The Effect of Autonomous Learning Process on Chinese College Students’ Argumentative Writing Ability

บทคัดย่อ

Argumentative writing is difficult for many Chinese university EFL learners since successful performance requires more than grammatical accuracy, yet many Chinese university students have difficulty constructing clear claims, selecting relevant evidence, and developing reasoned responses to opposing views. This study examined changes in argumentative writing performance after a 12-week Autonomous Learning Process ( ALP) intervention that integrated with the Toulmin Model into a regular College English II classroom. Forty- two first- year Chinese Language and Literature majors from one intact class participated. They completed timed argumentative writing tasks in Week 1 and Week 12. Two raters scored the essays independently with a Toulmin-based analytic rubrics that covering six elements from the Toulmin Model. The mean total score rose from 8.33 (SD = 1.99) to 12.36 (SD = 2.72), t(41) = 12.34, p < .001, with a large paired-samples effect size (Cohen's d = 1. 91). In result, all six Toulmin elements improved. Especially, Claim and Data showed the largest increases, whereas Warrant, counterargument-related elements, and Proposition improved more moderately. Based on the ALP design, the findings interpreted as substantial improvement following the intervention rather than as evidence that ALP alone caused
the change. The pattern nevertheless suggests that combining argument structure with planning, reflection, emotional regulation, and peer- supported revision is a promising way to organize argumentative writing instruction in a Chinese EFL classroom