Debating Current Issues

Abstract

Recently, teaching debate skills to young EFL students is becoming more prevalent in Korea. Debate is a formal contest where two or more speakers present their arguments intent on persuading one another. Hansen (2007) argues that using debates in language learning can help students enhance not only their linguistic skills but also essential critical thinking skills. Lieb (2007) also said that it involves far more than ordinary conversation, such as an advanced linguistic competency and critical listening and thinking skills. Thus, the usefulness of debate in language learning has been acknowledged by many researchers because it greatly promotes speaking kills, and also helps to improve listening, reading, and writing skills (Krieger, 2005). Also, debate in class can foster such skills like clarity, organization, persuasion, public speaking, research, and teamwork and cooperation. This textbook is designed to teach students who want to gain high levels of English and improve their persuasive communication skills. The intended students for this portfolio are 17 to 18 year-old students who are studying in their second grade at the Ewha Womans University high school. They have been studying English in an EFL environment for approximately 10 years and their current proficiency level of English (based on the Common European framework for Language scale) is intermediate mid and high for writing skill, and intermediate high for listening, reading, and speaking skills. The students’ knowledge about debate is shallow since they have only watched debates by the politicians on TV and only a few of students have experience of debating on a classroom topic several times. However, since debate is a sophisticated form of interactive discourse students need to know the systematic procedure and skills of debate (Lubetshy, LeBeau, Harrington, 2000). In terms of the applicable debate topics, the target learners are high school students who have reached at the appropriate ages to analyze and discuss topics relating to social issues, they will learn about various issues which our society is facing and debate on specific topics in relation to the issues with this textbook.