Learning from comPA(I)Ring exemplars: Enhancing genre knowledge of argumentative texts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2024.16.01.06Abstract
Poor writing skills are problematic in today’s society where writing expertise is essential in personal, academic and professional contexts. Students struggle most with argumentative writing. To write a good argumentative text, students need genre knowledge on this type of text. After all, genre knowledge has been proven to be related to writing quality. Considering its relevance, in this study we investigated whether learning from (comparing) text exemplars could be an effective method to enhance genre knowledge. This study aims to investigate whether learning from (comparing) text exemplars can enhance genre knowledge. A quasi-experimental study with 77 11th grade students was carried out to test the effects of four conditions on genre knowledge of argumentative texts. Findings show that genre knowledge increases through single and analogue text examples. In addition, learning from comparing text exemplars does not seem to increase genre knowledge more than learning from single, sequential exemplars.
References
Abdollahzadeh, E., Farsani, M. A., & Beikmohammadi, M. (2017). Argumentative Writing Behavior of Graduate EFL Learners, Argumentation, 31(4), 641-661. doi:10.1007/s10503-016-9415-5
Alfieri, L., Nokes-Malach, T. J., & Schunn, C. D. (2013). Learning Through Case Comparisons: A Meta-Analytic Review. Educational Psychologist, 48(2), 87–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2013.775712
Allagui, B. (2021). TED talk comments to enhance critical thinking skills in an undergraduate reading and writing course, Education and Information Technologies, 26, 2914-2960. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10388-w
Bacha, N. N. (2010). Teaching the academic argument in a university EFL environment. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9, 229-241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2010.05.001
Baron, J. (1995). Myside bias in thinking about abortion, Thinking and Reasoning, 1(3), 221-235. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546789508256909
Bazerman, C. (1997). The life of genre, the life in the classroom. In W. Bishop & H. Ostrom (Eds.), Genre and writing: Issues, arguments, alternatives (pp. 19-26). Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.
Beaufort, A. (2007). College Writing and Beyond: A New Framework for University Writing Instruction, University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgnk0
Bouwer, R., & Koster, M. (2016). Bringing Writing Research into the Classroom, The effectiveness of Tekster, a newly developed writing program for elementary students. Pantheon Drukkers.
Chambliss, M. J., & Murphy, P. K. (2002). Fourth and fifth graders representing the argument structure in written texts. Discourse Processes, 34(1), 91–115. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326950DP3401_4
Childers, J. B. (2008). The structural alignment and comparison of events in verb acquisition. In V. S. Sloutsky, B. C. Love, & K. McRae (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th Annual Cognitive Science Society (pp. 681–686). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Christie, S., & Gentner, D. (2010). Where hypotheses come from: Learning new relations by structural alignment. Journal of Cognition and Development, 11(3), 356–373. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248371003700015
Cohen J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational Psychology Measurement, 20, 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000104
Coirier, P., Andriessen, J., & Chanquoy, L. (1999). From planning to translating: The specificity of argumentative writing. In G. Rijlaarsdam & E. Espéret (Series Eds.) & J. Andriessen & P. Coirier (Vol. Eds.), Foundations of argumentative text processing (pp. 1-28). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
de Glopper, K., & Schoonen, R. (1996). Writing performance and knowledge about writing. In G. Rijlaarsdam, H. van den Berg, & M. Couzijn (Eds.), Theories, Models and Methodology in Writing research. (pp. 87-107). Amsterdam University Press.
Donovan, C. A., & Smolkin, L. B. (2006). Children's Understanding of Genre and Writing Development. In C. A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 131–143). The Guilford Press.
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 175–191. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193146
Felton, M., & Kuhn, D. (2001). The development of argumentive discourse skill. Discourse Processes, 32(2-3), 135– 153. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326950DP3202&3_03
Ferretti, R. P., & De La Paz, S. (2011). On the comprehension and production of written texts: Instructional activities that support content-area literacy. In R. O’Connor & P. Vadasy (Eds.), Handbook of reading interventions (pp. 326–355). New York: Guilford Press.
