Changes in Argumentation Performance: Effects of Teacher-Student Collaborative Assessment

This paper compares the effectiveness of one-semester-long instruction of teacher-student collaborative assessment (TSCA) and trained peer review assessment (TPRA). Dependent variables include occurrence of structural elements of the simplified Toulmin model, and improvement of argumentation substance which refers to the quality of reasoning reflected in Toulmin structural elements. Eighty-one sophomore English majors from TSCA group (n=41) and TPRA group (n= 40) were asked to construct two argumentative essays at both the beginning and the end of the semester. The results reveal that the TSCA group produced significantly more counterargument claims and rebuttal data. Additionally, the TSCA group significantly outperformed TPRA group in constructing stronger counterargument claim, rebuttal claim and rebuttal data.