ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Evaluation of Writing Tasks in the New English for Ethiopia Students’

Textbook: Grade 10 in focus

By

Gebriel Bafe

Advisor: Tesfaye Alemu (PhD)

August 2017

Arba Minch
 ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGAUGE AND LITEARTURE

Evaluation of Writing Tasks in the New English for Ethiopia Students’

Textbook: Grade 10 in focus

By
Gebriel Bafe

Advisor: Tesfaye Alemu (PhD)

A thesis Submitted to Department of English Language and Literature (Graduate

Program) in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)

August 2017
Arba Minch
 DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this MA thesis is my original work and has not been presented for a degree
in any other university, and all sources of material used for this thesis have been fully
acknowledged.

Name: ____________________________________
Date of submission: _________________________
 ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Advisor’s thesis submission approval sheet

This is to certify that the thesis entitled: “Evaluation of writing tasks in the new English for
Ethiopia students’ textbook: Grade 10 in focus” submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Degree of Master’s with specialization in TEFL (Teaching English as a
Foreign Language), the graduate program of department of English Language and literature, and
has been carried out by Gebriel Bafe Id no. SMA/061/06, under my supervision. Therefore, I
recommend that the student has fulfilled the requirements and hence hereby can submit the thesis
to the department for defense.

Signed by the examining committee:

__________________________ ________________ ________________

Advisor Signature Date
_________________________ _________________ __________________
External examiner Signature Date
________________________ _________________ _________________
Internal examiner Signature Date
_________________________ ____________________ __________________
Chair person Signature Date
 Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to my advisor
Tesfaye Alemu (PhD) for his unreserved support, constructive comments and invaluable
appreciations throughout the accomplishment of my thesis work. I would also like to
express my thanks to grade 10 students, teachers and school administrators of Fonko
Secondary and Preparatory School for their cooperation and involvement in the process
of gathering data for the study. My special thanks go to my beloved wife Tigist Petros
and my father Petros G/Medhin for their moral and material support throughout the end
of this study. Finally, I would like to thank my friend Getachew Mathewos for his
important advice throughout course of the study.

i
 Acronyms
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
EFL: English as Foreign Language
ESL: English as Second Language
ELT: English Language Teaching
TBLT: Task Based Language Teaching

ii
 Table of Contents
Contents Pages
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. i
Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................... ii
List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................... vi
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ vii
CHAPTER ONE..................................................................................................................................... 1
1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Background of the Study .............................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................. 4
1.3 Objectives of the Study ................................................................................................................ 7
1.3.1 General Objective ........................................................................................................... 7
1.3.2 Specific Objectives of the Study .................................................................................... 7
1.4 Basic Research Questions............................................................................................................. 7
1.5 Significance of the Study.............................................................................................................. 8
1.6 Scope of the Study ........................................................................................................................ 8
1.7 Limitation of the Study................................................................................................................. 8
1.8 Operational Definition of Technical Terms.................................................................................. 8
CHAPTER TWO.................................................................................................................................... 9
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE.......................................................................................... 9
2.1 Communicative Language Teaching ............................................................................................ 9
2.2 Definition of writing ................................................................................................................... 11
2.3 Definitions of Task ...................................................................................................................... 11
2.4 Communicative Tasks ................................................................................................................ 13
2.5 Components of Communicative Tasks ....................................................................................... 15
2.5.1 Goals ............................................................................................................................. 16
2.5.2 Input.............................................................................................................................. 17
2.5.3 Activities/Procedures .................................................................................................... 18
2.5.4 Roles ............................................................................................................................. 20
2.5.4.1 Learners’ Roles .......................................................................................................... 21
2.5.4.2 Teacher’s Role ........................................................................................................... 22
2.5.5 Settings ......................................................................................................................... 22

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 2.6 The Nature of Writing Tasks ...................................................................................................... 24
2.7 Approaches to writing skill ........................................................................................................ 25
2.7.1 The Product Approach to Writing ................................................................................ 25
2.7.2 The Process Approach to Writing ................................................................................ 26
2.8 Major Criteria to Evaluate Nature of Writing Tasks .................................................................. 28
2.9 Some of the Major Criteria to Evaluate Appropriateness of Writing Tasks ............................... 33
2.10 The Role of Textbook in ELT Classroom ................................................................................ 37
CHAPTER THREE .............................................................................................................................. 42
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 42
3.1 Research Design ......................................................................................................................... 42
3.2 Sources of Data .......................................................................................................................... 42
3.3 Sampling Techniques ................................................................................................................. 43
3.4 Procedures of Data Collection .................................................................................................... 43
3.5 Instruments of Data Collection ................................................................................................... 44
3.5.1 Document Analysis ...................................................................................................... 44
3.5.2 Structured Interview ..................................................................................................... 45
3.5.3 Questionnaire................................................................................................................ 45
3.6 Method of Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 46
CHAPTER FOUR ................................................................................................................................ 47
4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................... 47
4.1 General Overview of grade Ten English Students’ Textbook .................................................... 47
4.1.1 Writing Tasks in the Textbook ..................................................................................... 48
4.2 Evaluation of Writing Tasks in relation to Components of Communicative tasks .................... 49
4.2.1 Goals /objectives .......................................................................................................... 49
4.2.2 Inputs ............................................................................................................................ 55
4.2.3 Activities ...................................................................................................................... 59
4.2.4 Roles of Learners and Teachers.................................................................................... 65
4.2.5 Settings ......................................................................................................................... 75
4.2.6 Teachers’ Interview Analysis on the Components of Communicative writing Tasks . 77
4.2.7 Learners’ Responses on the components of communicative writing tasks .................. 79
4.3 Evaluation of Nature of Writing Tasks based on criteria’s set for communicative tasks ........... 83
4.3.1 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding motivational value ............................................ 83

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 4.3.2 Evaluation of writing tasks in terms of integration with other language skills ............ 90
4.3.3 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding to an illicitness of real communication ............ 93
4.3.4 Evaluation of writing tasks in terms of suitability to do individually, in pairs or small
groups .................................................................................................................................... 96
4.3.5 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding to purposefulness .............................................. 98
4.3.6 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding to meaningfulness........................................... 100
4.3.7 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding to inclusion of stages of writing ..................... 102
(Pre, while and post) ............................................................................................................ 102
4.3.8 Teachers’ Interview Analysis on the Nature of Writing Tasks .................................. 106
4.3.9 Students’ Reactions on the Nature of Writing Tasks ................................................. 109
4.4 Appropriateness of writing tasks to Enhance Students’ Writing Ability ................................. 111
4.4.1 Teachers’ Interview Analysis on the Appropriateness of Writing Tasks ................... 111
4.4.2 Students’ Responses on the Appropriateness of Writing Tasks ................................. 113
CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................................ 118
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................... 118
5.1 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 118
5.2 Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 121
References .......................................................................................................................................... 122
Appendices ......................................................................................................................................... 126
Appendix –A a checklist for evaluating the components of communicative writing tasks ............ 126
Appendix –B a checklist to evaluate nature of writing tasks ......................................................... 127
Appendix –C interview for teachers ............................................................................................... 128
Appendix –D questionnaire for the students .................................................................................. 130

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 List of Tables

Table 1: Distribution of writing tasks in the textbook .............................................................51

Table 2: The goals/objectives of writing tasks in grade 10 English students’ textbook ..........53

Table 3: The distribution of writing task inputs.......................................................................59

Table 4: The writing activities presented in grade 10 English students’ textbook ..................63

Table 5: Roles of students’ in the textbook and teacher’s guide .............................................68

Table 6: Teacher’s roles in the writing tasks of the textbook and teacher’s guide ..................74

Table 7: The settings of writing tasks in grade 10 English students’ textbook .......................78

Table 8: Learners’ responses on the components of communicative writing tasks .................82

Table 9: Number of writing tasks designed to be performed individually, in pairs/small

groups and whole class works....................................................................................100

Table 10: Analysis of students’ reactions on the nature of writing tasks ..............................114

Table 11: Analysis of students’ responses on the appropriateness of writing tasks ..............119

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 Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to evaluate writing tasks in the new grade 10 English
students’ textbook based on evaluation criteria in terms of the current communicative
language teaching theory. The study was particularly aimed to evaluate components of
communicative tasks, nature of writing tasks and appropriateness of writing tasks. The
descriptive design was employed in the study. Document (text) analysis, structured interview
and questionnaire were used as instruments of data collection in the study. Grade 10 English
students’ textbook, three English language teachers and 40 students of Fonko Secondary and
Preparatory School were used as sources of data for the study. The teachers were selected
using purposive sampling where as the students were selected using simple random sampling
technique. The researcher used qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyze data.

The findings of the study revealed that most of the objectives of the writing tasks are clearly
stated in the students’ textbook and teacher’s guide for both students’ and teacher to
understand where they are going and what they are going to achieve easily. However, some
of the objectives are repeated in different units and lack variety. There are also some
objectives in the textbook that are stated too general. Moreover, there is a mismatch between
objectives and writing tasks in some units of the textbook. Most of the inputs of writing tasks
are presented in the form of instruction and seem to lack motivational value. The writing
tasks are well designed regarding the relationship between activities and objectives. In
addition, there is an appropriate relationship between activities and input data in the
textbook. The roles of students’ are clearly explained in the textbook as well as teacher’s
guide and they have more roles of active participant and high responsibility of their own
learning. The roles of teacher are stated clearly in most of the writing tasks of the teacher
guide though there are some of them in which the roles are not clearly stated or not stated at
all. In the tasks, teacher has the roles such as facilitating, encouraging, eliciting etc and this
satisfy the principle of communicative language teaching theory. Most of the writing tasks in
the textbook emphasize on individual works rather than pair or small group works. Apart
from this, most of the writing tasks in the textbook initiate students to write purposefully and
meaningfully rather than practicing language patterns and they tried to fulfill the principle of
communicative tasks. Almost all the writing tasks are well interwoven with other language

vii
skills. However, most of them are very limited in incorporating the three stages of writing.
Moreover, writing tasks are designed well with regard to consideration of students’
background knowledge (familiarity). There are also sufficient amounts of descriptive and
narrative types of writing tasks although there are limited amounts of argumentative and
expository types of writing tasks in order to enhance students’ writing ability. In addition,
writing tasks are appropriately designed so as to improve students’ mechanical practices such
as spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar etc. Furthermore, writing tasks in the textbook
are well designed with regard to encouraging students to pass through different steps of
writing like thinking, planning, drafting, rewriting, checking and writing finally.

Therefore, it is recommended that curriculum designers and textbook writers should consider
incorporating the five basic components of communicative tasks, give emphasis for
communicative nature of writing tasks and appropriateness of writing tasks when designing
tasks. In addition, teachers’ of the English language should try to see writing tasks critically
and make a certain modifications when students face some confusion in performing tasks.

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 CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

This unit deals with background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the
study, research questions, significance of the study, scope of the study, limitation of the study
and operational definitions of technical terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

Language is an effective way of communication with which feelings, thoughts and
sentiments are conveyed to other human beings (Hadly, 2001). It is used to perform a variety
of functions in people day to day life such as to make statements, ask someone to do
something, express emotions, to order someone else around and so on. Apart from
communication and interaction, language plays an important role in political, economic and
social well fare of the people in the world. Language is base for all aspects of people day to
day interaction and development. English, being the global language of politics, economics,
social well fare and education has got eminent role in the educational context of Ethiopia. It
is used as a medium of instruction in secondary schools and universities, and as a single
subject from grade one onwards. With respect to this, Beyene (2008) explains that English is
now a language that learners learn in all levels of Ethiopian schools beginning from
elementary to university levels.

Textbooks are one of the most important means to teach and learn English in our country’s
context. Particularly, ELT textbooks are used in many language classes and they are a crucial
component of teaching and learning. Textbook has a vital and a positive to play in the every
day job of teachers and students in teaching and learning English. Furthermore, textbooks
become a universal element of ELT teaching (Hutchinson &Torres, 1994, Tomlinson, 1998).
The importance and the role of the textbook in the teaching learning process are certainly
recognized by both teachers and learners. In other words, there seems to be a general
consensus among teachers and learners in relation to the primary role of the textbooks.
According to Hutchinson & Torres (1994), students and teachers want to use a published

1
textbook because it is a frame work or guide that helps them to organize their learning both
outside and inside the classroom, during discussion in lessons, while doing activities and
exercises, doing home works and preparing for tests. A textbook enables them to learn better,
faster, clearer, easier and more. This means in other words, ELT textbooks help learners to
find their way in this long-lasting learning process and for teachers, a textbook used as a
classroom management tool for the interaction between them and their students. According
to teachers, a textbook saves time, gives direction to the lessons and discussions, encourages
giving homework and what is more, it not only directs the interaction through activities
presented in the textbooks but also for many teachers it provides confidence and security.

Textbook is one of the ELT materials that contains all macro and micro skills of the English
language in order to enhance the communicative competence of the students. Among them
writing is one of the four macro skills in the textbook. It is one means of communicating
ideas, thoughts and emotion to someone in an organized way. Writing is very important
particularly in written communication. Hedge (1999) explains writing as a necessary process
of learning language which initiates, builds confidence, and gives learners an opportunity to
reveal the language, to communicate and to look for the better means of self expression.
Mean while, Patel and Jain (2008) indicate that writing is a skill which must be taught and
practiced. It is an essential means of learning a language because it provides a very good
opportunity of learning the vocabulary, spelling and sentence patterns.

Even though writing is a crucial skill for the students’ and teachers’ of foreign language, it is
very complex by its nature. Because it needs the learners ability of presenting their ideas in a
well- structured, organized and planned manner. It also requires a better academic
performance as well as potential of delivering ones thoughts in a meaningful way. Richard
and Renandya (2002) explain that writing is the most challenging skill for second language
learners to master. Its difficulty is not only generating and organizing ideas, but also
translating these ideas into meaningful texts. Also Javed, Juan and Nazli (2013) depict that
writing is one of the challenging skill than other skills for foreign language students. Even
target language speakers feel difficulty in showing a good command of writing. Besides,
Barkaoui (2007) addresses writing as the challenging skill that is expected to be acquired;
require the variety of structural, cognitive and socio cultural competence.

2
Having said this about the nature of writing, the researcher of this study emphasize on the
main concern of the study which is about tasks. Various language scholars reveal task as a
useful instrument in language teaching and learning settings, particularly those tasks that
open the way for students’ interaction and participation of one another. They defined tasks as
basic building blocks of language teaching activities that help teachers to let their students
towards language use (Nunan, 2004). Communicative tasks are the ones that are related with
the students’ real life communication. As Shahid (1999) cited in Javed et.al, (2013) depicts
that communicative writing tasks as like letter writing, form filling, report writing etc. They
are rarely practiced in English language classrooms. In communicative writing the tasks
should be logical, coherent, grammatically unified for high quality writing. Similarly, Nunan
(1989) emphasizes the communicative task as a piece of classroom activity that involves
students in recognizing, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while
their focus is mainly emphasized on meaning rather than structure.

Moreover, Nunan (2004:41) states communicative task as an activity that requires the
specification of five basic components of the tasks; the goals, the inputs, activities drawn
from the input, settings and the roles carried out by the teacher and students. Accordingly the
goal is related to ‘guideline in the overall process of task performance and provide a point of
contact between the task and broader curriculum.’ Input refers the data that form the point of
journey for task. Activities are identified as what students will particularly do with input
which forms departure for the learning task. Setting as a physical environment and social
arrangements of tasks in which teaching and learning occur. And roles as the part that
students and teachers have to play in carrying and learning tasks as well as the social
interactional relationships between them. Therefore, communicative writing task is an
activity that is designed in a way suitable for the students by clearly arranging its goal, input,
activity, setting and roles of teachers’ and students’ in explicit manner. It is the one that is
appropriately organized to let students to learn the task communicatively. Thus, the
researcher in this study tried to evaluate writing tasks in the new grade 10 English students’
textbook based on communicative language teaching theory and by having checklists for
communicative tasks driven from Nunan (2004).

3
1.2 Statement of the Problem

Writing is one of the fundamental skills of the English language which needs much emphasis
of the learners to be able to achieve their education in a better way. Atkins, Hailom and Nuru
(1996) depict that writing is one of the most important skills for the students learning English
for academic purposes. Writing is not only important in academic world but also the ability
to communicate ideas and information effectively through the global digital network is
crucially dependent on good writing skills. So, writing has been identified as one of the
essential process skills in the world. A further strengthening of the status of writing with in
applied linguistics has come from the expanded knowledge base on the nature of written texts
and writing process that has been developed by scholars in such field as composition studies,
second language students writing, etc. As a result, there is an active interest today in new
theoretical approaches to the study of written texts as well as approaches to the teaching of
second language writing that incorporate current theory (CLT). Therefore, writing is among
the most important skills that second language students need to develop, and the teaching of
writing skill should be targeted on enhancing students’ writing ability.

In the field of language studies; different researchers and language educators have been tried
to exert their potential on studying the nature of writing skill and its tasks which are designed
in the textbooks as well as the best methods that can be followed to teach it effectively and
communicatively in order to enhance students’ writing ability. On this regard, teaching
materials particularly ELT textbooks are central to writing instruction and widely used to
encourage, model and support writing (Richards, 2003). In our country’s context, textbook is
one of the most important components that the English language teaching heavily depends
on. Currently, teachers and students perceive the text book as a crucial and inevitable tool for
their teaching and learning purposes. With regard to teachers’ textbook can serve as a
reference point for managing their teaching progress, make teaching easier, give directions to
the lesson, guide discussion, seen as a resource in achieving goals and objectives of the
course etc. Moreover, students in our country have little opportunity to use the target
language in their day to day life. Thus, textbooks create them a favorable situation in order to
practice and use in the target language setting. Textbook serves them as a reference point for

4
their learning both in the classroom and outside world, studying on their own, and preparing
themselves for examinations (Hailu, 2008).

Moreover, since textbooks serve as the basis for much of the target language inputs, students
receive and the language practice that takes place in the classroom, their evaluation,
particularly in our country’s context in which English is taught as a foreign language, should
gain much emphasis. Regarding to this, Rea- Dickins and Germine (1994) cited in Tok,
(2010) depict evaluation as an intrinsic part of teaching and learning that plays an eminent
role in education and necessary for the teachers’ since it can provide valuable information for
the future going of classroom practice, the planning of course and management of learning
tasks by learners’. Apart from this, Ellis (1997) suggested that textbook evaluation helps
teachers go beyond impressionistic assessments and to gain useful, accurate, systematic and
contextual insights into the overall nature of tasks/activities of the textbook.

In relation to the writing tasks available in the new grade 10 English students’ textbook, the
researcher has identified some dissatisfactions from the teachers’ of English language on
writing tasks in the textbook. When teachers sit together in the department, they made
informal discussions on the tasks of the textbook specifically writing tasks many times. They
complain that they were challenged when they were teaching the writing activities of the
grade. They often commented that although some of the writing tasks are interesting and
motivating, most of them are repeated in different units and lack motivation. Besides, the
teachers reflected that they rarely supply learners with sufficient time to do the tasks,
especially a pair or group tasks. Rather they would teach them to write individually.

In addition, from his teaching experience the researcher also recognized or observed some
drawbacks of this textbook task particularly writing tasks. For instance, currently the
researcher has been teaching the new English for Ethiopia grade 10 students’ textbook.
However, most of the time students hesitate to take their part in many writing activities and
they are unwilling to participate most of the time. They raise a complaint with regard to the
distribution of writing tasks, difficulty of instruction and suitability of activities. So due to
the problems mentioned above, the current researcher is initiated to carry his study on an

5
evaluation of writing tasks in the new grade ten English students’ textbook to identify the
presentation of writing tasks in the textbook.

In this regard, there are studies carried out on an evaluation of writing tasks. For instance,
Tariku (2013) evaluated writing tasks of grade 11 English students’ textbook. His findings
show that all the components of writing tasks did not fully meet the criteria set on Nunan
(1989) and Ellis (2003) checklist. Wubshet (2014) on the other hand, evaluated the teaching
of writing in relation to the new grade 9 English textbook and his findings indicate that the
teachers’ practice of teaching writing in the classroom was not in line with textbook design.
Tewodros (2014) analyzed the writing tasks of grade 9 English students’ textbook based on
task based principles. His findings revealed that a variety of writing tasks were explicitly
provided in the textbook which encourage students to write appropriately but few of them are
not in a way to motivate learners.

However, the above studies were conducted on the grade 9 and 11 writing tasks of English
textbooks. And as far as the present researcher’s knowledge is concerned, no evaluation has
been carried out with respect to the new grade 10 English for Ethiopia students’ textbook
based on communicative language teaching theory. Furthermore, the current study is not
only different from the above studies based on setting but also there is no similarity as the
objectives of the studies, interests, background and learning styles of the students are varied
from time to time and environment to environment. Therefore, the current study was
conducted on an evaluation of components, nature and appropriateness of writing tasks in
grade 10 English for Ethiopia students’ textbook in line with communicative language
teaching theory.

6
1.3 Objectives of the Study
1.3.1 General Objective

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the writing tasks in the new grade 10
English students’ textbook in light to communicative language teaching theory.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives of the Study

The following specific objectives were drawn from the above general objective to attain the
aim to evaluate the writing tasks in the new grade 10 English students’ textbook. They were
to:

1. Evaluate the writing tasks in line with components of communicative tasks;

clarity of goals, input, activities, settings, roles of teacher and students’ based on
the communicative language teaching theory.
2. Assess the nature of writing tasks in relation to whether they fulfill the criteria
set for communicative tasks or not.
3. Examine the appropriateness of writing tasks with regard to suitability to
enhance students’ writing ability.

1.4 Basic Research Questions

These are the basic questions this study would particularly answer:

1. Are the components of communicative tasks designed in line with the theory of
communicative language teaching?
2. Do natures of writing tasks in the textbook fulfill the criteria set for
communicative tasks?
3. Are the writing tasks presented in the textbook appropriate to enhance the
students’ writing ability?

7
1.5 Significance of the Study
The findings of this study may help syllabus designers and textbook writers to make
appropriate decisions on preparing suitable writing tasks in the textbook. It may also provide
information for the English language teachers of grade ten to make necessary adaptation on
the writing tasks of the textbook in their future teaching. Moreover, it may be used by other
researchers on the area of textbook evaluation, particularly in the areas of writing task
evaluation as a preliminary work and to come up with better investigation.

1.6 Scope of the Study

There may be various researchers who want to carry out their study on all skills’ task
evaluation. However, the current study was aimed to come up with an indepth evaluation of
writing skill; particularly it focused on an evaluation of writing tasks in the new grade 10
English students’ textbook. The researcher used grade 10 English textbook, students of grade
10 and the English language teachers of grade in Fonko Secondary and Preparatory School to
get information for the study.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

The result of the study would have been more comprehensible and generalizable if the study
had included a group of experts, more teachers and students who have the experience of
using the textbook from other schools in the woreda besides teachers and students from
Fonko secondary and preparatory school. In addition, the study was limited on the evaluation
of only writing tasks, however, it would have been better if other language skills tasks were
evaluated and comparison was made.

1.8 Operational Definition of Technical Terms

1. Tasks: are a range of work plans that have the overall purpose of facilitating language
learning from the easy and clear exercises to more complex and broad activities.
2. Evaluation: The act of judging or examining the nature, components, extent,
appropriateness and condition of writing tasks in grade 10 English students’ textbook.
3. Nature: The communicative features of tasks that are manifested in the writing tasks
of grade 10 English textbook.
4. Appropriateness: The suitability of tasks to enhance students writing ability.

8
 CHAPTER TWO

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this part of the study relevant theoretical aspects of review of related literatures were
reviewed and discussed in detail.

2.1 Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative language teaching is originated as an approach of language teaching during

the changes in British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s. It was
introduced by British language educators as a modern approach of language teaching in
which the main purpose of language teaching is in order to enhance the communicative
competence of the students. Before 1960s situational language teaching represented the
major British approach to teaching English as a foreign language, which believes that
language was taught by practicing basic structures in meaningful situation based activities
(Richard and Rogers, 1986). Thus, currently CLT is seen as a modern approach to language
teaching and its focus is on the assumption that the main purpose of language teaching is for
communication.

Communicative language teaching as a set of generally agreed upon principles that can be
applied in different ways, depending on the teaching context, the age of the students, their
level, and their learning goals and so on. Accordingly, he tried to explain ten core
assumptions of current CLT. Those are:

1. Second language learning is facilitated when students are engaged in interaction and
meaningful communication.
2. Effective classroom learning tasks and exercises provide opportunities for learners to
negotiate meaning, expand their language resources, notice how language is used, and
take part in meaningful interpersonal exchange.
3. Meaningful communication results from students processing content that is relevant,
purposeful, interesting and engaging.

9
 4. Communication is a holistic process that often calls upon the use of several language
skills or modalities.
5. Language learning is facilitated both by activities that involve inductive or discovery
learning of underlying rules of language use and organization, as well as by those
involving language analysis and reflection.
6. Language learning is a gradual process that involves creative use of language, trial
and error. Although errors are a normal product of learning, the ultimate goal of
learning is to be able to use the new language both accurately and fluently.
7. Learners develop their own routes to language learning, progress at different rates,
and have different needs and motivations for language learning.
8. Successful language learning involves the use of effective learning and
communication strategies.
9. The role of the teacher in the language classroom is that of a facilitator, who creates a
classroom climate conducive to language learning and provides opportunities for
students to use and practice the language and to reflect on language use and language
learning.
10. The classroom is a community where students learn through collaboration and
sharing (Richards 2006: 22).

In addition, Nunan (2004:1) points out that tasks or activities in communicative language
teaching classroom have the characteristic features such as an emphasis on learning to
communicate through interaction in the target language, the introduction of authentic texts
into the learning situation, the provision of opportunities for learners to focus not only on
language but also on the learning process itself, an enhancement of the learner’s own
personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning and the
linking of classroom language learning with language use outside the classroom.

