Secondary students’ dialectical reasoning skills demonstrated in lightly scaffolded essay

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Abstract

This paper reports analysis of 250 student persuasive essays collected from 30 7th through 12th grade classrooms in low-resourced schools around the United States. The essays were scaffolded at the paragraph level to encourage dialectical reasoning, but no inter-paragraph scaffolding was provided. We were curious to know how students scored on a rubric measuring authentic intellectual work and what types of reasoning the students would use. The essays revealed that the students were capable of dialectical thinking and could articulate multiple perspectives as well as key concepts on a controversial issue, but needed additional support in considering an authentic audience to encourage more persuasive writing using evidence and addressing counterarguments.

Authors

• Jada Kohlmeier, Auburn University

• Megan Andrews, Auburn University

• Sarah I. Bailey, Opelika City Schools

• David T. Marshall, Auburn University