Approaches to the social role of argumentation in the rural school. A sociocultural look

Abstract

Argumentative teaching practices should be an interactive space allowing the teacher to explore all the communicative possibilities of students. Clusters of pedagogical and didactic roadmaps could be interconnected which are aligned to the different authentic communicative situations that students bring from their natural context and about which they can reflect both in the classroom and in all school environments.  This type of discourse is present in students’ daily lives, which promotes their interaction. In this regard, the school is tasked with formalizing such discourse so that it becomes meaningful within the communication universe. This research study aimed to understand, from a sociocultural perspective, the argumentative teaching practices in El Centro Educativo Rural Montecristo, by means of a qualitative methodology, resulting in a discussion around the social role of argumentation. It is suggested that the school should begin to structure its curricular programs around pedagogical proposals that privilege an argumentative training process among its students. That is to say, to implement an approach to that social role that acknowledges students’ discourse and under which they feel engaged through statements of political decisions within their community context.