Moreover, the activities in CLT classroom typically have some of the following
characteristics. Such as they seek to develop students’ communicative competence through
linking grammatical development to the ability to communicate. Hence, grammar is not
taught in isolation but often arises out of a communicative task, thus creating a need for
specific items of grammar. Learners might carry out a task and then reflect on some of the

10
linguistic characteristics of their performance. They create the need for communication,
interaction, and negotiation of meaning through the use of activities such as problem solving,
information sharing and role play. They provide opportunities for both inductive as well as
deductive learning grammar. They make use of contents that connects to learners’ lives and
interests. They allow students to personalize learning by applying what they have learned to
their own lives. Classroom materials typically make use of authentic texts to create interest
and to provide valid models of language (Richards, 2006:23).

2.2 Definition of writing

The term writing is defined by different language experts in various ways. For example,
Byrne (1991) defines writing as an act of forming graphic symbols that is letters or
combinations of letters related to the sound we make when we speak on smooth form of
some kind. Apart from this, Hedge (1999) defines writing as an essential creative process that
involves learners in learning process encourages, builds self confidence, and gives them an
option to explore the language, to communicate and to look for the best ways of self
expression. Besides, Harmer (2004) explains writing as a process in which what we write is
often heavily affected by the constraints of genres, and then these elements had to be
presented in learning activities.

Added to the above definitions of writing, Jain and Patel (2008) depict that writing is a skill
which must be taught and practiced. It is a good means of learning a language because it
provides a very good opportunity of learning vocabulary, spelling and sentence pattern.
These definitions address that writing is a crucial skill of a language that helps the students to
practice and learn the language with the help of words, sentences and paragraphs to express
their ideas meaningfully.

2.3 Definitions of Task

Various language experts define the word task in different ways. Some of them define it from
pedagogical point of view but others are based on authentic ground. For instance, Richards,

11
Weber and Platt (1986) cited in Nunan, (2004: 2) define task in pedagogical perspective as
follows:

Task is an activity, which is conducted as the result of processing or

understanding language (i.e as response). For instance, drawing a map while
listening to a tape, listening to an instruction and performing a command,
may be referred to as tasks. Tasks may or may not require the production of
language. A task usually requires the teacher to specify what will be
considered as successful completion of the task. The use of variety of
different kinds of tasks in language teaching is said to make language teaching
more communicative …since it provides a purpose for a classroom activity
which goes beyond the practice of language for its own sake.

In addition, Crookes (1986) defines the term ‘task’ as a piece of work or activity, usually
with specified objectives, undertaken as part of an educational course or at work. Also Nunan
(2004) defines task as a piece of classroom work that involves students in understanding,
processing, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is
concentrated on mobilizing their linguistic knowledge in order to express meaning, and in
which the focus is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate structure. With regarding to
this idea, the task should have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a
communicative act on its own right with an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Similarly,
Prabhu (1987) defines the concept of task in pedagogic point of view as an activity which
requires students to arrive at an outcome from the given information through some process of
ideas and which help teachers to facilitate and regulate that process.

In the same vein Ellis (2003:16) defines task as a work plan that requires students to process
language meaningfully so as to attain the purpose that can be evaluated in terms of whether
the accurate or relevant ideal content has been carried out. To this end, the task needs
learners to give the primary emphasis to meaning and to make use of their own linguistic
resources, although the design of the task may predispose them to choose particular forms. A
task is intended to result in language use that bears a resemblance, direct or indirect, to the

12
way language is used in the real world like other language activities, a task can engage
productive or receptive, and oral or written skills and also various cognitive processes.

Moreover, tasks are basic building blocks in any language teaching activity from either a
language acquisition or communication perspective and have been taken as a principal
component with in curriculum planning, implementation and evaluation (Nunan, 1991).
Thus, while various language experts define the term ‘task’ in different ways, all of them
share one thing in common that task is an activity which involves communicative language
use in which the learners emphasis is on meaning rather than linguistic structure in order to
attain the objective.

On the other hand, the word task is defined by other language experts through authentic
perspective. These scholars see task in relation to the real world view that open the way for
the learners’ to see the actual world in their classroom. In relation to this Richards and
Renandya (2002), and Richard and Rogers (2001) define the term task as “an activity that is
done by the students using language resources which lead to goals such as finding solution
for a problem, playing a game, reading a map and giving directions, making a telephone call,
writing a letter etc.”

What makes the above definitions similar whether they are defined in authentic or pedagogic
point of view is that all of them address the idea that tasks need communicative language use
in which the users’ emphasis is on function rather than grammatical forms. Such types of
tasks are considered as communicative tasks.

2.4 Communicative Tasks

Communicative task is one kind of task in task based language teaching (TBLT) which can
be defined by different language educators in various ways. For instance, Nunan (1989:18)
defines communicative task as a piece of classroom work which involves students in
comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their
attention is mainly focused on meaning rather grammatical form. The task should have a
sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act on its own right. “In
various syllabus, the communicative task is defined as a type of activity that involves

13
students in different activities or situations in which it is required to negotiate meaning and
make choices in what, when and how to learn.”

In the same way, Richard and Rogers (2001) define communicative task as an activity or goal
that is conducted by using language, such as finding a solution to a puzzle, reading a map and
giving directions, writing a letter and so on. Also Willis (1996:64) defines communicative
task as a goal oriented activity with clear purpose. Performing communicative task requires
achieving an outcome, creating a final product that can be appreciated by others such as
compiling a list of reasons, features or things that need doing under particular conditions,
comparing two pictures or texts to find differences, solving a problem or designing a
brochure and so on.

According to Nunan (1989), communicative tasks are characterized by two main features.
These are:

1. Communicative tasks must contact with authentic target language through which
learners are required to use real language, in classes where communicative language
teaching is practiced, the students attention is not on the code of the language, rather
on the meaning. If real language is not used, systematically, the ability in dwelling on
code of learner will be reduced, consequently, the linguistic ability will become
worse. Thus, learners will be unable to use the language. In the most natural way, this
is reflected as one learning aim in communicative language teaching.
2. Communicative task is experiential property. In contrast with analytic factor,
experiential feature is global and non-analytic which students are required to use
language for a purpose that is to emphasize on the message rather than particular
aspect of the code through experiential strategy, learners, who become involved in
language use, are promoted to become language users.

In addition, task based language teaching has strengthened the principles and practices about
communicative tasks like the need based approach to content selection, an emphasis on
learning to communicate through interaction in the target language, the provision of
opportunities for students to focus not only on language but also on the learning process

14
itself, an enhancement of the student’s own personal experiences as important contributing
elements to classroom learning and the linking of classroom language learning with language
use outside the classroom (Nunan, 2004:1).

Furthermore, as Skehan cited in Nunan (2004:3) states that tasks in communicative language
classroom has the following five key features like meaning is primary, Students are not given
other people’s meaning to reproduce, there is some sort of relationship to comparable real-
world activities, task completion has some priority and the assessment of the task is in terms
of outcome.

2.5 Components of Communicative Tasks

Different language scholars address the components of communicative tasks in various ways.
Candlin (1987) points out that component of tasks in pedagogical perspective as input, roles,
setting, actions, monitoring, outcomes and feedback. Accordingly input refers to the data
delivered for the students to do. ‘Roles’ as the interaction between students’ and teachers’ in
a task. Setting as a place where the task takes place-it may be class or out of class and social
arrangements. Actions are the procedures and sub-tasks to be done by the students.
Monitoring as the follow up of the task in progress. Outcomes as the goals of the task and
feedback as the evaluation of the task.

On the other hand, Wright (1987) cited in Nunan, (2004) argues that tasks in language
teaching should contain only two elements. These are input and role of teachers’ and
students’. He rejects the idea of goals, setting and activities that should not be ignored in
communicative language tasks.

Moreover, Nunan (2004) depicts that a task should consists at least five basic components to
be considered as a communicative task. These are goal, input and activities, role of teachers’
and students’ and setting. Accordingly, goal is the overall directions behind any learning
task. Input refers the data the students work with in the course of completing a task.
Activities refer specifically what students will actually do with the input that forms the point
of departure for learning task. Role refers to the part that students and teachers are expected
to play in carrying out learning tasks. Setting refers to the actual environment or the

15
classroom arrangements specified or implied in the task as well as the social and
interpersonal relationships between or among the participants.

Goals Teacher role

Input TASK Learner role

Procedures Settings

Short Sample of components of communicative tasks. Source: Nunan (2004:41)

2.5.1 Goals

Goals are the general intentions that are found behind any learning task ( Nunan, 2004). In
the same vein, Richards (2001) mentions that the goal of a task is the general intention that
lies behind it, relating the task to the objectives of the unit and beyond these to those of the
syllabus. Goals may combine a range of various outcomes (communicative, affective or
cognitive) or may directly describe teacher or learner behavior. Communicative tasks with no
goals cannot motivate student’s interest in language learning environment. Thus, goals are
the important components of communicative tasks.

As Clark cited in Nunan (2004), also states that the overall goal of all communicative tasks
are to create and maintain interpersonal relationships between and among learners and
through this to exchange information, ideas, opinions, attitudes and feelings and to get things
done. Another goal of a given communicative task is to receive information from more or
less public sources in the target language (for example, newspaper, magazines, brochures,
documents, books, written reports, films, radio, TV etc) and using this information in some
other ways. The other goal worth mentioning about communicative task is to listen to, to
read, enjoy and respond to creative and imaginative uses of the target language for instance;
drama, stories, poems, songs, rhymes etc (Clark, 1987:226).

One thing not to be missed about goal is that it is not always possible to get plainly stated
goals; goals can usually be derived from an examination of a task. In a given particular task
the goal may differ. However, there is rarely a simple one-to-one relationship between goals

16
and tasks. In some situations, a complex task including various activities might be
simultaneously encourages students towards different goals (Nunan, 2004).

2.5.2 Input

Task input is the textual, visual, aural, electronic or multimedia data that learners work on to
complete the task (Hyland, 2003). This means task input contains verbal or non-verbal data,
which students have to deal with when performing a task. Verbal materials may be oral or
written language while non-verbal materials include photos, pictures, diagrams; maps, charts
etc and these inputs can be derived from different sources based on authentic language
context.

Similarly, Nunan (2004: 43) defines input as the spoken, written and visual data that students
work with in the course of completing a task. Input can be provided by a teacher, a textbook
or some other source. Beside this, Tomlinson cited in Hyland, (2003) states that input can be
derived from a range of diverse sources and virtually anything that presents or informs about
writing or language can serve as input materials.

In addition, Ellis (1999) explains input as the language that is delivered to the foreign
language learner either by a native speaker or by any other foreign language learner. The
word input is related with the language that students hear or read. And there should be some
new information that the learners have not known. That means the input in the text should be
at a slightly higher level than the learners are capable of using, but at a level that they are
capable of doing.

When evaluating task input of a textbook, the idea of authenticity is one of crucial issues to
be considered. Authenticity in relation to input refers to the use of spoken and written
materials that have been produced for communication not for purposes of language teaching
(Nunan, 2004:49). He points out the necessity of exposing students to authentic language
input. Particularly written texts and dialogues do not properly ready students for the
challenge of dealing with the language they hear and read in the authentic world out of
classroom- nor is that their purpose. If we want learners to understand aural and written
language outside class, it is necessary to provide them with structured opportunities to

17
engage with such materials inside the classroom. Moreover, Tomlinson (1998) and Cunning
worth (1995) indicate that teaching materials can be enriched with diverse authentic inputs.
Accordingly authentic materials are any materials which have not been particularly produced
for the purpose of language teaching.

Richards and Rogers (2001) identify the advantages of including authentic inputs in ELT
materials as follows. These are:

 They have positive effect on students’ motivation.

 They provide exposure to real language.
 They support a more creative approach to language teaching.
 They provide genuine cultural information about the target language.

Therefore, as far as input is considered, we should expect language textbooks to present

sufficient language inputs that can support students as means to offer them towards language
knowledge and to the language abilities which a given course aims to achieve at teaching.

2.5.3 Activities/Procedures

Activities specify what students will actually do with the input that forms the point of
departure for the learning task (Nunan, 2004: 52). Accordingly, activities could be analyzed
concerning of the extent in which they require the students rehearse, the sorts of
communicative behaviors they might be expected to use in real communicative interactions
outside the classroom. So, classroom activities should have very similar features with the
‘real world ‘as closely as possible. Since language is a tool of communication, methods and
materials should concentrate on the message, not on the medium.

Hyland (2003: 119) also states activities as procedures which specify how the input will
actually be used. In writing classes activities can be grouped into three main categories
according to the type of knowledge or skills they focus. These are: mechanics, language
scaffold and composing respectively. Mechanics seeks to enhance graphological skills and
emphasizes on hand writing, punctuation and paragraphing skills. The second one is
language scaffolding tasks which provide support for writing by familiarizing and developing

18
the linguistic and rhetorical skills learners need to comprehend and engage in particular types
of writing. The other is composing, this concerns with those activities that enhance and
practice actual writing skills. It deals with extended writing skills. For instance; production of
text for specific audience- real or imagined and composition heuristics, such as planning,
prewriting, multi drafting, editing and polishing techniques.

Different language scholars proposed language activities in various ways. For instance; Clark
(1987) and Pattison (1987) proposed seven activity types. On the other hand, Richards (2001)
proposed activities into five typologies. However, Prabhu (1987) classified language
activities into three main typologies. The researcher in this study preferred to use Prabhu’s
typologies of activities because others’ typologies in one way or other related to Prabhu’s
three principal typologies. Those are:

a. Information gap activity: This involves a transfer of given information from one
person to another or from one form to another or from one place to another generally
calling for the decoding or encoding of information from or into language. For
example; pair work in which each member of the pair has a part of the total
information and attempts to convey it verbally to the other. The activities in this
typology often involve selection of relevant information as well, and students may
have to meet criteria of completeness and correctness in making the transfer.
b. Reasoning gap activity: This involves deriving some new information from the
given information through process of inferences, deduction, practical reasoning, or a
perception of relationships or patterns. For instance; working out a teacher’s timetable
on the basis of given class timetables. Another example is deciding what course of
action is best for a given purpose and within given constraints. The activities in this
typology necessarily involve comprehending and conveying information, as an
information gap activity, but the information to be conveyed is not identical with that
initially comprehended. There is a piece of reasoning which connects the two.
c. Opinion gap activity: This involves identifying and articulating a personal
preference, feeling, or attitude in response to a given situation. For example;
completing story, taking part in discussion of a social issue. The activities in this
typology may involve using factual information and formulating arguments to justify

19
 one’s opinion, but there is no objective procedure for demonstrating outcomes as
right or wrong, and no reason to expect the same outcome from different individuals
or on different situations (Nunan, 2004:57).

On the other hand, Atkins et.al (1996) illustrate different types of writing activities that
help to enhance learners’ writing ability. These are:

 Joining sentences together with conjunctions.

 Joining sentences together to make a story.
 Completing a dialogue.
 Writing a parallel paragraph.
 Writing a parallel text about yourself and your family.
 Recording words to make sentences.
 Expanding notes into a text.
 Completing a text.
 Writing an instruction.
 Recording sentences to tell a story.
 Writing a set of school rules.
 Listening a dictation and making notes.
 Completing a letter.

2.5.4 Roles

The introduction of communicative language teaching (CLT) in language teaching and

learning comes into the stage with new roles for the teachers and students. ‘Role’ refers to
the part that students and teachers are expected to play in carrying out learning tasks as well
as the social and interactional relationships between the participants (Nunan 2004:64). As
Wright cited in Hyland, (2003:119) also claims that in contrast to earlier teacher-fronted
‘chalk and talk’ methodologies, the variety of tasks in modern writing classes create more
roles and responsibilities for both learners and teachers. This implies roles as part teachers
and students take in communicative class when conducting a task, and in which both of them
share roles each other.

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2.5.4.1 Learners’ Roles

In CLT classroom the students have an active role of performing activities rather than simply
receiving what is presented by their teacher. Nunan (1989) sates that in communicative
language teaching class, students have to play active and negotiative role. That means they
are expected to contribute a lot and receive less. And they have to take the greater
responsibility of their own learning, select their methods, monitor and evaluate their progress
and achievements.

In the same vein, Hyland (2003:119) stresses that in CLT class learners are no longer the
passive recipients of teacher-provided stimuli, simply responding to writing prompts as best
they can. They are now often required to take a more active part in their learning by
interacting with others, interrogating materials, and using their initiative to take greater
responsibility for learning. Many tasks require students to take control over the spoken and
written language they produce, typically by collecting data for writing , negotiating with
teachers and peers on how to carry out activities, and interpreting the meaning of tasks.

In addition, Richards and Rogers (2001) identified some of the major roles of learners as
follows:

i. Group participant: in communicative language classroom learners may be required to

perform tasks in pairs or small groups than in whole class or individual works. In such cases,
they are expected also to play an active role in sharing ideas and information between and
among each other.

ii. Risk taker: In communicative class learners have also high responsibility of their own
learning. And many tasks may require students to create and interpret messages for which
they lack sufficient linguistic resources and prior experience. Also they may be expected to
practice in restating, paraphrasing and so on individually or in pairs using the language they
have.

iii. Monitor: Further, in CLT class students have an active role of following up and
evaluating their learning and progress. Tasks are employed so as to facilitate learning. Class

21
activities have to be designed so that learners have the opportunity to notice how language is
used in communication. And students themselves need to attend not only to the message in
the task, but also to the form in which such messages typically come packed.

2.5.4.2 Teacher’s Role

In the current theory of language teaching (CLT) teachers’ and learners’ roles are to a large
extent complementary as giving students greater responsibility. That means teachers can
adopt less controlling and more facilitative roles. Teachers’ role can change from one task to
another or from one stage of activity to another and an ability to control students’
performance to be flexible in moving between roles can contribute to the success of a class
(Hyland, 2003: 120).

In addition, Harmer (2001:57-62) identifies eight main pedagogic roles that teachers can
carryout to assist classroom learning. These are: controller, assessor, organizer, prompter,
resource, participant, tutor, and observer. On the other hand, Little wood (1981) states that in
communicative language classroom, teacher has three major roles. Those are: he /she acts as
a facilitator of communicative process, as a participant and as an observer and learner.

Moreover, Hedge (2000:28-29) identifies a number of interpersonal roles that teachers should
take part in communicative language classroom. They are considered as a counselor, a
mediator, and support students as well as work to create a positive classroom atmosphere.
Roles are partly influenced by the task, for instance; whether the teacher is providing
instruction on language point, organizing group discussion of a reading, monitoring pair
work, or assessing the accuracy of a finished text. Such role variation is essential to facilitate
learning and to provide relevant activities that are suitable to the different learning style or
preferences of learners. Thus, this implies that teacher in communicative language classroom
has a crucial role of facilitating and creating conducive learning atmosphere.

2.5.5 Settings

‘Setting’ refers to the place and mode, i.e where and how the learning tasks could be carried
out. It is one of the important components of communicative tasks that should be considered
during task designing. One aspect of setting is the actual environment where learning takes
22
place. It may be the classroom, the library, the language centre, a self-access centre, the
community, at home or a multi- media laboratory etc. providing a range of environments, and
particularly a balance of in class and out of class writing assignments, not only offers learners
various kinds of practice, but is also an important method of avoiding repetition and adding
variety to a writing course. Most writing teachers assign at least one home work writing task
during a course, specifically if this is a major assignment involving multi drafting, but
writing classes may also benefit from varying the way learners gather material for writing,
collecting input data from trips to museums, cinemas, or relevant sites and by directly using
the target discourse community or wider community as a resource for learning (Hyland,
2003:117).

In addition to the actual environments, ‘setting’ also refers to the classroom arrangements
specified or implied in the task, and it requires the consideration of whether the task is to be
carried out wholly or partly outside the classroom. It also implies the instructional setting
where pedagogical situations are treated (Nunan, 2004:70). In the same vein, Hyland
(2003:118) elaborates that in addition to the physical setting, the social setting has important
implications for task design. This deals how students are asked to engage with the task and
with other learners, particularly whether they will work individually, in pair, in small groups
or as a whole class. Much writing, whether in or out of class, is carried out by learners
working on their own and this has clear benefits in helping students to develop their decision
making and reflective skills while providing opportunities for self-paced writing practice.
However, while writing is often seen as a private, isolated act, a great deal of professional
and workplace writing is actually the one which is performed cooperatively.

As Anderson and Lynch cited in Nunan, (2004) advocate the importance of group work
compared to that of individual work for general pedagogic reasons. They emphasized that
group work is advantageous in increasing the spirit of cooperation and cohesiveness among
students.

Similarly, as Hadfield cited in Hyland, (2003) states that grouping does not only have
advantages in providing real- life rehearsal in negotiation and collaborative writing skills. It
can also have considerable pedagogic payoffs. Both pair and group work encourage the

23
sharing of ideas and so dramatically increase the amount of interaction in planning,
researching and editing, with different opinions and contributions brought to the writing task.
Harmer (2001) also depicts that task collaboration has an important contributions to the
development of learner autonomy as students are able to make their own decisions without
direct teacher involvement. Anderson (1993) explains that advanced students preferred
individual work to group or whole class work based on their assumptions that group work
would not be helpful in improving their academic grades. Furthermore, Hyland (2003)
suggests that not all learners are comfortable working in groups, however, and others may
dislike individualized learning. Many teachers try to accommodate different learning styles
by varying the patterns of interaction they use for writing and scaffolding tasks. Therefore,
the above scholars’ ideas imply that the classroom arrangements should be flexible rather
than fixed in order to address different students’ interests and to make use of various mode of
performing tasks in different learning occasions.

2.6 The Nature of Writing Tasks

Many language scholars such as Braine and Yorozu(1998) argue that learning to write well
organized and meaningfully is the most complicated of the macro skills for all language
learners whether the students use the language as their first, second or foreign. Apart from
this, Briane and yorozu cited in Javed et.al, (2013) stress writing is more challenging than
other skills. Even native speakers of the English language may get complication in a tricky
condition because the skill needs a well structured way of presenting ideas in an organized
and planned way.

Pincas et.al (1980) point out that when the students write, unlike speaking, they are engaged
in an activity at the same time both private and public. Writing is private because the act of
composition is by its nature individual but it is public because most writing is intended for
the readers, often one which is extremely difficult to define. This tells that the writing tasks
can be carried out by individuals and in group in its nature. So it needs a careful way of
organizing and presenting one’s thought.

24
All students except those with physiological disabilities learn to comprehend and speak their
native languages. Not all of these learn to read; still fewer learn to write fluently and clearly.
White forwards this idea as follows:

Writing is not a natural activity. All physically and mentally normal people learn to
speak a language. Yet all people have to be taught how to write. This is crucial
difference between the spoken and written forms of a language. There are other
important differences as well. Writing unlike speech, is displaced in time. Indeed, this
must be one reason why writing originally evolved since it makes possible the
transmission of a message from one place to another. A written message can be
received, stored and referred back to at any time. It is permanent in comparison with
the lasting here one minute and gone the next character of spoken language-even of
spoken language that is recorded on tape or disk (white1981:2).

Besides, Pincas et.al (1980) depict that the act of writing is different from that of speaking in
that it is less spontaneous and more permanent, and the resources which available for
communication are fewer because we cannot write as we speak to interact with the listeners
and adapt as we go along. Due to this writing is less flexible than that of speaking in nature.

Moreover, Richard and Renandya (2002:94) address writing as the most difficult skill for
second language learners to acquire easily. Its difficulty is not only lies in generating and
organizing ideas, but also in translating the ideas into meaningful text. The skill needs the
learners’ ability of planning and organizing ideas as well as it requires the skill of spelling,
punctuation, word choice, sentence patterns, format and so on.

2.7 Approaches to writing skill

There are different approaches in teaching of writing in the language history. Among these
product and process approaches are the most popular ones in teaching and learning writing.

2.7.1 The Product Approach to Writing

The product approach to writing supports the structural linguistic view that language is a
system of structurally related elements for the encoding of meaning, and a behaviorist idea

25
that language learning is basically a process of habit formation (Richards and Rodgers,
2001). So input that provides important source for imitation becomes the major driving force
of language learning. As a result, the product approach considers writing as being primarily
about linguistic knowledge, emphasizing the appropriate use of grammar, vocabulary, syntax
and cohesive devises. Most of the time writing activities motivate students to imitate, copy
and transform models provided by teachers or textbooks. Accordingly, in this approach the
final product that reveals the writer’s language knowledge is highly valued. And in it the
teacher plays the primary role as an examiner of the product (Zamel, 1987). Therefore, the
product approach to writing emphasizes on the end product of the act of composition, i.e the
grammar, mechanics, the letter, essay, story etc.

2.7.2 The Process Approach to Writing

Like product approach, process approach does not emphasize on the structural aspects of the
language rather it focuses on the process of written communication. It is the one that teaches
and encourages students to see writing not as a grammar activity, but as a process of
expressing ideas in a meaningful way. At the time of writing, the teacher can help students to
explore their own views and enhance their own writing using different writing steps like
prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing (O’Brien, 2004). Similarly, Hedge (1988) points
out that process writing involves various important steps in writing tasks. These are
prewriting, writing, rewriting and editing. In the prewriting step the learners consider shaping
the purposes of writing and deciding whom the text is for (reader). In the writing step, the
multi drafting are produced after some brain storming activities. In the rewriting step,
revision is done to assess what has already been written and decide on clarity,
meaningfulness of message and coherence. The editing phase is the final activity and
involves proofreading and try to make the last improvements. This shows that learners pass
through various writing steps while they attempt to write a text. And this enables the students
to think about different steps of writing and enhances their writing abilities.

Nunan (1991) also explains that process approach focuses on the process steps involved in
producing a piece of work and it encourages for the fact that no text can be perfect, but that a

26
writer will get closer and closer to perfection by writing, reflecting on, discussing and
reworking multi drafts of a text.

