A Study On The Writing Section Of High School English Textbooks From A Situational Perspective

Since the 1970 s,the interactive property of language has gradually received attention from scholars.Language use is widely regarded as a context-specific communicative activity,and more and more attention has been paid to the function of language in different situations,and the important influence of situations has also been increasingly emphasized.As curriculum reform continues to advance,building authentic situations and cultivating students’ ability to use language in real-life situations has become a key point in developing students’ core competencies.With the further emphasis on situations in The General Senior High School Curriculum Standards(2017 Edition)(hereafter The New Curriculum),the new textbooks published under the guidance of the New Curriculum have added situational elements to language learning activities.Therefore,it is of theoretical and practical significance to study the writing section of the new textbooks from a situational perspective.After sorting through relevant domestic and international literature,this study constructed a framework for analyzing textbook writing situations and examined the writing situations of the textbooks from three aspects: background information parameter,task parameter and supportive information parameter.On the basis of the interviews with teachers,the study summarized the inadequacies and advantages of the situations in writing section of the textbooks,in the hope of providing a guide for the designing of the writing situations of the textbooks,for the teachers to use the materials flexibly so as to cultivate students’ writing skills.The study found that(1)the situations in the textbooks mainly center on students’ own experiences.(2)The roles of authors and readers in writing situations are not diversified,and the relationship between the two does not vary frequently.(3)The effectiveness of the situational background of the writing tasks is limited,and the communicative characteristic embedded in writing has not been given due attention.(4)The textbooks cover all aspects of writing skills,focusing mainly on the development of descriptive,expository,and interactive skills.(5)The level of writing skills developed in the textbooks is slightly higher than those required at the high school level,but the textbooks cultivate writing ability progressively and systematically.(6)The situations in the textbooks are mainly presented through plain descriptions,and the scaffoldings the textbooks provide and how they are provided vary.Based on the results above,this study gave suggestions for both the development of writing sections and teachers’ teaching.The situations of writing sections should cover all the background elements,clarify the training goals,and build a variety of scaffolds for the development of writing skills.Teachers should improve their knowledge base of writing competence and situations in order to make full use of the situational resources in the textbook.Also,they are suggested to take the initiative to supplement the missing situational elements in the writing sections so that the situations can be integrated throughout the writing process.