Page 319 - Gabrijela Kišiček and Igor Ž. Žagar (eds.), What do we know about the world? Rhetorical and argumentative perspectives, Digital Library, Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana 2013
P. 319
ching the writing of argumentative genre through imitatio:
a solid basis for the ‘beginner’ writers 319
6. Discussion
The statistical results affirmed that the practice of imitation stimu-
lated, significantly the students’ cognitive, aesthetic, functional and lin-
guistic choices. More precisely, its use contributed to the students’ better
awareness of the argumentative genre as a bridge between familiar and
unfamiliar textual genres (Prince, 1989: 730).
The two texts-letters (Texts B and C) accomplished the necessary
rhetorical interaction among reality, reader and writer according to the
demands of the new genre. First, there was notice of critical restraint of
the knowledge-telling model of writing and of its substitution by the
model of knowledge-transforming, since students created more logi-
cal and organized argumentative patterns instead of narrative schemes
(Grabe and Kaplan, 1996: 125). Second, the re-appearance of analogous
statistical results in the third text (Text C) revealed a successful trans-
fer of the acquired knowledge in a new context reinforcing the view that
learning through imitation is not a passive and static process.
Indeed, by imitating the presented argumentative topics and
sub-topics, students constructed in a more organized way their thought
and produced more, accurate and valid arguments, in contrast to the
first text, independently of the subject matter (Nelson, 1970: 121, 124;
Infante, 1971: 128; Freedman, 1993: 238). At the same time, they devel-
oped their critical thought by discovering supporting reasons for their
claims. Instead of a “stultifying and inhibiting” practice, imitation be-
came a liberating and empowering tool for argumentative, persuasive
writing (Grubber, 1977: 491; Eschholz, 1980: 24). The increased use of
the sub-topics of cause and effect consisted of a device for the improve-
ment of students’ inductive thinking. Multiple possible adequate causes
related to potential effects were produced. Moreover, the increased use
of arguments based on the topic of antecedent and consequent revealed a
better performance of students’ use of the hypothetical syllogism, while
the increased use of antithesis arguments led them to a dialectical game
with opposite terms and ideas in order to empower the validity of the
proposed claims.
Furthermore, the increased use of rhetorical questions, as a stylis-
tic element, may be related to the interpersonal relations that emerged
among the authors and the message’s receiver either as a mean of the au-
thor’s imposition or as a tool facilitating the social contact of the partic-
ipants. Finally, imitation activated features of the students’ vocabulary
a solid basis for the ‘beginner’ writers 319
6. Discussion
The statistical results affirmed that the practice of imitation stimu-
lated, significantly the students’ cognitive, aesthetic, functional and lin-
guistic choices. More precisely, its use contributed to the students’ better
awareness of the argumentative genre as a bridge between familiar and
unfamiliar textual genres (Prince, 1989: 730).
The two texts-letters (Texts B and C) accomplished the necessary
rhetorical interaction among reality, reader and writer according to the
demands of the new genre. First, there was notice of critical restraint of
the knowledge-telling model of writing and of its substitution by the
model of knowledge-transforming, since students created more logi-
cal and organized argumentative patterns instead of narrative schemes
(Grabe and Kaplan, 1996: 125). Second, the re-appearance of analogous
statistical results in the third text (Text C) revealed a successful trans-
fer of the acquired knowledge in a new context reinforcing the view that
learning through imitation is not a passive and static process.
Indeed, by imitating the presented argumentative topics and
sub-topics, students constructed in a more organized way their thought
and produced more, accurate and valid arguments, in contrast to the
first text, independently of the subject matter (Nelson, 1970: 121, 124;
Infante, 1971: 128; Freedman, 1993: 238). At the same time, they devel-
oped their critical thought by discovering supporting reasons for their
claims. Instead of a “stultifying and inhibiting” practice, imitation be-
came a liberating and empowering tool for argumentative, persuasive
writing (Grubber, 1977: 491; Eschholz, 1980: 24). The increased use of
the sub-topics of cause and effect consisted of a device for the improve-
ment of students’ inductive thinking. Multiple possible adequate causes
related to potential effects were produced. Moreover, the increased use
of arguments based on the topic of antecedent and consequent revealed a
better performance of students’ use of the hypothetical syllogism, while
the increased use of antithesis arguments led them to a dialectical game
with opposite terms and ideas in order to empower the validity of the
proposed claims.
Furthermore, the increased use of rhetorical questions, as a stylis-
tic element, may be related to the interpersonal relations that emerged
among the authors and the message’s receiver either as a mean of the au-
thor’s imposition or as a tool facilitating the social contact of the partic-
ipants. Finally, imitation activated features of the students’ vocabulary