In addition, Tribble quoted in Wubshet, (2014) depicts that writing in a process approach is
dynamic and unpredictable process because learners want to express views and ideas in their
own way. So that teachers do not expect similar text from different students. Thus, process
approach is very important for teachers to teach writing to improve students various aspects
of writing. In addition, Raimes (1983) states that in process approach learners explore topics
through writing, showing their drafts to each other or to teacher, and using what they write to
read over, thinking about, and move over to new ideas. This implies that students in process
approach to writing can generate their own thoughts and ideas in different steps of writing.

Moreover, Brown (2001) indicates that in process approach, writing is a thinking process in
which the students produce a finished written text based on their thinking after they go
through the thinking process. This enables learners to become information processors. In
other word process approach lets students manage their own writing by giving them an
opportunity to think as they write. This means, the approach initiates learners convey their
messages to their audiences in written form through different writing processes such as,
prewriting, drafting, revising and editing. The other important point of process approach is
related to what it promotes intrinsically for the students. This means, this approach is
advantageous to learners in language learning process because it gives right opportunity for
the students to produce their own text, in it they need to focus on the content and message,
and their own intrinsic motives are valued. And the advocators of the approach believe that
language skills are best learned when students have their own intrinsic motives in their
learning of writing.

Furthermore, Byrne (1991), Pincas (1989), as well as white (1989) suggest the following
steps of writing that teachers need to follow and give emphasis while students are conducting
a writing tasks in process approach.

a. Prewriting: This is the stage for brain storming or planning, which aims at preparing
learners to generate their own ideas in a given topic. This stage is based on a number

27
 of steps such as; determining the topic and the audience as well as activities learners’
prior knowledge through brain storming and other activities. Also in this stage, the
students may listen to a text related to the topic, read about the topic, sit and discuss
about the topic, describe the picture or photograph etc.
b. Drafting: Next to generating ideas and planning, the students put their ideas on the
paper. Particularly, learners in this stage emphasize on putting ideas on the paper,
organizing information logically and developing them with sufficient details rather
than concentrating on the grammatical and mechanical aspects of language like
spelling, punctuation etc.
c. Revising: In this step the students are expected to check the organization, content of
ideas and how they put their ideas. Also in this step, the learners look the text for
main ideas, supporting details, examples and relation between or among ideas. In it
learners also need to change information, expand certain ideas or cut details. This can
be done by going back to the draft and revise parts of the text. This is because
discussion in this stage enables the students to think and improve the language that
they used in their composition.
d. Editing: This is near the final draft step of the process writing. In this step the
students need to focus mainly on making the content and message of the text clear to
their audiences. They also need to emphasize on making their text meet the
conventions of standard written English. That means, the students are looking the text
for the correct grammar, sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, spelling and
mechanics.
e. The final writing (publishing): This is the last step of writing in process approach.
Pincas (1989) states that writing is communication. If a text is written in the
classroom by the learners, it is intended to be read by other students or by the teacher
so as to get feedback. Thus, in this step the students publish the text that is edited as a
final draft.

2.8 Major Criteria to Evaluate Nature of Writing Tasks

Writing tasks that are considered as good should come up with the following features or
characteristics:

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A. The writing tasks need to be motivating

Motivation is one of the important aspects of a good writing task which plays a crucial role in
language learning. Willis (1996) states motivation as one of the necessary situations for
effective language learning and it is the key factor to success in language learning and
satisfaction. If learners get good results, they will be more interesting to continue
participating in class and use the language outside the classroom. Ur (1996) also claims that
motivation on its own is rather difficult to define; it is easier and more important to think in
terms of the motivated learner; one who is willing or even eager to invest efforts on learning
tasks and programs. Accordingly, there are many ways to motivate students, but one of the
most important is to make the activities and lessons attractive and interesting. In addition,
Harmer (1991) depicts that motivation is some kind of internal drive which initiates
somebody to pursue a course of action. If students notice a goal which is something they
want to achieve and if that goal is sufficiently interesting, they will be highly motivated to do
whatever is necessary to encounter that goal. This implies if students are strongly motivated,
they succeed regardless of the methods used or the conditions in which they learn. Moreover,
Atkins et.al (1996) states that learners are more interesting to participate effectively if they
perceive that participation in the activity will be enjoyable and relevant to something they
need to learn.

In addition to motivation, a task which is considered as successful has to address the needs
of the learners, it should be appropriate to achieve the goal based on the proficiency level of
the learners, that is neither too easy, nor too difficult but challenging. In relation to the needs
of the students in language learning, Nunan (1999) points out that rather than fitting learners
to course, course should be designed to fit students. In order to get the needs of a particular
group of students, a need analysis has to be carried out. A need analysis is sets of tools,
techniques and procedures for determining the language content and language learning
process of a specific group of students. Accordingly he tries to make a difference between
two types of needs objective. The first one is related with those that can be diagnosed by the
teachers based on analysis of personal data, language proficiency level and patterns of
language use and the second one is based on students’ desires, wants, expectations or other
psychological manifestations of a task. From the two, the second one is more difficult to

29
diagnose and in many cases can only be stated by the students themselves. But both of them
are important and should be considered during course designing.

B. The writing tasks have to be integrated with other language skills

In the real life communication situation outside the classroom and in the classroom of the
language learning process, learners rarely use only one skill. Students try to use integrated
skills when they learn a language (Harmer, 1991). Similarly, Atkins et.al (1996) depict that
whether outside or inside the classroom language skills are always integrated. This implies
that in communicative language classroom the skills are highly integrated. This means when
learners do one skill task, they directly or indirectly learn other skills. In addition, as Meron
(2015) mentions that writing is inevitably integrated with other language skills. In the
classroom it often comes after lessons using other skills, for instance; oral grammar to a
written exercise. Moreover, it is not possible to learn to write at any stage unless one can also
read. This means, someone need to read something before he/she writes something and then
as a writer someone has to consider to whom the text is for (reader), what he/she knows and
how he/she will understand and react to what is written. At the end, one can only improve
his/her writing by modeling it with reading text.

C. The texts in the writing tasks should elicit real communication

Real worldness is other characteristic of tasks in communicative language teaching

classroom. Nunan (2004:50) defines authentic text as the materials that are produced for real
communication not for the purposes of language learning. Authentic texts provide learners
with practice on listening to and reading real language taken from various sources. For
instance, the extracts from textbooks, newspaper, magazines, video tapes, programs from TV
or radio, materials from web sources and visual aids (maps, posters, bulletin boards etc)
selected mostly from those produced for native language speakers (Nunan, 1999: 79-80).

Allowing students to practice authentic materials will help them to become familiar with real
communication outside the classroom. The materials may have the language features that are
different from the ones that might be emphasizing on in the specific class. So, if some
learners are not developmentally ready to internalize the target feature, they can benefit from

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other linguistic aspects included in the texts, e.g., vocabulary, spelling, grammar, mechanics
etc. consequently, individual learners will probably be learning various aspects of language
(Meron, 2015:29).

D. The writing tasks should include individual, pair and small group works

Tasks in communicative language classroom should consider the inclusion of individual, pair
or group activities in order to address the interests of diverse learners. As Hadfield cited in
Hyland, (2003:118) states that both pair and group work encourage the sharing of ideas and
dramatically increase the amount of interaction in planning, researching and editing, with
different opinions and contributions brought to the writing task. In the same vein, Harmer
(2001) mentions that pair or group activities have a great contribution to the development of
learner autonomy as students are able to make their own decisions without direct teacher
involvement. On the other hand, Hyland (2003) explains the importance of including
individual tasks in the textbook in order to address the interests and needs of some other
students in the class like this “not all students are comfortable working in groups, however,
and others may dislike individualized learning.” Thus, this implies that writing tasks in the
textbook should be flexible and varied so as to help learners to communicate and perform
activities in different ways. Moreover, as Hedge (1988: 12) depicts that collaborative writing
in the classroom generates discussions which encourage an effective process of writing. This
would let learners exchange their writings or compositions so that they become readers of
each other’s work. This is an important part of the writing experience because it is by
responding as readers that students will enhance an awareness of the fact that a writer is
producing something to be read by someone else. Further, when learners work in pairs or
small group to write about something each and every student in the group would get an
opportunity to contribute something either in generating ideas or correcting grammar so that
their writing skills will be improved.

E. The writing tasks in the textbook need to have some purposes behind it

In the communicative classroom any written tasks should have some purposes that encourage
students to write and communicate with someone. Harmer (1991) points out that if a task is
to be really communicative and promote language use, the learners should have a desire to

31
communicate, they should have a purpose for using the language, and this purpose should be
most important part of the communication. Thus, the students’ attention should be
emphasized on content, what is being said or written rather than language form that is being
used. The writing tasks also should let students practice writing in class as well as out of
class. However, they should not be prepared or made for learners practice only language
structure and vocabulary in the class. If learners are to develop writing skill, they need to
work on well designed writing tasks in the class under teacher’s supervision as well as out of
class.

F. The writing tasks have to be meaningful to the learners

Meaningfulness is other important feature of communicative writing tasks. As Johnson, 1982

and Little wood, 1982cited in Richards and Rogers, (2001) point out that the language that is
meaningful to the students supports the learning process. As a result learning tasks should be
selected according to how well they engage the students in meaningful and real language use
rather than tasks which merely promote mechanical practice of language patterns. In
addition, Holliday quoted in Meron (2015) emphasizes that in a meaningful task, learners are
asked to exchange information among themselves in a small group or with the teacher. This
kind of student’s interaction has two advantages. The first one is, when students participate in
whole class activity, they get time to compare their findings with others when the task is
over. The next is that meaningful task is rehearsed in class for later use in authentic
communication outside the classroom.

G. The writing tasks should include a pre, a while and a post phases (phases of tasks)

According to Prabhu (1987) and Willis (1996) writing tasks in a communicative classroom
should include three principal phases of language learning. These are discussed as follows:

1. Pre-task phase: This is the first phase in carrying out the writing tasks. The main
intention of this stage is to prepare learners to perform the task. The activities in this
phase are to give students relevant exposure to the topic language and to create
interest in doing the task (Willis, 1996). In addition, Prabhu (1987) points out that pre
task is conducted through interaction of the question and answer type and it is teacher

32
 directed. In the stage, the teacher is expected to discuss or explain the language forms
which are important for the completion of the main writing task to the students.
Dornyei (2001) also states that the teacher uses this phase to scaffold learners’
performance of the task with the expectancy that this ‘other regulation’ facilitates the
‘self regulation’ students will need to perform the main task on their own. Thus, the
activities in this stage help to expose the students to the target language provided with
the language that support for the task completion and offer an opportunity to
understand the outcomes of the task completion.
2. While task phase: This is the phase where the students perform the main task
learning activity that may include processing, producing and interacting in the target
language (Nunan, 1989). In other word, this stage focuses on the task itself and offers
various roles to the students. Those are; learners are expected to work in group
simultaneously in pairs or small groups and rehearse the task in order to recycle the
language and be familiar with the context. As Prabhu (1987) also states that a wide
range of tasks can be conducted by the students in this stage of writing. In here, the
students have to understand the task input so as to complete the task.
3. Post task phase: This is the final stage of task completion where the teacher
comments on how the task went and the lesson will probably proceed smoothly into
the reporting stage, in it learners prepare themselves to present their findings to the
class (Willis, 1996). Thus, this stage gives an opportunity for the teacher to assess the
task outcomes and to give constructive feedback to the students.

2.9 Some of the Major Criteria to Evaluate Appropriateness of Writing Tasks

Writing tasks which are considered as appropriate should have the following features:

a. The writing tasks should be designed based on the background knowledge of the
learners

The writing tasks that are seen as appropriate consider the background knowledge of the
students in order to improve their writing ability. This means, if students are familiar with the
tasks that they are going to perform, it is not difficult for them to write what they know.
Nation (2009) states that a very effective way of making a task appropriate is to make sure
33
that students’ are familiar with as many parts of it as possible. And the writing task that is
presented based on students’ background knowledge has several advantages. First, it makes
sure that students are not overloaded by having to think about different things at the same
time. Second, it allows the learners the opportunity to focus on the part of the task that they
need to learn. Third, it helps the students perform a normal language activity in a correct way
with a high chance. Also he suggests that a teacher could think of an activity that the students
are very familiar with, such as a recent exciting event. She/he then gets learners talking about
the event so that the ideas and organization of the ideas are clear and the students have an
oral command of the language needed to describe the event. When all this previous
knowledge has been encouraged, the learners are then told to put it in writing. As the ideas,
organization and necessary language are all familiar to them, the students have only to
concentrate on changing these ideas into a written form.

b. The writing tasks should include sufficient amount of descriptive, narrative,

argumentative and expository writings

The writing tasks that are appropriately designed should include such as descriptive,
narrative, argumentative and expository activities so as to enhance students’ writing skills.
Descriptive text gives learners a single, clear picture of a person, place, thing, or idea.
Narrative text gives the details of an event or experience in story form or in the chronological
order they take place. Argumentative text explains an idea and it tries to persuade the
audience/reader that view raised is correct and true. Expository text gives facts or directions
on how to perform something. Thus, the presentation of sufficient amounts of the above
kinds of writings in the textbook help to engage students in the writing activities and enhance
their writing ability.

c. The writing tasks need to be presented based on clear context/ clues

Context is one of the important features that should be considered during task designing. It
helps students to contact with the learning tasks without any difficulty. Hyland (2003) depicts
that building students’ understanding of the context is a crucial step in foreign language
learning classroom which help them to interact with the target task that is used in a given

34
material easily. Also context is a necessary situation for the learners who may have little idea
of the cultural and situational aspects of the genre in foreign language learning class. For
instance, in learning to write a job application letter, students might read newspaper
advertisements, research company publicity documents, visit prospective employers, buildup
vocabulary lists, and study how relationships between prospective employers and job-seekers
are structured. This implies that the availability of clear context in the writing tasks is one of
the important factors which encourage students to write successfully by defining their roles
and giving clues on how to do something. Thus, the context should be clearly stated so that
the learners understand the purpose of doing tasks accordingly.

d.The writing tasks should challenge learners to write appropriate texts

Tasks in communicative classroom should not be too easy or too difficult to do, rather
challenge students write meaningful and appropriate texts. If the tasks are too easy to do,
they do not encourage students perform well organized texts. Also if tasks are too difficult to
do, they do not attract learners to perform well. In relation to this idea, Krashen (1985) states
that in target language there should be some new information that learners have not known.
This means in other words, language tasks should be presented at slightly higher level than
the students are capable of using but at the level that they are capable of comprehending and
performing. Thus, it is advisable to make learning task challenging, rather than making it too
easy or too difficult.

e.The writing tasks should give clear instructions for the students on what to do and
how to do writing

Clarity of instruction is one of the important things that should be considered when designing
tasks. Because instruction helps students in giving guide on what to do and how to do a given
writing task. Nation (2009) elaborates that writing instruction should be based on a careful
needs analysis which considers what the students need to be able do with writing, what they
can perform now, and what they want to do. Also writing instruction typically encourages
learners toward performing activities as they employ their writing skills for various academic

35
or professional purposes. Therefore, writing instruction seeks to be clear and motivating
students by guiding what to do and how to do writing activities.

f. The writing tasks should make students to work on spelling, vocabulary,

grammar, punctuation to improve their writing ability

Writing activities should help students express their ideas clearly and fluently. When learners
are communicating, the activities need to encourage them to use the language elements, such
as, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation etc as language resources to express their
views, rather than as a linguistic structure. Meron (2015) describes that tasks must be
interesting and motivating to do. They could be contextualized clearly and where possible
they should have realistic purposes, which enable learners to express their own opinions or
write about themselves, or if not, at least enable students to produce a piece of meaningful
text. They should be graded in terms of language appropriate to the background of the
students. Further, writing skills should be practiced in the classroom as well as at home. If
learners are to improve their writing ability, they need to work on writing skills tasks in the
class under teacher’s supervision as well as writing out of class.

g. The writing tasks should encourage students to summarize, paraphrase, and

write cohesive and coherent texts

The ability to summarize and paraphrase is one of valuable sub skills of writing that helps
students during writing different texts in foreign language context. These sub skills initiate
learners to include someone’s ideas without using too many quotations when writing a text.
To summarize means condensing a given text by taking the most important points of a text
by using the most significant few words and expressions. It is believed that summary can be
one third of the original text and it explains the main idea of a text clearly. On the other hand,
to paraphrase means expressing others ideas or viewpoints in our own words by using the
same amounts of words. In other words, to paraphrase means re-stating a given text in our
own words and indicate source of the ideas in order to avoid plagiarism.

In addition, cohesion and coherence are other important sub skills in writing that help
students organize their texts appropriately. If the aim of writing task is to enhance learners’

36
ability of organizing different texts and it must give them an opportunity to practice how to
organize texts. Thus, the text becomes progressively more cohesive and coherent. Cohesion
refers to logical or grammatical relationship between ideas or information in a text, which we
call cohesive devices or transitional markers within a text where as coherence refers to
logical arrangements of ideas or information in a text. Therefore, the writing tasks in the
textbook help learners with various ways of writing cohesive and coherent texts, by
concentrating on the topic and use of language.

h. The writing tasks should encourage learners to pass through different steps of
writing, such as think, plan, draft, rewrite, edit and publish

The writing tasks that are appropriately designed do not expect the finished product from the
students at one sitting, rather than they stimulate learners to pass through various stages of
writing process. Darayseh (2003) states that teaching writing does not mean simply having
learners do grammar exercises in writing or getting writing which is free from grammar,
spelling and punctuation errors, instead we try to check whether learners are interested on
what they going to write and what they really want to communicate to the reader, and how
they reach at their writing final products. Here the emphasis is on the process (series steps of
writing) which learners follow to get the final product. By focusing on the writing process,
students come to understand themselves more, and find how to work through writing. As
Richard and Rogers cited in Wubshet, (2014) elaborate that writing in a process approach is
seen as predominantly to do with pragmatic skills, such as planning and drafting, and there is
much less emphasis on linguistic structure, such as knowledge about grammar, mechanics,
spelling and text structure. Thus, a process approach tends to focus on several classroom
activities which promote the enhancement of language use: thinking, planning, drafting,
editing and writing finally in order to equip learners to the process of writing in the target
language.

2.10 The Role of Textbook in ELT Classroom

Textbook is one of the crucial ELT materials that plays an important role in teaching and
learning English language and it also helps to engage students actively in a given language
program. Sheldon (1987) defines textbook as a published ELT material which is designed in
37
order to help the language learners to improve their linguistic and communicative abilities.
This means textbook is the resource material that encourages students to enhance both
structural and functional aspects of language simultaneously. In addition, as Tarigan and
Tarigan cited in Ambarwati, (2014) define textbook as a learning book of the certain subject
which is included to the standard book that is completed by expert in that subject for the
meanings and instructional purpose which is equipped by learning media that are compatible
and understandable by the users in schools and colleges so that it can support any teaching
program. In addition Microsoft Encarta dictionary (2005) define textbook as a book that
treats a subject comprehensible and is used by learners as a basis for study.

Beside the above definitions, textbook is described as the ELT material that plays a
prominent role in the teaching and learning process of ESL/EFL and it is a primary agent of
conveying the knowledge to the students. One of the basic functions of textbook is to make
the existed knowledge available and apparent to the students in a selected, easy and
organized manner (Hutchison and Torres, 1994). These scholars also state that textbook has a
very important and a positive part to play in teaching and learning English, and it provides
the necessary input into the classroom lessons through different activities, readings and
explanations. Thus, textbooks will always survive on the grounds that they meet certain
needs.

Similarly, it is explained that textbooks are a key component in most language programs.
They serve as the basis for much of the language input students receive and the practice that
occurs in the classroom. They may provide the basis for the content of the lessons, the
balance of skills taught and the kinds of language practice the learners take part in. Also
textbooks serve primarily to supplement the teacher’s instruction. For students, the textbook
may provide the major source of contact they have with the language apart from input
provided by the teacher. In the case of inexperienced teachers, textbooks may also serve as a
form of teacher training-they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as
formats that teachers can use (Richards, 2001).

In addition, Ur (1999:80) points out that textbook are guides which provide a clear frame
work. This means, textbook helps both teachers and students to know where they are going

38
and what is coming next, so that there is a sense of structure and progress. Textbook serves
as a syllabus when it is followed tactically or systematically, carefully planned and balanced
selection of language content will be covered. Another point worth mentioning is that
textbook provides contents and tasks which are likely to be appropriate level for most of the
class. It also supports teachers by saving time that would otherwise have to prepare their own
materials. At the same time textbook provide useful guidance and support for them. Apart
from this, textbook is used by the learners to learn new material, review and monitor progress
with some degree of autonomy. So that it is true to say a student without a textbook is highly
teacher dependent.

Moreover, Cunning worth (1995) suggests that potential, which textbooks have in serving
diverse multiple roles in ELT curriculum, is an advantage. He explains that textbooks are an
effective resource for self-directed learning, an effective source for presentational material, a
source of ideas and activities, a reference source for learners, a syllabus where they reflect
pre-determined learning goals, and support for less experienced teachers who are yet gain
confidence. Similarly, Hycroft (1998) states that one of the primary pros of using textbooks
is that they are psychologically essential for learners since their progress and achievement
can be measured concretely when we use them. Thus, it can be said that the basic role of
textbook is to be at the service of teachers and students but not their head master.

In the same vein, Richards (2001) elaborates that without a textbook, a program may have no
impact, and therefore, textbook provides structure and syllabus. Besides, the use of textbook
in a program can guarantee that learners in different classes will receive a similar content and
thus, can be evaluated in the same way. In other words, textbook provides the standards in
instruction. Further, it includes diverse learning resources such as workbooks, CDS and
cassettes, videos etc, which make the learning environment interesting and enjoyable for the
students. Also Tomlinson (1998) states that textbook helps learners to practice language
skills tasks accordingly, prepare them for examinations, support teachers by reducing their
preparation time, standardized teaching, and provide teaching that would be important to any
student at any place at a particular language level. Textbook also help both teachers and
students by providing a route map, making it possible for them to look ahead to what will be
done in a lesson as well as to look back on what has been done.

39
While there are many scholars, as mentioned above that elaborate the several advantages of
using textbook in ESL/EFL classroom, there are also other theorists who do not necessarily
accept these ideas and retain some well founded feeling of doubt on the advantages of a
textbook. Allwright (1982) suggests that textbooks are too inflexible and generally reveal the
pedagogic, psychological, and linguistic preferences and biases of their authors. Again some
proponents argue that textbooks are limited in an introduction of authentic materials. They
claim that textbooks are too contrived and artificial in their presentation of the target
language. They also argue that it is crucial to introduce students to the basic characteristics of
authentic real-life examples of both oral and written discourse. Moreover, the proponents
argue that the scripted unauthentic language found in many textbooks does not lend itself to
communicative practice, but instead, can lead to an oversimplification of language and
unrealistic views of real- life situations (Brazil et.al, 1980, levis, 1999, Cathcart, 1989 cited
in Tok, 2010).

Whether one believes that textbooks are too inflexible and biased to be used directly as
instructional materials or that they actually help teaching and learning, one cannot ignore the
fact that textbooks still maintain enormous use and are most definitely essential. So that it is
very important for the teachers to carry out an evaluation on ELT materials, particularly
textbooks to check whether they facilitate or negatively affect teaching and learning process
and help to achieve the objective aimed to attain in the specific language program. With
regard to evaluation, Rea- Dickins and Germine (1994) cited in Tok, (2010) suggests that
evaluation is an intrinsic part of teaching and learning. It plays an eminent role in education
and it is necessary for the teacher since it can provide valuable information for the future
going of classroom practice, the planning of course and management of learning tasks by
learners. Thus, evaluation is essential for the better use of ELT materials like textbooks.
Cunning worth (1995) also suggests the evaluation of textbook as a crucial process because it
helps teachers to ensure whether careful selection is made and that the tasks selected closely
reflect the needs or interests of the learners, and the objectives, methods and values of the
activities or teaching program. He also states two main reasons for material evaluation. The
first one is evaluation is conducted to adopt new course books. And the other is it is helpful
to find out the particular strength and weaknesses existed in the textbook already used.

40
In the same vein, Hutchison and waters (1993) depict that textbook evaluation should be
carried out to decide on whether the material is suitable or not for a particular purpose or
learners. Similarly, Ellis (1997) explains that textbook evaluation helps teachers go beyond
impressionistic assessments and to gain useful, accurate, systematic and contextual insights
into the overall nature of tasks/activities of the textbook. Furthermore, Richards (2001)
claims that with such an array of commercial textbooks and other kinds of instructional
materials to choose from teachers and others who are responsible for choosing materials need
to be able to make informed judgments about textbooks and teaching materials. However,
evaluation can only be done by considering something in relation to its purpose. A textbook
may be perfect in one situation because it matches the needs of that situation appropriately. It
has just the right amount of material for the program, it is easy to teach, it can be used with
less preparation by inexperienced teachers, and it has an equal coverage of macro and micro
skills tasks. However, the same textbook in other situations may turn out to be quite
unsuitable. It may contain too little texts, it may not sufficiently challenge for teacher and
students, and it may have language elements in it that may not needed in the program.

Therefore, based on scholars views mentioned above, evaluation is a crucial process in

language teaching and learning setting because it provides an opportunity to check whether
the tasks in a given textbook are suitable or not for a particular purpose. It also opens the
way to find out the strength and weaknesses of tasks in the textbook and to make certain
adaptations on the weaknesses of the textbooks tasks to suit the needs of particular learners.
Furthermore, evaluation provides right opportunity to assess the extent of the tasks in the
textbook in which the linguistic items, inputs, activities, exercises, contents, and topics match
up to learners level of understanding, backgrounds, needs and interests as well as teaching
goal of the program.

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 CHAPTER THREE

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This part of the study deals with different methods of the research that were employed in the
study. In the section, the researcher discussed research design, sources of the data, sampling
techniques, procedures of data collection, instruments of data collection and method of data
analysis.

