Sidetracking: Is It Really a Cultural Norm?

Abstract

“Japanese are not good at debating.” That is a stereotype that the Japanese themselves often hold even now. “Japanese are not good at making a relevant rebuttal.” This sounds the same, however many educators namely Ryoko Nakatsu who taught debate and discussion for decades testified so. They suggest that Japanese students may tend to be good at constructing arguments but not rebutting. According to them, one of the biggest struggles many of their students faced was to present a clear opposite standpoint that directly relates to the standpoint advanced by the protagonist. This research tested this myth. Subjects took a test to see how often their rebuttal point was sidetracked before and after they experienced a ten-week training to respond with an opposite standpoint. The training first briefed the students on syllogism, Toulmin’s model and the third commandment of pragma-dialectics, and then let them practice choosing a counterargument.