SEEU Review vol. 6 Nr. 2 (pdf) - South East European University

SEEU Review Volume 6, No. 2, 2010often quickly recognize the flaws in each other's arguments. Nisbett (2003)in Krieger (2005) points out that: “Debate is an important educational toolfor learning analytic thinking skills and for forcing self-conscious reflectionon the validity of one's ideas." According to Krieger, a study conducted withJapanese students, Fukuda (2003), found that "before the debates only 30.8%of the students were not afraid of expressing their opinions when they werenot the same as others'. After the debate this figure rose to 56.7%."Moreover, Fukuda (2003) in Krieger (2005) also points out that theknowledge or skills which came from the practice in the debates led thestudents to become more accustomed to expressing opinions.According to this and other studies, language learners can develop thedebating skills successfully and rise to the challenge to state their argumentsclearly and in a persuasive way. Debates are included as an assessed task inAcademic English courses and are introduced to students by dividing debateroles, introducing to them the rules of debating and practicing persuasivespeech. The students are expected to participate in the debate, follow therules and state their arguments and rebuttals clearly.Writing and Student Academic SkillsThere is a common view by many authors about the importance ofwriting skill and how it helps students in their academic or working life. Allof them represent writing skill as a very useful mean. Kondrat (2009) statesthat writing is the basis of written communication since paragraphs, essays,CVs cover letters and e-mails often represent the individual. In such casesthe person’s writing is to form the reader’s opinion about the individual’spersonality and abilities. She says that excellent writing makes you earnrespect and poor writing does the opposite. She also claims that writingstructures and crystallizes one’s thoughts, improving learning in such a wayand improves the effectiveness of the person’s word usage in both writtenand oral speech. According to a survey conducted among 64 Americancompanies revealed that half of them pay attention to writing whenconsidering a person for employment or promotion. And according to RogerHowe, a former chairman and CEO of U.S. Precision Lens, the majority ofthe successful people are clear and persuasive in their writing.LC English language courses include teaching writing from basicparagraph skills to essay writing. Students follow the integrated writingclasses in different levels and at the upper levels they write essays on179