Mariah Jessen

ESL 6063
Assignment 3: Textbook Analysis

Textbook Analysis

Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills​ written by John

Swales and Christine Feak was the first book that I examined. This textbook was written with the

intention of being applicable to L1 and L2 writers at the graduate level with varying levels of

experience with academic writing. While looking at just the examples provided in the text, one

could assume that the examples are presented in a product-oriented way as the book is set up

around “form-focused” points, as was described in Ferris and Hedgcock (2014, p. 63); However,

when you read through the tasks that are “assigned” throughout the book, you will see that it asks

the reader to analyze certain features and decide if they agree or disagree with the way it is

written, or try to think of another way to word a sentence. In this way, the book allows the

learner to decide how they prefer to word sentences. Of course, the wording is still restrained in

the sense that it must hold “hallmarks” of the genre and/or community of practice. An example

of this can be seen in the section that teaches learners how to use definitions in their writing

effectively. Task 3 on page 62 asks them to decide when changing the sentence order may be

more effective than leaving them the way they are written (Swales & Feak, 2018). While this is

an important distinction, it could be argued that this is presenting one way to write such a text

although the rest of the chapter seems to leave it up to the learner to choose how to incorporate

definitions based on the different ways shown in the book as well as having them analyze articles

from their own fields to see how they are incorporated.

Each chapter has a section titled “Language Focus” that isolates language issues that

learners, and I would argue, native speakers may have while learning to write academically. The

first three units would have a stronger focus on issues that L2 learners may have with writing in a
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Assignment 3: Textbook Analysis

genre with language focuses on vocabulary shifts, parts of speech, linking words and phrases,

stylistic features, etcetera. However, in Unit four, we see a focus on qualifications and strength

of claims and ways of moderating or qualifying a claim. L1 speakers could still struggle with

presenting claims within their fields unless they have already developed a familiarity with it in

their field of study. Despite these sections on language focus and the slightly deceptive

appearance of a product-oriented approach, I consider this textbook to have more features of a

socioliterate and new rhetoric approach to teaching academic writing with writing across the

curriculum elements as described in Ferris & Hedgcock (2014, p. 77-81).

In conclusion, I found that this textbook could be an effective tool to help teach academic

writing at the graduate levels across many disciplines with only a few adjustments to make the

activities within more content relevant for your target learners. One weakness of this textbook is

its lack of critical literacy theory and sociopolitical elements such as discussing sexist language

or the writing’s connection to cultural, social, and political power structures that are often

embedded in different writings (Ferris and Hedgcock, 2014, p. 85-86). A way to overcome this

weakness would be to build in supplemental materials that would address some of these issues

and help raise awareness.

The second textbook examined was ​The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing​ written by Axelrod

and Cooper. This guide appears to have been written with a native speaker in their first year of

collegiate studies in mind and would be best utilized in a first year composition course. The

readers provided in this book are incorporated well and some readers include notes in the

margins to call attention to the different moves the author makes as well as where to find

examples as to how the writer may have decided to write something a particular way (see pages
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Assignment 3: Textbook Analysis

137-140 in Axelrod & Cooper, 2008). Another strength of the way the readers are presented is

that it shows more than one example that sometimes utilizes a different tone and/or style of

writing using the same genre. While I appreciate this strength, I do find the mass amounts of text

on each page to be overwhelming and it made it hard for me to try and focus on what they were

wanting me to do. In addition, I found it hard to determine where they were asking me to do an

activity versus giving me more information and steps to follow to write the genre in question as

my eyes only had small focal points to skim to on the pages. This makes the collaboration

activities it does include, hard to find and follow.

The last five sections of the book focus on different strategies that include: critical

thinking, writing, research, assessment and a section dedicated to how to write and speak for a

wider audience (includes focuses on workplace related genres such as resumes, memos,

etcetera). While this is a great addition to such a guide to writing, having it separate from the

activities seems counterintuitive and less integrated. As a professor, you could try to anticipate

which strategies you should have them look at as they are learning each genre; however, many

times there is an overlap in the strategies that you may use to write an academic genre, especially

if you are writing from sources and/or making an argument. I would prefer to see the possible

strategies better incorporated visually in the text. Overall, I find that this guide has more of a

process-oriented and writer-centered approach to teaching writing than a product-oriented

process despite the fact that it presents the writing process in a very step by step style.

