Marks of argumentation in texts written by children

Abstract

This work, whose corpus consists of fifty-four manuscripts, examines
the strategies used by seven- and eight-year-old students in order to persuade
the addressees established in the texts. Its aim was to investigate the children’s
possibility of being gradually more successful when persuading in written texts.
Nine students were asked to write six texts in which the use of arguments and linguistic marks of argumentation were presupposed. The analysis pointed out
that, after one year, some relevant changes occurred: a) expansion of the texts;
b) replacement of freehand drawings for words; c) use of more efficient
arguments; d) gradual increase in the use of the linguistics marks of
argumentation; e) appropriate use of argumentative operators in order to
organize the texts; and f) occurrence of implied information. It was indicated that
children are already able to take advantage of linguistic strategies in order to
persuade the addressees established in their texts.