A CEFR-based comparison of Cambridge English Teaching Course Book and Ministry of National Education Course Book in terms of writing skills requirements

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which the competencies outlined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) are met in English language teaching course books in terms of writing skills in foreign language instruction. With this in mind, writing exercises from the public school textbooks “That's It” for teaching English as a foreign language and “Own It Two” for teaching English as a foreign language were contrasted and evaluated in terms of their conformity with the CEFR's listed writing skills. The analysis of these two books was made on writing activities. The correspondence, coherence and creative writing skills in the CEFR and the total number of activities were taken into account. As a consequence of the content analysis, it was discovered that the book "Own It 2" included more writing activities, the writing activities in the book "That's It" were observed less. However, when the use of coherence, correspondence and creative writing skills in activities is examined, it seems that the "That's It" book lags behind the "Own It 2" course book. Although both course books assert to have been produced in accordance with the CEFR, research has shown that they do not achieve the learning goals for writing skills according to CEFR at the same rate. Basically, the study reached the conclusion that “Own It 2” and “That's It” emphasize production qualities. The findings also highlight the necessity for these two course books to be updated and restructured to conform to the CEFR at A2 level. This study found that the course books do not progress toward the learning goals for writing skills in the CEFR at the same rate. It turned out that both books needed more updates on the writing skill.

Keywords

• Writing skills
• CEFR criteria
• productive skills
• CEFR levels
• coherence
• correspondence
• creative writing

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