In conclusion, I found that this book would be a great book to use as a resource to help a

professor develop a syllabus, however, I would not use it as the main textbook due to the

overload of text on each page. One of the weaknesses in this text, just like the L2 text examined
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Assignment 3: Textbook Analysis

above, is its lack of focus or attention to sociopolitical and critical literacy concerns (Ferris &

Hedgcock, 2014, p. 85). Unlike the L2 text, this text does not focus so much on an across the

disciplines approach as it does on the audience you may be addressing. What I mean by this is it

does not necessarily show how a professor in a science class would want you write a cited paper

but it does show you how you might write something that is readable to the general public.
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Assignment 3: Textbook Analysis

References

Axelrod, R. B., & Cooper, C. R. (2008). ​The St. Martin’s guide to writing​ (8th ed.). Boston:

Bedford/St. Martins.

Ferris, D., & Hedgcock, J. (2014). ​Teaching L2 composition: Purpose, process, and practice

(3rd ed.). New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2018). ​Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and

skills ​(3rd ed.). Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

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Assignment 3: Textbook Analysis
Appendix A: Comparison Chart
Bibliographic Info
Primary Audience
Institutional Setting
Writing/Lang Proficiency
Level
Genre Categor(ies)
Theoretical Orientation(s)
Sample Composing
Assignments
Appendix
Textbook 1
Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B.
(2018). ​Academic writing for
graduate students: Essential
tasks and skills ​(3rd ed.).
Ann Arbor: The University
of Michigan Press.
L2 & L1 writers
Graduate level writing
(Advanced undergraduate,
graduate, and PH. D writers)
Authors state inexperienced
to advanced writers
Rhetorical & Analytical
Manual
Content-Based/socioliterate
Oriented; Focus on
Interdisciplinary Content and
Discursive Practices (EAP)
Analyze one's own practices
and the practices used by
others; Extended definition
(one or two with opposing
meanings); Contrastive
definition; General-Specific
Textbook 2
Axelrod, R. B., & Cooper, C.
R. (2008). ​The St. Martin’s
guide to writing​ (8th ed.).
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
L1 Writers
Book simply states
“students”but would be best
utilized in a first year
composition course
Beginner college level
academic writers
Rhetorical Manual and
Reader
Disciplinary content and
Discursive practices, Process
oriented, collaborative
pedagogies, and some
expressivism and cognitivism
in its writer-centered
orientation.
Remembering an event,
writing profiles, explaining a
concept, explaining opposing
positions, arguing a position,
proposing a solution,
justifying an evaluation,
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Assignment 3: Textbook Analysis
paragraph with definition
about familiar topic; choose
something that has fallen out
of favor in research and write
about how and why, using
sources when needed can use
General-Specific or
Specific-General approach;
topic given problem-solution
text; process-description of
your choice that can be used
to develop full
problem-solution text;
Problem-solution text with
process description and
definition; etc.
Chief Strengths Analytical approach that
allows students to apply and
think about their own writing
goals, can be used in many
different disciplines, allows
for authentic writing in
context, includes language
notes
Chief Weaknesses If not used in a classroom
setting, can be
overwhelming; requires
supplementation in the
classroom of relevant content
for group of students; the
tasks assigned throughout the
book are helpful, but if you
don’t understand the context
speculating about causes, and
interpreting stories, E-mails,
resumes, memos, letters, and
other wider audience style
writing and speaking
Analytical approach that
encourages students to reflect
on their writing as they write,
great examples texts and
visuals (when needed in a
text), includes sections on
writing, research, and
assessment strategies, a
decent range of genres
students may have to write.
Visually overwhelming with
too many words per page,
still comes across as a
product oriented approach
with the steps laid out in what
appears to be a set order, the
critical thinking and research
components are not combined
with the writing activities
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Assignment 3: Textbook Analysis

of writing example given, it

would be hard to write about;
hard to follow organization