The overall purpose of this study was to explore the identified language challenges and supports for writing in Standard Australian English for secondary English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) students. An initial review of the academic literature revealed that this research topic has not been extensively researched in the Australian context. For this reason, this research project involved a systematic scoping study of the academic literature, based on the framework of Arksey and O'Malley (2005) to determine findings to date. The 35 articles examined revealed a range of themes that either challenged or supported the writing process for Australian EAL/D secondary students. Key challenges that EALD learners in secondary contexts face when developing Standard Australian English (SAE) writing skills revolve around policy mandates from curriculum and assessment authorities, de-facto policy as realised through EAL and mainstream curriculum, teachers' attitudes, knowledge and beliefs, including notions of deficit, and pre-service teacher preparation. What was found to support EAL/D students were different pedagogical approaches which are cognizant of students' cultural knowledge, experiences and linguistic resources, as well as genre-based approaches incorporating Systemic Functional Linguistics and a teaching and learning cycle and technology. Given that some of the studies were relatively small which impacts generalizability, further research in relation to the topics under study would be encouraged, particularly as to what supports a wider range of EAL/D students.