Analyzing the usefulness of college English textbooks in scaffolding students' English academic writing

Abstract

Currently students increasingly need to learn academic writing in English and scholars in China have been calling on English for Academic purpose and English for Specific Purpose in the domain of College English education. This paper provides an overview on the usefulness of College English textbooks in improving students’ English academic writing, aiming to help them better use textbooks for academic purpose. The present study has investigated the scaffolding that NHCE has provided in strengthening students’ English academic writing, that how NHCE is used in the teaching and learning of L2 academic writing and that how they perceive it in enhancing students’ academic writing. Specifically the author utilized functional genre analysis, mainly from the perspectives of field, tenor, and mode, and employed students’ questionnaires and teachers’ and students’ interviews. The author concludes that College English textbooks are useful in academic writing improvement by students acquiring the genres, language patterns, declarative mood and so forth. However, the genres of discussions, expositions and procedures are expected more in College English textbooks for the purpose of improving students’ English academic writing.