An analysis of the task types in the “English for creative students” English workbook for eighth-grade students at SMPN 1 Padang

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the task types and the cognitive level of the tasks found in the “English for Creative Students” English workbook for eighth-grade students. The study used descriptive research. A total of 60 tasks from four units and eight sections each were analyzed. This study applied Nunan's (1999) typology to identify the interpersonal and linguistics task, while Bloom’s revised taxonomy by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) was used to determine the cognitive levels of the task. The findings show that the dominance of linguistics task, particularly the practicing tasks with 36 tasks (60%) were identified, while conversational tasks and summarizing were absent. The “English for Creative Students” does not provide the balance distribution for the interpersonal and linguistic tasks. It indicates a strong emphasis on controlled practice and accuracy, which can limit students' language competence. Based on the cognitive level, most of the tasks fall at the Understanding (C2) level, with 25 tasks (41,67%), which is categorized in the lower order thinking skills (LOTS). But the workbook is aligned with Capaian Pembelajaran (CP) in the Merdeka curriculum. These findings highlight the teacher and book design to integrate more communicative and higher-order thinking skills tasks to balance the cognitive level and make learning more meaningful.