Argumentative Writing in a Second Language

Book excerpt: Argumentative Writing in a Second Language is a collection on teaching argumentative writing, offering multiple vantage points drawn from the contributors' own teaching and research experiences. The value of learning how to compose argumentative texts cannot be overstated, and yet, very little attention has been allocated to the equally important topic of how argumentation is or can be taught in the L2 context. Thus, this volume shifts attention to teachers and argumentative writing instruction, especially within increasingly common multimodal and digital literacy settings. While doing so, it provides a comprehensive, wide-ranging view of the L2 argumentative writing landscape within an instructional lens. Part I of the volume is topic-oriented and focuses on explorations of important issues and perspectives, while Part II features several chapters reporting classroom-based studies of a variety of instructional approaches that expand our understanding of how argumentative writing can be taught. The book will be of value to pre-service and in-service teachers in varying instructional contexts, as well as teacher educators and L2 writing scholars/researchers.