What Struggling Writers Actually Need (And Why More Writing Isn’t the Answer)
- Anna @ Tea4Teacher
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
When students struggle with writing, the most common response is to give them more of it. More practice essays. More paragraphs. More writing homework.
While this approach is usually well intentioned, it often produces the opposite effect. Struggling writers do not improve simply by writing more. In fact, increasing volume without support can deepen frustration, reinforce weak habits, and damage confidence.
What helping struggling writers in high school English actually means is not more writing, but better writing experiences. They need clarity, structure, explicit instruction, and opportunities to succeed in small, visible ways. When writing is broken into manageable steps and supported with strong models, students begin to see themselves as capable writers rather than perpetual underperformers.
Why “Just Write More” Doesn’t Work
Writing is one of the most cognitively demanding tasks students are asked to do. It requires idea generation, organisation, language control, audience awareness, and technical accuracy all at once. For confident writers, these processes have become partially automatic. For struggling writers, they compete for attention simultaneously.
When students are told to simply write more, they are often practising confusion.
Without clear guidance, they repeat the same errors and rely on avoidance strategies such as vague language, minimal responses, or overreliance on memorised phrases. This is particularly true for EAL learners, students with learning difficulties, and reluctant writers who already associate writing with failure.
Effective writing instruction reduces cognitive load. It teaches students how to write, not just asks them to do it.
Targeted Scaffolding Makes Writing Possible
Scaffolding is not about lowering expectations. It is about temporarily supporting students until skills become internalised.
Targeted scaffolding focuses on one skill at a time. Instead of asking students to write an entire essay, teachers might focus on crafting a strong topic sentence, embedding a quotation, or explaining evidence clearly. Each success builds confidence and momentum.
For example, a struggling writer might practise writing three different topic sentences for the same idea. Another lesson might focus solely on expanding one sentence using conjunctions or precise verbs. These micro-skills are often what hold students back, yet they are rarely taught explicitly.
Tea4Teacher writing units are designed with this in mind, breaking writing into clear, sequential steps with scaffolded tasks that guide students from planning to drafting without overwhelm.
Sentence-Level Instruction: The Missing Piece
One of the biggest gaps in writing instruction is sentence-level work. Many struggling writers have ideas but lack the tools to express them clearly.
Explicit sentence instruction helps students understand how writing works at a fundamental level. This includes:how sentences are structuredhow to combine ideas effectivelyhow punctuation affects meaninghow word choice shapes tone and clarity
Sentence combining, sentence expansion, and imitation exercises are particularly effective. Students might take a simple sentence and practise adding detail, or imitate the structure of a strong model sentence from a text they are studying.
For EAL learners, sentence-level instruction is essential. It provides clarity and predictability, allowing students to focus on meaning rather than guessing grammatical patterns. Clear sentence frames and models support language development while still encouraging original thinking.
Mentor Texts Show Students What Good Writing Looks Like
Struggling writers often do not know what they are aiming for. Instructions like “analyse the quote” or “develop your ideas” are vague unless students have seen examples.
Mentor texts remove this uncertainty. A mentor text might be a paragraph, a sentence, or even a short response that demonstrates a specific skill. When students analyse how a writer achieves clarity or sophistication, they begin to internalise those strategies.
Mentor texts are especially powerful when they are closely aligned with the task students are completing. A strong analytical paragraph from a novel study, for example, can be used to highlight structure, evidence integration, and explanation.
Tea4Teacher resources frequently include worked examples and annotated models so students can see exactly how successful writing is constructed, rather than guessing what teachers want.
Structured Practice Builds Confidence
Struggling writers benefit from predictable routines. Structured practice provides consistency and reduces anxiety.
This might include:
regular paragraph-building lessons,
fun writing challenges
vocabulary games and activities
writing prompts with a particular focus (use 3 adjectives)
repeated practice with the same structure,
modelling writing on a chosen text
checklists that clarify success
criteria-guided planning templates.
Structure allows students to focus on quality rather than survival. Over time, scaffolds can be gradually removed as students gain independence.
Reluctant writers often respond well to time-limited writing tasks with a clear purpose. A ten-minute focused task on one skill is far less intimidating than a full essay and far more effective for skill development.
Check out my fun Crazy Picture Writing Prompts here!
Helping Struggling Writers in High School English Without Lowering Standards
EAL learners face the dual challenge of learning content and language simultaneously. Effective writing instruction acknowledges this without reducing expectations.
Clear modelling, sentence frames, and vocabulary support allow EAL students to engage with complex ideas. Explicit teaching of academic language, connectives, and text-specific vocabulary helps students participate meaningfully in analysis and discussion.
Importantly, EAL students should still be invited to think deeply. Simplifying language support does not mean simplifying ideas. With the right scaffolds, EAL learners can produce thoughtful, well-structured writing that reflects genuine understanding.
Building Confidence Through Manageable Success
Confidence is not built through praise alone. It is built through evidence of improvement.
When students can see their writing becoming clearer, more precise, or more organised, motivation increases. This is why manageable steps matter so much. Each small success reinforces the belief that improvement is possible.
Writing units that provide clear pathways, examples, and incremental challenges support this process. Students begin to approach writing with curiosity rather than dread.
Tea4Teacher writing units are designed to create these confidence-building experiences by focusing on clarity, structure, and achievable progress rather than volume alone.
What Struggling Writers Really Need
Struggling writers do not need more writing. They need clearer instruction, stronger models, focused practice, and opportunities to succeed.
When writing is broken into manageable pieces and taught explicitly, students begin to understand how writing works. Confidence grows, skills improve, and writing becomes a tool for thinking rather than a source of stress.
By shifting the focus from quantity to quality, teachers can help struggling writers move forward — one sentence, one paragraph, and one success at a time.
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