Equipping senior high school (SMA) students with critical discourse literacy has become increasingly crucial, particularly in responding to the complexity of contemporary information flows, especially those related to public policy issues. This article aims to present a holistically integrated Project-Based Learning (PjBL) instructional design to develop critical analysis skills and editorial writing competence among students at SMAIT Al Uswah Tuban. The design seeks to bridge the gap between the demands of the Indonesian Language curriculum—which requires students to produce logically structured argumentative texts—and students’ actual abilities to construct arguments supported by valid data. Methodologically, the design adapts the standard PjBL syntax (Permendikbud No. 22 of 2016) and integrates principles of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and editorial text rhetoric. Consisting of twelve detailed steps, this PjBL design is oriented toward a final product in the form of an editorial text addressing public policy issues. The proposed design is expected to strengthen students’ ability to formulate evidence-based arguments while simultaneously internalizing their roles as “young journalists” capable of contributing constructively and critically to public opinion grounded in empirical evidence.
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