How Explicit Argumentative Training Improves EFL Students’ Argumentative Performance in English and Persian: Insights from Iranian IELTS Candidates (مقاله پژوهشی دانشگاه آزاد)

چکیده

The study on second language (L2) argumentative writing has explored various surfaces and dimensions of learner behavior and presentation, although fewer studies have studied effective pedagogical strategies to boost students’ argumentative skills. The current study mentions the gap by exploring the effect of explicit argumentative instruction on the writing abilities of 30 Iranian IELTS candidates, according to CEFR ranging from B1 to B2, in an English Language Institute in Karaj - Iran in both Persian and English, the former their native language and the latter their foreign language . As a set of authentic IELTS Task 2 prompts were used and taken from the language learners, the study analyzed 180 argumentative essays, both in English and Persian, written by the participants prior, while and after instruction. The outcomes had shown noteworthy enhancement in the students’ English argumentative performance, with the recurrent use of argumentation key elements such as ‘claim’, ‘data’, and the ‘counterarguments’. Though, less emphasis was put on advanced argumentative structures such as ‘counterclaims’ and ‘rebuttals’. The results suggest that structured pedagogy in teaching argumentation can positively influence learners’ proficiency in both first language (L1) and second language (L2) writing. The insinuations for teaching argumentative writing in multilingual contexts will be further discussed.