Understanding Critical Thinking and Its Role in Writing an Argumentative Essay, Assignments of English Literature

Download Understanding Critical Thinking and Its Role in Writing an Argumentative Essay and more Assignments English Literature in PDF only on Docsity! STUDENTS’ CRITICAL THINKING IN THEIR ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY AT FOURTH SEMESTER OF UIN RADEN INTAN LAMPUNG A Thesis Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for S-1 Degree By Dewi Khoirunnisa NPM : 1611040326 Study Program : English Education Advisor : Prof. Dr. Idham Kholid, M.Ag Co-Advisor : Satria Adi Pradana, M.Pd FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING RADEN INTAN STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY LAMPUNG 2020/2021 STUDENTS’ CRITICAL THINKING IN THEIR ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY AT FOURTH SEMESTER OF UIN RADEN INTAN LAMPUNG A Thesis Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for S-1 Degree By Dewi Khoirunnisa NPM : 1611040326 Study Program : English Education Advisor : Prof. Dr. Idham Kholid, M.Ag Co-Advisor : Satria Adi Pradana, M.Pd FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING RADEN INTAN STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY LAMPUNG 2020/2021 « KEMENTERIAN AGAMA RI eo oA, UIN RADEN INTAN LAMPUNG FAKULTAS TARBIYAH DAN KEGURUAN am Ji. Letkol Endro Suratmin Sukarame Bandar Lampung Telp. (0721)703289 APPROVAL Title : STUDENTS’... CRITICAL | THINKING | IN THEIR: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY. AT FOURTH SEMESTER OF UIN RADEN INTAN, LAMPUNG Student’s Name , , :, Dewi Khoirunnisa Student’s Number .:.1611040326 Study Program. :.English Faculty NIP. 19601020°198803 1.005 19860218 201503.1 005 The Chairperson of English Educational Program KEMENTERIAN AGAMA RI eer UIN RADEN INTAN LAMPUNG FAKULTAS TARBIYAH DAN KEGURUAN Alamat: es Letkol Endro Suratmin Sukarame Bandar Lampung Telp. (0721) 703289 » ADMISSION A thesis entitled Students” Critical Thinking i in Their Argumentative : ‘ihaeay at Fourth’ Semester of UIN Raden Intan Lampung, by: Dewi - Khoirunnisa, NPM: 1611040326, ‘Study Program: English Education _ was tested and defended in the examination session held'on: Thursday, December 16" 2021. _ Board of Examiners: \ The Chairperson % The Dean of Tarbiyah and. Teacher teeta ne Faculty vi MOTTO                         (5) For indeed, with hardship (will be) ease. (6) Indeed, with hardship (will be) ease. (7) So when you have finished (your duties), then stand up (for worship).1 (Q.S Al–Inshirah : 5-7) 1Surah al-Inshirah: Peace and Solace for Troubled Hearts, Accessed on: https://www.kitabalquran.com/2017/01/surah-ash-sharh-in- english.html?m=1 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah SWT the almighty for this merciful and beneficent, for blessing me with mercy and guidance to finish this thesis. The peace is upon our prophet Muhammad SAW, with his family and followers. This thesis entitled ”Students’ Critical Thinking in Their Argumentative Essay at Fourth Semester of UIN Raden Intan Lampung” is submitted as compulsory fulfillment of the requirements for S1 degree of English Education Program at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Faculty of Islamic State University of Raden Intan Lampung. Therefore, gratitude and appreciation, expressed especially to: 1. Prof. Dr. Hj. Nirva Diana, M.Pd, the Dean of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Faculty, UIN Raden Intan Lampung. 2. Meisuri, M.Pd, the Chairperson of English Education Study Program of UIN Raden Intan Lampung for allowing the writer to conduct the research at English Education Department. 3. Prof. Dr. Idham Khalid, M.Ag, the Advisor, for the support and advice that given in finishing this thesis. 4. Satria Adi Pradana, M.Pd, the Co-Advisor, for his time, support and guidance until this thesis finished. 5. All lecturers of English Education Study Program in UIN Raden Intan Lampung, who has taught the researcher since year of her study. 6. Nurul Puspita, M.Pd as the English lecturer of the essay writing class, for giving permission to the writer to conduct a research in her essay writing class. and all the students of the fourth semster especially B class of English Education Department in the academic year of 2020/2021 for giving a nice participation while the writer conduct the research. 7. All of good friends, especially Devi Heryana, Nurul Kesuma Putri, Vinny Elvine, Chika Rizki Amaliah, Deka Darma Putra, Berry Hendra, Nabila Safira, Riska Tri Rahayu and all my beloved friend from F Class batch 2016. 8. All beloved sisters and brother from Forum Kerja Sama Alumni Rohis (FKAR). x TABLE OF CONTENTS Page COVER ........................................................................................... TITLE PAGE ................................................................................ i ABSTRACT .................................................................................. ii DECLARATION ......................................................................... iii APPROVAL ................................................................................ iv ADMISSION................................................................................. v MOTTO ....................................................................................... vi DEDICATION ............................................................................ vii CURRICULUM VITAE ........................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................. x LIST OF TABLES .................................................................... xiii LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................... xiv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ................................................. 1 A. Background of the Problem ........................... 1 B. Identification of the Problem ......................... 6 C. Limitation of the Problem ............................ 6 D. Formulation of the Problem .......................... 6 E. Objective of the Research ............................. 7 F. Significance of the Research ........................ 7 G. Scope of the Research .................................. 7 1. Subject of the Research ............................ 7 2. Object of the Research ............................ 8 3. Place of the Research .............................. 8 4. Time of the Research................................ 8 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ......... 9 A. Critical Thinking ........................................... 9 1. Definition of Critical Thinking ................. 9 2. The Component of Critical Thinking ..... 10 3. Critical Thinking Process ....................... 15 4. The Criteria of Critical Thinking ............ 16 xi 5. Assesment of Integrated Critical Thinking Essay Tests ............................. 23 6. The Role of Thinking in Writing ........... 27 B. Writing ........................................................ 28 1. DefinitionWriting ................................... 28 2. Process of Writing .................................. 29 C. Essay Writing .............................................. 31 1. Definition of Essay Writing ................... 31 D. Argumentative Essay ................................... 33 1. Definition of Argumentative Essay ........ 33 2. The Criteria A Good Essay Argumentation ...................................... 33 3. The Generic Structure of Argumentative Essay............................. .34 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................... 37 A. Research Design ....................................... 37 B. Research Subject ....................................... 38 C. Data Collection ......................................... 39 D. Instrument ................................................. 39 E. Data Analysis ............................................ 39 CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................. 47 A. Research Findings ..................................... 47 1. Students’ Critical Thinking Ability Viewed from Focus ........................... 47 2. Students’ Critical Thinking Ability Viewed from Supporting Reason ....... 50 3. Students’ Critical Thinking Ability Viewed from Reasoning .................... 52 4. Students’ Critical Thinking Ability Viewed from Organization ................ 55 5. Students’ Critical Thinking Ability Viewed from Conventions ................. 58 xiv 18. Table 18 Citeria of Students Critical Thinking Ability Viewed from Integration ...................................... 63 19. Table 19 Average of Students Critical Thinking Ability Viewed from All Aspect ........................................ 65 20. Table 20 Tabulation of Students’ Score of Their Critical Thinking Ability in Argumentative Essay ............ 66 xv LIST OF APPENDICES Page 1. Appendix 1 Interview Guidline for the Lecturer .................... 79 2. Appendix 2 The Result of Interview ...................................... 80 3. Appendix 3 Name of Students of Sample Class ..................... 82 4. Appendix 4 Calculation Percentages of The Criteria of Students Critical Thinking .................................................... 84 5. Appendix 5 Students’ Argumentative Essay .......................... 86 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Problem Writing is an ability that has purposes as a means to communicate the language in a written form through the cognitive and organizational strategies in the process. Through writing, students can convey ideas, feelings, or opinions in readable form, meanwhile writing is not simply activity which can be completed spontaneously, otherwise writing involves complex things and requires effort. Raimes said that writing is skill of express our ideas which are arranged in words, sentences, and paragraphs by using part of body which are eyes, brain, and hands 1 . In university degree, essay writing is the most important part of writing levels in which the undergraduate students need to master . Oshima et al explied that writing an essay is more difficult than writing a paragraph except that an essay is longer 2 . Students and educator capability are the important things in teaching and learning writing aspect, the educator must be the qualified one that understand deeply about writing. In fact, there are kinds of problem that students face in making an essay, finding difficulties in elaborating their ideas, making every sentences coherence and unity, supporting the main idea of each paragraph. From Meslissorgou and Frantzi, they said that the obstacles of writing derive from many aspects as the foregone researches such as vocabulary, diction, grammatical features, exploring and 1 Ann Raimes, Techniquee in Teaching Writing (London: Oxford American English, 1983), p.3 2 Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, (4 th Edition), Writing Academic English (Pearson Longman, 2006), p.56 4 one‟s position.” 