BLENDED LEARNING METHOD FOR EFL ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING ENVIRONMENT: THEORIES AND PRACTICE
3.5 Teaching procedure of argumentative writing through blended learning method
There are many teaching procedures than can do by the teacher. The teacher can introduce the blended learning method. The relevant supports (i.e., the TASK strategy, assessment rubric, and message label guidelines) are uploaded to Edmodo, where students can access them at any time. During the first lesson, students are reminded of the key components of argumentative writing. In the subsequent lessons, the teacher commences the face-to-face part of the lesson by showing students some general good and bad examples of argumentative writing. Students analyze and report on the strengths and weaknesses of the example. Next, the teacher will post a discussion topic about Edmodo that week.
Students then post their thoughts individually. The teacher can label online posts with the appropriate labels (assertiveness, inconsistent assertions, counterarguments, etc.).
Then the students will be asked to interact with others by leaving a comment on the post and labeling it appropriately. Teachers also help students focus on their thinking by asking questions and comments based on the TASK strategy. However, teachers do not use message labels. The overall purpose of online interactive exercises is to encourage feedback from colleagues and teachers about students' ideas about controversial topics. After completing the online discussion, students will write a controversial essay on each topic of the week.
There are many methods for teaching controversial writing in blended learning. the teacher can develop the instructional procedures of Edmodo as an online tool in writing activities in the EFL writing class. In applying Edmodo in teaching writing, the teacher can modify the instructional procedures proposed by Stroud (2010). The modification is based on the material provided in the course of argumentative writing and the students` need. When implementing the instructional procedure for utilizing Edmodo in teaching writing, the process of writing is applied, i.e. prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing (Miftah, 2015). In addition, the writing process implements peer and teacher feedback techniques to enable students to engage in writing activities through Edmodo as a virtual writing community. We hope that by involving them in writing activities, students will be able to provide feedback on the work of their peers to create better typefaces. The lesson plan is based on the syllabus of the university's controversial writing curriculum. Focuses on implementing Edmodo in writing classes. Students write controversial essays through their writing activities at Edmodo to learn about their writing skills and to see their progress in writing. Providing feedback on other controversial essays focuses on prescribing, creating, introducing activities, main and closing paragraphs, revising and editing the draft, and publishing the final product. In the next step, students will be asked to write a argumentative essay on an interesting topic. Students can write argumentative essays on topics given by the teacher.
4. DISCUSSION
Many research findings show that the blended learning method is conducive to both students`
argumentation and language use in argumentative writing. Offline argumentation is beneficial to solving students` problems with argumentation. In the argumentative writing activities, the students have to negotiate various ideas with each other to gradually reach an agreement. The negotiation process can provide students with great opportunities to understand more about the way they state their claims, select evidence, and make a connection between their examples and conclusions. The offline collaborative argumentation enables students in finding rebuttal points. Students can
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complement each other's strengths to promote their ability to discuss in general. Online co-development allows students to hone their language with argumentative writing and improve their language skills in the writing process. Students usually focus on identifying language issues when writing online.
The blended learning method can be improved to help students feel more relaxed about expressing their views, it would be a good idea to assign online anonymity to them. Students tend to contribute more critical posts, such as posts supported by evidence, when there is author anonymity than when compared to an author-identity-revealed condition (Cheung, Hew, & Foo, 2009). One legitimate concern about using online anonymity is the possible occurrence of aggressive student behavior, such as flaming (Bertera & Littlefield, 2003). However, incidences of malicious behavior occur much less frequently in an institutional course-related discussion than in public online forums because students know that they are anonymous only to their peers and not to the teacher. This motivates students to be responsible in their posting of comments. Second, to promote peer feedback about the argumentative topic, teachers can divide the whole class into smaller online groups of about 10 students each.
5. CONCLUSION
The blended learning method can improve students' argumentative writing skills by building in-depth discussions in offline discussions and providing students with an important opportunity to internalize accurate languages through online collaborative development. Teachers are encouraged to use blended learning methods to teach argumentative writing to address students' reasoning and language problems. Using Edmodo as an online tool for EFL's argumentative writing courses with appropriate teaching procedures can enhance students' ability to write an argumentative writing.
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