3.1 Research Design

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the writing tasks in the new grade 10 English
students’ textbook. In the study, the researcher evaluated the components, nature and
appropriateness of writing tasks in the textbook in line with communicative language
teaching theory. In order to attain these objectives, the descriptive research design was
employed. Descriptive research is a kind of research design that is used to gather information
about existing situation or condition for the purpose of description and interpretation of the
problem. Cresswell (2003) states that descriptive design is suitable to describe a situation,
phenomena and program based on samples that represent a population. So, descriptive survey
was used in this study because this design helped the researcher to evaluate and interpret the
writing tasks in each unit of the textbook critically and to arrive at conclusion. Under this
design, both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data analysis were used. Qualitative
approach was used to evaluate contents of writing tasks in the textbook by using checklists
and to interpret data from the interview. And quantitative approach was applied to analyze
and interpret data from questionnaire through the help of numbers and percentages for
interpretation.

3.2 Sources of Data

The main source of data for this study was the new grade ten (10) English students’ textbook.
The study mainly focused on an evaluation of the contents of the writing tasks in the
students’ textbook. The researcher chose the new grade 10 English textbook because he has
been using the text for five consecutive years and has observed some inconvenience from the

42
teachers and students of the grade. In addition, the textbook is new and it combines all
language skills. Therefore, the textbook was chosen in order to check whether the writing
tasks in the text go in line with current communicative language teaching theory or not.
Moreover, the study used the English language teachers and students of the grade 10 in
Fonko Secondary and Preparatory school to get information. These participants were
selected; - because they have experience of using the textbook currently and they are directly
related with the study. There were three English language teachers who teach the course for
the grade. So, all of them were taken to get information for the study. The second participants
of the study were grade 10 students. There were 200 students in grade in the school. Among
these, forty (20%) of the students were taken to get information for the study.

3.3 Sampling Techniques

There are three English language teachers who have been teaching English for grade 10
students in Fonko Secondary and Preparatory school. To collect data from these teachers, the
researcher employed purposive sampling technique. The reason this technique was chosen is
that these were the teachers of English language who taught the course for the grade in the
school. Thus, all of them were taken as sample of the study purposively. The number of
students in grade ten in the school was 200. These students followed their lessons in four
sections. Out of the 200 students, forty (20%) of them were taken through simple random
sampling technique to gather information on the components, nature and appropriateness of
writing tasks in the textbook. The simple random sampling technique was chosen in order to
give equal opportunity of selection for all students of the grade. And this technique also
would help the researcher to avoid selection bias during data gathering.

3.4 Procedures of Data Collection

The data for this study were collected through document analysis, structured interview and
questionnaire. In the process of data gathering, the researcher administered the chosen
instruments of data collection one after the other to triangulate and cross check the data
appropriately. In case of document analysis; - the components and nature of the writing tasks
in the textbook were evaluated by using the checklists for communicative tasks. With respect
to interview and questionnaire; first, the researcher asked the consent of the subjects of the

43
study before gathering data and would give them orientation on the purposes and advantages
of the study. And the researcher also allowed the respondents in questionnaire not to mention
their identity in order to assure their confidentiality. The study used structured interview to
gather information from the teachers. In this regard, all those three English language teachers
were interviewed, because they were teachers who have an experience of using the textbook
currently. Next, the study employed questionnaire as another tool to collect data from the
students on the components, nature and appropriateness of writing tasks in the textbook.
Before administering actual questionnaire, pilot study were conducted for the students to
check whether the questions in the questionnaire were comprehended properly by the
students that were not selected for the main study but they were from the same grade level.
This is because the researcher believed that pilot study would allow him to identify the
problems the subjects of the study might face during the actual study questionnaire
administration and to modify the questions that the students might get difficulty. In this
instrument, the study comprised 38 close ended questions. This is because those close ended
questionnaire let the students to show their reaction towards the writing tasks of the textbook
easily or freely without any imposition or influences. At the same time, they encourage the
students to indicate their reactions on the issues raised without any feeling of frustration or
boring.

3.5 Instruments of Data Collection

The study used document analysis, structured interview and questionnaire to gather data.
These instruments helped the researcher to integrate information and enhance trustworthy of
the study.

3.5.1 Document Analysis

In this study, textbook analysis was used to evaluate writing tasks in the new grade 10
English students’ textbook as the major tool of data collection. This is because the instrument
allows the researcher to critically see and evaluate contents of writing tasks in the textbook in
depth. The instrument was mainly employed to evaluate the components of communicative
tasks such as clarity of goals, inputs, activities, roles of teacher and students and settings by
using checklists for communicative tasks. Also the instrument was used to analyze the nature

44
of writing tasks in the textbook. Therefore, the researcher evaluated the writing tasks in the
textbook by using the checklists that are designed by Nunan (2004) for evaluating ESL/EFL
textbooks. Checklists were used because they offer the most economical and reliable means
of reaching a decision concerning evaluation of writing tasks in the textbook in detail.

3.5.2 Structured Interview

Interview is one of the data gathering instruments that offer the opportunity for the
interviewer to meet the interviewees in face to face and to come up with important
information at the time. In this study, interview was used as another tool of data gathering
instrument. As it helped the researcher to collect the information through systematic and
organized way. Particularly, the researcher in the study preferred to use structured interview
to get information on the components, nature and appropriateness of writing tasks in the
textbook from grade 10 English language teachers. This is because this type of interview
allows the researcher to put the interviewees together and to get detail information for the
study by raising questions systematically. In addition, it helps the researcher to get
appropriate information with in one’s limited time and energy. Moreover, in the process of
collecting reliable data from interview, the interviewer held notes while the interviewees
were responding.

3.5.3 Questionnaire

Questionnaire is one of the data collecting tools that consist of a series of questions for the
purposes of gathering information from the respondents. In this study questionnaire was used
as third instrument of data collection because it helped the researcher to obtain data both
objectively and subjectively from a large sample of the population. The instrument was
applied in order to get information from grade 10 students of Fonko Secondary and
Preparatory School on the components, nature and appropriateness of writing tasks in the
textbook. The questionnaire comprised 38 close ended items. In order to measure items,
lickert scale was used like ‘strongly agree, agree, undecided, strongly disagree and disagree.
To check the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, it was given for the advisor and
other experts in English language arena. This instrument was employed mainly to triangulate

45
data gathered through document (text) analysis and structured interview and to check their
consistence.

3.6 Method of Data Analysis

The data gathered through document analysis and structured interview were analyzed by
using qualitative technique i.e through words and expressions or narration. The data gathered
through questionnaire from the students were analyzed by using quantitative technique of
data analysis. That means the data collected through questionnaire were tabulated and
different statistical techniques like percentages and frequency counting were used to analyze
data quantitatively. All the writing tasks in the new grade 10 English students’ textbook were
evaluated focusing on components of communicative tasks such as clarity of goals, inputs,
activities, roles, settings based on Nunan’s (2004) task framework and checklists for
evaluating communicative tasks. Finally, data from document analysis, structured interview
and questionnaire were triangulated and conclusions and recommendations were drawn.

46
 CHAPTER FOUR

4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the writing tasks presented in grade ten
English students’ textbook in relation to communicative language teaching theory. In order to
attain this objective, the researcher used text (document) analysis, structured interview and
questionnaire. The data collected through these instruments were analyzed and discussed in
this part of the study in detail.

4.1 General Overview of grade Ten English Students’ Textbook

Grade ten English for Ethiopia students’ textbook is prepared by Donna Bailey and evaluated
by Assefa Kassa, Ejeta Negeri, Getahun Gebremehdin, and Tesfaye Gebreyes. The textbook
was first published in 2011 G.C and has been used as teaching and learning resource since
2012 G.C. The textbook is prepared by the help of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,
Ministry of Education and printed in China. In addition, the textbook has a teacher’s guide
with grade 10 English syllabus. The textbook is mainly designed to provide comprehensive
English course for the second year of secondary school, meeting the requirements for English
language syllabus for grade ten. The course is intended to enhance learners understanding
and use of English as a subject and as a medium of instruction in secondary school.

Moreover, the textbook has twelve units as a whole in which each unit is classified into two
parts: - part ‘A’ and part ‘B’. Under each part of the unit, there are sections for all macro and
micro skills of the language such as listening, speaking, language focus (grammar aspects),
reading, writing, increasing word power (vocabulary), study skills with introduction and
assessment. The textbook has also revision sections at the end of every three units. Apart
from this, each part of the unit has its own objectives and tasks. Further, in each part of the
unit, the writing tasks are delivered at different positions. In the evaluation process, the
writing tasks in the introduction, assessment and revision sections were not evaluated
because the tasks are presented with other skills and to avoid redundancy. Thus, the writing
tasks found in all twelve units of the textbook were selected and evaluated in this study.

47
4.1.1 Writing Tasks in the Textbook

As it was mentioned in the overview (section 4.1), grade ten English for Ethiopia students’
textbook has twelve units in general. Each unit is divided into two parts, part ‘A’ and part
‘B’. Again each part of the unit has its own sub sections like introduction, listening,
speaking, language focus, reading, writing, vocabulary, study skills etc. In each unit, the
writing tasks are placed at various positions. Table 4.1 below shows the total number of
writing tasks with their pages as follows:

Table 4.1 The distribution of writing tasks in grade 10 English students’ textbook

Units Number of Writing Tasks in The Pages that the Tasks

each Unit Placed
One 3 7,13 and 15
Two 4 22,25,27 and 30
Three 3 40,49 and 52
Four 2 66 and 71
Five 4 81,82,83 and 93
Six 3 97,99 and 108
Seven 5 124, 125,126,133 and 134
Eight 3 145,145 and 151
Nine 4 161, 161,162 and 164
Ten 2 181, and 185
Eleven 5 197,198,200, 204 and 205
Twelve 2 213 and 223
Total 40 38

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As it is shown in the table above 4.1, there are 40 writing tasks in the twelve units of the
textbook as a whole. However, the writing tasks are not distributed equally in different units
of the textbook. For example, unit 4, 10 and 12 have only two writing tasks where as unit 1,
3, 6 and 8 contain each three writing tasks while unit 2, 5 and 9 each encompass four writing
tasks. But the rest two units’ i.e units 7 and 11 have five writing tasks. This indicates that the
writing tasks are not distributed equally. The distributions of the writing tasks under each
unit of the writing part differ from unit to unit. Not only the number of writing tasks varies
from unit to unit but also the numbers of tasks are not equally distributed in each part of the
given unit. For instance, in unit 2, part ‘A’ there is only one writing task, but in part ‘B’ there
are three writing tasks. Similarly, in unit 5 in part ‘A’ there are three writing tasks but in part
‘B’ only one writing task is presented. In most units the writing tasks are not equally
delivered in part ‘A’ and ‘B’. This might not provide learners with equal opportunity to
practice and learn writing tasks to express their views in each unit and even in each part of
the unit. The students do not get equal amount of writing tasks to perform under each unit of
the textbook and under each part of the unit.

4.2 Evaluation of Writing Tasks in relation to Components of Communicative

tasks

The main aim of this study was evaluating the writing tasks in grade ten English students’
textbook in light to communicative language teaching point of view. The writing tasks
presented in the textbook were evaluated based on the Nunan’s (2004) framework for
evaluating components of communicative tasks such as goals, inputs, activities, roles of
students’ and teacher and settings.

4.2.1 Goals /objectives

As it was mentioned in review of related literature (section 2.5.1), goals are the general
intentions that are found behind any learning task (Nunan, 2004). When evaluating any
teaching and learning tasks in the given textbook, it is important to look at and evaluate
whether the objectives are clearly stated at the beginning of the units or not. The given
communicative tasks that have no objectives cannot initiate students to perform the tasks
properly. Therefore, the communicative tasks that are appropriately designed should have

49
clear objectives that show learners where they are going and what they are expected to attain.
The following table indicates that the objectives of writing tasks mentioned at the beginning
of each part of the unit.

Table 4.2 The objectives of writing tasks in grade 10 English students’ textbook and
teacher’s guide

Components Units Objectives mentioned in Objectives mentioned in the

of the students’ textbook teacher’s guide
communicative
tasks
one By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
Goals/objectives unit 1, you will be able to: will be able to:
 Write about your  write descriptive and
favourite sport persuasive paragraphs
 write a report  analyse a data table listing
about the African countries which have
nations cup participated in the Africa
 write about cup and facts about them
learning a new  not clearly stated
sport
two By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 2, you will be able to: will be able to:
 write a story about  use sequencing words
a bicycle accident  write instructions
using sequencing  use some/any/every/no with
words body/one/where/thing
 write a list of rules
to prevent
accidents at home
 write and act a
conversation in a
clinic

three By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 3, you will be able to: will be able to:
 write a story  write 2-3 paragraphs to
 write a play narrate a story
 know the  write formal or informal
difference between letters
formal and  write a descriptive or
informal letters persuasive paragraphs

50
four By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 4, you will be able to: will be able to:
 write a story  write warnings and support
involving them with pictures
warnings  write an informal letter
 write a letter to an
‘agony aunt’
five By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 5, you will be able to: will be able to:
 analyse  analyse vocabulary groups
vocabulary groups  design posters advertising a
 write a TV or familiar products
radio  not stated
advertisement  not stated
 not stated
 write a description
of a local market

six By the end of this part of By the end this section, students
unit 6, you will be able to: will be able to:
 write a sketch  not stated
about saying ‘no’  write a descriptive
to drugs paragraphs about the drugs
 write about the situation in Ethiopia
drug situation in  write a report based on
Ethiopia available data table
 use data from a
graph to prepare a
report on the use
of chat in Ethiopia
seven By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 7, you will be able to: will be able to:
 write a summary  make notes to form a
of a news report summary of a natural
 make notes to help disaster
understand and  read news report,
remember what summarize the main
you read information and turn notes
 expand your notes into sentences
into a summary  not clearly stated
 write a summary  write a guided essay
of a news report following the seven stages
 analyse and write of writing
a formal letter  write a formal letter
eight By the end of this part By the end of this section, students
unit 8, you will be able to: will be able to:

51
  discuss health  write a report with
issues proposals/recommendations
 write a formal  write a formal letter
letter to the  not stated at all
ministry of
education
 complete the
passage with the
verbs in the
correct tense
nine By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 9, you will be able to: will be able to:
 write about the  not clearly mentioned
water cycle  not clearly written
 write a story to  label pictures
describe a river  not clearly stated
 identify and label
pictures connected
with the sea
 not stated
ten By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 10, you will be able will be able to:
to:  write a report
 write a report on  write instructions
the uses of energy
 not properly
related with the
task given
eleven By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 11, you will be able will be able to:
to:  write a record of
 write your own cv achievement/cv
 write a letter of  write a formal letter of
application for a application
job  not clearly stated
 write a description  write a guided essay
of a job  use discourse markers
 write a guided
essay
 use discourse
markers to
complete a story

52
 twelve By the end of this part of By the end of this section, students
unit 12, you will be able will be able to:
to:  write a descriptive
 write a description paragraphs about a
of a ceremony ceremony
 write a letter to a  write a informal letter
friend

As it can be shown in the table 4.2 above, most of the objectives of the writing tasks are
stated clearly in the students’ textbook and teacher’s guide for both students’ and teacher to
understand where they are going and what they are going to achieve with the given writing
tasks. The objectives are presented precisely in each unit, particularly in each part of the unit
throughout the textbook’s writing tasks. This gives a good opportunity for the students to
understand what they are expected to do when practicing the tasks. This might be attained by
providing learners with objectives that are directly related with the learning tasks and
explained explicitly. This is one of the important characteristics of the objectives of writing
tasks in good textbook and properly prepared communicative tasks. The writing tasks which
are appropriately designed in communicative language classroom must have objectives that
are clearly stated for the learners’ and teacher which direct them what they will be able to do
and what they are expected to attain with the tasks given in the textbook.

For instance, the following goals can be taken as an example to show the objectives are
explicitly explained for the students to practice writing and achieve through writing tasks
given in the textbook. By the end of this part of the unit you will be able to: “write about
your favourite sport, write a report about the African nations’ cup, write a list of rules
to prevent accidents, write about a drug situation in Ethiopia, write a summary of a
news report etc.”

Another necessary issue that was raised on the checklist in relation to objectives of communicative
writing task is the issue of authenticity. The objectives that are designed for communicative oriented
classroom need to initiate learners to use language in real situation. When the researcher observes the
objectives in grade 10 English students’ textbook, most of the objectives of writing tasks emphasizes
on pedagogic rationale of the tasks such as writing paragraphs, writing essays, writing stories, filling
blank spaces with words given and so on. However, there are some objectives that reveal real world
rationale of the writing tasks. Consequently, the learners get an opportunity to be exposed with the

53
authentic use of the language and the objectives initiate the students to apply what they practiced in
the classroom to outside world. For instance, the objectives in unit 1, 5, 7, 8 and 10 encourage
learners to write the reports, to advertise new products and read and summarize different texts and
news report. As Shahid (1999) cited in Javed et.al, (2013) states communicative writing task as a kind
of task that includes activities such as form filling, letter writing, report writing and so on. Writing
report about a certain event helps students to enhance their ability to analyze and interpret a given
issue and come with proper report of it. This writing practice also helps learners to write appropriate
report in the real world. In addition, the writing practice of advertising new product develops the
students’ ability of promoting goods or services outside the classroom. Apart from this, the textbook
helps students to enhance their ability to read and summarize the texts by using bulletin points.
Moreover, writing curriculum vitae and application letter are another important issue of the
textbook’s objectives. Due to these objectives the students are encouraged to apply what they learnt in
the classroom to the outside world.

Although most of the objectives of the writing tasks in the textbook are stated explicitly for
both students’ and teacher at the beginning of each unit, some of them are not stated
concisely or not stated at all. For example, in the units 5, 9 and 10 the objectives are not
clearly stated in the students’ textbook and in the teacher’s guide. This might not tell students
what they will be able to perform and what they are expected to attain with the given writing
tasks as an outcome. Again some of the objectives of the writing tasks are repeated in several
units of the textbook and this might not appeal students’ interests rather they might make
them to feel bored. For instance; ‘writing a story’ in unit 2, 3, 4, 9 and ‘writing formal or
informal letters’ are presented repeatedly in these units. This might not arose learners’
interests in practicing writing tasks rather than they impose them to become bored as a result
of the repetition. However, most of the objectives are stated concisely in a manner that the
learners could be able to understand what they will be able to do and what they expected to
achieve easily.

Moreover, some objectives in the students’ textbook are mentioned too general when the
researcher compares with the objectives in the teacher’s guide. For instance; in unit 1 in the
students’ textbook says ‘students will be able to write about their favorite sport’ but in the
teacher’s guide it says ‘students will be able to write a descriptive and persuasive
paragraphs about their favorite sport.’ Similarly, in unit 8 in the students’ textbook it says

54
 ‘students will be able to discuss health issues,’ however, in the teacher’s guide, it says
‘students will be able to write a report on the one of the health issues with proposals/
recommendation.’ This shows that some of the objectives are stated in general sense in the
students’ textbook where as they are stated specifically in the teacher’s guide. Thus, this
might need careful consideration in setting objectives that direct learners what they
specifically attain with the given writing tasks. In addition, some of the objectives are clearly
stated in textbook but not clearly mentioned and not stated at all in the teacher’s guide. For
example; in the units 1, 5, 8 and 9 here some of the objectives are clearly stated in the
students’ textbook, however, they are not clearly stated and not stated at all in the teacher’s
guide.

Furthermore, there is a mismatch between the objectives given and writing tasks in the
textbook. For example, in unit 10; B 10.3 the writing task given is completing the text with
words given in the box but the objective stated is ‘students will be able to write instruction
about how to do something.’ This indicates that there is no proper relationship between the
objective stated and learning task given. Therefore, this issue needs careful consideration
when designing learning task objectives and the objectives have to be stated clearly for the
students’ and teacher. There could be also a proper connection between the objectives and
the learning tasks.

4.2.2 Inputs

As it is explained in the review of related literature (section 2.5.2), input is one of the
components of communicative tasks that should be taken into consideration during
evaluating tasks in the textbooks. Input is a textual, visual, aural, electronic or multimedia
data that students work on to complete the task (Hyland, 2003). It can be presented in the
form of verbal or non verbal in general. Verbal inputs includes written texts and dialogue
while non verbal inputs includes like photos, pictures, graphs, tables etc. Thus, the following
table shows the presentation of writing task inputs in grade 10 English students’ textbook.

Table 4.3 the distribution of writing task inputs

Components of Units Kinds of inputs Forms of Writing task

55
communicative Authentic/real Inauthentic inputs
writing tasks world based / pedagogic
based
Inputs one 1 2  data table
 instruction form
 instruction form
two 1 3  in the form of picture
 in the form of instruction
 in the form of instruction
 in the form of instruction
three 0 3  Beginnings of the texts
 In the form of instruction
 The beginnings and endings of
formal and informal letters
four 1 1  Picture form
 In the form of instruction
five 0 4  In the instruction form
 Instruction
 Written texts
 Instruction form
six 1 2  Data table
 In the form of outline
 In the form of instruction
seven 0 5  Written texts
 Written notes
 Written news report
 In the form of instruction
 Written formal letter
eight 0 3  In the form of instruction
 In the form of instruction
 An incomplete passage
nine 2 2  Picture form
 Picture form
 In the form of instruction
 In the form of instruction
ten 0 2  In the form of instruction
 Written text
eleven 1 4  Picture form
 In the form of instruction
 In the form of instruction
 In the form of instruction
 In the form of instruction
twelve 0 2  In instruction form

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  In instruction form
Total 7 33 40
Percentage 17.5% 82.5% 100%
(%)

As it can be seen in the above table 4.3, there are 40 writing task inputs under writing part of
the whole 12 units and the inputs are presented in different forms. However, among the
inputs of the writing tasks delivered in the textbook, most of them are in the form of
instruction. That means most of writing task inputs order learners to write various texts by
following different steps of writing. For instance; ‘write a story’ (pages 22, 40, 49, 161, 164
etc), ‘write a descriptive paragraphs’ (pages 7, 93, 99, 213 etc) ‘write formal or informal
letters’ (pages 52, 71, 134, 145 etc) without providing learners with various inputs such as
pictures, data tables, photos, diagrams, model texts and so on in order to initiate learners to
perform the inputs in various ways and express their ideas through writing. As it was
mentioned in review of related literature, the emphasis of current approach of language
teaching i.e communicative language teaching and learning is communication. In relation to
this, (Krashen, 1989 and Mishan, 2005) indicate that language tasks should look like the
tasks outside the classroom and have to present different forms of inputs such as newspaper
articles, magazine articles, brochures, menus, advertisements etc. Therefore, tasks in
communicative language classroom should include different forms of inputs as a main source
of meaning so as to enhance students’ interests and motivation.

For example, here are some samples writing tasks inputs that are delivered in the textbook in
the form of instruction.

_Write a list of rules to prevent accidents in the home.

_Write a scene between a drug dealer and someone who is refusing to take drugs in
groups.

_Write three paragraphs about the story of a river, from its source in the mountains to
its delta. Use as many descriptive adjectives as you can.

_Write an informal letter to a friend about your experiences in grade 10. Include
information about your studies, learning strategies and goals during the year, and your
hopes or fears for the next year.

57
The other consideration of checklist with regard to inputs of writing tasks is to check whether
the inputs are interesting or motivating for the students or not. As it was shown in the table
4.3, the textbook incorporate authentic as well as inauthentic kinds of inputs. However, the
majority of writing task inputs (82.5%) were evaluated to be inauthentic and a few of them
(17.5%) were identified as authentic inputs. This implies that most of writing task inputs
delivered in the textbook give high emphasis for inauthentic materials rather than authentic
ones. Consequently, the inputs might not promote learners to use authentic inputs such as
table, charts, diagrams, pictures etc that enhance their interest and motivation to do and
practice writing tasks properly. Regarding to authenticity of inputs, For instance, Nunan
(2004) points out that classroom material should help learners to be ready for dealing with
the language that they need it in the outside world. If we want learners to understand aural
and written language outside the classroom, it is necessary to provide them with structured
opportunities to engage with such materials inside the classroom. In addition, incorporation
of various types of authentic inputs in the textbook is helpful in language teaching and
learning classroom as there are several learners with different learning preferences or styles
and at the same time the authentic inputs themselves motivate learners to express their views
through writing. This means simply authentic materials help learners to learn the language
with their preferences of learning and paces when they are performing task inputs. Therefore,
series consideration is not given for authenticity of inputs in the textbook to address different
needs, interests and learning preferences of the students. The shortage of such authentic
materials in one way or other influences the interests and preferences of learners’ when they
are engaged in performing tasks. Moreover, as there are many students with different
learning preferences or choices, not serving with such authentic inputs in the textbook might
result in limiting their opportunities not to perform the materials with their own learning
preferences and paces in relaxed manner.

The other issue that is worth mentioning about inputs is the appropriateness of the inputs to
the communicative goal of the task. As it is stated in general over view of the textbook, the
major goal of performing writing tasks in grade 10 English textbook is to enhance the writing
ability of the students’ or to equip them for further study of other schools subjects and to
achieve the goal of communicative oriented classroom where learners practice real world

58
activities. However, as it is stated in the table above 4.3, most of the writing task inputs
emphasize on inauthentic materials. This condition might not initiate learners to attain the
major goal of the task which is communication. That means most of writing task inputs do
not encourage learners’ to rehearse tasks that are available in the world outside the
classroom.

Furthermore, in communicative oriented language learning classroom, the students’ are

encouraged to participate actively and perform tasks given cooperatively. And most of the
writing tasks could be carried out by learners themselves. As a result, the students have to be
encouraged by the teacher, task itself and by other learners. This means in communicative
class, authentic inputs play a great role in encouraging and enhancing the students’ interest
while they are performing writing task. Thus, writing task inputs presented in grade 10
English students’ textbook are limited in achieving the goal of communicative tasks which
motivate learners’ in performing the tasks. However, for the other goal, which is improving
learners’ academic writing ability, it was discovered that different inauthentic inputs were
presented in the textbook. According to the finding in the table 4.3 above, the textbook under
writing section encounters various kinds of inauthentic inputs with different stages of
writings, gap fillings, outlines, written texts etc those are important to help students’ when
doing writing tasks. As it is shown in the table above, most of the writing task inputs (82.5%)
were based on inauthentic sense. Thus, the presentation of various inauthentic materials
might be helpful in enhancing the academic writing ability of the students.

