Discussion text

Herlin suswati
 Definition

 a text which presents a problematic discourse.

Note:
 This problem will be discussed from different viewpoints.
 Discussion is commonly found in philosophical, historic, and social text.
 In other word, Discussion is a kind of genre used to present (at least) two
points of view about an issue.
 Purpose

 To present two points of view about issue or problem.

 To present arguments from differing points of view about issue or problem..
 General structure

 Issue : stating the issue which is to discussed

 Argument pro : presenting the point in in supporting the presented issue
 Argument cons : presenting other points which disagree to the supporting
point
 Conclusion / recommendation : stating the writer’ recommendation of the
discourse
 Language feature

 Introducing category or generic participant

 Using thinking verb; feel, hope, believe, etc
 Using contrastive conjunction; however, on the other hand, but, in other side,
although, etc.
 Using modalities; must, should, could, may, etc
 Using adverbial of manner; deliberately, hopefully, etc
 National Exam: Pro and Contra?
 National exam becomes the hot topic in most of discussions among students, teachers, and
parents. Some people believe that national exam is not necessary for students as a
requirement to be able graduate from a school. In other hand, other people see national
exam as an important indicator to know whether students have mastered all school materials
or not. The debate among society about national examination goes on until now.
 For people who agree, national exam is necessary for students as a requirement to graduate
from a school. People who support the national exam explain that the quality of the
Indonesia education will drop without the national exam, so they try to defend the current
system. They also think that national examination can motivate students to study harder.
 However there are people who disagree with the opinion. Those who against this national
exam kept in school education say that it doesn’t need the national exams because the
quality of education does not just depend on the national exam. Further, the national exam
only measures a small portion of students’ competence in specific subjects, and does not
measure students’ competences throughout the semester.
In conclusion, national examination can still be useful as an instrument to evaluate or detect
the level of students’ cognitive competence in several subjects, on a national scale.
However, it is not fair if only national exam score that judge whether students pass or not.
Government should make a regulation that national exam is not the only requirement for
students to graduate. There should be other requirements added such as students’ daily
score, behavior, and achievement.
 Task

 Rewrite the discussion text theory above on your book

 Browse internet
 Find discussion text
 Rewrite the text on your book
 Identify the text based on generic/general structure and language feature