Cognitive and linguistic features of adolescent argumentative writing: Do connectives signal more complex reasoning?

This study explored productive academic language use in the persuasive writing of a sample of 40 middle school students (grades 6 –8) by examining the use of (1) argumentative moves that display various levels of sophistication and (2) major classes of connectives (additive, adversative, causal, and temporal) that signal different cohesive functions within a text. Essays in our analytical sample (n  =  158) were produced in the context of an academic vocabulary curriculum, Word Generation, and were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for types of arguments by researchers and undergraduate research assistants. Subsequently, connectives were calculated by the Tool for the Automated Analysis of Cohes ion (TAACO; Crossley, Kyle,& McNamara,2016). Descriptive analyses reveal that the sixth –eighth grade students in our sample deployed complex reasoning in their essays; at least one dual perspective argument was present in 50% of the essays, and at least one integrative perspective argument was present in 42% of the essays. Multivariate regression analyses (with adjusted standard err ors) reveal that adversative connectives (e.g.,although, however) were related to the most complex arguments (integrative perspective), controlling for essay length and topic type ( β = 20.13,p  =  .006), as well as to overall argument sophistication (β = 17.25,p  =  .02). The results show the value of brief, curriculum-based essays for assessing students’ argumentation skil...
Source: Reading and Writing - Category: Child Development Source Type: research