2. Assessing the accuracy of evidence given in
support of an author’s argument
Identify the point the author is trying to prove (the
claim),
identify the specific facts the author gives to support
the claim, and.
explain how the evidence is supposed to relate to the
claim
3. Identify the point the author is trying
to prove (the claim)
The correlation between proficiency and teaching effectiveness is of
course not a perfect one. It is not the case that somebody with a very
high level of proficiency can automatically teach effectively in the
classroom. If this were the case, then all native speakers would be the
ideal teachers in the classroom. Research shows that even highly
proficient native speakers of English still need to learn ‘classroom
language’ and use it effectively to facilitate language learning in the
classroom (Richards, 2017).
4. identify the specific facts the author gives to
support the claim
The English Proficiency Index (EPI) produced by English First (a large
English language teaching provider with branches all over the world) has
recently been used by governments, international funding agencies and
business leaders to gauge the overall proficiency levels of their population
for various purposes. While the tools used by English First Education to
arrive at proficiency scores may not be the most valid or reliable from a
language assessment perspective (i.e., it is an online a multiple choice test
on language skills), the data provides the largest ranking of English
language skills by country in the world. The 2017 EPI data show that
Indonesia ranked 39th out of 80 countries in the world, and 10th out of 20
countries in Asia. With an average score of 52.15, Indonesia falls under the
‘low proficiency band’ category (https://www.ef.sg/epi/regions/asia/).
5. Explain how the evidence is supposed to
relate to the claim
The reasoning is the explanation of “why and
how” the evidence supports the claim. It should
include an explanation of the underlying science
concept that produced the evidence or data.
