The 'argument-is-war' and the dialectical discoursal patterns : their acquisition and use by TEFL students in written argumentative texts

Abstract

The present study is intended to research into intermediate TEFL students’ development of their ability to use some of the basic argumentative writing resources that they are expected to develop as part of their academic studies and EFL teacher training. In their future professional role as, mainly, secondary school English teachers, and due to the fact that one of their tasks will be to help their students develop their critical and argumentative abilities (de Zubiria Samper, 2006), EFL teacher trainees need to develop their own critical argumentative discourse abilities in order to meet the needs of their prospective students. On account of its nature and main objective, this study may eventually offer some proposals that might be implemented for the development of TEFL students’ abilities to write argumentative texts.