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.