Chapter 7. Using narrative thinking in argumentative writing
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Sarah Surrain
Abstract
Narrative skills emerge in early childhood and are enhanced by exposure to oral traditions, bookreading, and caregiver questioning. Less is known about how argumentation skills develop, a question of increasing importance given that current standards specify that students should produce written claims with supportive evidence by the middle grades. In this chapter, we posit that narrative skills may be a transferable resource that facilitates students’ emerging argumentation, as both are extended discourse forms that depend on a sophisticated understanding of the social world. Two embedded studies draw on argumentative essays written by 4th–7th grade students during the implementation of an innovative, discussion-based curriculum to explore the question of how students use narrative thinking in their argumentative writing. In Study 1 we identified three emerging patterns in student writing: using narrative thinking in warrants, rebuttals, and qualifications. In Study 2 we found that in a random sample of essays, 7th graders were significantly more likely than 4th graders to exhibit narrative thinking in their argumentative essays. Our findings suggest that narrative, sometimes thought to be an early-developing genre of little importance beyond the early grades, may in fact play an integral role in students’ acquisition of sophisticated argumentation skills.
Abstract
Narrative skills emerge in early childhood and are enhanced by exposure to oral traditions, bookreading, and caregiver questioning. Less is known about how argumentation skills develop, a question of increasing importance given that current standards specify that students should produce written claims with supportive evidence by the middle grades. In this chapter, we posit that narrative skills may be a transferable resource that facilitates students’ emerging argumentation, as both are extended discourse forms that depend on a sophisticated understanding of the social world. Two embedded studies draw on argumentative essays written by 4th–7th grade students during the implementation of an innovative, discussion-based curriculum to explore the question of how students use narrative thinking in their argumentative writing. In Study 1 we identified three emerging patterns in student writing: using narrative thinking in warrants, rebuttals, and qualifications. In Study 2 we found that in a random sample of essays, 7th graders were significantly more likely than 4th graders to exhibit narrative thinking in their argumentative essays. Our findings suggest that narrative, sometimes thought to be an early-developing genre of little importance beyond the early grades, may in fact play an integral role in students’ acquisition of sophisticated argumentation skills.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- About the authors xv
- Introduction to narrative, literacy and other skills 1
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Part I. The importance of oral narratives for literacy, language and socio-cognitive skills
- Chapter 1. The developing language foundation for reading comprehension 21
- Chapter 2. Storybooks to promote emergent literacy in kindergarten classrooms 43
- Chapter 3. Do children’s oral retellings of narrative and informational texts predict scores on a standardized reading comprehension test? 69
- Chapter 4. Does emotional narrative context influence retention of newly learned words? 91
- Chapter 5. Enhancing mental state language and emotion understanding of toddlers’ social cognition 109
- Chapter 6. The effects of bookreading with and without mental state themes on preschoolers’ theory of mind 129
- Chapter 7. Using narrative thinking in argumentative writing 151
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Part II. Promoting narrative skills
- Chapter 8. New frontiers in facilitating narrative skills in children and adolescents 173
- Chapter 9. Precursors of narrative abilities 201
- Chapter 10. Enriching parent-child discourse during book sharing 223
- Chapter 11. Investigating the effectiveness of the Our Story App to increase children’s narrative skills 245
- Chapter 12. Using a storytelling/story-acting practice to promote narrative and other decontextualized language skills in disadvantaged children 263
- Chapter 13. Promoting narratives through a short conversational intervention in typically-developing and high-functioning children with ASD 285
- Subject index 313
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- About the authors xv
- Introduction to narrative, literacy and other skills 1
-
Part I. The importance of oral narratives for literacy, language and socio-cognitive skills
- Chapter 1. The developing language foundation for reading comprehension 21
- Chapter 2. Storybooks to promote emergent literacy in kindergarten classrooms 43
- Chapter 3. Do children’s oral retellings of narrative and informational texts predict scores on a standardized reading comprehension test? 69
- Chapter 4. Does emotional narrative context influence retention of newly learned words? 91
- Chapter 5. Enhancing mental state language and emotion understanding of toddlers’ social cognition 109
- Chapter 6. The effects of bookreading with and without mental state themes on preschoolers’ theory of mind 129
- Chapter 7. Using narrative thinking in argumentative writing 151
-
Part II. Promoting narrative skills
- Chapter 8. New frontiers in facilitating narrative skills in children and adolescents 173
- Chapter 9. Precursors of narrative abilities 201
- Chapter 10. Enriching parent-child discourse during book sharing 223
- Chapter 11. Investigating the effectiveness of the Our Story App to increase children’s narrative skills 245
- Chapter 12. Using a storytelling/story-acting practice to promote narrative and other decontextualized language skills in disadvantaged children 263
- Chapter 13. Promoting narratives through a short conversational intervention in typically-developing and high-functioning children with ASD 285
- Subject index 313
