English Language Arts and Reading.8.6.J

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The student is expected to

defend or challenge the authors' claims using relevant text evidence.

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Knowledge and Skills Statement

Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed.

Task students with identifying the author's claims in a text and supporting or arguing against each claim. Provide the following frameworks to scaffold student responses:

  • Based on ____ it is clear that____.
  • While _____ may be true, the text also states that _____.


Further Explanation

Students should be able to identify an author’s position as well as facts, details, and other evidence from the text that could refute or support the validity of a position. Students should be able to support or argue against the claim regardless of their personal opinions. Students need to be able to find evidence that strengthens or weakens the author's argument using appropriate academic language structures.

Students are expected to consider the author’s implied or explicitly stated position and explain why it is not a valid point of view based on text evidence. Students should know how to examine the author’s evidence for faulty reasoning, weak data, or other flaws in the position’s support and how to effectively explain these inconsistencies to others.
Students should identify not only an author’s position but also facts, details, and other evidence from the text that support an argument. Students should know how to balance objective statements of fact from the text with subjective interpretations of the author’s intent and beliefs.
paraphrased or directly quoted information from a source that supports an inference, thesis, claim, or analysis

Research

1. Nussbaum, E. M., & Schraw, G. (2017). Promoting argument-counterargument integration in students' writing. The Journal of Experimental Education, 76(1), 59–92. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3200/JEXE.76.1.59-92              

Summary: This study provides instructional strategies to improve the students' ability to construct an argument for or against a position. A graphic organizer is suggested as a means to identify the argument and counterargument before developing a final conclusion. Although the participants in this study were undergraduates, the practical application of the strategy is consistent with lower grades. The process also increased the students' reasoning and ability to create rebuttals.

2. Composition Writing Studio. Argumentative essay/commentary. University of Purdue’s Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/05/ 

Summary: This online resource offers a complete overview of the writing processes and the components involved in each. The overview includes definition of terms, examples, graphs and charts as appropriate, and additional resources.

3. Jonassen, D. H., & Kim. B. (2009). Arguing to learn and learning to argue: Design justification and guidelines. Education Technology Research and Development, 58(4), 439–457. doi:10.1007/s11423-009-9143-8

Summary: This study suggests that students who experience meaningful learning are also deeply engaged in the learning process. The study focuses on argumentative writing. Jonassen and Kim consider critical thinking as a way to facilitate conceptual change and problem solving. In fact, critical thinking is fundamental to learning how to argue effectively. The study also examines what occurs when a student is unsuccessful in persuading an audience or presenting an argument. The report provides ways to evaluate the arguments for quality.