On the development of written argumentative competences in secondary school

An empirical study with students from Berlin and Brandenburg

Abstract

The following paper presents and analyses data from a diagnostic test of argumentative competences of 2724 pupils in the 7th grade in Berlin and Brandenburg. Based on a test-theoretical scaling of the data, a multi-level development of competence is presented, which is characterised by an increasing ability to coordinate different opinions, perspectives and argumentative weights, and which can be traced first receptively and then productively.