Ferretti, R. P., and Lewis, W. E. (2013). “Best practices in teaching argumentative writing,” in Best practices in writing instruction 2nd ed, eds S. Graham, C. A. MacArthur, and J. Fitzgerald (New York, NY: Guilford Press), 113–140.
Ferretti, R. P., and Lewis, W. E. (2019). Knowledge of persuasion and writing goals predict the quality of children's persuasive writing. Reading and Writing, 32(6), p. 1411-1430. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-018-9918-6
Ferretti, R. P., Lewis, W. E., & Andrews-Weckerly, S. (2009). Do goals affect the structure of students’ argumentative writing strategies? Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(3), 577–589. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014702
Freedman, A., & Pringle, I. (1984). Why Students Can't Write Arguments, Research Journal of the National Association for the Teaching of English, 18(2), 73-84, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-8845.1984.tb00668.x
Gentner, D. (1983). Structure-Mapping: a theoretical framework for analogy. Cognitive Science, 7, 155-170. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0702_3
Gentner, D. (2010). Psychology in Cognitive Science: 1978-2038, Topics in Cognitive Science, 2(3), 328-344. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01103.x
Gentner, D., & Gunn, V. (2001). Structural alignment facilitates the noticing of differences. Memory & Cognition, 29(4), 565–577. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200458
Gentner, D., Loewenstein, J., Thompson, L., & Forbus, K. D. (2009). Reviving Inert Knowledge: Analogical Abstraction Supports Relational Retrieval of Past Events. Cognitive science A Multiplidisciplinary Journal, 33(8), 1348-1382. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01070.x
Gentner, D., & Namy, L. L. (1999). Comparison in the Development of Categories, Cognitive Development, 14(4), 487-513. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/S0885-2014(99)00016-7
Gick, M. L., & Holyoak, K. J. (1983). Schema induction and analogical transfer. Cognitive Psychology, 15(1), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(83)90002-6
Gillespie, A., Olinghouse, N. G., & Graham, S. (2013). Fifth-grade students' knowledge about writing process and writing genres. The Elementary School Journal, 113(4), 565–588. https://doi.org/10.1086/669938
Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). A Meta-Analysis of Writing Instruction for Adolescent Students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 445-476. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.3.445
Hammer, R., Bar-Hillel, A., Hertz, T., Weinshall, D., & Hochstein, S. (2008). Comparison processes in category learning: From theory to behavior. Brain Research, 1225, 102–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2008.04.079
Hyon, S. (2001). Long-term effects of genre-based instruction: A follow-up study of an EAP reading course. English for Specific Purposes, 20, 417-438. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(01)00019-9
Hyon, S. (2002). Genre and ESL reading: A classroom study. In A. M. Johns (Ed.), Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives (pp. 121-141). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.
Humphries Sandstrom, K. (2021). Building genre knowledge through peer review: L2 doctoral students’ provision of feedback in the natural sciences. Journal of Writing Research,13(2), 257-283. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2021.13.02.03
Kassambara, A. (2020). ggpubr: 'ggplot2' Based Publication Ready Plots. R package version 0.4.0. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=ggpubr
Kassambara, A. (2021). rstatix: Pipe-Friendly Framework for Basic Statistical Tests. R package version 0.7.0. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=rstatix
Kruschke, J. K. (1992). ALCOVE: an exemplar-based connectionist model of category
learning. Psychological review, 99(1), 22-44. https://doi.org/10.1037/e665402011-033
Kuhn, D. (1991). The skills of argument. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511571350
Kuhn, D. (1999). A Developmental Model of Critical Thinking. Educational Researcher, 28, 16-46. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X028002016
Kuhn, D. (2005). Education for thinking. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kuhn, D., & Crowell, A. (2011). Dialogic argumentation as a vehicle for developing young adolescents’ thinking. Psychological Science, 22(4), 545- 552. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611402512
Kuhn, D., & Udell, W. (2007). Coordinating own and other perspectives in argument. Thinking & Reasoning, 13(2), 90–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546780600625447
Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data, Biometrics, 33, 159-174. https://doi.org/10.2307/2529310
Landrieu, Y., De Smedt, F., Van Keer, H., & De Wever, B. (2022). Assessing the Quality of Argumentative Texts: Examining the General Agreement Between Different Rating Procedures and Exploring Inferences of (Dis)agreement Cases, Frontiers in Education, 7(784261). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.784261
Lee, J. J., & Deakin, L. (2016). Interactions in L1 and L2 undergraduate student writing: Interactional metadiscourse in successful and less-successful argumentative essays. Journal of Second Language Writing, 33, 21–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2016.06.004
Lenth, R.V. (2022). emmeans: Estimated Marginal Means, aka Least-Squares Means. R package version 1.7.2. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=emmeans
Markman, A. B., & Gentner, D. (1993). Structural alignment during similarity comparisons. Cognitive Psychology, 25(4), 431-467. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1993.1011
Martin, J. R., (2009). Genre and language learning: A social semiotic perspective. Linguistics and Education, 20(1), 10-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2009.01.003
McCann, T. M. (1989). Student argumentative writing knowledge and ability at three grade levels. Research in the Teaching of English, 23, 62–76.
