EVALUATION OF WRITING TASKS IN THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK ENTITLED “WHEN ENGLISH RINGS THE BELL” FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

This research was conducted to analyze the writing tasks designed in English textbook for Junior High School using Genre-based Approach (GBA). The analyzed textbook entitled “When English Rings the Bell” for grade VII of junior high school students, published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia. The writing tasks are analyzed by using the stages in designing writing tasks proposed by Feez (2002) that consists of Building knowledge of the context, Modeling of the text, Joint construction of the text, Independent construction of the text, and Linking to Related Texts. The data were taken from four chapters of English textbook entitled “When English Rings the Bell”, grade VII. The results of analysis reported that the writing tasks in four chapters of the textbook follow the pattern Building Knowledge of the Context (BKOC) - Modeling of the Text (MOT) – Independent Construction of the Text (ICOT), some writing tasks add Join Construction of the Text (JCOT) stage and a few of them add Linking to Related Text (LRT) stage. In the writing tasks, the students are instructed to relate what they have known or their own experience with the tasks by presenting pictures and tables. Most of the writing tasks activities in the textbook are similar. Some suggestions are addressed to the book writers, the textbook users, and other researchers. For practical contribution, it is suggested that textbook writers think to add joint construction and linking related text stages. The textbook users are suggested to add additional activities or tasks that are not discussed in the textbook. Empirically, it is suggested that the next researchers analyze the writing tasks of other English textbooks used nationally in Indonesia or analyze other English skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) of the same English textbook for different levels.