Using Debates in the Classroom: A Pedagogical Strategy for the Development of the Argumentative Competence in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language

This book is the result of a research study developed at Universidad Externado de Colombia to obtain the Master’s Degree in Education with Emphasis on Human Development and Values. It illustrates the research process aimed at analysing how undergraduate students built their argumentative competence by using debates, as a pedagogical strategy, when exploring social issues in English as a Foreign Language. In this sense, the reader will progressively see the way the research was conducted as a qualitative case study that involved the use of debates in the classroom. This book is divided into six chapters. The first one offers an account of the theory and research studies that support the constructs entailed in the research inquiry which were communication, communicative competence, argumentative competence, argumentation, the concept of an argument, and the debate. The second chapter focuses on the pedagogical strategy implemented and the instructional phases followed during this study. The third one provides the reader with the research design ensued in the study. The fourth chapter discusses the process followed in the data analysis. The fifth one shows the findings and the implications for the teachers of the EFL community. The last chapter deals with questions for further research.