3.1.1. Definitions
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The history of debates began over 4,000 years in the Egyptians (2080 B.C.) while debates as a teaching tool dated back over 2,400 years to Protagorus in Athens (481-411 B.C.) (Kennedy, 2007). As Branham (1991) put it, ―debate is the process by which opinions are advanced, supported, disputed and defended‖;
debates could be either formal or informal, oral or written. This definition places the emphasis on the process of a debate; in the meanwhile, the definition raised by Freeley and Steinberg (2005, as cited in Kennedy, 2007) draws attention to its result:
Debate refers to the process of considering multiple viewpoints and arriving at a judgment, and its application ranges from an individual using debate to make a decision in his or her own mind to an individual or group using debate to convince others to agree with them.
Snider and Schnurer (2006), however, directed the focus to the structuredness of a debate, claiming that a debate should be ―equitably designed‖
to give equal opportunity of view presentation for both sides.
3.1.2. Features of good debates
From Branham’s (1991) point of view, true debates consist in the qualities of the arguments produced in the process of the debates. A good debate is determined by the presence of four characteristics of arguments:
1. Development, through which arguments are advanced and supported;
2. Clash, through which arguments are properly disputed;
3. Extension, through which arguments are defended against refutation; and 4. Perspective, through which individual arguments are related to the larger question at hand (p. 22).
In reality, not all debates contain all of these components; still, they are believed to be important to debating, thus encouraged (Snider and Schnurer, 2006).
3.1.3. The roles of sound arguments in debates
―Creating good arguments is the central part of any debate because arguments are the central tool of persuasion‖, emphasized (Snider and Schnurer,
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2006). In order to win a debate, the debaters have to prepare good and even the better, sound arguments. Since sound arguments can survive under scrutiny, it is convincing when presented, difficult to be attacked and refuted, easy to be defended. Sound arguments found a concrete base for a final sound decision to be made as the decision is ―the sum of arguments‖ involved (Snider and Schnurer, 2006).
3.2. Overview of Debate activity in English speaking lesson at Fast Track Program, ULIS, VNU
3.2.1. Debates in English speaking lesson
Debates have been widely utilized as an effective educational tool over a range of subject areas such as science, business and law; foreign language teaching and learning is not an exception. According to Snider and Schnurer (2006), debates have proved to be ―an outstandingly productive exercise for language acquisition‖ and ―a valued technique for learning English‖ all over the globe. The scholars offered a thorough explanation that such recognition given to debates comes from the fact that debates equip language learners with necessary skills for their life in a different culture. To be specific, ―debates put students in situations where they will have to ―think‖ in a different language‖ (p. 208).
Expression and structure memorization only help students deal with simple types of communication; Living in a different culture entails ―problem solving and critical processes that require the manipulation of logical concepts‖, which is similar to the way debates ask students to critically examine their own and others’
arguments.
Depending on the identified level of students, debate activity in English speaking class can be held in a variety of formats. One-on-one short debates are suitable for learners with low proficiency while for students with high language competence, team debates are more helpful.
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In Fast Track Program of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS, VNU, the format of team debates is utilized.
3.2.2. Debates in English speaking lesson at Fast Track Program, ULIS, VNU
Debates have been exploited as an effective learning activity for Fast Track Program’s students in Faculty of English Language Teacher Education. A brief overview about this project is provided below.
3.2.2.1. Objectives
As part of English 4B* course which focuses on the two skills of listening and speaking, Debate project is designed with an aim of developing and evaluating students’ ability of full participation in a debate. Specifically, the project targets at helping students boost the skills of constructing persuasive arguments and giving fluent, spontaneous and appropriate responses to counter-arguments, questions and comments.
3.2.2.2. Procedure
Basically, a debate takes the format of team debating and consists of three steps: Preparation, Implementation and After-performance self-reflection
As for step one, the class is divided into different groups of three or four;
for each debate, two groups are in charge, competing with each other. The two groups have to together select a topic (favorably) under the theme of the week, and this topic should receive the teacher’s approval. After that, each group takes a side, either proposition or opposition and prepare for the debate.
Moving on to step two, each debate last for no more than 50 minutes, organized with a chairperson, six debaters, a time-keeper and the audience. The first section is the introduction of the topic as well as the two teams by the chairperson. Speakers for two groups then take turns to present their arguments, refutations and counter-arguments; each turn is five minutes long. Last, the
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audience has the chance to challenge both teams with their own questions. The debate is closed by the groups’ oral self-reflection, peer and teacher feedback.
After the in-class performance, each group is asked to write a self-reflective report on their whole process of conducting the debate, and the individual report is also required.
3.2.2.3. Assessment criteria
The performance of the debate group is marked using the following rubric:
Table 3 – Debate’s marking rubrics N
o
Criteria Maximum
score
Awarded score
Arguments & rebuttals 1 3
2
Fluency &Pronunciation 1.5
3
Use of language (appropriateness & lexical
range) 1
4
Use of facts/statistics 1
5
Non-verbal language (voice control, eye
contact, posture and gesture) 1
6
Visual aids 1
7
Handling questions 1
8
Others (timing, confidence, etc) 0.5
Total 10
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As illustrated in the table, the greatest emphasis is placed on the quality of arguments and rebuttals that students make. Therefore, it can be inferred that so as to gain the best performance at the debates, students have to manage to build the most convincing arguments which are free of logical mistakes. Besides, students’
results also depend on the qualities of facts or statistics they employ to support their claims, their English language proficiency, their control over non-verbal language, their efficiency in handling questions from the audience, the visual aids and other minor factors.