Comparison of writing approaches in New Istanbul and Headway coursebooks

Today, the writing process includes a wide range of approaches that anyone can use. These approaches have been developed by researchers from different disciplines for the writing process. Writing skills play an important role in individuals' daily lives, academic and professional careers. Different types of writing approaches are used to improve writing skills. Writing approaches are strategies used to guide students in the writing process. These approaches enable students to follow the writing process more systematically and effectively. The use of different approaches can help meet the different needs of students and help them improve their writing skills. Coursebooks provide the necessary tools and information to adopt different writing approaches and improve writing skills. The aim of this study is to evaluate Turkish and English language coursebooks in terms of writing approaches. It is observed that there is a lack of studies comparing the writing approaches in teaching Turkish and English as foreign languages. This study has the potential to make a new contribution to the field. For this purpose, the writing sections in the coursebooks used by Turkish and English teachers were compared in terms of the approaches used to support the writing process. The assessment criteria to be employed in the examination of writing activities have been developed based on information obtained from sources within the field of writing instruction. Furthermore, similar thesis studies and other research conducted on writing instruction have also contributed to the development of these assessment criteria. The document scanning model, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in this study. The data was collected by examining the writing activities in the Turkish language coursebook "Yeni İstanbul" (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1) and the English language coursebook "Headway" (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) and evaluating them in terms of writing approaches. In the final section, the obtained data and comparisons were presented in table form and interpreted. The similarities and differences in writing approaches used in Turkish and English language coursebooks were revealed. Based on the findings, it is evident that in the Yeni İstanbul Turkish language teaching textbooks for foreign learners, there is a lack of an adequate number of controlled writing activities apart from completion exercises within the product-focused approach. When examining the Headway and Yeni İstanbul textbooks in terms of the genre-focused approach, it is noted that the types of writing included do not have the same quantity. Considering that there are very few writing activities related to the process-focused approach in both teaching sets, it is necessary for this approach to have a greater presence at all language proficiency levels. This study will help generate new ideas on how writing approaches can be more effectively used in coursebooks. Additionally, the information obtained will help teachers select appropriate coursebooks to improve their students' writing skills and adopt suitable approaches to support the writing process. Keywords: Turkish as a Foreign Language, English as a Foreign Language, Coursebooks, Writing Approaches, Writing Activities.