ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how existing ESL/EFL writing textbooks2 fail to cater for the lexical needs of learners in mono-national classrooms. It also argue in favour of redressing the balance between the process and product approaches towards greater product awareness and postulate ways of enhancing EFL writing textbooks on the basis of computerised learner corpora (CLC)-derived evidence. The evolution of L2 writing theory seems to indicate that the greatest amount of lexical coverage should probably be contained in the older, product-oriented textbooks, and in academic-related materials, rather than in process-focused sources. ESL/EFL textbooks of a academic profile are, as mentioned before, more explicit and product-conscious, and so we find in them more specific suggestions about the kind of language required. It is heartening that computer learner corpora, which enable massive statistical analyses of national varieties of EFL interlanguage, can now be applied successfully to pinpoint and diagnose the troublesome areas of overuse/underuse and misuse which have long been escaping attention.