4.2.3 Activities

Activities are other important components of communicative tasks that direct students with
what they particularly perform with the input which forms the point of departure for the
learning tasks (Nunan, 2004). Accordingly activities should be evaluated based on
communicative behaviors that they might be expected to use in real communicative
interactions outside the classroom. In other words activities are procedures which specify
what the learners actually do with the inputs presented in the learning materials. The
following table presents the activities found in grade 10 English students’ textbook.

Table 4.4 The writing activities presented in grade 10 English students’ textbook

59
 Units Types of writing Mode of presentation
Components of activities individual Pair/gro Whole Total
communicative up class
tasks

Activities One  Writing a descriptive 2 1 0 3

and persuasive
paragraphs about a
favourite sport
 Writing a report about
African nations cup
 Writing sentences
about a new sport
Two  Making a summary of 2 2 0 4
what happened in the
story given in reading
section by using
sequencing words
 Writing instruction
about accidents at
home
 Writing a dialogue
between a student and
a nurse
 Making sentences
Three  Writing a story of two 2 1 0 3
or three paragraphs
by using imagination
 Writing a play
 Matching openings of
letters with their
closings
Four  Writing sentences 2 0 0 2
describing what is
happening in each
picture
 Writing an informal
letter
Five  Analyzing vocabulary 2 2 0 4
groups
 Advertising a new
product
 Designing a poster
 Writing an
advertising describing
a local market

60
Six  Writing a scene 2 1 0 3
between a drug dealer
and someone who
refuses to take it
 Writing descriptive
essay about drug
situation in Ethiopia
 Preparing a report for
school newspaper
about chat in Ethiopia
Seven  Making notes 4 1 0 5
 Making a summary of
the events by using
bulletin points
 Summarizing a news
report
 Writing a guided
essay
 Writing a formal
letter
Eight  Writing a report on 1 2 0 3
one of the health
issues given
 Writing a formal
letter to the MOE to
ask for school
improvements
 Completing the
passage with correct
verbs
Nine  Completing the 4 0 0 4
passage with words
given in the box
 Writing a story of a
river
 Labeling pictures
related with the sea
 Writing a story about
a survivor
Ten  Writing a report on 1 1 0 2
energy in Ethiopia
 Completing the
passage with correct
words given in the
box
Eleven  Writing a curriculum 4 1 0 5

61
 vitae/cv
 Writing an
application letter
 Interviewing someone
about his/her job and
writing a composition
 Writing a guided
essay
 Completing a story
with discourse
markers
Twelve  Writing a descriptive 2 0 0 2
paragraphs about a
ceremony attended at
one’s life times
 Writing an informal
letter to share one’s
school experiences
Total 40 28 11 1 40
Percent 100% 70% 27.5% 2.5% 100%
ages
(%)

As the data in the table above 4.4, indicate that (27.5%) of the writing activities are designed
in stimulating manner for the students to communicate and cooperate in pairs/small groups
whereas (2.5%) of the writing activities are delivered in the textbook for the students to do as
a whole class work. As it was mentioned in the review of related literature, pair/group
activities have various advantages in enhancing students’ interaction between and among
each other. In relation to this, Harmer (2001) indicates that pair or group activities have a
great advantage for the improvement of students’ autonomy as they are able to make their
own decisions without direct teacher influences’. Moreover, collaborative writing activities
in the classroom help in generating discussions which stimulate an effective process of
writing. Also pair/group work would let learners to exchange the writings or compositions as
a result; they become readers of each other’s works. This is an important aspect of the
writing experiences because it gives an opportunity for the students to be readers of each
other’s writings and it enhances the learners’ awareness of the fact that someone is writing
something to be read by someone else. On the other hand, most of the writing activities
(70%) were designed to be done in individual basis in the textbook. With regarding to this, it
was mentioned in the review of related literature (section, 2.5.3), incorporating individual

62
activities in the textbook has its own pros because all students are not comfortable working in
groups, however, and others’ may dislike individual activities. The presentation of different
kinds of activities’ help teachers’ in order to address learners’ with various learning
preferences or styles like individual, pair, small group and whole class activities (Hyland,
2003). Thus, the learning activities should be varied and flexible so as to help learners’ to
communicate and cooperate when they are performing activities. For example, “work in
groups to write some paragraphs to describe your favourite sport following the seven
stages of writing (page 7), work in pairs to write a conversation between yourself and
the nurse at the clinic who gives you first aid after you have broken your arm (page 27),
work in your group to brainstorm the different points you would like to make to the
Ministry of education about one of the health issues above. Then as a group, write a
formal letter asking for more resources for your school.(page145) etc”

When evaluating the writing tasks, the issue of appropriate relationship between writing
activities and the communicative goals of the activities is one of the important things to be
considered. This might show the relationship between the objectives set and the writing
activities given in the textbook. As it is indicated in the objectives table above 4.2, most of
the objectives discovered that they have direct relationship with the writing activities placed
in each part of the textbook as well as teacher’s guide. The activities are found to be an
appropriate means’s for the students to attain the objectives given. This means, the objectives
set and almost all writing activities presented in the textbook have direct relationships.
Different kinds of writing activities are delivered in the textbook to attain the objectives
which are beginning from making sentences to writing various types of compositions and
reports. For instance; in unit 1 and 2, the students are asked to make sentences about the sport
they do not play before and making sentences by using combined words respectively. “Write
some sentences about a sport you do not know and work in pairs to make ten sentences,
using combined words from the table below in each sentences respectively.” In addition,
in different units like unit 3, 7and11 etc of the writing activities the learners are given model
texts, letters and curriculum vitae and so on and based on them they are asked to write their
own texts.

63
Moreover, in different units of the textbook, the students’ are ordered to write reports based
on the information given in the tables. For example; in unit 1, they are asked to write a report
about African nations’ cup between 1990- 2010. In addition, in unit 5, the students are
ordered to write an advertisement by choosing new products. Furthermore, in unit 11, the
learners are asked to interview someone around their homes and come with the report of it in
the form of composition. In relation to this, it was explained in the review of related
literature, writing activities can be grouped into three according to the type of knowledge or
skills they emphasize. They are: mechanics, language scaffold and composing respectively.
Mechanics seeks to improve the graphological skills and it focuses on hand writing,
punctuation and paragraphing skills. Language scaffold activities provide support for writing
familiar texts or similar model compositions under the control of the guidelines. The third
one is composing writing activities which deal with those activities that develop the actual or
extended writing skills, for instance; writing advertisements, researching and writing reports
and so on for real or imagined readers by following different steps of writing (Hyland, 2003).

The other point of the check list about writing activities is that evaluating whether the writing
activities have an appropriate relation with the input data. As Nunan (2004) points out
activities specify what the learners’ particularly do with the input that forms the point of
journey for the learning tasks. Thus, the writing activities presented in grade 10 English
students’ textbook are prepared inline to input data. This means there is an appropriate
relationship between the writing activities and the inputs, as a result, the learners can use the
inputs practically.

Based on the findings in the table above 4.4, therefore, it can be suggested that the writing
activities in grade 10 English students’ textbook are prepared well with regard to the
relationship between the writing activities and the objectives. That mean, the writing
activities in the textbook have direct contact with the objectives given. In addition, there is an
appropriate relationship between the writing activities and the inputs given in the textbook.
However, according to the result presented in the table 4.4 above, it can be deduced that the
writing activities delivered in grade 10 English students’ textbook are not designed well in
case of incorporating various pair/group work because the majority of writing activities

64
(70%) were designed in an individual basis. Thus, this might not help teachers’ to address
students’ with different learning preferences or multiple intelligences.

4.2.4 Roles of Learners and Teachers

Roles are again one of the necessary components of communicative tasks in foreign language
classroom where communicative language teaching is applied as an approach of language
teaching and learning. Roles refers to the part that students’ and teachers’ are expected to
play in carrying out learning tasks as well as the social and interactional relationship between
the participants. As Wright cited in Hyland, (2003) claims that in contrast to earlier teacher-
dominated ‘chalk and talk’ methodologies, the variety of tasks in modern writing classes
create more roles and responsibilities for the students’ and teachers’. The following tables,
4.5 and 4.6 show the roles of students’ and teacher in grade 10 English students’ textbook
and teacher‘s guide.

Table 4.5 The roles of students’ in the writing tasks of the grade 10 English students’
textbook and teacher’s guide

Components Roles of the students’ described in the writing tasks

of Units Learners’ roles in the textbook Learners’ roles in the
communicative teacher’s guide
tasks
Students’ roles One  Writing a descriptive  Students write two to
paragraphs about their three descriptive and
favourite sports following persuasive paragraphs
steps of writing about their favourite
 Writing down a number of sports
sentences about sport they  Students analyse data
do not know before like table about African
tennis and badminton nations cup between
 Writing sentences about 1990-2010 and writing a
African nations cup based report about it
on the data table and  Students write five
combining them in the sentences about their
form of report chosen sport
Two  Writing a story about a  Students write a story by
bicycle accident by using using sequencing words
sequencing words  Students discuss in
 Writing a list of safety groups a list of rules to
rules to prevent accidents prevent accidents at home
65
 at home
 Writing a conversation
between oneself and a
nurse at first aid giving
process
 Making ten sentences using
combined words like
some/any/every/no/with
body/one/where/thing
Three  Writing a story in two or
three paragraphs using
their imagination about
pilot
 Making a brief outline of a
story, either a comedy, a
tragedy, a fable, a romance
etc then writing it as a
short play or dialogue and
performing it to the rest of
the class
 Writing a short informal
letter of two to three
paragraphs about the main
character in one of the
stories in the unit
Four  Studying the pictures and
writing sentences
describing what is
happening in each picture
 Writing an informal letter
to a magazine/newspaper
organization to get advice
on how to with problems
Five  Reading the advertisement
by giving and completing
the chart with the
information
 Creating a radio/TV
advertisements to advertise
their own product or
66
and write them in their
exercise books
 In pairs, students discuss
an accident that has
happened to themselves
or to someone they know,
then write a conversation
at the clinic between the
patient and the nurse
using the writing scaffold
in their book
 Students work in pairs to
make sentences from the
substitution table as in the
examples
 Students choose one of
the given first line stories
and write two –three
paragraphs using their
imagination
 Students write a short
play script/dialogue of
their own and act it out
 Students write a short
informal letter to the main
character in one of the
stories, giving their
opinion on the situation
and advice
 Students study the
pictures individually, then
write sentences for each
picture to tell the story
 Students write an
informal letter to an
agony aunt
 Students copy the chart
into their exercise books
and analyse vocabulary in
the advertisements
 Students choose their
own product and create a
radio/TV advertisements
 service
 Designing a poster to a
familiar or a new product
 Writing an advertisement
to attract people and
foreigners to come to their
local market
Six  Writing a scene between a
drug dealer and someone
who is refusing to take
drugs
 Writing three or four
paragraphs to describe the
drugs situation in Ethiopia
by using writing scaffold
 Preparing a report to
school newspaper or drugs
club using data table on
chat in Ethiopia
Seven  Reading the text silently
and make notes under each
sub heading
 Making a summary of the
event using bulletin points
under each headings
 Reading the news report on
2010 Haiti earth quake and
summarize the main
information using bulletin
points
 Writing a guided essay
based on the given title
following stages of writing
 Writing a formal letter on
the situation given
67
to promote the product
 Students design a poster
taking into account the
points in the panel
 Students work in groups
to write an advertisement
to attract people and
visitors to their local
market
 Students write a play
about a conversation
between a drug dealer and
someone who does not
want to take it
 Students write three
paragraphs describing the
drugs situation in
Ethiopia and the dangers
of taking it, persuading
others not to get involved
by following seven steps
of writing
 Students prepare a report
for their school
newspaper/magazine to
display in anti-drug club
room based on the data
table
 Students should read the
text silently to themselves
and write notes having
bulletin points
 Students read the text and
the information under
each heading and
interpret data orally
 Students read the news
report about the 2010
Haiti earthquake and
summarize the main
information in bulletin
points themselves
 Students write a guided
essay in five paragraphs
on the topic given in the
textbook

Eight  Writing a report by setting
out their
suggestions/recommendati
on on the chosen health
issue
 Writing a formal letter to
MOE asking for more
resources for their school
and forward reasons for it
 Completing the passage by
changing the verbs given
into correct tense
Nine  Filling the blank spaces of
the passage with the words
given in the box
 Writing three paragraphs
about the story of river
 Looking at the pictures
connected to sea and label
them
 Writing a story in two or
three paragraphs about the
event what happened and
how they felt about it
Ten  Writing a report on energy
in Ethiopia by giving
suggestions on future use
and improvements of it
 Reading the texts in B10.2
again and complete the
passage with the words
given in the box
Eleven  Writing their own
68
 Students write a formal
letter to the Red cross
explaining the urgent
need for funding and
resources in the aftermath
of a disaster in their local
area
 Students discuss on the
one of the health issues
and write and present
their recommendation to
the class
 Students write a formal
letter to MOE asking for
more resources for their
school with reasons
 Students complete the
passage with correct verb
tenses
 Students fill the passage
with the correct words
given
 Students write three
paragraphs about the
story of river
 Students look at the
pictures connected to the
sea and write their labels
in their exercise books’
 Students imagine they
were one of the survivor’s
and write a story in three
paragraphs about the
experience
 Students work in small
group to write a report on
energy in Ethiopia,
suggestions and
recommendation for
future use and
improvements
 Students fill the passage
with the correct words in
the box
 Students write their own
 curriculum vitae which
have similar lines with the
sample given
 Writing a formal letter of
application for the jobs
advertised in reading
A11.6 and A11.7
 Interviewing someone they
know about their job and
write a composition about
it
 Writing a guided essay on
the title given
 Completing the passage
with the appropriate
discourse markers
Twelve  Writing a description of
two to three paragraphs
about a ceremony they
attended; like school prize,
wedding etc
 Writing an informal letter
to a friend about their
learning experiences in
grade 10
curriculum vitae which
gives information on
personal details,
qualifications, skills etc
 Students write a formal
letter of application for
the jobs advertised in
A11.6 and A11.7
 Students write a guided
essay on the title given by
following the seven steps
of writing
 Students write a
description about a job
 Students choose from the
list of discourse markers
in the box and complete
the cloze passage
 Students write a
paragraphs about a
ceremony they have
observed
 Students write informal
letter to a friend about
their learning experiences
in grade 10

As it can be seen in table above 4.5, the roles of the students’ are explained explicitly in the
English students’ textbook and teacher’s guide of grade 10. As it was mentioned in the
review of related literature, in the current approach of language teaching (communicative
language teaching classroom), the learners have an active role in performing learning tasks
and they have a high responsibility of their own learning. Also their roles can be varied from
one task to another. In relation to this, Nunan (1989) states that in communicative language
teaching class, students have to play an active and negotiative role. That means in the
approach the learners are expected to contribute a lot and receive less. And they have to take
higher responsibility of their own learning, select their methods, monitor and evaluate their
progress and achievements. As the findings in the table above 4.5, indicate that students have
an active role and high responsibility of performing writing tasks. This is because all of
writing tasks in the textbook directly ask learners to perform the tasks by themselves with

69
less teacher involvement. And the writing tasks in the textbook of all units give high
opportunity for the learners to contribute a lot during task performance. One of the basic
assumptions of communicative language teaching approach is providing learners with a
greater responsibility of their own learning. For example, “using the data from the table,
prepare a report for your school newspaper or drugs club (page 108), now write a
similar news report for the BBC or newspaper about the Indonesian tsunami (page
126), write a description of two to three paragraphs about a ceremony you have
attended such as wedding, sports trophy, school prize giving etc (page 213)”. As result,
the results in the table show that through all the writing tasks of the textbook the students are
provided with the roles of doing the activities by themselves and they have high
responsibility for their own learning.

In addition, in the traditional approaches of language teaching, students have the roles of
receiving what is forwarded by their teachers’ and textbooks’ as a correct model and they do
their writing as it is. However, in the modern communicative language teaching classroom,
the students have various roles of performing writing tasks in which their roles can be varied
from one task to another. Based on the findings in the table above, the roles of the students
are stated explicitly and the students have a major role of performing tasks by themselves
with less control of their teacher through all the writing tasks of the textbook. This helps the
students to know clearly what is expected from them when performing tasks. Also if the
learners are clear with their roles, they take high responsibility of their own learning. In the
textbook also there are some writing tasks that invite students to do in pairs or small groups.
This can help them in enhancing their self confidences because when learners are performing
writing in pairs or small groups, they may get high opportunity of seeing each other’s works
and through it they come with better works rather than teacher fronted writing tasks. With
regarding to this, Hyland (2003) depicts that in communicative language teaching classroom,
the learners are no longer the passive recipients of teacher-provided stimuli, simply
responding to writing prompts as best they can. They are now often expected to take a more
active role in their learning by interacting with each other, interrogating materials and using
their initiative to take a greater responsibility of their own learning. Thus, the roles of the
students are stated explicitly in both students’ textbook and in the teacher’s guide. Also the

70
 students in the writing tasks of the textbook have an active role of performing tasks and they
have a greater responsibility of monitoring their own learning and achievements. This helps it
to have appropriate relationship with communicative language teaching approach in which
learners have an active roles and responsibility of their own learning.

Table 4.6 Teacher’s roles in the writing tasks of the grade 10 English students’ textbook and
teacher’s guide

Components of units Teacher’s roles in the writing tasks

communicative Roles stated in the Roles stated in the teacher’s guide
tasks students’ textbook
Teacher’s roles One  Not stated at all  Discussing the seven stages of
 Not stated at all writing with the students and
 Not stated at all eliciting their suggestion
 Asking selected students to read
their reports
 Serving some resources such as
pictures, books etc and
encouraging students to examine
them in detail
Two  Not stated at all  Reminding students with first aid
 Giving scenario for instructions they have learned
the students for an previously and writing their
accident suggestions on the board
 Not stated at all  Teaching the use of the adverbs
 Not stated at all ‘always and never’ with the modal
verb should to give advice
 Not stated at all
 Not stated at all
Three  Not mentioned at all  Not mentioned at all
 Not mentioned at all  Writing students suggestion on the
 Not mentioned at all board and assigning them with
different genres of a play
 Eliciting the characteristics of an
informal letter and make notes on
the board
Four  Not explained at all  Not mentioned at all
 Not explained at all  Revising the layout of an informal
letter, asking students to
demonstrate the layout on the
board and explaining the concept
of an agony aunt
Five  Not mentioned at all  Not mentioned at all

71
  Not mentioned at all  Reading the introduction about
 Not mentioned at all positive and negative adjectives
 Not mentioned at all and then asking them to prepare
their own advertising
 Teaching what advertising slogan
should look like
 Selecting some learners to read
their description
Six  Not mentioned at all  Not mentioned at all
 Not mentioned at all  Giving some suggested topics
 Not mentioned at all sentences, paragraph headings and
recommend/revise useful language
patterns
 Not mentioned at all
Seven  Not mentioned at all  Discussing with students on the
 Not mentioned at all questions given and then reading
 Not mentioned at all the panel while students are
 Not mentioned at all following in their books
 Not mentioned at all  Guiding students to expand notes
into summary
 Not mentioned at all
 Giving students a writing scaffold
i.e topic sentences, paragraph
headings and recommend useful
language patterns
 Reading the introductory paragraph
aloud while students follow in their
book and asking questions to check
their comprehension
Eight  Not mentioned at all  Not mentioned at all
 Not mentioned at all  Referring students to the notes on
 Not mentioned at all writing a formal letter
 Not mentioned at all
Nine  Not mentioned at all  Discussing the water cycle with the
 Not mentioned at all students and asking them to look at
 Not mentioned at all the illustration to describe what is
 Not mentioned at all happening in it
 Asking students to suggest some
descriptive adjectives and writing
them on the board
 Dictating the passage about the sea
twice
 Not mentioned at all
Ten  Not explained at all  Not explained at all
 Not explained at all  Asking questions about correct
vocabulary to complete the text

72
 Eleven  Not explained at all  Inviting students to refer the cv
 Not explained at all previously presented and asking
 Not explained at all them to write their own cv
 Writing the ideas of  Asking some of selected students
the students on the to read their letters of application
board  Asking students to interview
 Not explained at all someone at home and finding out
information listed in their book
 Writing students suggestions on
the board
 Not mentioned at all
Twelve  Not explained at all  Not explained at all
 Not explained at all  Not explained at all

The roles of the teacher is also one of the most important components that should be
considered when evaluating a given communicative writing tasks. In the current
communicative oriented language classroom, the teacher and students’ take their own roles
when performing tasks. In such communicative classes teacher has more of facilitating roles
and less controlling roles when conducting learning tasks. And teacher’s roles can varies
from one task or stage of writing to another and they can be flexible between one writing
tasks to another (Hyland, 2003).

Table 4.6 above shows the presentation of teacher’s roles in the writing tasks of grade ten
English students’ textbook and teacher’s guide. The results in the table indicate that most of
the roles of the teacher in the writing tasks are clearly stated in the teacher’s guide. This is
one of the strong side of tasks in communicative classroom because the roles that are stated
explicitly help teachers to know what is expected from them in task performing easily and at
the same time they guide teachers to take their responsibility effectively. Also the roles that
are clearly stated can help task participants in raising their awareness of performing tasks and
encourage them to do tasks accordingly. In almost all the roles stated in the table above, the
teacher has more of encouraging, eliciting, facilitating and supporting roles. That means the
writing tasks presented in the textbook give more of active roles for the learners and
facilitating roles for the teacher. For instance, “encourage students to examine information
about sport they know before, ask students to suggest a sequence of events and write

73
their suggestion on the board, assign groups of students different genres of writing to
write, elicit the characteristics of an informal letter and make notes on the board, give
the students a writing scaffold i.e topic sentence, paragraph headings and recommend
useful language patterns etc”

However, the roles of the teacher are not stated clearly in the some writing tasks found in the
teacher’s guide. For instance, in the units 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11of some writing tasks
the teacher’s roles are not clearly defined in the teacher’s guide. In addition, in the writing
tasks found in unit 12 of students’ textbook, teacher’s roles are not stated at all. If the roles of
the teacher are not stated clearly, it might create certain confusion during task performance.
Therefore, roles of the teacher might be stated clearly in the learning tasks in order to help
him/her to carryout his/her responsibility properly when performing tasks. Moreover, roles of
the teacher might be stated clearly in the writing tasks of the students’ textbook somewhat so
as to remind a teacher with his/ her roles in the situation there may be shortage of teacher’s
guide.

The other issue that is raised on the checklist is the appropriateness of teacher’s roles to the
communicative language teaching classrooms. According to the findings shown in the table
above 4.6, it is possible to say that the teacher has major roles of facilitating, providing some
information, encouraging and eliciting through writing tasks delivered in all units of the
textbook. These kinds of roles are manifested as some of basic assumptions in
communicative language teaching approach. Through the writing tasks of the textbook, the
teacher has less controlling and guiding roles. That means the tasks invite learners to be
active participants in almost all the writing tasks presented in the textbook and none of the
writing tasks allow teacher to take learners roles and time. The roles stated in the teacher’s
guide direct teacher with various methods or skills of facilitating teaching process. That
means roles indicate that what the teacher does with the tasks, how he/ she does the tasks and
why he/she does the roles. Thus, it is possible to say that the roles of the teacher given in the
teacher’s guide are appropriate to communicative language teaching and learning classrooms
because in almost all the writing tasks of the textbook, the teacher’s roles are stated more of
facilitating, encouraging and eliciting and less roles of controlling and guiding. These help
students to play active roles more and less roles for the teacher when performing tasks.

74
 4.2.5 Settings

Setting refers to where and how the learning tasks could be conducted. One aspect of setting
is the actual environments where the tasks take place. It may include such as the classroom,
library, home, multimedia centre, the language centre, and so on. In addition to the physical
atmosphere, setting also refers to the social arrangements specified or implied in the learning
tasks like individual work, pair work, small group work and whole class work (Nunan, 2004).
The following table indicates the settings of the writing tasks in grade 10 English students’
textbook.

Table 4.7 the settings of writing tasks in grade 10 English students’ textbook

Components Units The number of writing tasks The number of writing

of presented to be done as: tasks delivered to do:
communicat Individu Pair Sma Who Tot In the Out of Tot
ive tasks al work wor ll le al classroo classroo al
k grou class m m
p work
wor
k
Settings One 2 0 1 0 3 2 1 3
Two 2 2 0 0 4 3 1 4
Three 2 1 0 0 3 2 1 3
Four 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 2
Five 2 1 1 0 4 2 2 4
Six 2 0 1 0 3 3 0 3
Seven 4 0 1 0 5 4 1 5
Eight 1 0 2 0 3 3 0 3
Nine 4 0 0 0 4 4 0 4
Ten 1 0 1 0 2 1 1 2
Eleven 4 0 0 1 5 3 2 5
Twelve 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 2
Total 28 4 7 1 40 29 11 40
Percenta 70% 10% 17.5 2.5% 100 72.5% 27.5% 100
ge (%) % % %

As it is shown in the table above 4.7, majority of writing tasks (70%) were found to be
performed in individual basis. Here the writing tasks clearly ask learners to follow various
steps of writing and perform writing tasks individually. For example, “now write a short
report, combining the sentences about each country into a paragraph and adding a

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brief introduction and conclusion, write a list of rules to prevent accidents in the home,
write an informal letter from the ‘agony aunt’ giving you advice on how to deal with the
problem, choose one of the following first lines and write a story in two or three
paragraphs, using your imagination about the plot, write a story in two or three
paragraphs about the event _what happened, how you felt about it etc”. However, some
of the writing tasks (10%, 17.5% and 2.5%) were presented for the students to do in pairs, in
small groups or as a whole class work. For instance, “work with your partner to create a
short TV OR radio advertisement for a product or service, as a group write a formal
letter to Ministry of education asking for more resources for your school by giving your
own reasons for it etc”. These writing tasks encourage learners to be in pairs, in groups and
as whole class and try to discuss their ideas between or among each other and come with
written texts which manifest common effort.

