Oral argumentation and language-aware civic education – a theoretical proposal

Abstract

Oral argumentative competence is highly relevant for responsible [mündige] participation in social negotiation processes. Thus, promoting argumentative competence is central to civic education. However, there is a lack of theoretical concepts and empirical findings which can guide action in the civic education classroom. Since argumentative competence is a linguistic skill, the concept of language-aware civic education offers itself as a plausible framework. In this article, the two terms oral argumentative competence and language-aware subject teaching are clarified within the context of civic education. It is shown how subject-specific oral argumentative competence can be fostered through language-aware civic education.