36.2445, FYI: Call for Papers: The Practice of Arguing Together: Argumentation as Social Competency in Higher Education

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-2445. Mon Aug 18 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.2445, FYI: Call for Papers: The Practice of Arguing Together:  Argumentation as Social Competency in Higher Education

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Date: 16-Aug-2025
From: Pascal Hohaus [pascal.hohaus at engsem.uni-hannover.de]
Subject: Call for Papers: The Practice of Arguing Together:  Argumentation as Social Competency in Higher Education


Call for Papers: The Practice of Arguing Together:  Argumentation as
Social Competency in Higher Education
These days, it is not enough for students to just know their field.
The challenges we face – such political polarization or climate change
– do not respect disciplinary boundaries. In that respect, scholars
have pointed to the role of higher education institutions to educate
“future-ready graduates” (la Cara et al. 2023). HEIs are expected to
help students develop so-called “21st-century skills” (Voogt & Roblin,
2012) or “future skills” (Ehlers, 2024). One skill set that keeps
mentioned in this context is social competency. Very broadly we define
it as the capacity to engage meaningfully with others across diverse
contexts. Yet within this broad framework, one dimension deserves
special attention: the ability to argue well. This encompasses not
merely debate or persuasion, but the full spectrum of reasoned
discourse, such as (among others) discussing, reasoning, disagreeing
constructively, and justifying positions. These argumentative
practices transcend basic communication skills. They function as
social practices that create mutual understanding and enable
productive collaboration (Kuhn, 2019). In an era marked by
"post-truth" discourse, cultivating argumentative capacities becomes
not just pedagogically important but socially urgent. Argumentative
skills have also been shown to foster content-domain skills (Asterhan
& Schwarz, 2016).
In this context, this peer-reviewed volume explores argumentation as a
constitutive element of social competency in higher education. Our
central premise challenges static approaches. Instead, we advocate for
a more practice-oriented understanding that examines how
social-argumentative capacities are actually lived in academic
contexts. What we would like most are contributions that probe the
relationship between argumentation and social learning. There is room
here for perspectives grounded in educational sciences, but also for
approaches from linguistics, organizational research, business
economics, and other disciplines that reveal how such practices are
lived out across higher education contexts.
We welcome contributions that engage with theoretical and/or empirical
perspectives. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- Reconceptualizing social competency through the lens of
argumentation theory
- Pedagogical models for cultivating argumentative practices as social
learning
- linguistic diversity in argumentative social practices
- Assessing socially embedded argumentative learning outcomes
- Institutional strategies for embedding deliberative practices into
curricula
Submission Guidelines:
Please send your abstract of 400–600 words (incl. references) –
outlining your proposed chapter and any relevant theoretical as well
as methodological grounding – to pascal.hohaus at engsem.uni-hannover.de
References
- Asterhan, C. S. C., & Schwarz, B. B. (2016). Argumentation for
learning: Well-trodden paths and unexplored territories. Educational
Psychologist, 51(2), 164-187. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2016.1155458
- Ehlers, U. D. (2024). Towards a Future Skills Framework for Higher
Education. In: Ehlers, U. D., & Eigbrecht, L. (eds), Creating the
University of the Future. Zukunft der Hochschulbildung - Future Higher
Education (pp. 21-60). Wiesbaden: Springer. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-42948-5_2
- Kuhn, D. (2019). Critical thinking as discourse. Human Development,
62(3), 146-164. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1159/000500171
- La Cara, B., Gemünden, M., & Koch-Kiennast, B. (2023). Fostering
social and personal competencies in higher education. ETH Learning and
Teaching Journal, 105-118. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.16906/LT-ETH.V4I1.223
- Voogt, J., & Roblin, N. P. (2012). A comparative analysis of
international frameworks for 21st century competences: Implications
for national curriculum policies. Journal of Curriculum Studies,
44(3), 299-321. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2012.668938

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Discipline of Linguistics
                     Discourse Analysis

Subject Language(s): English (eng)

Language Family(ies): Germanic



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