8 which means critical thinking is an ability in exploring the problem, question or situation to deepen understanding about it, integrating all the information that related to the case or problem, seeing more possibility, connecting and building idea to arrive the solution and making the decision. The critical thinking skill is an essential life skill among the 21st-century, skills which guides an individual to make an independent and emancipated decision. 9 In the recent years, teaching the critical thinking skill to students and improving their basic language skills such as reading, listening, speaking and writing have been emphasized in the preparation of educational curriculum in modern and democratic societies. The previous research in critical thinking and argumentative essay was conducted by Hasaniyah in her thesis tittled “An Analysis of The Students‟ Critical Thinking in Writing Argumentative Essay”. 10 The population of the research was students of English teacher education program at UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya at fourth semester, this research focused on students‟ level and also the way they apply the critical thinking in their writing. She used qualitative research design on her thesis, and the Rubric of the students‟ critical thinking which is adapted from PIER Macmillan Yale Education wesite to analyze students‟ critical thinking level and questionnaire to know students‟ ability in applying their critical thinking. The other previous research was conducted by Anggraeny and Putra tittled “Critical Thinking in Students‟ Process of Writing the Argumentative Essay” 11 aimed to investigate the writing process 8 Raana Ramezani, et. al. “The Relationship between Critical Thinking and EFL Learners‟ Speaking Ability”.( English Language Teaching; Vol. 9, No. 6; 2016.p.189 9 Epcacan Cahit. “A review on the relationship between critical thinking skills and learning domains of Turkish Language”. (Educational Research and Reviews; Vol. 14(3), pp. 67-77, 10 February, 2019). p.68 10 Siti Maghfirotun Hasaniyah. “An Analysis of The Students’ Critical Thinking in Writing Argumentative Essay”UIN Sunan Ampel, 2017 11 Eka Anggraeny et al, “Critical Thinking in Students‟ Process of Writing the Argumentative Essay” 5 done by the sixth semester students of English Department Jambi University in writing the argumentative essay and the challenges they found in the process of writing. This research used descriptive qualitative approach by inviting five participants to write an argumentative essay and to be interviewed afterwards. The findings show that students have challenges in different aspects of key features in constructing the argument and challenges faced by students through interview conducted. The next previous research was conducted by Amin and Kurniasih in their research journal “University Students‟ Critical Thinking in Writing Argumentative Essays” aimed to identify how the students use critical thinking to construct argumentative essays and to describe how critical thinking is reflected in the students‟ argumentative essays. 12 This research was descriptive qualitative research. There were two results can be seen. First, the students had reflected their critical thinking by involving the characteristics of critical thinking as proposed by Cotrell‟s theory. Cotrell claimed that there are some characteristics that indicate someone has applied critical thinking in writing. 13 The characteristic are the writer‟s position, the writer‟s reason, the writer‟s main reasons and key points, the writer‟s evidence, the writer‟s opposing arguments, the writer‟s conclusion, the essay‟s content, and the writer‟s belief. While the second point, the students used their critical thinking to construct argumentative essay very well especially in choosing the topics, organizing the arguments, and resolving problems that they experienced in constructing the essay. In conclusion, the students‟ critical thinking was well applied in the writing of argumentative essay. From the previous research above, all of them have the similarity in their variables which are argumentative essay and 12 AhmadBurhanudin Amin and Esti Kurniasih. University Students’ Critical Thinking In Writing Argumentative Essays. The State University of Surabaya; 2013. p. 1 13 Cotrell inAhmadBurhanudin Amin and Esti Kurniasih. University Students’ Critical Thinking In Writing Argumentative Essays. The State University of Surabaya; 2013. p. 4 6 critical thinking, yet each research above has different objective and instrument that used in collecting the data. This research aims to know students‟ ability in critical thinking in their argumentative essay by using descriptive quantitaive research method. It indicates that this research has a different focus from those previous research. This research conduct to analyze students‟ critical thinking abilityin students‟ argumentative essay because from argumentative essay it can be seen how do students‟ ability in critical thinking