Writing well is essential for success in school and university, but many students find it difficult.

A student who can write a strong report may struggle with a reflective piece. Another might write vividly in a creative task but find it difficult to construct a sustained argument. 

This suggests a simple but important idea: writing isn’t a single, stable skill — it’s something students must continually reshape to meet the demands of each new task.

Writing across tasks and subjects

These difficulties only grow when we consider writing across the curriculum. For example, writing a chemistry report requires very different language from explaining a physics concept, describing historical events, or analysing a poem in English.

Students aren’t just learning to write, they’re learning to adapt their writing to fit the expectations of each subject and assignment. This means using language in ways that fit particular purposes, audiences, and contexts. 

This variety creates both opportunity and difficulty for students. They need to draw on a wide range of linguistic resources and know how and when to use them. For many, that’s a challenge. 

Why this matters

Because writing tasks vary so much, students need to learn how to adjust their writing for different audiences, whether they are communicating with experts or non-experts, peers or teachers. They must also adapt their writing to different purposes, such as interpreting and evaluating source material, reporting research findings, or presenting a project proposal to a client.

However, these shifts are often left implicit rather than clearly explained. 

Understanding writing in this way can help us as teachers to recognise the different demands of the tasks we set and support students in moving between different types of writing. It also enables us to make clearer connections between writing in our own subject and across the wider curriculum, as well as allowing us to reflect on task design and assessment. 

The limits of text types

Grouping writing into categories like essays or narratives can give students structure and help teachers to provide guidance. However, it also has limitations. 

In practice, many writing tasks don’t fit neatly into a single category and strong examples of good writing often blend elements from different text types or move deliberately between them. 

There is also a risk that categories can make writing seem too fixed. Students may come to see particular writing tasks as formulas to be followed, rather than flexible ways to shape and communicate meaning. 

Adding to the complexity, there is no consistent system for describing writing tasks. Different frameworks use different terms — sometimes for the same thing, sometimes for different things — making it harder to build a shared understanding of writing across different subjects and educational levels. 

A new approach

The Writing Tasks at School and University (WTSU) project aims to respond to this challenge.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and led by researchers at the University of Exeter and Montclair State University, the project seeks to build a clearer picture of writing in education.

Rather than assigning tasks to fixed categories, the project focuses on mapping variation in writing tasks — looking closely at what students are actually asked to do and the kinds of language those tasks involve.

The research focuses on non-literary writing in history, science and English, across school and university contexts, to understand:

• how writing tasks vary across disciplines
• the linguistic demands they place on students
• the challenges and opportunities they create
• how tasks build on prior learning and prepare students for future writing

Writing in an age of AI

This work is especially timely. In a world where students are increasingly using generative AI as a natural part of the writing process, it is important for educators to rethink the types of tasks we set to ensure they provide meaningful and authentic opportunities for learning and assessment. 

The project aims to support teachers in the design of writing tasks that work effectively for learning and assessment in a context where students can work with AI assistance.   

What the project is doing

The first phase of the WTSU project has developed a framework for characterising writing tasks across different subjects, from Key Stage 2 to university. 

The framework draws on research, curriculum guidance, and classroom practice and has been refined with input from teachers, lecturers and subject experts. It allows writing tasks to be described in more nuanced ways than simple labels like ‘essay’ or ‘report’. 

You can explore the framework on our website: https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/wtsu/resources/

What comes next

Over the next two years, the project will map writing tasks across subjects and educational levels, identifying patterns in their distribution and in how they relate to language use. As part of this work, we will invite teachers to participate in a national survey of writing tasks. 

This will inform the development of an online resource for educators that explains variation in academic language, shows how writing tasks connect across the curriculum, and supports more purposeful approaches to task design.

The project will also contribute to research by developing new linguistic resources and enriching existing collections (corpora) of student writing.

If you would like to learn more or stay updated, please visit our website or get in touch.

Featured image: iStock/izusek