According to the findings shown in the table above 4.7, it is also possible to conclude that
majority of writing tasks were designed in a suitable way to do individually. The tasks
encourage students to perform writing more of in individual manner in the classroom.
However, designing majority of the writing tasks in the textbook to be performed in
individual basis might not be appropriate for communicative oriented classroom. Even if
language theorists believe writing as a solitary activity, writing tasks in a given textbook
need to be designed by including sufficient amounts of pair, small group or whole class
works particularly in the pre and post stages of writing (Willis, 1996).

The other issue that is raised on the checklist in relation to setting of tasks is whether a given
task incorporates in classroom or out of classroom tasks. According to the evidences
indicated in the table above 4.7, most of writing tasks (72.5%) were prepared to be performed
in the classroom. However, a few of writing tasks (27.5%) were designed to be done outside
the classroom by referring different materials and web sources. On the other hand, some of
the writing tasks were prepared to be done either in the classroom or out of classroom. Thus,
the writing tasks in relation to physical setting might be stated clearly in the textbook and in
the teacher’s guide whether they are performed in the classroom or out of classroom.

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4.2.6 Teachers’ Interview Analysis on the Components of Communicative writing Tasks

The second research instrument of data collection that was employed in this study was
interview. As it was explained in the research methodology (section, 3.5.2), there were three
English language teachers who have been teaching English for grade 10 students for more
than two years. And all of these teachers are the holders of bachelor degree in English
language and literature and they have an ample experience of teaching the course for the
grade.

The first question of the interview asks the teachers whether the objectives of the writing
tasks are explained clearly or not. With respect to this item, two of the interviewees
responded that almost all objectives are explained clearly in a way students’ and teacher can
understand what to do and how to do the given writing tasks simply. They said that not only
the objectives are stated clearly in the textbook but also they are explained explicitly in the
teacher’s guide too. This is one of the good characteristics of objectives designed based on
communicative language perspectives’. However, one of the interviewee said that although
most of the objectives are stated explicitly in the textbook and teacher’s guide, there are some
objectives that are stated generally and there is no connection between objectives given and
the writing tasks in some units.

The second interview item asks teachers whether the inputs/topics of the writing tasks are
authentic or not. Among the interviewees, two of them explained that most of the inputs of
the writing tasks delivered in the textbook lack authenticity. They said that this is because
most of them are presented in the form of instruction. But one of the interviewees mentioned
that there are some inputs of the writing tasks that are used in authentic senses like data
tables, pictures, news reports and advertisements even though they are few in number. Also
the interviewee explained that delivering variety of authentic materials such as pictures, data
tables, charts, model texts, news articles, sample letters and essays are very necessary so as to
encourage our students’ interests towards writing. The other issue in relation to inputs is
whether they are interesting to students or not. All of the interviewees reacted that almost all
writing task inputs are presented in the form of instructions with few data tables, pictures,

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news reports and advertisements. As they said that most of the inputs lack authenticity and
consequently, they are not interesting to the students.

The third and fourth items emphasized on the writing activities presented in the textbook.
Are the writing activities appropriate for the communicative goal of the language? And Are
writing activities appropriate to the input data? respectively. As all those three interviewees
reflected that the writing activities in the textbook are delivered to be performed individually,
in pairs, in small groups and as a whole class work. And they said that the presentation of
writing activities in various ways initiate students to communicate and cooperate each other.
In addition, one of the interviewees stresses that one of the basic principle of current
communicative language teaching is facilitating the situation that encourages learners to
communicate their ideas freely. Also they mentioned that most of the writing activities in the
textbook go in line with current goal of communicative activities. With regarding to the
relationship between writing activities and input data, three of the interviewees explained that
almost all of the writing activities are directly or indirectly derived from the input data given
in the textbook. They said that the writing activities have appropriate connection with the
inputs delivered in the textbook.

The other issues forwarded in the interview are; whether the roles of the students’ and
teacher are stated explicitly or not? Do the writing tasks prepared to do in or out of
classroom? And do the writing tasks encourage students to do individually, in pairs or in
small groups. As all of the teachers reacted that the roles of the learners’ are stated explicitly
in the textbook as well as in the teacher’s guide. With regarding to teacher’s roles, all of the
interviewees explained that the roles of teacher are not sated at all in the textbook, however,
they are explicitly mentioned in the teacher’s guide so as to aware what roles and
responsibilities are expected from him/her when performing tasks. In relation to whether
writing tasks are designed to perform in or out of classroom, two of the interviewees
forwarded that most of tasks are prepared to be performed more of in the classroom rather
than out of class. However, one of the interviewee reacted that there are a number of writing
tasks that cannot clearly tell whether the tasks could be carried out in the classroom or out of
classroom. Moreover, the three interviewees believed that it is better if the physical settings
of the tasks are clearly defined and varied in order to encourage learners’ interests and

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 motivation. Furthermore, with regarding to whether the writing tasks initiate students to do
writing individually, in pairs or in small groups, all of the interviewees mentioned that most
of the writing tasks presented in the textbook emphasize on individual works rather than pair
or small group works. They said that is one of the drawbacks of writing tasks in the textbook.
In addition, the three interviewees suggested that rather having many of individual works’ it
is advisable if the writing tasks are presented in the form of pair or small group works. This
is because pair or small group works initiate students’ to be together and share information
and through it they could work better rather than being alone. They also said that pair or
small group works give right opportunity for the students to build their self confidence
through doing tasks together.

4.2.7 Learners’ Responses on the components of communicative writing tasks

Questionnaire was the third instrument that was employed in this study to gather information
from the students on their reactions to components of communicative writing tasks in their
textbook.

Table 4.8 Learners’ reactions on the components of communicative writing tasks

Components of Percentage SA (5) A (4) UD SD(2) D Total

No. communicative (%) (3) (1)
tasks
Goals
1. The goals/objectives Frequency 20 14 2 3 1 40
of the writing tasks % 50 35 5 7.5 2.5 100
are explained clearly
for me.
2. The goals of writing Frequency 10 8 1 14 7 40
tasks are appeared in % 25 20 2.5 35 17.5 100
interesting and
motivating way for
me.
Inputs
3. The inputs of writing Frequency 6 7 3 16 8 40
tasks are interesting % 15 17.5 7.5 40 20 100
to me.
4. The inputs of writing Frequency 8 9 1 16 6 40
tasks in the textbook % 20 22.5 2.5 40 15 100
are based on

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 genuine/real world
perspective to initiate
me to communicate
through writing.
5. There are appropriate Frequency 18 14 2 3 3 40
interactions between % 45 35 5 7.5 7.5 100
the inputs and goals
of writing tasks in the
textbook.
Activities
6. The writing activities Frequency 17 16 1 6 0 40
of the textbook have % 42.5 40 2.5 15 0 100
appropriate
relationship with the
goals/objectives.
7. The writing activities Frequency 7 6 0 13 14 40
are prepared in a way % 17.5 15 0 32.5 35 100
to stimulate me to
communicate and do
in an individual,
pair/group basis.
8. The writing activities Frequency 9 8 1 15 7 40
are designed by % 22.5 20 2.5 37.5 17.5 100
combining phases of
writing (a pre, while
&post) to enhance
writing abilities of
me.
Roles
9. The roles of the Frequency 17 15 3 3 2 40
students’ are clearly % 42.5 37.5 7.5 7.5 5 100
mentioned in the
writing tasks of the
textbook.
10. The teacher’s roles Frequency 6 4 2 20 8 40
are clearly stated in % 15 10 2.5 50 20 100
the writing tasks of
the textbook.
Settings
11. The writing tasks in Frequency 11 4 3 14 8 40
the textbook are % 27.5 10 7.5 35 20 100
designed in suitable
way for the students
to write in the
classroom and out of
classroom.

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12. The writing tasks are Frequency 3 5 0 15 0 40
appropriately % 7.5 12.5 0 37.5 0 100
designed in the
textbook for me to do
individually, pair or
group basis.

As it is shown in the table above 4.8, the responses for item 1indicate that 50% and 35% of
the learners have reacted strongly agree and agree respectively where as 7.5% and 2.5% have
responded strongly disagree and disagree respectively. The remaining 5% of the students did
not indicate their reactions for the item. The responses of the participants show that almost
85% of them proved that the objectives of the writing tasks are explained clearly in the
textbook. In relation to the second item, which is whether the objectives of writing tasks are
appeared in interesting and motivating way to the learners or not, 25%, 20%, 35% and 17.5%
have reacted strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree and disagree respectively. But the rest
2.5% of the respondents did not show their views for the item. Thus, the result implies that
more than half of the respondents (52.5%) indicate the objectives of the writing tasks are not
appeared in interesting and motivating way for them.

For the third question which asks learners whether the inputs (topics) of the writing tasks
presented in the textbook are interesting or authentic to them or not, 15%, 17.5%, 40% and
20% of them have responded strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree and disagree
respectively while the remaining 7.5% of the respondents indicate they are unable to decide.
Therefore, majority (60%) of the respondents indicated their disagreement, i.e the inputs of
the writing tasks presented in the textbook are not interesting and motivating. For the fourth
item, 20%, 22.5%, 40% and 15% have responded strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree and
disagree respectively. This implies that more than half of the students (55%) stated their
disagreement. That means they reacted that more of the inputs of the writing tasks in the
textbook are not based on genuine or real world perspective. As a result, it is possible to say
that more of writing task inputs are not authentic because more than half (55%) of the
students shown their disagreement for the item. The finding for item 5, indicates that 45%,
35%, 7.5% and 7.5% have responded strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree and disagree
respectively where as the remaining 5% retain undecided. Concerning item 5, almost (80%)
of the students have responded the inputs have appropriate interactions with the objectives

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given in the textbook. Therefore, it is possible to say inputs have direct relationship with the
objectives forwarded.

Concerning item 6, majority of the participants (82.5%) have confirmed that writing
activities have appropriate relationship with the objectives given in the textbook. However,
the remaining 15% and 2.5% have responded strongly disagree and undecided. The results
for item 7in the table above shows 17.5% and 15% of the students have responded strongly
agree and agree that writing activities in the textbook initiate them to perform individually, in
pairs or in small groups. However, majority of the respondents (67.5%) shown their
disagreement i.e they have responded that writing activities do not encourage them to do
cooperatively. Thus, based on the students’ responses, it is possible to conclude that more of
the writing activities in the textbook do not invite them to do in pairs and small groups.

The data analysis for question 8 was intended to identify whether the writing activities are
designed by combining the three phases of writing or not. Based on the finding mentioned in
the table above, 22.5% and 20% of the respondents have responded strongly agree and agree
respectively. However, the rest 37.5%, 17.5%, 2.5% have responded strongly disagree,
disagree and undecided in the design of writing activities with regarding to combination of
the three phases of writing. Therefore, based on students’ responses, it is possible to say that
majority of the writing activities did not incorporate the three phases of writing in order to
enhance their writing skills because more than half (55%) of them indicated their
disagreement.

For item 9, 42.5% and 37.5% of the students have responded strongly agree and agree
respectively. However, the remaining 7.5%, 5%, 7.5% of the respondents have reacted
strongly disagree, disagree and unable to state their decision. Thus, based on the result, it is
possible to conclude that the roles of the students are explained explicitly in almost all of the
writing tasks in the textbook. Moreover, the finding for item 10 shows that 15% and 10% of
the respondents have responded strongly agree and agree respectively where as 50%, 20%,
5% have reacted strongly disagree, disagree and undecided. This implies that the teacher’s
roles are not explained well in the writing tasks presented in the textbook.

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Question 11 was intended to check whether the writing tasks are designed in a suitable way
for the learners to perform in or out of classroom or not. For this item 27.5% and 10% of the
students have responded strongly agree and agree respectively while 35% and 20% have
answered strongly disagree and disagree respectively. Based on their responses it is possible
to say that most of the writing activities are prepared to do in the classroom rather than out of
class because more than half (55%) of students indicated their disagreement on the item. On
the last item the students are asked whether the writing tasks are appropriately designed to do
individually, in pairs or in small groups or not. 7.5% and 12.5% of the students have reacted
strongly agree and agree respectively. On the other hand, the remaining 37.5% and 42.5% of
the students have responded strongly disagree and disagree respectively. This implies that
almost (80%) of the students have responded that writing tasks in the textbook are designed
to do more of individually rather than in pairs or small groups because more of them
indicated their disagreement.

4.3 Evaluation of Nature of Writing Tasks based on criteria’s set for

communicative tasks
4.3.1 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding motivational value

As it was mentioned in the review of related literature, motivation is one of the most
important aspects of a good writing task that plays a necessary role in language teaching and
learning environment. Willis (1996) states that motivation is one of important situations for
effective language learning and it is a key factor that leads to success in language learning.
Harmer (1991) also stresses motivation as some kind of internal drive which encourages
someone to continue doing a course of action. If students notice a goal which is something
they want to achieve and if that goal is sufficiently interesting, they will be highly motivated
to do whatever is necessary to encounter that goal. This shows if learners are strongly
motivated, they succeed regardless of the methods used or the situation in which they learn.
Thus, to attain this aim, the writing tasks delivered in the textbook should address learners’
interests and they are highly motivating and appealing so as to steer them towards the
activities. For instance; the writing task in unit 1, under B1.8, page 13, asks students to write
a short report about an African nations’ cup between 1990-2010 by using data table given in
the textbook. Let us see it:

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In this kind of writing task, learners are highly motivated to perform the delivered activities
accordingly. The activity itself initiates them to do because it is based on interesting data
table. As it was mentioned in the review of related literature, graphic tables, charts, model
texts and picture data are very important to appeal students’ interests and motivation and they
help them to engage in the writing tasks easily. Also the issue forwarded in the table is about
sport in which learners at this grade level are highly interested to listen, talk, read and write
about.

Similarly, in Unit 6, under B 6.8, page 108, students are provided a data table to write a
report to their school newspaper or drugs club about the use of chat in Ethiopia. It says like
as follows:

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Here, students are asked to prepare a report on the use of chat in Ethiopia based on data table.
The learners are provided the information which is important to write a report for the
newspaper in their school. This issue is again related with the students at this grade level too
because as it is mentioned in the data table the age of chat users is beginning from 17-40.
Thus, if the issue is related with them, it is not as such difficult to write whatever they know
about it. As it was stated in the review of related literature, presenting information in the
form of data table, charts, picture and photos are very helpful to address students with
different preferences of learning.

Moreover, in unit 4, under A4.9 (page, 66) students are asked to write sentences which tell
the story what is happening on the pictures given in the textbook. Let us see it:

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This type of writing activity is very helpful in motivating students to write appropriate texts
by observing data given rather than ordering them to write merely a story. Also these kinds
of data are very important to arose learners’ interests because it is based on attractive
pictures. As it was mentioned in the review of related literature, there are many ways of
motivating students, but one of the most important is making the activities and lessons
attractive and interesting (Ur,1996). Thus, picture data are one of authentic materials that
help to enhance students’ interests and motivation in performing writing tasks. And they are

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very important to appeal learners’ interests to engage in writing activities. In addition, the
inclusion of such authentic materials in the textbook is helpful so as to address students’ with
diverse needs and preferences rather than dominant use of instructions only.

Similarly, in unit 9, under B9.1 (page, 162) students are given pictures in order to label them
with the sea. It says like:

Here, students are asked to label pictures with the sea. In this type of activities students could
get a good opportunity to produce an effective written texts by using the picture data because
this kind of data are helpful in enhancing their interests and motivation during performing
tasks rather than tasks which ask them to write something without providing sufficient
amounts of clues.

However, in many more of the writing tasks in the textbook; the students are ordered to
perform similar activities in repeated fashion. The presentation of similar activities
sometimes might bore learners to be involved actively in doing tasks. This may be due to
some of the tasks under the writing lessons of some units that are appeared repeatedly and
not helpful to address the needs and interests of different learners emphasizing on artistic
writing. For example; the writing tasks like “write a story, write a report and write an
informal or formal letters…” are delivered again and again in the writing sections of Unit 2,

87
3, 4, 9, 11; 1, 6, 7, 10 and 3, 4, 7, 11, 12 respectively. If the tasks are appeared repeatedly,
they might diminish the motivation of the students to be involved actively in doing activities
directly or indirectly. Lack of providing sufficient amount of motivating activities may even
affect students with known abilities of performing activities. Regarding to this, Willis (1996)
states that motivation is one of the necessary situations for effective language learning and it
is a key factor to success in language learning. If the tasks are motivating to do, the students
will be highly interested to continue performing the activities and use the language outside
classroom. Motivation of activities is one of the most important factors that is very helpful to
attain the objective of language learning.

In addition to repetition, some other writing tasks in the textbook stress on the grammatical
aspects of language and emphasize on simple utilization of writing and communicating. For
instance; writing activities in unit 8, B8.7 (page, 151) and in unit 11, B11.9 (page, 205) say
like as follows:

88
Here in the first activity above, in the writing section of unit 8, the students are ordered to
change the verbs given in the brackets into their correct verb tenses and complete the text. In

89
addition, in the second writing activity of unit 11, the learners are asked to complete the story
of a thrust crow with the discourse markers given in the box. In both texts the students are
invited to practice grammatical aspects of language to a large extent and the activities are not
such an appealing to the students. The activities emphasize on the restricted facts and do not
let students to reflect their views about the topics raised in the situations. Also the activities
simply invite learners aware about the grammatical aspects of language rather than letting
them practice writing by forwarding their opinions in the way they prefer.

Moreover, some other writing activities in the textbook ask students to complete the passages
with the words given in the boxes. For instance; in unit 9, A9.9, page 161 and in unit 10,
B10.3, page 185 the students are ordered to fill the blank spaces in the passages with the
words given. Here also the activities do not give rooms for the students to practice writing
rather they just order them to complete the passage with the words forwarded in the boxes.

4.3.2 Evaluation of writing tasks in terms of integration with other language skills

Integration in language teaching and learning setting refers to the linking of macro skills
(listening, reading, speaking and writing) and micro skills (grammar and vocabulary)
together in interwoven manner. It is the widely practiced method of language teaching in the
world now a day. As it was mentioned in the review of related literature, in real life
communication situation of language teaching and learning process, students rarely practice
only one language skill. They rather use skills in integrated way. When learners perform one
skill activity, they directly or indirectly use other language skills in integrative manner
(Harmer, 1991).Thus, language skills should be interwoven each other and delivered in a
context that is suitable for the students to learn one skill when practicing other skill task. In
grade 10 English for Ethiopia students’ textbook, most of the writing tasks are integrated
with other language skills such as reading, listening, speaking etc. For instance, let us look at
the following writing tasks:

1. “Read the story of the accident again and then make a summary of what
happened, using the following frame. First Ayantu, next she…” (Unit 2, page,
22).

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 2. “Using the list of First Aid instructions in A2.4 as a model, write some simple
instructions to say what to do for the patient.” (Unit 2, page, 25).
3. “Read out your story to your group.”(Unit 3, page, 40).
4. “Read the above advertisements again and complete the chart below with
examples.” (Unit 5, page, 81).
5. “Read this short text about camels. Decide on: 1. a title 2. Sub headings.” (Unit
7, page, 124).
6. “Read the following report about the 2010 Haiti earth quake and summarize the
main information using bulletin points.” (Unit 7, page, 126).
7. “Read the following formal letter to the times and answer the following
questions.” (Unit 7, page, 134).
8. “Read both texts in B10.2 again and complete the following passage about
energy with words from the box.” (Unit 10, page, 185).
9. “Using letter 3 in Reading A11.7 write a similar letter of application for one of
the jobs advertised in Reading A11.6.” (Unit 11, page, 198).

According to the above sample activities, the learners are asked to write various writing texts
using texts in reading sections as a guide line. For instance, in activity 1above, learners are
asked to write a summary of what happened in the story presented in the previous reading
text “Ayantu to the rescue” by using sequencing words like first, then, next… in unit 2, page
22 of the textbook. In activity 2, learners are asked to write some simple instructions to avoid
accidents that occurred at home depending on model available in reading section of the unit.
In activity 3, first the learners are ordered to write a story and then read what they write to
their groups. In activity 4, learners are asked to read the advertisements in reading section
“Authentic adverts” and complete the chart in writing section depending on it. In activity 5,
learners are asked to decide on heading and sub headings of reading texts about camels. In
activity 6, learners are asked to read the text about “Haiti earth quake” then summarize the
main ideas using bulletin points. In activity 7, learners are ordered to read the formal letter to
the times and based on it answer questions following. In activity 8, learners are ordered to
read two texts in reading section as a reference and complete the passage about energy with
the words given in the box. In activity 9, learners are asked to use the letter in reading section

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as a model and ordered to write similar letter of application for one of the jobs advertised in
reading section. Thus, these activities imply that there is high integration between reading
and writing. As a result, the students can get information from the activities in reading
section to develop their ideas during writing. Moreover, when learners are practicing reading
skill activity, they can get an opportunity to communicate and develop their writing ability.

10. “Your teacher will dictate some sentences connected to the sea. Listen, and then
write down each sentence.” (Unit 9, page, 162).

Here in activity 10 above, learners are asked to listen the sentences that their teacher dictates
about the pictures and then write each of them. This implies us that writing is integrated with
listening and this can help students to get ideas from the listening texts when writing.

11. “… Work in pairs to write a conversation between yourself and the nurse at the
clinic who gives you first aid after you have broken your arm. Then act out your
play to the class.” (Unit 2, page, 27).
12. “Perform your play to the rest of the class. The other groups in the class must
guess what kind of play you are performing, and give their opinions about it,
saying whether they liked the play and why.” (Unit 3, page, 49).
13. “Draw and write your advertisement on a large piece of paper and present it to
the rest of the class.” (Unit 5, page, 82).
14. “Discuss with your group which of these four points you think would produce
the greatest number of sales for a local product.” (Unit 5, page, 84).
15. “Write a scene between a drug dealer and someone who refusing it… then act
out your play before the class …” (unit 6, page, 97).
16. “Write a report setting out your suggestions or recommendations about your
chosen issue and present it to the class.” (Unit 8, page, 145).

Furthermore, the evidences given above show that there is an integration between speaking
and writing skill activities in the textbook. In all the activities 11-16, students are asked to
write something and then deliver what they write to the class whether individually, in pairs or
groups. These kinds of activities are very important for the students because they help them

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to get additional information to build their writing. Based on the activities sampled above, it
is possible to conclude that writing skill is integrated with other macro or micro language
skills in one way or other. Atkins et.al (1996) state that whether outside or inside classroom,
language skills are always integrated one with other directly or indirectly. In addition, writing
is inevitably integrated with other language skills. And in the classroom it often comes after
lessons using other skills. Moreover, it is not possible to learn to write at any stage unless one
can also read. This means someone need to read something before he/she writes something,
and then as a writer he/she knows and how he/she will understand and react to what is
produced. Finally, one can improve his/her writing by modeling it with reading text (Meron,
2015).

4.3.3 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding to an illicitness of real communication

As it was stated in the review of related literature, language classroom is a place where that is
intended to equip learners for real communication outside the classroom. Since the
authenticity of tasks is a defining feature of communicative language teaching approach, an
issue which soon emerged was the relationship between classroom tasks and real life
communication. Authentic tasks give an opportunity for the students to practice listening to
and reading real language taken from different sources. And allowing students to practice
authentic materials will help them to become familiar with real communication outside the
classroom. Also authentic materials may have the language features that are different from
the ones that might emphasize on the specific language class. Some language theorists argue
that classroom tasks should as far as possible mirror the real world and use of real world
language. When we design writing tasks, we need to create tasks that are as close to real life
as possible and come out with a sort of purposes learners might have for writing outside the
language classroom. These may include tasks like form filling, letter writing, report writing,
writing short essays etc. Thus, when we evaluate a kind of writing tasks, we have to consider
whether or not the sort of them being set is realistic to our students. Let us see the following
activities as evidences:

 “Now write a short report, combining the sentences about each country into a
paragraph and adding a brief introduction and conclusion.” (Unit 1, page, 13)

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  “Look at the following information about the use of chat in Ethiopia. Using
the data from the table, prepare a report for your school newspaper or drugs
club.” (Unit 6, page, 108)
 “Now write a similar news report for the BBC or a newspaper about the
Indonesian tsunami, see A7.8, using discourse makers such as moreover,
however, in addition, consequently, etc. to help structure your report and join
two ideas together.” (Unit 7, page, 126)
 “Work in small groups to write a report on energy in Ethiopia, giving
suggestions and recommendations for the use and improvements of local
energy supplies.” (Unit 10, page, 181)

Report writing is one of the very important writing activities that can be exercised by
students outside the classroom when they are engaged in different projects and laboratory
works on other school subjects like biology, chemistry and physics as well as field works in
others. Even in language courses too, students might be given different activities to do and to
come up with a report together with oral presentation. For instance, in the first activity above,
students are asked to write a report about African nations’ cup based on data table given in
the textbook. In the second activity, students are asked to prepare a report about the usage of
chat in Ethiopia for their school newspaper or drugs club using table data. In third activity,
students are ordered to write a news report for the BBC or a newspaper about the Indonesian
tsunami looking at sample report given in the previous page. In fourth activity, students are
asked to write a report on energy usage in Ethiopia, giving their own suggestions and
recommendations for future ratification of local energy supplies. An attempt to link
classroom activities with activities outside classroom is one of the crucial features of
communicative language teaching principle (Nunan, 1991). Thus, these kinds of writing
activities are very important in order to elicit the use of the target language task outside the
classroom.

 “Work with your partner to create a short TV or Radio advertisement for

a product or service. It could be a house hold product, a hotel or café, a
bank or something else.” (unit 5, page, 82)

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Here also the students are ordered to engage in real world activity. In the activity, students
are asked to select a product or service first they are going to advertise; it may be a house
hold product, a hotel or café, a bank etc, and then prepare advertisement of it and present it to
the rest of the class. Students might have an interest to perform this activity because this kind
of activity is common to be practiced outside the classroom. In relation to this, Nunan (2004)
states that the linking of classroom language learning with language outside the classroom is
one of the principles of communicative language teaching.

