Abstract:
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the improvement of Thai students’ textual competence in writing in German. It also examines the textual features in their argumentative essays. The participants of the study are 15 Thai fourth/year students majoring in German at Thammasat University. Each student is assigned to write nine argumentative Texts, one text a month. There are total of 135 texts analyzed. The results revealed that most students’ textual competence in showing their critical ideas from different perspectives has improved. Findings of the study also suggests that the students encounter several difficulties in writing argumentative texts, namely, a limited competence in searching relevant information, in their linguistic and grammatical knowledge and in formulating an effective writing process.
