Educational Implications and Learner’s Perception of Academic Debate during Liberal Art Education in College

Park, Jaehyun

Korean Journal of General Education 2017;11(5):161-198.
Published online October 30, 2017.

Jaehyun Park

대학 교양 토론 교육의 쟁점에 대한 학습자 인식과교육적 시사점

박재현

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify the issues that instructors disagree on in terms of academic debate during liberal art education in college, and to derive educational implications based on learners’ perception. To solve the research questions, the present study analyzed 19 theses written by college debate education instructors and extracted four issues as follows: antagonistic nature of competitive and confronting structure comprising arguments for or against a topic; risky nature of determining the winning team; complex nature of rules and procedures; and binding nature of assigned position. A questionnaire was composed using the concerning issues, and a questionnaire survey was conducted among 150 college students. The survey data were analyzed using SPSS program for descriptive statistical analysis, gender difference t-test, and analysis of responses to open-ended questions. The study results showed that learners were experiencing considerably positive aspects about the concerning issues rather than negative aspects of debate education that the instructors are concerned about. This study confirmed the feasibility of minimizing the adverse effect and maximizing the strength when instructors and learners have the shared understanding of the essence and function of academic debate. This study also presented issues to consider from educational perspective to achieve the goal.

Key Words: liberal art education, debate education, academic debate, debate rules, debate formats