ABSTRACT
We describe a collaborative computer-based activity as a means of developing argumentive discourse skills in middle-school students. The rationale for use of this technology is that it heightens the opportunity, and indeed demand, for metacognitive reflection on the communication, relative to direct verbal exchange. This demand is further heightened procedurally in two ways: (a) each dialog takes place among four participants, two who collaborate in producing and transmitting one side of the dialog and two who collaborate in producing and transmitting the other; subsequently, the respective pairs engage in analysis of a written transcript of it, with the aim of identifying how it might be improved.
