What do teenagers find difficult about writing essays?

Teenagers can struggle to generate the ideas needed for a discursive essay under time pressure, perhaps because they feel that the ideas all have to come from within themselves as original opinions.

As a workaround, I ask my learners to identify the various groups of people who might have an opinion on each issue. From there we brainstorm what these opinions might be and why those groups would have them.

This done, our teenager writers can cherry pick the viewpoints they wish to include in their essay as arguments and the ones they wish to identify most closely with.

I do this with my learners for the first two or three topics and then later encourage them to incorporate such a process as a two-minute thinking phase in their actual exam.

An example

Mobile phone use (or over-use) is a popular topic, so let’s have a look at how that might pan out given the above treatment.

As groups that might have an opinion on the matter, learners may come up with the following: end users (teens and adults), manufacturers, teen health care experts and psychologists, teachers, and traffic accident police.

From there we can ask them what each group might say and why.

By reaching out, mentally, into the world, in such a way, this process gives learners the bulk of their essay content. They then just have to decide what ideas they will lump together in the same paragraph and which they will contrast and which they will liken to each other.

The dreaded introduction

A lot of the time, teenage writers create an introduction that simply rephrases the title. As a strategy for adding value here, I suggest reframing the introduction as a bridge between the title and the body of the essay which tells the reader:

• Why the issue we are about to discuss is important.

• Why it is relevant in the modern age.

• Why it is deserving of discussion now more than ever.

Admittedly, these three are really one and the same. Just one will do, but any of them will create a much more engaging introduction than what markers often see.

In concusion…

Of course, here we need to know what conclusions the writer has reached so far, and, as all good IELTS teachers know, it is important that the candidate establishes and expresses a position.

Let us not forget, though, that not having a strong opinion is also a valid position.

To add a little spice, I suggest they also include what the next steps might be in their own journey in formulating a more concrete, more informed opinion.

What else do they need to know? What would help them decide more clearly on the issues?

This is not the same as asking them to cite mountains of research on the topic – which IELTS does not require anyway. It is simply asking them to identify a potential gap in their knowledge that might be the next logical step for them to address in their thinking on that topic.

I talk more about this in my new book Taking Your Teaching of Teenagers to the Next Level (Roland C. 2025, Pavilion Publishing & Media).

You can also find me talking about teens methodology on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@teachingteenagersenglish

Finally, if your institution is interested in further workshops that I offer through MTS on various areas of teenage IELTS preparation such as speaking practice, classroom management and task design, or reading and writing, please get in touch.