WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE TEXT - A DEVELOPMENTAL-STUDY OF THE ACQUISITIONOF SUPPORTING STRUCTURES

The development of argumentative writing is studied here by examining the structural organization of argumentative texts It is assumed that the ability to construct supporting relationships, that is, a conclusi on statement supported by argument statements, is acquired gradually w ith age. The following stages of acquisition are postulated: (1) a pre argumentation stage, where at first no explicit position is stated, an d then an explicit position is stated but is not supported by an argum ent; (2) a minimal argumentation stage, where a position is explicitly taken and supported by one argument; and (3) an elaborated argumentat ion stage, where at least two unrelated supporting arguments are used, and then two related arguments are used. Two corpora were gathered un der similar conditions: collective debate in the classroom, followed b y individual essays written on the chosen topic. The first corpus was produced by 147 children aged 7 to 14, and a group of 34 college stude nts. The second corpus included the protocols of 92 children aged 11 t o 16 the essays were graded for the presence or absence of each struct ural level, and then classified at the highest structural level exhibi ted. The resulting classification largely confirmed the hypothesized o rder for the stages of argumentative development. The minimal argument ative structure (standpoint + one supporting argument) was mastered by nearly 90% of the 7 and 8 year-olds. The most elaborate structural le vel in our model (two related arguments) was attained later: less than one out of four 7-8 year olds versus three out of four beyond age 14. Techniques involving more complex argumentative relations such as ref utations and counterarguments, or restriction of one argument by anoth er, are mastered even later and seem to be strongly linked to the natu re of the issues under debate. Three main conclusions can be drawn fro m these results: precocious argumentative skills exist in children bef ore age 11 or 12, argumentative discourse complexity continues to incr ease up to age 14 and beyond, and the characteristics of the referenti al domain of argumentation have an impact on this structural elaborati on process.