through arguments, claims, and ideas they were constructed in writing an argumentative essay. Therefore, the research will be conducted under tittle “Students‟ Critical Thinking in Their Argumentative Essay” B. Identification of the problem Based on the preliminary research, the problems identified by the researcher as follows: 1. There are some difficulties that faced by students comes from writing aspects such as the content, organization, mechanics, structure, language used, vocabulary, and 2. Especially, in writing an essay students are need to think critically to elaborate and develope their ideas. C. Limitation of the problem The problem of this study was limited to critical thinking ability in relation with argumentative essay of the fourth semester students of UIN Raden Intan Lampung in Academic Year 2020/2021. D. Formulation of the problem Based on the background of study above, this study intended to examine the question “How is students‟ critical thinking ability viewed from their argumentative essay?” 9 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Critical Thinking 1. Definition of Critical Thinking One of the best way to prepare the students to face the changing of the world in this 21st century and its circumstance is guiding them how to think. To teach students thinking and make them associate with the world and having self- confidence in making decision of what to believe or to do that is what we should be believe as critical thinking. Related to Moore theory that said critical thinking is thinking that critiques. It involves critiquing opinions, judgments, decisions, plans, conclusions, and reasoning in general. 14 Critical thinking appear when people try to evaluate information they deserve, a skill to analyze, integrate related things logically and rasionally. In critical thinking people trained to make a good reasoning, consider their perspective, before they come to decision and conclusion. On the other hand, Mason pointed out that critical thinking is ability of reasoning effectively, identify the relevance and importance facts. 15 Bassham et al claimed critical thinking as a wide range of cognitive skills and intellectual dispositions needed to effectively identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments and truth claims. In order to discover and overcome personal preconceptions and biases; to formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions; and to make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and 14 Moore and Parker, “Critical Thinking: Twelfth Edition”, (Parker California StateUniversity, Chico, 2016), p.2 15 Mason Mark, “Critical Thinking and Learning”, (Victoria: Blackwell Publishing:2008), p.2 10 what to do. 16 Willingham defined critical thinking as mental and cognitive activities which is a subset of three sorts of thinking: reasoning, decision making and judgement and problem solving. 17 From all the experts similiar statements above, it can be concluded that critical thinking is cognitive process or activity to require valid information. Critical thinking is thinking precisely and systematically and following the rule of scientific approaches and logic such as identification, analysis, evaluation and claiming the valid information. Those processes should be done as approaches to knowledge and perceived wisdom or valid information. 2. The Component Critical Thinking Component of Critical Thinking is Cognitive. Cognitive skill is a mental activity to obtain knowledge. 18 which resulted some consensus related to critical thinking, the critical thinking cognitively encompasses some skills and sub skills which are acknowledged by the Delphi experts presented in Table 2.1 as follows: 16 Bassham et. Al, “Critical thinking-a student's introduction (4th ed)”,.New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011, .1 17 Raana Ramezani, et. al. “The Relationship between Critical Thinking and EFL Learners’ Speaking Ability”.( English Language Teaching; Vol. 9, No. 6; 2016. Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education. ). p.189 18 Solso in Destri Hastiari, “Assessing Student‟s Critical Thinking in Essay Writing” IAIN Bengkulu, 2020. P.10 11 Table 1 Consensus List of Critical Thinking Cognitive Skills and Sub Skills 19 No. Skill Sub Skill Example 1. Interpretation Categorization To make recognition of a problem and its character; to make a decision to classify information, to create a report of things happened; to make a classification of data, findings, or opinions. Decoding Significance To make a detection and description of someone‟s question purposes; to make an appreciation of a certain gesture in a socialsituation provided; toapprehend the use of irony or rhetorical questions in debate; to create an interpretation of data presented Clarifying meaning To paraphrase of someone‟s statement; to look for a useful example which can help 19 Peter. A. Facione, Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction, Millbrae: The California Academic Press.1990 14 Drawing conclusions To make inferences to test an empirical hypothesis 5. Explanation Stating results To convey, state, or write someone‟s reasons of the views provided, matters, research findings,judgments, and so on Justifying procedures . To explain someone‟s choice of a particular statistical test for purposes data analysis; to design a graphic display which represents the quantitative information used as evidence Presenting arguments To write a paper in which one argues for a given position or policy. 