of good and bad writing samples for deconstruction with different colors,the presentation of writing samples from native writers of different levels,and the provision of language templates for anxiety alleviation.It was found that students’ writing quality was improved.However,the frequency count of rebuttal data was still low.After the analysis and the teacher’s reflection,another series of scaffolding tools were used in the last round.Students were required to reach a consensus after the classroom discussion and group negotiation.Then,the in-class debate was incorporated to enhance students’ awareness for the inclusion of counter arguments.Following the implementation of a range of scaffolding tools,students were generally able to complete their writing according to the model,with clear cohesive devices to indicate the reader’s reading by highlighting the different parts of the argumentative essay.Students were able to produce an average of two valid data to support their claim.The mean number of counter-claim and rebuttal-claim were generally consistent and improved,but the counterargument data and rebuttal data showed different changes depending on the writing topic and the teaching scaffolding devices.Generally speaking,the quality of students’ argumentative essays improved with the teaching activities in general.Based on the integration of unit topic in high school English class and the regular teaching schedule,the teacher adapted extra-curricular materials into the regular teaching,guided students think critically on the unit topic,and continuously adjusted the scaffolding tools with the possible minimum inferences on the regular class teaching through three rounds of teaching,evaluation and reflection.It was expected that by improving students’ writing quality,logical coherence,and the richness of cohesive ties,students’ critical thinking can be enhanced when they can write rigorously.This study demonstrates the application of the Toulmin model into high school students’ English argumentative essay writing through three rounds of instructional action.The targeted instructional arrangements followed by the analysis of students’ writing situations provide a model that can be used to teach argumentative essay writing in high schools and offer some plausible methods for argumentation teaching.For example,the adaption of extra-curriculum materials,the sequential arrangements for the implementation,and the scaffolding tools for argumentation enhancement.Meanwhile,the study also provides evidence to implement the arrangement of argumentative essay teaching in high schools settings.