Raising Students’ Awareness on Fallacies in Argumentative Writing

Witri Oktavia (State University of Padang)

Proceedings of ISELT FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
Vol 2 (2014): Proceedings of 2nd International Seminar on English Language Teaching (ISELT)

Presenting convincing arguments to defense a standpoint in an argumentative essay was one of the problems of English Department students of UNP. Convincing arguments based on pragma-dialectical framework are those which do not violate any of critical discussion rules. Violations of these rules are known as fallacies. This present study aimed at analyzing types of fallacies mostly made by the students in their argumentative writing. It was expected that by knowing these fallacies, students would pay more attention on the strength of the defense presented, and minimize any weak arguments. It was revealed that violations of critical discussion rules done by the students mostly related to their lack of ability to provide adequate evidences and facts to support their stands.