Second Language Students’ Critical Thinking Performance in Argumentative Writing

Critical thinking (CT) is interconnected with argumentation, so argumentative writing serves as a crucial medium for demonstrating CT. The present study aimed to examine second language (L2) writers’ CT performance in argumentative writing and to explore how high-achieving L2 students differ from their low-achieving counterparts in terms of CT performance. In this study, a sample of 33 higher-level and 32 lower-level L2 students from a Chinese university wrote an L2 argumentative essay on computers within 40 minutes. The CT performance in four major parts of each essay, i.e., position(s), explanations, evidence, and conclusion, was assessed according to four CT criteria: Unambiguity, Fair-mindedness, Substance, and Consistency. Findings suggest that (1) the performance of evidence and Substance was not satisfactory, (2) no significant differences were reflected in the performance of overall L2 CT, Unambiguity, Substance, and Consistency between the participants of varied L2 levels, and (3) the higher-level L2 students significantly outperformed their lower-level counterparts in terms of conclusion and Fair-mindedness. Important implications of these findings are discussed.