6. Self- examination To examine a view of a controversial issue with sensitivity to the possible influences of personal bias or interest Self-correction To make a revision of factual deficiency 15 in a work Next, the inventories differ in labeling the skills composing critical thinking, analysis, evaluation and inference are the skills that are common to the inventories presented by critical thinking theorists. Finally, breaking down the abstract concept of critical thinking into identifiable skills helps theorists, educators and practitioners to teach these skills and assess students‟ progress. 3. Critical Thinking Process The critical thinking process stems from the activities of thinking itself. They are Investigation, Interpretation, and Judgment. 20 a) Investigation Investigation is to probe the evidence or data related to the issue or the matter arises. Investigation which is the activity to get any evidence related to the matters arise. b) Interpretation Interpretation is to make a decision of the meaning of the evidence. c) Judgment Judgment is to determine the conclusion about the issue or the matter arises. The critical thinking process respectively encompasses the activity of investigation which is the activity to get any information relating to the problem that occurrs. The activity of interpretation or the activity to determine the meaning of the evidence obtained from the investigation conducted and the actvity judgment, that is, the activity of evaluating the issue by making a conclusion based on the 20 Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, Beyond Feelings: A Guide to Critical Thinking. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.2012, p. 21 16 interpretation and investigation conducted previously. All of the three activities are conducted gradually and respectively started from investigation to judgment. The thinking process is preceded by investigation which leads to the last product of thinking process conclusion or judgment. 21 Based on the explanation above, three are at least there activities which are included in critical thinking process, namely investigayion, intepretation, and judgment. in the case, the investigation is an activity, basically comes first, which aims to finds the evidence or information about the issue or matters arise. next, it goes on to the subsquent step or meaning of the evidence or information from the investigation conducted beforehand. the last one is judgment, that is, making inferences or drawing conclusion from the data or evidence as well as the information that have been obtained in the previous activities,investigation an interpretation about the issue. 4. Criteria of Critical Thinking As a standard criteria of Critical Thinking, there are 6 basic elements in critical thinking, abbreviated as FRISCO. 22 a. Focus The focus is more than a thesis statement and/ or listing of subordinate points. 23 This feature axamines whether the subject/issue of the paper is clear and the position/ opinion is explicitly announced in the opening and maintained through the paper .multiple positions are focused only if there is an umbrella statement. In the opening of the paper, the writer must indicate the intent 21 Washburn, Phil.The Vocabulary of Critical Thinking. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2010. 22 Ennis, R. H. Critical Thinking Assessment.The Ohio State University. 32, (3). 2001(Online)(http://www3.qcc.cuny.edu/WikiFiles/file/Ennis%20Cri tical%20Thinking%2 0Assess ment.pdf) 23 Ibid., p. 8 19 2. Conclusions minimally supported, alternatives unmentioned, muddled confused. 3. Some insufficient support, alternatives prejudicially mentioned, key terms undelined. 4. Moderate support, alternatives mentioned fairly, some vagueness. 5. Conclusions well supported, alternatives well recognized; clear. 6. Strong supported,alternatives thoroughly addresssed. Clear c. Integration The purpose of this rating is to provide a general evaluation of how clearly the paper achieves the assigned task 25 . The holistic rating assumes that the effectiveness of the paper depends upon the skill with which the students orchestrates the fundamental features to complete theassignment. The judgment is limited to the combination of the features and does not include contributions of other factors such as humor or originality. It reflects the view that the paper is a total work, that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This “focused” holistic judgment is not the readerreaction to the work as art, it is the reader reaction to the work as craft how adequatly the work achieves the purpose. To arrive at the judgment, raters read the paper throught from beginning to end thinking. “Does this paper develop the assigment clearly and coherently and in standard english ?” 1. Doesn‟t present most features, insult 2. Attempts address assignment, conclusion 25 Ibid., p. 10 20 3. Partly developed, one features not develop 4. Essentials present 5. Features present, but not all equal 6. All features evident and equally weil developed d. Supporting reason This feature focuses on the quality and detail of the or subpoints. Supporting reasons are usually more specific than conlusions. 