ERIC Number: EJ899062
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Oct
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0265-6590
EISSN: N/A
Argumentative Writing in Pre-Adolescents: The Role of Verbal Reasoning
Nippold, Marilyn A.; Ward-Lonergan, Jeannene M.
Child Language Teaching and Therapy, v26 n3 p238-248 Oct 2010
Argumentative writing is a challenging communication task that calls upon sophisticated cognitive and linguistic abilities. Pre-adolescents (n = 80; mean age = 11;10; range = 10;6-13:5) were asked to write an argumentative essay on the controversial topic of training animals to perform in circuses. Additionally, they were asked to solve a set of verbal reasoning problems. Children whose essays reflected a more flexible attitude toward the controversy (Conditional subgroup) outperformed their peers whose attitude was more rigid (Absolute subgroup) on all key measures: Verbal Analogical Reasoning, Total Number of Reasons, and Mean Length of Utterance in Words. Implications for instruction and intervention with pre-adolescents are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)
Descriptors: Reading Achievement, Phonemic Awareness, Adolescents, Logical Thinking, Word Recognition, Thinking Skills, Interpersonal Communication, Children, Writing Instruction, Essays, Student Attitudes, Intervention, Elementary Schools, Middle Schools
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California; Oregon
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A