Escribir textos argumentativos

Abstract

Argumentation is part of our daily lives. It manifests itself in our linguistic utterances from a very tender age. Learning to argue goes beyond the simple goals of a disciplinary education and has important philosophical, psychological, social and cultural dimensions. Taking all these aspects into account, classroom analysis of the different possibilities of argumentation turns out to be very interesting and extremely useful. The present article is based on the development of a didactic unit, “Writing argumentative texts”, which was carried out among children studying fourth year of ESO (Spanish Secondary Obligatory Education). Bearing in mind that this is a moment in which children’s self confidence is strengthened, this experiment has two basic objectives: firstly, to make a deep analysis of argumentative techniques and procedures; secondly, to try and conceptualize the process of argumentation and its structures. This study is grounded on psycho-pedagogical bases which consider the learning process to be constructive and significant and reduce the role of the teacher to advising, collaborating, and plannifying activities to be developed by children in class.