Evaluating The Effectiveness of Logical Reasoning Integration on The Academic Writing of Pakistani Undergraduate ESL Learners

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the impact of incorporating logical reasoning lessons on improving the writing proficiency of Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners. For this purpose, initially, a diagnostic test, comprised of expository writing questions was administered to the participants to evaluate their current level of writing proficiency. The sample of this study comprised 40 undergraduate ESL learners studying in their first semester at a private university in Lahore, Pakistan. The analysis of the writing samples was conducted by Clark & Braun’s (2017) method of thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the participants had several deficiencies in their writing including oversimplified structures, vague statements, lack of coherence, unwarranted claims, illogical development of arguments, and repetitive ideas. These findings validated the poor writing proficiency of the participants attributed to their lack of logical reasoning abilities. After that, logical reasoning lessons were prepared and integrated into the classroom with the help of a language instructor over 12 weeks. Following the integration of those lessons, an evaluative assessment of the same nature was taken by the participants. The academic writing samples specifically expository writing in the evaluative assessments, analyzed by the same method, demonstrated significant enhancement in the writing skills of the participants. The improvement in the writing was noted through the themes including detailed structures, clear statements, well-supported claims, varied ideas, and high coherence. These findings substantiate the hypothesis of the study that the integration of logical reasoning in classroom instructions enhances the writing skills of Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners.

Keywords: Critical thinking, ESL students, logical reasoning, thematic analysis, writing skills.