Enhancing Learners’
Critical Thinking Skills through Argumentative Essay Writing
Ferry Antoni
Alwasilah contends: “the present practice of teaching English here tends to put a
strong emphasis on developing a good command of English, which is in fact never
the case, without attaching the appropriate importance to critical thinking”
(2001: 46). This suggests that the teaching of English has so far shown results
less than satisfactory, so that it should better be geared towards an
alternative goal, e.g., enhancement of critical thinking. Critical thinking,
which is one’s ability to be informed of any issue at hand before making any
judgment and coming to a conclusion, is very crucial especially in this era of
reforms, during which period all kinds of information flow freely and easily
without our being able to avoid that. By definition, students’ ability to use
their critical thinking should be an utmost goal for they will employ these
skills in their daily life. One possibly effective way of teaching and
promoting critical thinking is through argumentative essay writing. This paper
reveals how argumentative essay writing promotes critical thinking with all its
dispositions proposed by Norris and Ennis (1989: 12), sampling LBPPLIA Bandung Advanced 4 students’ argumentative essay writing,
which is also the writer’s thesis research now in progress.
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Antoni, F. (2005, March). Enhancing
learners’ critical thinking skills through argumentative essay writing.
Paper presented at LIA International Conference,
Website: www.geocities.com/eltindonesia
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