Research Setting RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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Wallace and Wray, 2011. It gave an opportunity for the researcher to assess students’ critical thinking skills by assessing the quality of students’ argumentative
essay. The quality standard and criteria
of students’ argumentative essay writing was determined in the scoring rubric, which was employed as an instrument to
measure students ’ critical thinking skills. As a performance assessment, the most
suitable instrument in writing test is scoring rubric. “Performance assessments are typically scored according to rubrics that specify in advance the type of
performance that is expected for each activity” Slavin, 2012, p.433. The scoring rubric was presented as a form of analytic scoring. The criteria of critical writing
were mentioned in the scoring rubric to be scored; the criteria were arguable arguments, relevant evidences, particular target audience, effective logical
organization, and reliable sources. Analytic scoring will help the students to recognize their weaknesses and their strengths Brown, 2004. The criteria of
critical writing were determined by summarizing the elements of critical writing from the book “Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing: A Brief Guide to
Argument” by Barnet and Bedau 2011 and from the book “Critical Reading and Writing
for Postgraduates” by Wallace and Wray 2011, which can be seen in the scoring rubric see Appendix A. The scoring rubric was used by the students in
peer assessment.