26 The quality of support depend on its specificity, accuracy and credible. Specificity is usually achieved throught the use of concrete details, example, and reasons. Accuracy or credibility of support is judged be deciding whether sources are credible and whether the reasons, examples, and details are factual or plausible. Degree to which supporting reasons and evidence are clear, believable, and from credible sources : 1. No support, no credible sources, unbelievable vague, confusing 2. Attempted, dubious sources, inaccurate, vague 3. Some sources and/ or reasons/ evidence dubious, some vagueness 4. Some sourcess credible: reasons/ evidence generally believable, sometimes second level, specific 5. Most sources credible: most reasons/evidence believable, often at second level, spesific 6. All sources credible: all reasons: all reasons/evidence believable, second level/beyond spec. e. Conventions Evaluations of the paper is use of conventions should take into account the following : how seriously the errors 26 Ibid., p. 11-13 21 interfere with communication : the number of errors in relation to how much was written (three errors in three sentences is a lot different from three errors in three paragraphs) and the kinds of errors are listed following the scale. The evaluation of conventions takes into account the papers proximity to a final draft in the writing process. For example, if a student has had three weeks to do assignment with multiple drafts, more stringent criteria may be used in assigning a convention score than for an in class writing assignment. Use of conventions of standard English : 1. Many errors, unreadable, confused meaning, problems with sentence construction, insufficient length to ascertain maintenance 2. Many major errors, confusion 3. Some major errors, many minor, sentence construction below mastery 4. Developed, few major errors, some minor, meaning unimpaired, mastery of sentence construction 5. A few minor errors, but no more than one major error 6. No major errors, one or two minor errors f. Organization This feature examines whether the composition exhibits a clear structure or plan of development (beginning, middle, end) and whether the points are logicality related to each other. 27 Organization has a “vertical‖” dimension (coherence) indicated by the use of paragraphing and transitions to signal the relation of the support to the position. Organization also has a 27 Ibid., p. 12-13 24 and requires a series of revisions, trials, and a series of revisions. Next, the assessment developed for critical thinking skills should be in the form of open-ended tests compared to multiple-choice tests, because the open-ended tests were stated to be more comprehensive. Following are some types of critical thinking assessments in the form of open ended tests 30 : 1. Multiple choice test with written explanation. Multiple choice test items can be written to assess various levels of learning outcomes, from basic recall to application, analysis, and evaluation. 31 Because students are choosing from a set of potential answers, however, there are obvious limits on what can be tested with multiple choice items. For example, they are not an effective way to test students‟ ability to organize thoughts or articulate explanations or creative ideas. 30 Brame, C, Writing good multiple choice test questions‖. Retrieved [todaysdate] from (https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub- pages/writing-good-multiple-choice-test- questions/. )Pdf. 31 Ibid. 25 2. Critical thinking essay test Critical thinking essay test is a type of context one in which someone is trying to defend a point, and which the denfense usually preceded and succeeded by otherargumentation on the point or aspects of it. 32 Example : Critical thinking essay test from The Ennis Weir. 3. Performance tests (performance assessment) Performance tests needs to be done in various contexts to determine the level of achievement of certain abilities. For example, to assess students' ability to perform acid-base titration it is necessary to observe the preparation of tools and materials used. The research is more likely to be in the essay test format. Because essay forms encourage students to show responses or answers rather than just choosing answers 33 Furthermore. The essay tests are an effective way to assess complex learning outcomes that cannot be assessed in the form of other common tests. In fact, some complex thought processes can only be assessed through essay tests. Critical thinking essay tests are divided three types, namely, high structure, medium structure and minimum structure 34 . The critical thinking essay test for students can be described as follows: 32 Ennis, R. H. 1985. “The Ennis Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test”‖, Midwest Publications.p1 33 Reiner, CM, Bothell, TW, Sudweeks, RR, dan Wood, B. 2002. Preparing Effective Essay Questions: A Self-directed Workbook for Educators.(Online) (https://testing.byu.edu/ handbooks/WritingEffectiveEssayQuestions.pdf 34 Ennis, R. H. 2001. Critical Thinking Assessment.The Ohio State University. 32, (3). 