In my experience tutoring Year 12 students in English, I’ve observed a concerning trend in how the subject is taught in school. The focus has predominantly been on micro-analysis, specifically identifying literary techniques within texts. While this skill is undoubtedly important, it often comes at the expense of more critical aspects of essay writing and textual analysis. What I find frequently overlooked is the crucial ability to synthesise this evidence into a coherent response that directly addresses the given question. Many students have developed an impressive academic vocabulary and can readily identify literary devices but struggle to weave these observations into a convincing argument. Their essays often lack orientation, failing to guide the reader through their thought process or explain the relevance of their analysis to the question at hand. Furthermore, there’s a noticeable deficiency in critical thinking skills. Students tend to describe what an author is doing rather than critically analysing or evaluating the author’s choices and impact. They often forget to consider the purpose behind the author’s techniques or how these contribute to the text’s overall meaning. Perhaps most crucially, many students struggle with the fundamental task of understanding and answering the specific question posed. While potentially well-written, their responses often fail to address the core issues raised in the prompt. This results in essays that, despite demonstrating knowledge of the text, miss the mark regarding relevance and argumentation. It’s disheartening to see students who are clearly capable and have put in significant effort yet are at a loss as to why their essays aren’t achieving higher marks. The root of the problem isn’t their inability to write but rather that they’ve never been explicitly taught how to craft a response that convincingly answers a specific question. This is why I find tutoring this subject so rewarding. Teaching students how to actually unpack a question and rephrase it to ensure their comprehension encourages them to convince themselves of the argument they craft. The moment of realisation when a student grasps that their struggle wasn’t with the quality of their writing but with the relevance of their response is truly inspiring.
Thea Macarthur-Lassen
