Look closely!
This lesson will help you identify points of disagreement so you can address them in your argument. It will make your answer much stronger, and improve your logic and communication of information scores.
We talked about how to defeat counterarguments before. Now we will work on identifying potential counterarguments and weaknesses in your own position.
This extends lesson 7, so make sure your student remembers the point there—strengthen your argument by addressing counterarguments directly.
What are the benefits of people disagreeing with you? Are you comfortable voicing your disagreements with others?
Ask the questions above.
The benefits of disagreements and challenges to your argument are that you are forced to:
- revisit the evidence you provided to support your claim and examine it critically;
- find additional evidence to support your claim;
- clarify or augment your reasoning about how your evidence fits your claim;
- clarify the assumptions that underlie your reasoning (assumptions you may have left unstated and may not even have been aware of);
- revisit your claim and revise it to make it more specific or precise (if you realize you initially made it too broad);
- revise and edit the materials you used to communicate your argument (if you conclude that people are disagreeing with you because they are confused about what you were trying to say).
Disagreement and arguing are seen as destructive, antagonistic and hostile in many cultures. Your Japanese student should be disabused of the notion that it is OK to directly disagree or challenge ideas in many contexts in Western culture or the English speaking world. Many English speakers will do what they can to avoid disagreement, or to couch disagreement in language that softens the blow (ex. "That's a very good point, but in my experience...")
Brainstorm some potential points of disagreement with your teacher. What are some common types of disagreement?
Now take this question from the G.B.C. test and work out what might be some obvious points of disagreement:
Why do foreign businesses fail to succeed in Japan?
Quickly give a summary of your position in answer to this question. Remember:
- claim;
- evidence; and
- reasoning.
Main areas for disagreement are as follows. You might need to get the student started on this one.
What are some common points of disagreement? I think that an obvious one is that some data or facts might have been missed. Can you think of other points of disagreement?
Points of disagreement
Work through these with your student:
- data and/or facts that have been ignored;
- alternative interpretations of data and/or facts;
- alternative definitions of key terms;
- alternative (underlying) assumptions;
- problems with the logical connections between ideas; and
- the appearance of bias.
Now work with your student on the question above about the success of foreign businesses in Japan. Some suggestions:
- Data and facts ignored: If your student accepts the premise of the question—that foreign companies do fail to succeed in Japan—point out examples like Starbucks, McDonald's, Gucci etc. These are foreign companies that are very successful in Japan.
- Alternative assumptions: That foreign markets are hard for any company anywhere. It is not a uniquely Japanese problem.
- Appearance of bias: Assuming that your student is arguing that service level is the issue (Japanese people assume they have the best service in the world and tend to ignore the fact that what is good service is cultural) and that's why foreign companies fail, ask them one question: "If Japanese service is so great, name one Japanese service business that is successful internationally in the same way that Starbucks is." They will not be able to.
It's hard to predict what your student may say, so you'll need to wing this a bit. It's a fair bet that there are issues with the logical connections your student is making. Ask them, "So what?" or "What has [your first point] got to do with [your next point]?"
Go through the points of disagreement above and see what applies. Ask them directly for each one.
Your teacher will give you an argument in response to the question below. You should analyse the argument for points of disagreement.
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