The present article deals with the problem of the student essay evaluation which is currently very topical in Lithuania. The starting point for the article is the analysis of the student essays written during the state final examination of the Lithuanian (native) language of 2008. It reveals the difficulties encountered when evaluating reasoning essays with particular focus on the evaluation of the essay content. The problem of objective evaluation arises because evaluators tend to interpret the very object of evaluation in different ways. The article centres on cognitive argumentation analysis the essence of which is qualitative analysis of the text content as the appropriate way of evaluating reasoning of the student. The subject of the study is cognitive mapping of argumentative text as possible instrument for content evaluation of the student essays. The interrelation of cognitive analysis, links between the language content and the conceptual world of the author are discussed. Cognitive text mapping as separate way of argumentative analysis is suggested for identification scheme in student essays; the possibilities of cognitive text mapping for revealing inconsistence and contradictions of reasoning are also discussed. One practical cognitive analysis example of reasoning content is presented. It demonstrates the evaluation of the essay content as right or wrong. The conclusions stress the great potential of cognitive text mapping to become a reliable method for critical analysis of text argumentation.

Secondly, the teachers of the subject feel that they are not qualified or competent enough to teach their students the skills of writing essays. A number of teachers refuse to prepare students for reasoning about social and existential issues; instead, they focus exclusively on literature, language and culture, because they are trained in the literary tradition. Thirdly, the survey of national achievements of Lithuanian schoolchildren demonstrates that the schoolchildren find it especially difficult to give reasons or arguments in written. Excellent argumentation (A level) was presented by 4, 3 per cent schoolchildren of the 8th grade (in the year of 2004) and by 7 per cent schoolchildren of the 10th grade (in the year of 2005). The present article makes a review of essential concepts of reasoning, exposition and argumentation. Argumentation theory and its didactic approaches have also been considered. The vision of the application of the argumentation as a product, a process and a procedure for didactic purposes has been presented.

We have defined argumentative text in terms of text typology. The text type identification criteria have been discussed in the article: some subtypes of argumentation according to the mode of thinking have been analysed...