ARGUING IS LEARNED BY ARGUING: SUBSIDIES FOR RESEARCH AND TEACHING OF ARGUMENTATIVE COMPETENCE IN (INTER)ACTION

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we define argumentative competence as the set of procedures that interlocutors effectively adopt to jointly and reflexively define the situation in which they are inserted as argumentative. In the reflection on this notion of argumentative competence, we articulate studies on the notion of interactional competence and on a dialogic notion of argumentation. Based on this theoretical framework, we argue that the development of an argumentative competence by students occurs through the analysis of effective argumentative interactions and the participation of students in interactions in which opposing points of view are supported and defended. In the empirical part of the work, we analyze a debate promoted by the Secretary of Education of the State of São Paulo in which six students debate the topic of bullying in schools. In the analysis, we observed that the argumentative value of verbal and non-verbal resources is not some semantic or rhetorical attribute inherent to these resources. This value arises from the way the students used them, evaluating them as adequate to argue and, thus, constituting the situation as argumentative.

Keywords:
interaction; argumentation; argumentative competence