在我国，随着哑巴式英语学习的困境逐渐解除，写作环节的问题日益凸显。学生在写作中要么无话可写，要么有话表达不好。写作老师们变得无所适从，学生因早早面对各种英语考试中的写作而心急如焚；老师们决心扔掉国内教材而与国际接轨时，又发现英文原版教材的很多话题存在明显的水土不服问题。基于以上困境，邹涛、张扬主编的《英语写作教程——以内容为依托》编委在写作教学改革与实践基础上，试图结合中西写作教材的优势，以编写新教材为牵引带动写作教学模式的革新。
本书编写理念为以内容为依托的教学法(content-based instruction，简称CBI)。不过，这里的“内容”不是某个专门的学科知识，而是适应于基础写作教学需求、让学生感觉亲切而有表达兴趣的话题。

序言
Introduction to Writing Process and Writing Techniques
Chapter One Life Wisdom
Text A The Handsome and Deformed Leg
Text B What I Have Lived for
Text C Half a Sheet of Paper
Corpus-based Exercises (1)
Chapter Two Love
Text A Beauty
Text B Going Home
Text C Cyber Love: What Is Real & What Is Virtual
Corpus-based Exercises (2)
Chapter Three Family
Text A The Lost Art of Family Traditions
Text B Building a Happy, Healthy Family
Text C Of Parents and Children
Corpus-based Exercises (3)
Chapter Four Friendship
Text A Philia
Text B On Friendship
Text C For Immediate Release
Corpus-based Exercises (4)
Chapter Five Education
Text A Experience and Education
Text B Why I Teach
Text C Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior
Corpus-based Exercises (5)