1000% this. Just because LEGO pieces fit together doesn’t mean they take the form of a cohesive argument. It’s actually concerning to me that there is too much focus on practical coding skills in e.g. high school, to the detriment of essay-writing and critical thinking in non-technical domains. The “five paragraph essay” is actually fantastic preparation for “defensive coding” - if you can write good counterarguments, you can write error handling code.
Another good writing task for programming is to write down a recipe (properly). However, to do it off-the-cuff would mean you need to know how to cook - so maybe not the best example.
Something that could be done is describing the task of making coffee, or a sandwich, or describing your entire morning routine.
Focus on teaching the details - let the students try it first without any prompting other than telling them to try it. Then select one at random and go over it showing where certain details are missing.
For instance, they might say "I brush my teeth, then I get in the shower" - but what they really did was "brush my teeth, turn on shower, wait for a particular temp, until that temp continue brushing teeth, when temp is reached, stop brushing and get into shower".
Of course, even that isn't detailed enough (do they still have their clothes on? maybe those should be removed before getting into the shower?) - but it would show how you have to think in such extreme detail for programming, plus the whole "control logic" and "logic flow" of such a description.
Recipes are like this too, but knowing how to properly write one does require cooking knowledge, which many people don't have. But everyone (usually) has the experience of "getting ready for work" or something similar...
