The Challenges of Writing Exposition: Lessons From a Study of ELL and Non-ELL High School Students

The purposes of the study we describe here were (a) to identify the challenges that English Language Learner and non–English Language Learner high school students in an urban public school district experience when composing in the genre of exposition, a genre considered to be central to advanced academic literacy; and (b) to relate these challenges to characteristics of the writing they produce. We present a descriptive inventory of the challenges these adolescents faced when composing in the genre of exposition and also compare the challenges that the 2 groups experienced both in relation to each other and in relation to characteristics of the writing they produced. Finally, we relate our findings to implications for improving writing instruction and assessment for adolescents.