McCutchen, D. (1986). Domain knowledge and linguistic knowledge in the development of writing ability. Journal of Memory and Language, 25(4), 431–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-596X(86)90036-7
Miller, C. (1984). Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70, 151-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/00335638409383686
Miller, C. (2009, March). What is a new genre? Paper presented at the college composition and communication, San Francisco, CA.
Mohsen, M. A., & Qassem, M. (2020). Analyses of L2 Learners' Text Writing Strategy: Process-Oriented Perspective, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 49(1), 435-451. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10936-020-09693-9
Muller Mirza, N. & Perret-Clermont, A.-N. (Eds). (2009). Argumentation and education: theoretical foundations and practices. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer
Namy, L. L., & Gentner, D. (2002). Making a silk purse out of two sow's ears: Young children's use of comparison in category learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131(1), 5–15. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.131.1.5
Namy, L. L., Gentner, D., & Cleppter, L. E. (2007). How close is too close? Alignment and perceptual similarity in children's categorization, Cognition, Brain, Behavior, 6(4), 647-659.
Navarro, D. J. (2015) Learning statistics with R: A tutorial for psychology students and other beginners. (Version 0.6). University of New South Wales. Sydney, Australia
NCES (2012). The Nation’s Report Card: Writing 2011. Washington, DC: NCES.
Newell, G. E., Beach, R., Smith, J., & Vanderheide, J. (2011). Review of research: Teaching and learning argumentative reading and writing: A review of research. Reading Research Quarterly, 46(3), 273–304. https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.46.3.4
Nussbaum, E. M., & Kardash, C. M. (2005). The effects of goal instructions and text on the generation of counterarguments during writing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(2), 157–169. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.97.2.157
Nussbaum, E. M., & Schraw, G. (2007). Promoting argument-counterargument integration in students' writing. Journal of Experimental Education, 76(1), 59–92. https://doi.org/10.3200/JEXE.76.1.59-92
O’Keefe, D. J. (1999). How to handle opposing arguments in persuasive messages: A meta-analytic review of the effects of one-sided and two-sided messages. In M. E. Roloff (Ed.), Communication yearbook (Vol. 22, pp. 209–249). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Olinghouse, N. G., & Graham, S. (2009). The Relationship Between the Discourse Knowledge and the Writing Performance of Elementary-Grade Students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(1), 37-50. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013462
Olinghouse, N. G., Graham, S., & Gillespie, A. (2015). The relationship of discourse and topic knowledge to fifth graders’ writing performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(2), 391–406. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037549
Olive, T., Favart, M., Beauvaus, C., & Beauvais, L. (2009). Children's cognitive effort and fluency in writing: Effects of genre and of handwriting automatisation, Learning and Instruction, 19(4), 299-308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2008.05.005
Perkins, D. N. (1985). Postprimary education has little impact on informal reasoning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, 562 – 571. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.77.5.562
Perkins, D. N., Farady, M., & Bushey, B. (1991). Everyday reasoning the roots of intelligence. In J. F. Voss, D. N. Perkins, & J. W. Segal (Eds.), Informal reasoning and education (pp. 83-106). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Pessoa, S., Mitchell, T. D., & Miller, R. T. (2017). Emergent arguments: A functional approach to analyzing student challenges with the argument genre. Journal of Second Language Writing, 38, 42–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.013
Qin, J., & Karabacak, E. (2010). The analysis of Toulmin elements in Chinese EFL university argumentative writing. System, 38(3), 444–456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2010.06.012
R Core Team (2021). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/