Moreover, there are some other writing tasks in the textbook that initiate students to engage
in the real world writing outside the classroom. For instance, in the pages 52, unit 3, 71, unit
4, 145, unit 8, 198, unit 11, 223, unit 12, students are ordered to write informal and formal
letters on different subjects. These are other kinds of writing tasks in which the students are
engaged in their day to day life outside the classroom. Apart from this, in unit 11, page 198,
students are ordered to write their own curriculum vitae based on the sample given in the
textbook. This kind of activity can be practiced by the students when they apply for a certain
job outside the classroom. Furthermore, in unit 7, page, 125, students are asked to make a
summary of a news report and in unit 11, page, 200, they are asked to interview someone
around their homes; it could be their mother or father, relative or a friend about their job and
write a report of it in the form of composition. Therefore, when students are engaged in these
kinds of writing activities in the classroom, they could get an experience to perform them in
the real world.

Generally, there are many more of the writing tasks in the textbook that elicit real world
communication outside the classroom. As it was mentioned in the review of related literature,
classroom writing tasks should as far as possible reflect the real world and use of real world
language. Also when preparing writing tasks, it is advisable to consider the tasks need to
have some purposes that might initiate students to write outside the language classroom. And
writing tasks should be really communicative and promote language use; this provides an
opportunity for the students to have interest to communicate and express their ideas through
writing (Harmer, 1991).

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4.3.4 Evaluation of writing tasks in terms of suitability to do individually, in pairs or small
groups
Tasks in communicative language teaching and learning class should be designed to be done
in various ways like individually, in pairs or small groups. When students perform tasks in
different modes, they can get an opportunity to learn different skills of handling tasks. As
Hadfield cited in Hyland, (2003) states that both pair and group work encourage the sharing
of information and dramatically increase the amount of interaction in planning, researching
and editing, with different opinions and contributions brought to the writing task. On the
other hand, Hyland (2003) explains the importance of including individual activities in
writing so as to help students with different needs and interests like this “not all learners are
comfortable working in groups, however, and others may dislike individualized learning.”
Therefore, the writing tasks should be flexible and varied in order to address students with
different learning preferences.

Table 4.9 Number of writing tasks designed to be performed individually, in pairs/small

groups and whole class work

Units Number of writing tasks to be done as:

Individual Pair/small group work Whole class Total
work work
One 2 1 0 3
Two 2 2 0 4
Three 2 1 0 3
Four 2 0 0 2
Five 2 2 0 4
Six 2 1 0 3
Seven 4 1 0 5
Eight 1 2 0 3
Nine 4 0 0 4
Ten 1 1 0 2
Eleven 4 0 1 5
Twelve 2 0 o 2
Total 28 11 1 40
Percentage 70% 27.5% 2.5% 100
(%)

As it can be observed from the table 4.9 above, 27.5% of the writing tasks in the textbook are
suitable to be performed in pairs/small groups where as 70% of them are preferably promote

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the use of individual work. And the rest 2.5% of the writing tasks are designed to be done as
a whole class work. Similarly, as it was clearly shown in the tables 4.7 above, under setting
evaluation, most of the writing tasks in the textbook are designed to be done more of
individually rather than in pairs/small groups. As theorists of communicative language
teaching approach reveal that tasks in communicative language classroom promote the use of
pair /small group work so as to help students to perform tasks together and as a result they
communicate their ideas freely. About the importance of pair/group work, Hedge (1988)
states that collaborative writing in the classroom generates discussions that encourage an
effective process of writing. This would let students exchange their texts or compositions so
that they become readers of each other’s work. This is an important part of the writing
experiences because it is by responding as readers that learners will enhance awareness of the
fact that someone is writing something to be read by someone else. Moreover, when students
work in pairs/small groups to write about something each and every student in the group
would get an opportunity to contribute something either in generating ideas or correcting
grammar so that their writing skill will be improved.

However, according to the result mentioned in the table 4.9 above, majority (70%) of the
writing tasks are designed to be done in an individual basis. This implies that low
consideration is given for pair/small group works in the writing tasks of the textbook. For
instance, here below are some of the few evidences as samples:

“…write a short report, combining the sentences about each country into a
paragraph and adding a brief introduction and conclusion.”(Unit 1, page, 13)

“Write a short informal letter of two to three paragraphs about the main character
in one of the stories in this unit, giving your own opinion of the situation and your
advice about it.”(Unit 2, page, 52)

“Write three paragraphs about the story of a river, from its source in the mountains to
its delta. Use as many descriptive adjectives as you can.” (Unit 9, page, 161)

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“Imagine you were a passenger on board the Titanic. Write a story in two or three
paragraphs about the event-what happened, how you felt about it etc.” (Unit 9, page,
164)

As it is shown in these examples above, majority of writing tasks in the textbook are not
designed to be performed in pairs/small groups.

4.3.5 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding to purposefulness

In the communicative language classroom any written task should have some purposes that
encourage students to write and communicate their ideas with someone. If a task is to be
really communicative and promote language use, the learners should have a desire to
communicate and they should have a purpose for using the language, and this purpose should
be most important part of the communication (Harmer, 1991). Thus, the students’ attention
should be emphasized on content, what is being said or written rather than language form that
is being used. If learners are to develop writing skill, they need to work on well designed
writing tasks in the classroom as well as out of classroom based on purposes that should be
achieved easily. Let us see the following writing tasks as an example:

a. “Work in pairs to think about warnings you would give to people of your own age
to help them avoid danger or difficulty. Write these sentences as models, and
illustrate them with your own pictures.” (Unit 4, page, 66)
b. “In your group, write a scene between a drug dealer, and someone who is
refusing to take drugs. What arguments would the drug dealer choose? What
arguments would you choose to counteract those of the drug dealer? Then act out
your play before the class. You could also invite other classes to watch your
performance.” (Unit 6, page, 97)
c. “Work in your group to brainstorm the different points you would like to make
to the Ministry of Education about one of the issues above. Then as a group, write
a formal letter asking for more resources for your school, and giving reasons why
he should agree to your request.” (Unit 8, page, 145)

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 d. “Work in small groups to write a report on energy in Ethiopia, giving suggestions
and recommendations for the use and improvements of local energy supplies.”
(Unit 10, page, 181)
e. “Interview someone you know at home (it could be your mother or father,
another relative or a friend) about their job. Find out about:
a. Their duties
b. The qualifications required
c. Personal qualities necessary for the job
d. The advantages and disadvantages of the job

6. “Write an informal letter to a friend about your experiences in grade 10. Include
information about your studies, learning strategies and goals during the year, and your
hopes or fears for the next year.” (Unit 12, page, 223)

In activity 1, students are invited to write some warnings to help other people avoid danger or
difficulty around their homes by illustrating them with their own pictures. On number 2,
students are asked to write a scene between a drug dealer and someone who is refusing to
take it and then act out it in front of their class and convince them not to take part in taking
drugs. Activity 3, lets students to write a formal letter to Ministry of Education to ask for
more resources that are important for the improvements of their school and support their
ideas with reasons. Here, the students are not only ordered to write formal letter to Ministry
of Education and report the problems of their school, they also take part in solving the
problems by suggesting what things should be improved in their school. The fourth activity
lets students to prepare a report on the use of energy in Ethiopia and at the same time they are
ordered to suggest or recommend for further improvements of local energy supplies. The
fifth activity invites students to interview someone around their homes about the situation of
their jobs and write a report of it in the form of composition. Moreover, the sixth activity lets
students to write an informal letter to their friend about their experiences in grade 10 and
include information about their studies, learning strategies, goals of the year and what they
hope or fear in the coming year. All of the activities sampled above have clear purposes that
go beyond the classroom. And all of them let students to write different texts purposefully
rather than ordering them to manipulate language structure in writing. However, there are

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some other writing tasks that lack clear purposes and only require students to manipulate
language structures without giving much emphasis to meaning and communication aspects of
writing. For instance, sentences writing, filling blank spaces with the words given etc. From
this, it is possible to conclude that although most of the writing tasks in the textbook have
clear purposes, there are still some other writing tasks that lack clear purposes that go beyond
classroom and need special attention.

4.3.6 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding to meaningfulness

Task meaningfulness is other important feature of writing tasks in communicative language

classroom. In the classes where communicative language teaching approach is practiced,
learning tasks should be selected according to how well they engage students in meaningful
and real language use rather than tasks which merely promote mechanical practice of
language structure (Johnson, 1982 and Little wood, 1982 cited in Richard and Rogers,
2001).That means in the classrooms where communicative language teaching is practiced,
the main focus of learning task is on meaningful practice of language that look like practice
in real world rather than mere practice of language pattern. Most of the writing tasks
presented in grade 10 English students’ textbook are meaningful to the learners. Here below
are some of them as evidences:

1. “Work in groups to write some paragraphs to describe your favorite sport,

following the seven stages of writing: think, brainstorm, plan, draft, check,
rewrite, proofread. Include your reasons why young people should do exercise
and try to persuade them to take up your chosen sport.”
Suggested paragraphs topics might be:
Introduction
Favorite sport
Why exercise is important, etc. (Unit 1, page, 7)
2. Have you ever had an accident? Work in pairs to write a conversation between
yourself and the nurse at the clinic who gives you first aid after you have broken
your arm. Then act out your play to the class. (unit 2, p 27)

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3.“Write a description of two to three paragraphs about a ceremony you have
attended, for example, a school prize giving, a wedding, the presentation of a sports
trophy, etc. Then exchange your work with a partner. Your partner must check your
paragraph and suggest improvements, for example, by inserting an extra adverb or
adjective, improving sentences and proofreading the work by checking the spelling and
punctuation.” (Unit 12, page, 213)

Here in the first activity, students are asked to describe their favorite sport by passing through
different steps of writing like planning, drafting, rewriting etc. And they are ordered to
persuade their readers by reasoning out why young people take part in the chosen sport. In
the activity, it is free for the students to choose any sport they are favorite with and convince
others to participate in it by including facts and opinions about it rather than imposing them
to practice language structure. In the second activity above, students are asked to write a
conversation between oneself and the nurse at the clinic who gives them first aid by
imagining that they have broken their arm. The third activity lets students to write their ideas
on the given title “The world is a more dangerous place than 50 years ago.” Here the students
have high opportunity to express their opinions about the world they are living in rather than
mechanical aspects of language. The fourth activity invites students to write a descriptive
essay about one of the ceremony that they have attended such as a school prize giving, a
wedding, sports trophy etc. In this activity, first of all students are free to choose the
ceremony they have taken part and write their ideas about it without any limitation of their
opinions. This activity is not a structure focused activity that limits the learners emphasize on
language form rather than it lets them to write their ideas about a ceremony that they have
attended in their own ways. Moreover, this kind of writing activity initiates learners to take
part in creative writing.

Generally, the above evidences show that the writing tasks mentioned as examples do not
emphasize on language structure rather they open rooms for the students to engage in the
creative writing like writing an essay about their favorite sport, a conversation between
oneself and the nurse in the clinic based on the situation given, a guided essay on the topic
given and a descriptive essay about a ceremony they have attended. Further, all of the writing
tasks sampled above are not based on language form rather they are communicative,

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authentic and meaningful for the students. That means the activities let learners to express
their ideas freely rather than limited practice of language form. This is very helpful to
actively engage learners in creative writing based on the situations given that encourage them
sharing of ideas each other.

4.3.7 Evaluation of writing tasks regarding to inclusion of stages of writing

(Pre, while and post)

As it was mentioned in the review of related literature, an activity that is designed well
should include the three phases of writing i.e a pre, while and post. Even though we find
different theories, language methodologists generally agree that a task need to combine an
introduction, a task itself and a feed back. The pre task stage introduces (familiarizes) the
task to the students. Similarly, the activities in this stage are to give relevant exposure for the
learners on the topic of language and to create interest in doing the task (Willis, 1996). While
stage is the stage where the students perform the actual task. It is also the stage in which the
learners tried to do the main learning task that may include processing, producing and
interacting in the target language. A post phase is a stage where the teacher assesses the task
outcomes and gives constructive feedback to the students. Thus, regarding to the stages of
writing, most of the writing tasks in the textbook tried to promote the uses of pre and while
stages of tasks; however, to some extent the post stages of writing are not explicitly
mentioned. Let us see the following writing tasks as examples:

 “Work in groups to write some paragraphs to describe your favorite sport

following the seven stages of writing: think, brainstorm, plan, draft, check,
rewrite, proofread. Include your reasons why young people should do exercise
and try to persuade them to take up your chosen sport.”(Unit 1, page, 7)

 “Imagine you were a passenger on board the Titanic. Write a story in two or
three paragraphs about the event – what happened, how you felt about it,
etc.” (Unit 9, page, 164)

In the above example 1, students are asked to write about their favorite sports following
different steps of writing like think, plan, draft etc. Similarly, in the second example above

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students are asked to write a story in two or three paragraphs by imagining they were a
passenger on the board the Titanic. In both activities students are provided with the while
tasks without a pre and a post task that give them opportunity to be familiar with the task,
procedural aspects of the task and provide them feedback. Besides, both activities seem to
focus on pushing students towards performing tasks rather than letting them to practice
writing by giving sufficient clues/ details and illustrations. In addition, there are other writing
activities that are delivered in different units of the textbook which ask students to write
various written texts without any oral or written guide that help them to go further through
the given task. For instance, the writing tasks in unit 2, B2.9, unit 3, A3.10, unit 6, A6.10,
B6.8, unit 8, B8.7, unit 12, A12.7 and B12.9. In these all writing tasks, students are asked to
write different written texts without any pre and post task phases. However, there are some
other writing tasks that combine a pre and a while phases together in the textbook. Let us see
the following tasks as an example:

A5.8 Writing: Advertising a product

1. When writing an advertisement, we can use positive or negative adjectives to

describe the product and to make it more appealing. Positive adjectives stand
alone. They do not compare the noun/pronoun with any other. Even though they
are called “positive” adjectives they can describe something negative.

a. Underline the adjectives in these sentences and decide whether they are
positive or negative.

1. This watch is really cheap.

2. He is very trustworthy.

3. He is often very rude about other people.

4. She is very selfish and tight- fisted.

5. My friend is generous to a fault.

6. He can be very inconsiderate at times.

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 b. Work in pairs to write some advertising slogans using the adjectives in the
box below.

Amazing excellent expensive fantastic

Useless efficient fast time- consuming

2. Work with your partner to create a short TV or Radio advertisement of a

product or service. It could be a household product, a beauty product, a hotel or
café, a bank or something else. Follow these steps:

 Choose your product.

 Decide what you want to say about it. Remember to use the kind of
language and information we have looked at above: extreme adjectives,
imperatives, so or such and a jingle in your description to help persuade
someone to buy the product.

 Decide on the picture you want to go with it.

 Draw and write your advertisement on a large piece of paper and

present it to the rest of the class.

A8.8 Writing: Health issues

1. Work in your group to discuss one of the following issues related to gender and
health education.

 Early sexual relation between boys and girls

 How to deal with infectious diseases

 How illiteracy affects health education

 The effects of poverty and malnutrition on health

 Sanitation in schools

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  Disease prevention and control in rural areas

2. Write a report setting out your suggestions or recommendations about your

chosen issue and present it to the class.

As it is seen in the above two examples, there are clear a pre and while task stages
accordingly. In the first example, students are told about positive or negative adjectives that
are used in advertising a product or service. Also they are given some example activities and
exercises on how to advertise products or service. Then in a while task stage, they are
ordered to create a short TV or Radio advertisement for a product or service following
different guidelines given in the textbook. Similarly, in the second example above, in a pre
writing stage (1), students are asked to discuss about gender and health issues in groups.
Then in a while task stage (2), students are asked to write a report on the one of the issues
they have discussed in pre task stage. Furthermore, in few writing tasks of the textbook,
students are asked to follow the three stages of the writing when performing writing
activities. Let us see evidence of these activities as an example:

B11.6 Writing: A guided essay

1. You are going to write an essay entitled who you know is more important than
what you know. Read the seven steps to write an essay in unit 7, B7.6, again.
Then work in groups to identify topic sentences, paragraph headings and
useful language patterns, as well as useful ideas and vocabulary from this unit
to use in your essay.

2. Your teacher will write the ideas from the different groups on the board.
Decide as a class which ideas you think are best and use these as a scaffold to
support you in writing the first draft of your essay in five paragraphs.
Remember to include an introduction and conclusion.

3. Give your partner the first draft of your essay who you know is more
important than what you know and ask your partner to correct it, looking
especially at spelling, punctuation, grammar, content, layout, etc. you can then

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 make the suggested corrections and submit the final draft to your teacher.
When suggesting corrections use your own personal marking scheme
(example: T= tense error, Sp =spelling, etc.).

In the above example writing activity, in number 1, students are asked to read steps of
writing first of all before they write an essay on the given title. Then they are ordered to work
on an extraction of topic sentences, paragraph headings and useful language patterns etc.
These all of them are a pre writing tasks that are helpful for the students to get ideas about
how to write an essay on the given title. That means they familiarize students with the title
given. In number 2, students are ordered to write an essay using the ideas they discussed in a
pre task stage. Here the students have an opportunity to have multi drafts, this means in other
word it is a while task stage. In number 3, students are asked to share their drafts for
correction with their partners, particularly for the correction of spelling, grammar, content,
layout etc. This is the stage for constructive feedback on what they wrote. That means it is a
post stage of writing.

To sum up, like the above examples of writing activities, some of the writing tasks in the
textbook have at least a pre and a while tasks together with a post tasks so as to enhance the
students communicative writing abilities although there are many more writing tasks which
have only a while tasks and some of them lack a clear post writing stage.

4.3.8 Teachers’ Interview Analysis on the Nature of Writing Tasks

The first item of the interview on the nature of writing tasks was to check whether the writing
tasks presented in the textbook are motivating to the students or not. One of the teachers’
mentioned that there are a number of writing tasks that are motivating to the students. For
instance, in unit 1 a table data about African nations’ cup, picture data, written letters etc and
these kinds of tasks are very helpful in motivating students easily rather than simple
instructions. However, the rest two of the teachers said that although some of the writing
tasks are motivating to the students many more of the writing tasks are not as such
motivating. They recommended that writing tasks need to have motivational values because
if learners are motivated, they are more willing to take part in the activities and go through
doing the tasks regardless of the methods employed or the situations they are in. Thus, most

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of the writing tasks in the textbook may not be motivating to the students and need some
modifications in this regard.

The second item was about whether the writing tasks are integrated with other language skills
tasks in the textbook or not. All of the three teachers explained that writing skill tasks are
directly or indirectly integrated with other language skills in the textbook. That means, when
students are asked to perform writing tasks, they practice other language skills too in a good
manner in the textbook. In addition, one of the teachers stated that writing tasks have a good
integration with other language skills in the textbook like reading, listening, speaking,
grammar, vocabulary etc and this helps students to learn one language skill when performing
other.

Regarding to the item “Do you think writing tasks elicit real communication of writing?”
Here the teachers stated that writing tasks are good in eliciting real communication because
most of the writing tasks presented in the textbook open rooms for the students to observe the
real world when doing activities in the classroom. “For example, the writing tasks such as
report writing, letter writing, writing curriculum vitae, summarizing texts, writing essays,
interviewing someone and coming with the report of it etc are some of the helpful tasks that
elicit real communication of writing in the textbook.” Fourth question was to check whether
the writing tasks are designed in a suitable way to do in pairs or small groups or not. Here
two of the teachers explained that most of the writing tasks in the textbook emphasize in
individual works rather than pair or small group works. And they said that as the current
method of language teaching is communicative, the tasks should be designed to be performed
in pairs or groups. Moreover, they suggested that when students perform tasks in pairs or
small groups, they may get a good opportunity to share their ideas and comment on each
other’s works. But one of the teachers mentioned that even though many more of writing
tasks in the textbook focus on individual activities, there are some writing tasks that invite
students to do writing in pairs/ small groups.

The fifth item was about whether the writing tasks offer students with purposeful writing or
not. The teachers stated that almost all the writing tasks in the textbook invite students to
write different texts purposefully rather than ordering them practice language structure. One

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of the teachers also explained that many more of the writing activities in the textbook initiate
students to write various texts with the purposes such as “teaching, persuading, telling etc
their peers or others outside their classroom about different issues given.” For instance, there
are writing tasks that encourage learners to write instructions to avoid danger or difficulty
around their home, write letter and share their learning experiences, write letter and ask the
government to fulfill resources in their school, write a play to persuade others not to take part
in taking drugs and so on. In these activities and many others in the textbook, students are not
asked to practice language patterns rather they are asked to apply what they learned in the
classroom to the real world purposefully.

The other item was about the meaningfulness of the writing tasks in letting students to write
meaningful written texts. Here the teachers explained that most of the writing tasks initiate
learners to express their ideas freely by using the activities given in their textbook and allow
them to write meaningful written texts. In addition, they stated that many more of the writing
activities encourage the students to put their ideas in the form of meaningful written texts
rather than letting them to practice language form. Almost all of the writing tasks are
prepared in a way to teach students to use the activities to express their ideas freely in a
communicative manner rather than language patterns.

The last item of the interview was to check whether the writing tasks in the textbook
incorporate the three stages of writing i.e a pre, while and post stages or not. Here the
teachers argued that all of the writing tasks have a while stage of writing clearly. They also
revealed that a pre stage of writing is directly stated in some writing tasks and again
indirectly other language skills tasks are used as prompts for some other writing tasks as a
pre stage to a good extent. That means, for some writing tasks direct information or clues are
given before doing actual works and for other writing tasks other language skills tasks are
considered as a pre writing stages to get ideas. Although all the writing tasks incorporate a
while stages at all and a pre writing stages to some extent, the post stage of writing is not
clearly stated in most of the writing tasks in the textbook. Moreover, they recommended that
it is good if tasks are designed by incorporating the three stages of writing in order to help
students to pass through different stages and to do tasks accordingly.

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 4.3.9 Students’ Reactions on the Nature of Writing Tasks

Table 4.10 Analysis of students’ responses on nature of writing tasks in grade 10 English
students’ textbook

No. Items SA(5) A(4) UD(3) SD(2) D(1) Total

1. The writing tasks presented in the F 6 3 3 16 12 40
textbook are motivating to me by % 15 7.5 7.5 40 30 100
considering my needs and
interests.
2. The writing tasks are integrated F 17 19 1 2 1 40
with other language skills in the % 42.5 47.5 2.5 5 2.5 100
textbook
3. The writing tasks elicit real F 20 13 2 3 2 40
communication of writing % 50 32.5 5 7.5 5 100
through writing.
4. The writing tasks are designed in F 4 5 2 18 11 40
a suitable way to do individually, % 10 12.5 5 45 27.5 100
pairs or small group basis.
5. The writing tasks of the textbook F 14 20 3 1 2 40
offer me to write purposefully. % 35 50 7.5 2.5 5 100
6. The writing tasks in the textbook F 19 12 4 5 - 40
initiate me to write meaningfully. % 47.5 30 10 12.5 - 100
7. The writing tasks in the textbook F 3 4 1 21 11 40
incorporate the three stages of % 7.5 10 2.5 52.5 27.5 100
writing (a pre, while and post).

Keys: 5(strongly agree), 4(agree), 3(undecided), 2(strongly disagree), 1(disagree)

As it can be observed from the table 4.10 above, for item 1, 15% and 7.5% of the respondents
have showed strongly agree and agree respectively where as 40% and 30% have responded
strongly disagree and disagree. The rest 7.5% failed to show their decision. Having this
result, it is possible to say that writing tasks presented in the textbook are not as such
motivating to the students by considering their needs and interests because majority (70%) of
them have showed their dissatisfaction. On item 2, most (90%) of the students have
expressed their agreement on the integration of the writing tasks with other language skills.
However, the remaining 5%, 2.5% and 2.5% have responded strongly disagree, disagree and
unable to decide respectively.

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In relation to authenticity of the writing tasks in eliciting real communication, 50%, 32.5%,
7.5% and 5% have responded strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree and disagree
respectively while the remaining 5% unable to express their judgment. Based on this result, it
possible to conclude that the writing tasks of the textbook elicit real communication because
above 80% of the students explained their agreement for the item. Item 4 was about
suitability of the writing tasks to do individually, in pairs or small groups. For this item, 10%,
and 12.5% have responded strongly agree and agree respectively where as 45% and 27.5%
have showed strongly disagree and disagree. The remaining 5% failed to express their
decision. The result implies that majority (72.5%) of the students are not satisfied on the
suitability of the writing tasks to do in individual, pair or small group basis.

Item 5 was about whether the writing tasks offer students to write purposefully or not. On
this item, 35%, 50%, 2.5% and 5% have responded strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree
and disagree respectively while the rest 7.5% failed to explain their judgment. Based on this
result, it is possible to infer that most of the writing tasks offer students with purposeful
writing because above 85% have responded their agreement for the item. For item 6, 47.5%,
and 30% have showed strongly agree and agree on the meaningfulness of the writing tasks
respectively where as 12.5% and 10% have responded strongly disagree and unable to
decide. The result shows that the writing tasks presented in the textbook encourage students
to write meaningfully rather than emphasizing on language structure.

Item 7 was about whether the writing tasks incorporate the three stages of writing. For this
item, majority (80%) of the respondents have showed their disagreement to the design of the
writing tasks in incorporating stages of writing. However, small number (7.5%, 10% and
2.5%) of the respondents have responded strongly agree, agree and unable to decide
respectively. Thus, depending on this result, it is possible to say that the writing tasks are not
designed well in incorporating the three stages of the writing since the majority (80%) of
them explained their disagreement.