26 a. High structure An example of a high structure essay test is Ennis-Weir critical Thinking Essay Test. In essay high structure tests, an argumentative topic (a letter to the editor) is indicated with a numbered paragraph, most of which are still wrong. Then students are asked to assess the truth of each paragraph and the overall topic, and to maintain their judgment. b. Medium structure The medium structure essay test is a more simplified test of high structure, namely by providing an argumentative topic and asking students to respond in the form of arguments to the topic and maintain the response without determining the organization of response. An example of a medium structure essay test is the College Board AP test. Scoring rubrics for medium structure essay tests can use holistic or analytic scoring. The holistic scoring rubric is faster and cheaper, while the analytic scoring rubric provides more and more useful information for a particular purpose. c. Minimum structure The minimum structure essay test which is the simplest form because it consists of a question that must be answered or a problem that must be addressed. An example of a minimum structure essay test is Illinois Critical Thinking Essay Test 35 . At the Illinois Critical (Online)(http://www3.qcc.cuny.edu/WikiFiles/file/Ennis%20Critical %20Thinking%20As sessment .pdf 35 Finken dan Ennis.Illinois Critical Thinking Essay Test. Illinois Critical Thinking Project. Departement of Educational Policy Studies University of Illinois.(online) 29 comprehensible to readers. 41 From the statements above can be concluded that writing is language skill which combine process and productive skill that can be used to present thought, ideas in a form of written language. b. Process of Writing Writing is kind of activity that need several steps to be done, it is not simple activity which only need one step but the writer requires several steps needed to do this activity. Dietch proposed the stages of writing into 4 steps as follow: 42 a. Prewriting This is the first step of writing where the writer produces some ideas and decides the purpose and the reader of the writing. b. Drafting Drafting is primarily a stage of discovery and exploration. This step requires a transformation idea of the writer into sentences in half organized process. The function of this activity is developing writer‟s idea, expanding and creating idea connection. c. Revision Revision is activity that consists of deleting, expanding and clarifying the ideas. This activity can be done during in every process of writing. 41 Linse in Siti Maghfirotun Hasaniyah. “An Analysis of The Students’ Critical Thinking in Writing Argumentative Essay”UIN Sunan Ampel, 2017. p. 39 42 Dietch in Muspitarini, “The Relationship Between Students’ Critical Thinking, Grammar Knowledge and Writing Ability of Analytical Exposition Text”, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, 2019 30 d. Editing or Proofreading This step requires examining the ideas, details, words, grammar and punctuation. Here, the emphasis of this step is on accuracy, correctness and clarity. Another opinion proposed by Harmer which states that there are some processes of writing, they are; 43 1. Planning Experienced writers plan what they are going to write. Some of writers making a detail notes before writing, they have to think about the issues, the purpose of their writing since it will influence the reader. What kind of information they choose to include and obviously the language used. 2. Drafting We can refer to the first version of writing as a draft. As the writing process into editing, several drafts may be produced on the way to the final version. 3. Editing (reflecting and revising) In this step the writer read what they have written, to see where it works and where it does not. Perhaps some ideas are written in ambigously and confusingly. They may write some ideas which not support the previous ideas before. 4. Final Version This is the final step, the step where writers have edited their draft, making the change they 43 Harmer in Yuni Fitriana, “An Analysis of Student’s Problem in Writing Spoof Text at Eleventh Grade of SMK PGRI 4 Bandar Lampung in the Acadamic year of 2020/2021” Perpustakaan UIN Raden Intan Lampung, 2021, p.9 31 consider to be necessary, and they produce the final version. C. Essay Writing a. Definition of Essay Writing An essay is a piece of writing several paragraphs long. 44 It has three main parts, the first is intoduction which is an introductory paragraph where general statement to attract readers‟ attention and thesis statement to state the main idea of the essay placed. The second part is body, this part consist of one or more paragraphs, each paragraphs consist of one topic sentence and some supporting sentences, sometimes concluding sentences but not always necessary. The last is conclusion or concluding paragraph, more like a summary or review of the main ideas which discussed in the body of the essay. The topic of an essay is too complex to discuss in one paragraph, therefor essay devided into several paragraphs. Setiawan argued that essay writing is the expectation of the reader to write and extend a topic more extensively or complex, it must convey it into essay form, in which a kind of writing that consists of more than one paragraph. 45 This chart bellow shows the differences between paragraph and essay writing. 