International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 1 ISSN 2250-3153 This publication is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY. http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10602 www.ijsrp.org Effect of Graphic Organizer and Instructional Scaffolding on Argumentative Essay Writing Performance: A Critical Analysis Jayasri Lingaiah*, Saroja Dhanapal** * Faculty of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia **Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia DOI: 10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10602 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.10.2020.p10602 Abstract- This study investigated the effect of graphic organizer and instructional scaffolding on argumentative essay writing performance among TESL undergraduates. The study employed an experimental research using the pre-test and post-test design involving 60 TESL undergraduates who underwent lessons on argumentative essay writing using two different delivery modes, namely ‘Graphic Organizer with Instructional Scaffolding’ (GOIS) which is the experimental group and ‘No Graphic Organizer No Instructional Scaffolding’ (NGNI) which is the control group. The TESL undergraduates of the experimental group went through the GOIS delivery mode comprising four stages of learning; Stage 1: The Introduction; Stage 2: Assisted Group Discussion; Stage 3: Writing an Individual Essay and Stage 4: Peer Review for a duration of four weeks. The control group (NGNI) went through normal delivery mode comprising four stages of learning without the use graphic organiser or instructional scaffolding; Stage 1: The Introduction, Stage 2: Peer Learning, Stage 3: Individual Essay Writing and Stage 4: The Review. A one-way ANCOVA was used to analyse the overall argumentative essay writing performance of the students. Results showed that the group which underwent the GOIS delivery mode performed significantly better in the overall argumentative essay writing performance (p<.05) compared to the control group which went through the NGNI delivery mode. The research confirmed that the GOIS delivery mode is effective in enhancing argumentative writing performance among TESL undergraduates. In line with this, the research ends with a recommendation for educators to adopt the GOIS delivery mode in the future to ensure that undergraduate students’ argumentative writing skills are enhanced. Index Terms- Graphic Organizer, Instructional Scaffolding, Argumentative Essay Writing, Sociocultural Theory, TESL Undergraduates I. INTRODUCTION Mastering the writing skill is the most challenging and difficult task compared to other language skills (Tayib, 2015). Writing and mastering the argumentative essay, although found to be challenging, is a key skill for writing success (Thompson, 2017) and acknowledged as significant for “general life purposes” (Dastjerdi & Samian, 2011, p.68). Likewise, presenting arguments in written form is vital as it plays an important role in the social, academic and professional success (NCES, 2012 as cited in Wilson, 2014). The ability to write a quality argumentative essay was noticed to promote the cognitive ability of students to think critically, solve problems, generate and justify solutions, formulate ideas and make decisions (Cho & Jonassen, 2002). Thus, being able to write a good argument is believed to help students to develop their critical thinking and research skills as well as to develop and logically defend a position (Thompson, 2017). The essay writing assignments (such as the argumentative writing) is central to most English as a Second Language (ESL) courses in tertiary education in Malaysia (De Rycker & Ponnudurai, 2011) and is also regarded as an essential form of written discourse specifically in Malaysian University English Test (MUET). The writing component in MUET has been identified as an essential component for undergraduates and contributes as the second-highest weighting 30% of the overall test (Kanestion et al., 2016). In the component, students are expected to write an argumentative essay. Thus, it becomes imperative to provide sufficient mastery of the argumentative skills among students as MUET is a requirement for entry into graduate programmes. However, argumentative writing is not an easy communicative task because it requires complex cognitive and linguistic skills (Nippold & Ward-Lonergan, 2010) and appropriate use of conjunctions as it connects paragraphs, sentences and clauses (Uzun, 2017). The argument is the essence of critical thinking that entails making a case to sustain a claim, identifying supporting evidence from various sources that connect the claim reasonably, using warrants that support the connections between the claim and the supporting evidence as well as backing the warrants with support (Hillocks, 2011). Thus, undergraduates are urged to master all the above-mentioned skills not only in TESL but also in all other courses to create reliable and persuasively written arguments based on acceptable logical support (Botley & Hakim, 2014). In essence, the ability to write an argumentative essay at