Instruction of `justification-rebuttal` skills in a 3-week 10-unit debating program obviously increased Ss` basic thinking skills(functions of organization and abstraction processes). Within a theoretical framework proposed by Chafe(1980, 1997), two (...
Instruction of `justification-rebuttal` skills in a 3-week 10-unit debating program obviously increased Ss` basic thinking skills(functions of organization and abstraction processes). Within a theoretical framework proposed by Chafe(1980, 1997), two (lower/higher level) groups(10 Ss respectively), selected from 41 students in a class, showed that their functions of basic thinking processes increased from 27.5% to 77.5%. Organization functions increased from 5% to 70%; abstraction functions from 50% to 85%. The lower-level group showed positive but irregular changes in their thinking while 90% of the high-level group revealed an apparent increase.