44 Alice Oshima et. Al. Writing Academic English (Fourth Edition), Pearson Longman, California: 2006. p. 56 45 Setiawan in Siti Maghfirotun Hasaniyah. “An Analysis of The Students’ Critical Thinking in Writing Argumentative Essay”UIN Sunan Ampel, 2017. p. 39 34 b) The Criteria of A Good Essay Argumentation Generally, essay should have four components. 49 Those are a statement of the issue, a statement of one‟s position on that issue, arguments that support one‟s position and rebuttals of arguments that support contrary position. According Chris Endy there are three specific qualities in writing good argumentation in essay. Those are Precision in argumentand use of terms, grounding in evidence, clarity and concision in prose. 50 Meanwhile, Oshima in her book writing academic series, explained that an argumentative essay contains these five elements keys: 51 1. An explanation of the issue 2. A clear thesis statement 3. A summary of the opposing arguments 4. Rebuttals to the opposing arguments 5. Your own arguments On the other side, Moore in his book tittled Critical Thinking, mentioned that an argumentative essay generally has four components: 52 1. A statement of the issue Ideally, an essay begin with an introduction to the issue that demonstrates an important or interesting issue. Even when the writer is not excited to the issue, it is still good to try to make the reader intrested. The writer‟s statement of the issue should be fair, don‟t try 49 B.N. Moore & R. Parker, “Critical Thinking-9 th edition” 2008, p.87 50 C. Endy, “How to Write an Argumentative Essay), (The Center: JFK Library Palmer Wing, Room 2097, 2011) 51 Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, (4 th Edition), Writing Academic English (Pearson Longman, 2006), p.146 52 Moore and Parker, “Critical Thinking: Eleventh Edition”, (Parker California State University, Chico, 2015), p. 81 35 to state the issue as if the writer position is the only correct one. 2. A statement of one‟s position on that issue Writer position On the issue should be clear, when the writer have stated the issue bravely and clearly, it should be a simple matter to identify writer position. 3. Arguments that support one‟s position The writers argument support their position should be as brief as the can make, but it is more important to be clear than to be brief. However, this is the heart of the essay, the reasons that was disclosed should be clearly relevant, and the should be either clearly reliable or backed up by further arguments. 4. Rebuttals of arguments that support contrary positions. If there are any other arguments for the other side of the issue, the writer should admit it and offer some reasons to belive that the argument is unconclusive. You can do this either by attacking the generally given premise or by trying to show that the premise does not actually support the opposite conclusion. More on these topics, letter. 36 c) The Generic Structure of Argumentative Essay Table 3 Organization of Argumentatice Essay Point-by-Point Pattern I. Introduction Explanation of the issue, including a summary of the other side‟s arguments Thesis statement II. Body A. Statement of the other side‟s first argument and rebutal with your own counterargument B. Statement of the other side‟s second argument and rebutal with your own counterargument C. Statement of the other side‟s third argument and rebutal with your own counterargument III. Conclusion – may include summary of your point of you. Source: Oshima and Hogue”writing academic English”fourth edition, p.146 75 Inaccuracies in Missouri Newspaper Information Graphics. Columbia: University of Missouri Oshima, Alice and Hogue, Ann, 2006. Writing Academic English.4 th Edition. Pearson Longman. Parico, Aldrin, D., 2020. A Descriptive Analysis of the Critical Thinkingand Argumentation Skills of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Students. Puspita, Nurul. Interview with the EnglishLecturer(English Education Department, UIN Raden Intan Lampung), April, 14 th Unpublished. Putri, Apriska Parancana, 2019. The Influence of Using Cartoon Films Towards Students’ Ability in Writing Narrative Text at The Eight Grade of SMPN 25 Bandar Lampung in the Academic Year. Raimes, Ann, 1983. Technique in Teaching Writing. London: Oxford American English. Ramezani, Raana, et al , 2016. The Relationship between Critical Thinking and EFL Learners‟ Speaking Ability.English Language Teaching; Vol. 9, No. 6. Reiner, C.M., et al, 2002. Preparing Effective Essay Questions: A Self-directed WorkbookforEducators.https://testing.byu.edu/handbooks/Writin gEffectiveEssayQuestions. Pdf Ruggiero, Vincent Ryan, 2012. Beyond Feelings: A Guide to Critical Thinking.Ninth Edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Sam, Rosma H., 2010. Model Penelitian Tindakan Kelas:Teknik Bermain Konstruktif untuk Peningkatan Hasil Belajar Matematika. Sugiyono, 2015. Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif, Kualitatif dan R & D, Bandung: Alfabeta. Surah al-Inshirah: Peace and Solace for Troubled Hearts, Accessed on: https://www.kitabalquran.com/2017/01/surah-ash-sharh-in- 76 english.html?m=1. Warbuton, 2006.The Basic of Essay Writing.London and Newyork: Routledge. Washburn, Phil, 2010. The Vocabulary of Critical Thinking. New York: Oxford University Press. Zubaidah, S., 2010.Berpikir Kritis: Kemampuan Berpikir Tingkat Tinggi yang Dapat Dikembangkan melalui Pembelajaran Sains. Surabaya.