Studies on argumentative text writing have shown that anticipating counterargument and reacting to them is one of the hardest demands of argumentative writing. The present study focused on second, fourth, and seventh graders’ ability to generate counterarguments in their writings. The results showed that, although counterarguments appear in some of the second graders’ writings, it is only after the fourth grade that their presence is systematically observed in children’s writing. Age- and schooling-related effects were also noted on the number of counterarguments examined per text. The global structure of the texts produced (a narrative vs. an opinion text) did not affect the production of counterargument by children, although a main effect of such factors was noted on the number of ideas children used to justify their own views. The role of pragmatic factors in the development of counterargument in written texts was taken into account when discussing these findings.
Argumentation; counterargument; argumentative writing; text production
