Looking into the Nature of Writing Tasks in the Middle School English Textbooks

Looking into the Nature of Writing Tasks in the Middle School English Textbooks

  The nature of writing tasks included in the current middle school English textbooks is analyzed from a variety of perspectives in order to understand what kind of writing tasks are involved for teaching English Six textbooks of two grades (grades 7 and 9) are randomly selected for the analysis. All of the writing tasks included in each textbook are identified and investigated based on the following dimensions: (a) orientation of writing tasks based on Paulston"s (1972) and Aski"s (2003) criteria (i.e., mechanical drill, meaningful drill, communicative drill, communicative language practice) and (b) level of writing (i,e., letter, word, phrase, sentence, discourse). The findings of the study indicate that there is great reliance on form-focused writing activities, whereas few opportunities for meaning-focused writing activities are provided. This study calls for more attention to provide L2/FL writers with ample opportunities to write for meaning and communicative practice, allowing them to process and negotiate meaning through writing. Furthermore, this study emphasizes that L2/FL writing should be conducted on a suprasentential level instead of a sentence-level structural writing.