Chapter 7

Using narrative thinking in argumentative writing

Narrative skills emerge in early childhood and are enhanced by exposure to oral traditions, bookreading, and caregiver questioning. Less is known about how argumentation skills develop, a question of increasing importance given that current standards specify that students should produce written claims with supportive evidence by the middle grades. In this chapter, we posit that narrative skills may be a transferable resource that facilitates students’ emerging argumentation, as both are extended discourse forms that depend on a sophisticated understanding of the social world. Two embedded studies draw on argumentative essays written by 4th–7th grade students during the implementation of an innovative, discussion-based curriculum to explore the question of how students use narrative thinking in their argumentative writing. In Study 1 we identified three emerging patterns in student writing: using narrative thinking in warrants, rebuttals, and qualifications. In Study 2 we found that in a random sample of essays, 7th graders were significantly more likely than 4th graders to exhibit narrative thinking in their argumentative essays. Our findings suggest that narrative, sometimes thought to be an early-developing genre of little importance beyond the early grades, may in fact play an integral role in students’ acquisition of sophisticated argumentation skills.