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4.4 Appropriateness of writing tasks to Enhance Students’ Writing Ability
4.4.1 Teachers’ Interview Analysis on the Appropriateness of Writing Tasks

As it was mentioned in chapter three of the study, interview is one of the data collection
instruments that was employed to gather information from the teachers on the
appropriateness of writing tasks in grade 10 English students’ textbook. The first item was
about whether the writing tasks are appropriately designed by considering students’
background knowledge or not. Two of the interviewees agreed that writing tasks are
appropriately designed by considering learners’ background knowledge because almost all
the inputs (topics) of the writing tasks are directly related with the environments students
come from and with the issues raised in other language skills’ tasks in the textbook. They
said that this consideration of students’ background knowledge has a strong relevance in
initiating them write about the issues they are familiar with and in turn they help them
enhance their writing ability. However, one of the interviewees explained that although most
of the writing tasks are designed by considering students background knowledge, there are
still few tasks in which the issues given are not familiar with the students’ background
knowledge and this might hinder them from writing their ideas freely.

Item 2 was about whether there are sufficient amount of writing tasks with regarding to
descriptive, narrative, argumentative and expository types of writing activities to enhance
students’ writing ability or not. The teachers stated that these kinds of writing tasks are
presented in the textbook directly or indirectly. However, most of the writing tasks
emphasized highly on descriptive and narrative form of writing rather than argumentative
and expository type of writing. And in most of the writing tasks in the textbook, students are
asked to describe different situations and write different kinds of narrative stories. For
instance, in the units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 12 students are asked to write different kinds of
descriptive and narrative texts about various issues. The interviewees suggested that as much
as possible the learners should be asked to write different texts like argumentative,
descriptive, narrative and expository in order to enhance their ability of expressing their ideas
in various ways and in different occasions rather than sticking on some of them. The third
item asks the teachers “Do you think writing tasks in the textbook are delivered with clear
contexts/clues?” The teachers said that writing tasks in the textbook are good in relation to

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context/clue because in most of them, the students are given preliminary activities directly
before performing actual texts and they learned the concept in other language skills tasks and
this may help the students as context in letting them write their ideas freely without any
difficulty.

The fourth item asks teachers whether the writing tasks in the textbook challenge students to
write appropriate texts. The teachers agreed that most of the writing tasks in the textbook
challenge students to exert their energy and pursue practice rather than simple utilization of
language structure. They also said that the inputs of the writing tasks mostly ask students
write their ideas by passing through different steps of writing and this opens rooms for them
to practice writing rather than delivering straight forward writing tasks. Concerning this,
Krashen (1985) depicts that in target language there should be some new information that
learners have not known. In other words, the language inputs should be presented at slightly
higher level than the students are capable of using, but comprehending and performing. The
interviewees stated that most of the writing tasks presented in the textbook challenge students
to write various fluent texts rather than emphasizing on simple practice of language patterns.
The fifth item was about “Do you think the writing tasks in the textbook have clear
instructions that guide students in writing appropriate texts with the given tasks?” The
teachers agreed that in most of the writing tasks, students are clearly told what and how to do
with the tasks given in the textbook.

The sixth item was about whether the writing tasks are appropriately designed to help
students to improve their knowledge of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar etc when
writing. The interviewees explained that in most of the writing tasks, students are asked
directly or indirectly to check their texts for spelling, vocabulary, grammar etc after they
write something by themselves or exchanging their texts with their friends. “For example, in
unit 4, the students are asked to write an informal letter and exchange it with their friends to
check for correct spelling, punctuation and capitalization. Moreover, in unit 11, students are
asked to write a guided essay on the given title and they are ordered to exchange their texts
for the correction of spelling, punctuation, grammar, content, layout etc.” The teachers
suggested that even though it is not advisable to teach language structures in writing, it is

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possible to use them as a resource to write appropriate texts and to improve the writing skill
of the students.

To the question “Do you think the writing tasks in the textbook encourage students to write
coherent and cohesive texts?” As the teachers stated cohesion, coherence and cohesive
devices are some of the very important language elements particularly in writing that our
students have to aware. They explained that having the knowledge of these concepts help
them to write meaningful and relevant texts. However, there are few writing tasks that inform
students to keep these concepts in their mind when writing; most of them do not initiate them
to practice the elements properly.

The last item asks the interviewees whether the writing tasks encourage students to think,
plan, draft, rewrite, check and publish finally or not. The interviewees agreed that almost all
the writing tasks in the textbook directly or indirectly invite students to pass through these
steps when writing texts. In most of the writing tasks delivered in the textbook, the students
are instructed to follow steps of writing such as thinking, planning, drafting, rewriting,
checking etc. Moreover, they stated that when students are asked to follow different steps of
writing, they may get high opportunity to improve their writing ability.

4.4.2 Students’ Responses on the Appropriateness of Writing Tasks

Table 4.11 Analysis of students’ responses on the appropriateness of writing tasks

No. Items SA(5) A(4) UD(3) SD(2) D(1) Total

1. The writing tasks of the F 18 10 2 7 3 40
textbook are prepared by % 45 25 5 17.5 7.5 100
considering the
background/familiarity of
the students.
2. There are sufficient amount F 12 20 4 1 3 40
of writing tasks in the % 30 50 10 2.5 7.5 100
textbook to enhance my
descriptive writing ability.
3. There are sufficient amount F 17 14 1 6 2 40
of writing tasks in the % 42.5 35 2.5 15 5 100
textbook to improve my
narrative writing ability.
4. There are enough writing F 5 4 2 14 15 40

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 tasks in the textbook to % 12.5 10 5 35 37.5 100
enhance my ability of
producing argumentative
texts.
5. There are sufficient amount F 2 3 3 12 20 40
of writing tasks in the % 5 7.5 7.5 30 50 100
textbook to improve my
ability of producing
expository texts.
6. The writing tasks in the F 6 5 2 11 16 40
textbook are delivered based % 15 12.5 5 27.5 40 100
on clear context or clues.
7. The writing tasks in the F 8 20 1 6 5 40
textbook challenge me to % 20 50 2.5 15 12.5 100
write appropriate writing
texts.
8. The writing tasks in the F 4 2 3 11 20 40
textbook have clear % 10 5 7.5 27.5 50 100
instructions that help me
what to do and how to do
writing.
9. The writing tasks in the F 16 14 2 5 3 40
textbook help me to improve % 40 35 5 12.5 7.5 100
my spelling.
10. The writing tasks in the F 14 11 - 8 7 40
textbook help me to extend % 35 27.5 - 20 17.5 100
my vocabulary knowledge.
11. The writing tasks in the F 11 19 2 6 3 40
textbook help me to improve % 27.5 47.5 5 15 7.5 100
my punctuation ability.
12. The writing tasks in the F 15 11 2 2 10 40
textbook support me to % 37.5 27.5 5 5 25 100
extend my grammar
knowledge.
13. The writing tasks in the F 7 9 - 11 13 40
textbook give clue on how % 17.5 22.5 - 27.5 32.5 100
to use cohesive devices.
14. The writing tasks in the F 10 15 3 7 5 40
textbook encourage me to % 25 37.5 7.5 17.5 12.5 100
write coherent texts.
15. The writing tasks in the F 19 14 - - 7 40
textbook invite me to think % 47.5 35 - - 17.5 100
on what I’m going to write.
16. The writing tasks in the F 13 14 1 8 4 40
textbook encourage me to % 32.5 35 2.5 20 10 100
have a plan on what I’m

114
 going to write.
17. The writing tasks in the F 14 12 5 5 4 40
textbook initiate me to have % 35 30 12.5 12.5 10 100
multi drafts.
18. The writing tasks in the F 13 14 4 6 3 40
textbook encourage me to % 32.5 35 10 15 7.5 100
rewrite.
19. The writing tasks in the F 17 15 3 5 - 40
textbook motivate me to % 42.5 37.5 7.5 12.5 - 100
check and write finally.

Keys: 5(strongly agree), 4(agree), 3(undecided), 2(strongly disagree), 1(disagree), F

(frequency)

As it can be seen in the table 4.11 above, the result for item 1 indicates that 45% and 25% of
the students have responded strongly agree and agree respectively where as 17.5% and 7.5%
have responded strongly disagree and disagree respectively. The remaining 5% failed to
express their judgment for their own reason. Based on this result, it is possible to say that the
writing tasks in the textbook are appropriately designed by considering students’ background
knowledge as majority (70%) of them confirmed it. Concerning item 2, 80% of the students
expressed agreement while the rest 2.5%, 7.5% and 10% have responded strongly disagree,
disagree and unable to decide respectively. Having this result, it is possible to conclude that
there are sufficient amount of descriptive type of writing tasks in order to enhance the writing
ability of the students. Apart from this, item 3 was about narrative type of writing tasks, for
this item, 42.5%, 35%, 15% and 5% have responded strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree
and disagree respectively. The remaining 2.5% failed to express their decision. As a result, as
the majority (77.5%) of the students confirmed that there are sufficient amount of narrative
type of writing activities to improve their writing ability.

The fourth item asks students to express their ideas on whether there are enough
argumentative type of writing tasks to extend their writing ability or not. 12.5% and 10%
have responded strongly agree and agree respectively while 35% and 37.5% have expressed
strongly disagree and disagree. The rest 5% put a tick mark on undecided. So, it is possible to
say that there are limited amounts of argumentative type of writing tasks because most
(72.5%) of the students expressed their disagreement. Similarly, one can conclude that there

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may not be sufficient amount of expository type of writing tasks as majority (80%) of the
students explained their disagreement.

Item 6 was about whether the writing tasks in the textbook are delivered based on clear
contexts/clues or not. 15% and 12.5% have responded strongly agree and agree respectively
where as 27.5% and 40% expressed strongly disagree and disagree. The remaining 5% failed
to express their judgment. As a result, as more than half (67.5%) of the students confirmed
that the writing tasks in the textbook are not delivered on clear contexts/clues. Concerning
item 7, majority (70%) of the students confirmed that the writing tasks in the textbook
challenge them to write appropriate written texts. Besides, item 8was about clarity of
instructions of writing tasks, on this item, 10%, 5%, 27.5% and 50% have responded strongly
agree, agree, strongly disagree and disagree respectively while the remaining 7.5% unable to
decide. Having this result, it is possible to say that writing tasks in the textbook might not
have clear instructions because nearly (80%) of students expressed their disagreement.

The ninth item invites students to give their opinion on whether the writing tasks help them
to improve their knowledge of spelling or not. 40% and 35% have responded strongly agree,
and agree respectively while 12.5% and 7.5% expressed strongly disagree and disagree. The
rest 5% unable to decide. Therefore, having this result, one can conclude that the writing
tasks in the textbook help the students to extend their knowledge of spelling because majority
(70%) of them expressed their agreement. Similarly, for item 10, more than half (67.5%) of
the students confirmed that writing tasks in the textbook help them to improve their
knowledge of vocabulary. The rest 20%, and 17.5% have tried to express strongly disagree
and disagree respectively. Concerning item 11, 27.5% and 47.5% have responded strongly
agree and agree respectively while 15% and 7.5% responded strongly disagree and disagree.
The remaining 2.5% put a tick mark on undecided. Having this result, it is possible to say
that the writing tasks in the textbook help students to improve their punctuation ability since
majority (75%) of them stated their agreement.

Coming to item 12, 37.5%, 27.5%, 5% and 25% have responded strongly agree, agree,
strongly disagree and disagree respectively. The rest 5% failed to express their judgment. So,
based on this result, one can conclude that the writing tasks in the textbook support students

116
to extend their grammar knowledge as the majority (65%) of them stated their agreement. On
item 13, 17.5% and 22.5% have responded strongly agree and agree respectively where as
27.5% and 32.5% expressed strongly disagree and disagree. Based on this result, it is
possible to say that the writing tasks in the textbook may not give clue on how to use
cohesive devices because more than half (60%) of the students expressed their disagreement.
However, on item 14, majority (62.5%) of the students confirmed that the writing tasks in the
textbook encourage them to write coherent texts. The rest 17.5%, 12.5% and 7.5% have
responded strongly disagree, disagree and unable to decide respectively.

Item 15 was about whether the writing tasks in the textbook invite students think on what
they are going to write or not. 47.5% and 35% have responded strongly agree and agree
respectively where as the rest 17.5% expressed their disagreement. Having this result, it is
possible to conclude that the writing tasks in the textbook encourage students think on what
they going to write because more than (80%) of them stated their agreement. Concerning
item 16, 32.5%, 35%, 20% and 10% have responded strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree
and disagree respectively. The remaining 2.5% put a tick mark on undecided. So, one can
guess that the writing tasks in the textbook initiate students to have a plan on what they are
going to write since more than half (67.5%) of them expressed their agreement. Similarly, on
item 17, more than half (65%) of the students confirmed that the writing tasks in the textbook
invite them to have multi drafts on what they are writing. The rest 12.5%, 10% and 12.5%
have explained strongly disagree, disagree and unable to decide respectively.

Item 18 was about whether the writing tasks in the textbook encourage rewriting or not.
32.5%, and 35% have responded strongly agree and agree respectively while 15% and 7.5%
expressed strongly disagree and disagree. The rest 10% failed to state their judgment. Thus,
based on this result, one can understand that the writing tasks in the textbook initiate students
to rewrite what they draft by polishing errors made during drafting. The last item on the
appropriateness of writing tasks was about whether the writing tasks in the textbook motivate
students to check and write finally or not. Majority (80%) of them confirmed that the writing
tasks encourage them to check and publish finally. The rest 12.5% and 7.5% have responded
strongly disagree and unable to decide respectively.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusions

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the writing tasks in grade 10 English
students’ textbook based on the current communicative language teaching theory. The tasks
were evaluated regarding Nunan’s (2004) task framework that considers components of
communicative tasks (goals, inputs, activities, roles of students’ and teacher and settings) and
checklist for evaluating writing tasks in the textbook.

As the findings from document (text) analysis, interview and questionnaire indicated that the
writing tasks presented in the textbook tried to satisfy some of the major criteria’s for
evaluating communicative tasks. Based on the findings identified, the following conclusions
have been drawn.

Most of the objectives of the writing tasks are stated clearly for both students’ and teachers to
understand where they are going and what they are going to achieve easily though some of
them are not clearly stated and not stated at all. In addition, some of the objectives of the
writing tasks are repeated in different units and stated too general. Apart from this, there is a
mismatch between objectives and writing tasks in some units of the textbook. Moreover,
some objectives of the writing tasks are clearly stated in the textbook but they are not stated
at all in the teacher’s guide. Many more of the inputs of writing tasks are presented in the
form of instruction without providing students with sample texts, photos, pictures, data tables
etc and seem to lack authenticity.

The writing tasks in the textbook are well designed regarding the relationship between the
activities and objectives. And there is an appropriate relationship between activities and input
data. However, most of the writing activities are not designed well by incorporating different
pair or small group works since the majority (70%) of them are prepared to be done in
individual basis. The roles of the students are clearly stated in the textbook as well as

118
teacher’s guide and consider the principles of communicative language teaching i.e through
almost all writing tasks, students have the roles of active participant and high responsibility
of their own learning. The roles of teacher are stated clearly in the most of the writing tasks
of the teacher’s guide although there are some of them in which the roles are not clearly
stated or not stated at all. Here the teacher has the roles of facilitating, encouraging, eliciting
etc when performing tasks. Most of the writing tasks are found to be done in individual basis
and they do not encourage students to be in pairs or small groups and perform tasks
cooperatively. In addition, majority of the writing tasks are prepared to be done in the
classroom though there are some of them that allow students to do out of classroom by
referring different materials and web sources.

Regarding communicative nature of tasks, most of the writing tasks seem to lack
motivational values to a large extent since the majority of them ask students to perform
similar activities in a repeated fashion and some others ask them to engage in simple
utilization of language patterns. However, the writing tasks in the textbook are well
interwoven with other macro and micro skills of language. Most of the writing tasks in the
textbook are designed well in eliciting real communication since most of them encourage
students to observe real world when performing activities in the classroom. Thus, they fulfill
the principles of communicative language teaching theory. Also most of the writing tasks in
the textbook were found to encourage students to write purposefully. Therefore, they satisfy
the criteria of communicative tasks. Similarly, many of the writing tasks in the textbook
initiate students to take part in meaningful writing rather than simple practice of language
structure. Here most of the writing tasks in the textbook let students to express their ideas
freely. However, most of the writing tasks in the textbook are very limited in including the
three stages of writing (pre, while and post).

Concerning appropriateness, the writing tasks in the textbook are designed well by
considering students’ background knowledge. There are also sufficient amounts of
descriptive and narrative writing activities while there are limited amounts of argumentative
and expository types of writing activities so as to enhance students’ writing ability. The
writing tasks in the textbook are prepared well in terms of clear contexts. Similarly, most of
the writing tasks are designed well in a way challenging students’ to exert their energy and

119
pursue practice rather than simple utilization of language structure. With regard to
improvement of students’ knowledge of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation and grammar,
most of the writing tasks in the textbook are designed well since most of them invite students
to check their texts for these language elements after they draft. Furthermore, almost all the
writing tasks in the textbook are appropriately designed by encouraging students to pass
through different steps of writing (think, plan, draft, rewrite, check and publish finally) in
order to enhance their writing ability.

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5.2 Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions drawn above, the following recommendations are
made.

 Material designers and textbook writers should give emphasis for the five basic
components of communicative tasks (goals, inputs, activities, roles and settings) when
they design tasks.
 Goals (objectives) of the writing tasks should be stated specifically and they need to
have appropriate relation with the tasks given in the textbook.
 So as to achieve the communicative goals of tasks, different kinds of authentic inputs
should be incorporated in the writing tasks of the textbook.
 The writing tasks have to be designed well in order to encourage students to cooperate
and communicate in pairs or small groups particularly in pre and post stages of writing.
 Textbook writers should consider clearly stating the roles of teacher in the students’
textbook somewhat even if they are clearly stated in the teacher’s guide in order to help
him/her in a situation there is a shortage of teacher guide.
 The textbook writers should consider making the settings of writing tasks flexible
rather than fixed and variety of in or out of class writing tasks should be included in
order to motivate students’ towards writing.
 Textbook writers should make writing tasks in the textbook motivating and interesting
so as to encourage students when performing writing.
 Textbook writers should include stages of writing (pre, while and post) appropriately in
order to enhance the writing ability of the students’.
 As much as possible, textbook writers need to consider including different genres of
writing activities such as descriptive, narrative, argumentative and expository so as to
extend the writing ability of the students’.
 Teachers of English language should give awareness for the students on how to produce
coherent and cohesive texts. And they try to make some modifications when students
face difficulty of performing tasks.

 Moreover, further study should be carried out in the area of text evaluation with regard
to other macro and micro language skills.

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 Appendices

Appendix –A a checklist for evaluating the components of communicative

writing tasks
1. Goals
- To what extent do the goals of the writing tasks are explained clearly to students and
teachers?
- To what extent do the writing tasks reveal a real world or pedagogic goal? Are they
appropriate?
- Are the tasks interesting and motivating to the learners?
- Do the writing tasks of the textbook encourage learners to apply classroom learning
to outside world?
2. Input
- What form do the inputs take?
- Are the inputs interesting to the learners?
- Are the inputs appropriate to the communicative goals of the task?

3. Activities
- Are the writing activities designed in a way to stimulate students communicate and
cooperate in pairs or groups?
- Are the writing activities appropriate to the communicative goals of the learners?
- Are the writing activities appropriate to the input data?
4. Roles
- What students’ roles are permanently depicted in the tasks?
- What teachers’ roles are inherently reflected in the tasks?
- Are the roles appropriate to the communicative language classroom?
5. Settings
- What levels of variety of classroom organization implicit in the tasks?
- Are the settings of the tasks confined to the classroom?
- Does the setting prompt individual, pair or group activities?
Adapted from David Nunan (2004)

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Appendix –B a checklist to evaluate nature of writing tasks
1. To what extent the writing tasks in the textbook are presented in a way to motivate
students by considering their needs and interests?
2. Are the writing tasks in the textbook integrated with other language skills like
reading, listening and speaking?
3. To what extent the writing tasks reveal real (authentic) communication of writing
through writing?
4. Are writing tasks in the textbook prepared in a way to do in an individual, pair or
group basis?
5. Do the writing tasks of the textbook offer learners with purposeful writing?
6. Do the writing tasks of the textbook promote students to write meaningfully?
7. Do the writing tasks of the textbook combine phases of writing i.e pre, while and
post?

Adapted from David Nunan (2004)

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Appendix –C interview for teachers

I. Interview questions in relation to the components of communicative writing tasks

a. Do you think the goals of writing tasks are clearly explained in the textbook?
b. Do you think the inputs /topics of the writing tasks are authentic?
c. Do you think the inputs are interesting to the students?
d. Do you think the writing activities are appropriate to the communicative goals of the
learners?
e. Do you think the writing activities are appropriate to the input data?
f. Do you think the roles of teacher and students’ are explicitly stated in the textbook?
g. Do you think the writing tasks are appropriately prepared in a way to encourage
students to apply writing in the classroom and outside world?
h. Do you think the writing tasks in the textbook initiate the students to write individually,
in pair or in small groups?

II. Interview questions in relation to the nature of writing tasks

a. Do you think writing tasks are prepared in a motivating way for the students?
b. Do you think writing skill tasks are integrated with other language skills like reading,
speaking, listening etc?
c. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook elicit real communication of writing?
d. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook are designed in a suitable way to do in pairs or
small group basis?
e. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook offer students with purposeful writing?
f. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook encourage students to write meaningfully?
h. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook include the three phases of writing (a pre, a
while and a post) to enhance students’ writing ability?
III. Interview questions regarding to appropriateness of writing tasks

a. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook are appropriately designed by considering
students’ background knowledge?

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b. Do you think there are sufficient amounts of descriptive, narrative, argumentative and
expository writing tasks to enhance students’ writing ability?
c. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook are delivered with clear contexts/clues?
d. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook challenge students to write appropriate
written texts?
e. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook have clear instructions that guide students in
writing appropriate texts with the given tasks?
f. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook are appropriately designed to help students
to improve their knowledge of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar etc?
g. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook encourage students to write coherent and
cohesive texts?
h. Do you think writing tasks in the textbook encourage students to think, plan, draft,
rewrite, check and publish finally?

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 Appendix –D questionnaire for the students

Dear students,

This questionnaire is prepared in order to gather necessary data for the study called
“Evaluation of writing tasks in the new English students’ textbook: Grade 10 in focus.”
In the study, the researcher is highly interested in assessing your view towards the writing
tasks in your textbook. The information you provide is very important for the successful
achievement of the study. Therefore, I hope that you will complete the questionnaire honestly
and appropriately. You do not need to mention your identity on the questionnaire.

Thank you in advance for giving helpful information for the study.

Read each item attentively and then clearly show your view by putting a tick ( ) in the place
provided that correctly represent your view.

Key: 5.Strongly agree 4. Agree 3.Undecided 2. Strongly Disagree 1. Disagree

No. Components of communicative writing 5 4 3 2 1 Remark

tasks
Goals
1. The goals (objectives) of the writing
tasks are explained clearly for me.
2. The goals of writing tasks are appeared
in interesting & motivating way for me.
Inputs
3. The inputs (topics) of writing tasks are
interesting to me.
4. The inputs of writing tasks in the
textbook are based on genuine /real
world perspective to initiate me to
communicate through writing.
5. There are appropriate interactions
between the inputs and goals of writing
tasks in the textbook.
Activities
6. The writing activities of the textbook
have appropriate relationship with the
goals (objectives).
7. The writing activities are prepared in a
way to stimulate me to communicate
and do in an individual, pair or group
basis.

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8. The writing activities are designed by
combining phases of writing (a pre,
while and post) to enhance writing
abilities of me.
Roles
9. The roles of the students’ are clearly
mentioned in the writing tasks of the
textbook.
10. The teacher’s roles are clearly stated in
the writing tasks of the textbook.
11. The writing tasks in the textbook are
designed in a suitable way for the
students to write in the classroom and
outside classroom.
12. The writing tasks are appropriately
designed in the textbook for me to do in
individual, pair or group basis.

No. Nature of writing tasks 5 4 3 2 1 Remark

1. The writing tasks in the textbook are
motivating for me.
2. The writing tasks are integrated with other
language skills in the textbook.
3. The writing tasks of the textbook are
authentic in eliciting real communication
of writing through writing.
4. The writing tasks in the textbook are
designed in a suitable way to do
individually, pairs or small groups .
5. The writing tasks of the textbook offer me
to write purposefully.
6. The writing tasks in the textbook initiate
me to write meaningfully.
7. The writing tasks in the textbook combine
a pre, while and post phases of writing.

No. Appropriateness of writing tasks

1. The writing tasks of the textbook are
prepared by considering the background
knowledge (familiarity) of the students.

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2. There are sufficient amount of writing
tasks in the textbook to enhance my
descriptive writing ability.
3. There are sufficient amount of writing
tasks in the textbook to improve my
narrative writing ability.
4. There are enough writing tasks in the
textbook to enhance my ability of
producing argumentative texts.
5. There are sufficient amount of writing
tasks in the textbook to improve my
ability of producing expository texts.
6. The writing tasks in the textbook are
delivered based on clear context or
clues.
7. The writing tasks in the textbook
challenge me to write appropriate
writing texts.
8. The writing tasks in the textbook have
clear instructions that help me what to
do and how to do writing.
9. The writing tasks in the textbook help
me to improve my spelling.
10. The writing tasks in the textbook help
me to extend my vocabulary knowledge.
11. The writing tasks in the textbook help
me to improve my punctuation ability.
12. The writing tasks in the textbook support
me to extend my grammar knowledge.
13. The writing tasks in the textbook give
clue on how to use cohesive devices.
14. The writing tasks in the textbook
encourage me to write cohesive and
coherent texts.
15. The writing tasks in the textbook invite
me to think on what I’m going to write.
16. The writing tasks in the textbook
encourage me to have a plan on what
I’m going to write.
17. The writing tasks in the textbook initiate
me to draft.
18. The writing tasks in the textbook
encourage me to rewrite.
`19. The writing tasks in the textbook
motivate me to check and write finally.

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