“I Can’t Argue Back”: Barriers to Rebuttal Writing Among Chinese EFL Learners

This study explores barriers to effective rebuttals in second language (L2) writing among Chinese EFL learners, examining their rebuttal performance, self-perceived reasons for poor performance, and links to class emotions. It involved 136 English-major sophomores from a Southeast China university, who received four-week rebuttal instruction integrated with critical thinking training via an “infusion” approach. Data were collected from TEM4 (a high-stakes test for Chinese English majors) prompt-based writing, open-ended questions on self-perceived reasons, and an emotion questionnaire measuring three positive emotions and five negative ones. Results showed 70.59% of participants either submitted ineffective rebuttals or failed to provide any rebuttals; key reasons included habit-related factors, competence-related factors, and idea-conflict factors. Participants reported more positive than negative emotions in rebuttal-writing classes, but emotions in rebuttal-writing classes had no significant correlation with their rebuttal performance. Through unprecedentedly uncovering the multiple reasons for ineffective and non-existent rebuttal writing and excluding emotional experience in rebuttal-writing classes as a reason, the study provides implications for L2 writing and critical thinking instruction.