The International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation ISSN: 2327-7920 (Print), ISSN: 2327-8692 (Online) Volume 31, Issue 2, 2024 https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-7920/CGP/v31i02/43-63 Original Research Assessing Argumentative Essay–Writing Skills of Nepali Tertiary EFL Learners Saroj G. C., Tribhuvan University, Nepal Raj K. Baral, Tribhuvan University, Nepal Received: 02/11/2024; Accepted: 03/21/2024; Published: 06/28/2024 Abstract: Intended to explore the status and potential areas of improvement of argumentative writing skills among graduate students of Nepal, this study assessed forty-seven argumentative essays written by graduate students majoring in English. Those essays were selected purposively, evaluated by multiple instructors, and analyzed by the researchers after developing inclusive and comprehensive rubrics that included both higher- order concerns (HOCs) and lower-order concerns (LOCs) vis-a-vis academic writing. The results revealed that the students’ writing skills in demonstrating the essay’s core elements were better than those of linguistics and technical aspects. It also showed that the students performed above the median score in all rubrics; however, it showed a significant performance gap among the students with regard to some of the parameters. Similarly, as per the qualitative findings, the students often conventionally used the core elements in terms of their placement and orders and relied more on the templates, although the study identified variations in expressions. The study concluded that although students performed well in major aspects of argumentation, they need more continuous support and formative feedback during the writing process to strengthen their argumentative writing skills. It also provided insights among the instructors about teaching writing skills to graduate students whose first language is not English. Keywords: Argumentative Essay, Assessment, Writing Skills, EFL Learners Introduction The importance of argumentation in civic life dates back to the Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition, when Aristotle defined it in terms of ethos, logos, and pathos. Persuasion has been significant since then as a part of everyday practice and as a means to promote critical thinking (Liu and Stapleton 2014). In argumentation, claims are created and justified with reasons and evidence to persuade the people (Inch and Tudor 2014). The argumentation process was more systematically developed by Stephen Toulmin in 1958 by introducing key elements: claims, data, warrants, backing, qualifiers, and rebuttals. These elements continue to serve as fundamental pillars for both constructing and assessing arguments to this day. For example, argumentation matters in the second language writing context (Hirvela 2017; Lee and Deakin 2016). This is significant not only in the context of crafting generic academic essays for writing courses but also across various disciplines, such as history, economics, science, and mathematics, where discipline-specific standards of 43 Downloaded by Raj K. Baral on Fri Jun 28 2024 at 10:22:10 AM CDT