本文考察了美国21世纪最新出版的8部大一英语写作教材，发现它们仍延续了原有的修辞学传统，把写作看作修辞活动，强调修辞情境在写作中的重要性；语篇类型受到重视，但不局限于语篇模式，而是语篇体裁、语篇模式和主题语篇策略三者共存；强调阅读对写作的重要性，倡导以读促写；修订及时，重视规范。通过分析这些特征，以期为我国英语写作教材建设提供借鉴。

 This paper investigated eight American freshman English composition textbooks published in the 21^st century. The findings include that they still keep the rhetorical tradition and take writing as a rhetorical action; writing is regarded as a response to the rhetorical situation; discourse types are still the focus of composition teaching, but are not constrained to modes of discourse; genres, strategies of thesis text and modes of discourse are symbiotic in these textbooks which are revised timely; in the teaching of writing, reading is advocated for the promotion of writing whose norms are well emphasized. Through the analysis of these textbooks, it is aimed to provide valuable reference for the construction of English composition textbooks in China.