Reed, S. K. (1987). A Structure-Mapping Model for Word Problems, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13(1), 124-139. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.13.1.124
Rittle-Johnson, B., & Star, J. R. (2009). Compared With What? The Effects of Different Comparisons on Conceptual Knowledge and Procedural Flexibility for Equation Solving. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(3), 529–544. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014224
Ross, B. H., & Kennedy, P. T. (1990). Generalizing from the use of earlier examples in problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 42–55. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0278-7393.16.1.42
Saddler, B., & Graham, S. (2007). The Relationship between Writing Knowledge and Writing Performance among More and Less Skilled Writers, Reading and Writing Quarterly, 23(3), 231-247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10573560701277575
Sampson, V., & Clark, D. B. (2008). Assessment of the ways students generate arguments in science education: Current perspectives and recommendations for future directions, Science Studies and Science Education, 92(3), 447-472. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.20276
Sanetti, L. M. H., Cook, B. G., & Cook, L. (2021). Treatment Fidelity, What It Is and Why It Matters, Learning Disabilities, Research and Practice, 36(1), 5-11, https://doi.org/10.1111/ldrp.12238
Simon, S. (2008). Using Toulmin's Argument Pattern in the Evaluation of argumentation in school science. International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 31(3), 277-289. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437270802417176
Simon, D., & Holyoak, K. J. (2002). Structural dynamics of cognition: From consistency theories to constraint satisfaction. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6(4), 283–294. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0604_03
Smith, L. A., & Gentner, D. (2014). UC Merced Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science The Role of Difference - Detection in Learning Contrastive Categories, 36(36).
Song, Y., and Ferretti, R. P. (2013). Teaching critical questions about argumentation through the revising process: effects of strategy instruction on college students’ argumentative essays. Read. Writ. 26, 67–90. doi: 10.1007/s11145-012-9381-8
Stapleton, P. (2001). Assessing Critical Thinking in the Writing of Japanese University Students: Insights about Assumptions and Content Familiarity, Written Communication, 18(4), 506-548. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088301018004004
Stapleton, P., & Wu, Y. (Amy). (2015). Assessing the quality of arguments in students’ persuasive writing: A case study analyzing the relationship between surface structure and substance. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 17, 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2014.11.006
Tardy, C. M. (2009). Building genre knowledge. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press.
Toulmin, S. E. (1958). The uses of argument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Toulmin, S. E. (2003). The Uses of Argument, updated edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Traga Philippakos, Z.A., & MacArthur, C. A. (2019). Developing Strategic Young Writers through Genre Instruction Resources for Grades K-2. Guilford Press.
Van Drie, J., Van Driel, J., & Van Weijen, D. (2021). Developing students’ writing in History: Effects of a teacher-designed domain-specific writing instruction. Journal of Writing Research, 13(2), 201–229. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2021.13.02.01
Wickham, H. (2007) Reshaping data with the reshape package. Journal of Statistical Software, 21(12).
Wickham, H. (2016). ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag New York.
Wickham, H. et al., (2019). Welcome to the tidyverse. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(43), 1686, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01686
Wickham, H., François, R., Henry, L., & Müller, K (2022). dplyr: A Grammar of Data Manipulation. R package version 1.0.9. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=dplyr
Wolfe, C. R. (2012). Individual differences in the “myside bias” in reasoning and written argumentation. Written Communication, 29(4), 477-501. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088312457909
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Tine Mombaers, Roos Van Gasse, Sven De Maeyer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.
