Examination Of The Reasons For Decline In Student Interests In Essay Writings

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               Writing essays is an important skill for students since it allows them to speak, comprehend difficult concepts, and develop critical reasoning abilities. Empowering student voices is an essential skill for students because it enables them to voice their thoughts, articulate their ideas, and participate in analytical thought processes. (None et al., 2021) While students' interest and love for this traditional method of writing has dwindled in recent years. (Rosario et al., 2019). Scholars and tutors are concerned about this shift in thinking, prompting them to investigate deeper into what is causing this slide. This article will look at the numerous factors that contribute to students' declining interest in essay writing.
Changing Learning Preferences:
The present generation has changed its attitude towards learning and so, one major reason for the falling out of students from essay writing. Technology is fast developing and there’s lots of digital media available today. As a result, most students prefer other ways of communication which tend to be more vivid and interactive. (Kayaalp et al., 2022). Other media like videos and podcasts can seem dull and lengthy as compared with old school essays which they consider traditional.
Lack of Relevance:
The other reason is that learners believe that essay writing lacks any practical applicability. Often times, students wonder why they should spend so much time on writing a composition when they think it is easier to write social media post or article for blog. (Subandowo et al., 2022).  Motivational deficiency among the students may arise due to the disjoint between essay and its relevance in today’s world.
Assessment Pressure:
Another factor behind this is the focus on standardised tests and their associated high stakes assessments. According to Agustin et al. (2023) in most cases, students in various education systems, are assessed on multiple choice tests, or a paragraph on a question; this does not allow for creativity. The concentrated emphasis on examination results could prevent students from expending energy towards developing excellent essays.
Time Constraints and Workload:
Students of this age group are involved in a number of academic and social engagements which cause them to have tight schedules. Their time-consuming schedules do not allow rigorous research, quality thinking, or formulation of coherent texts. Therefore, some students might prefer using online summaries or group discussion as quicker and better options to meet their academic demands.
Writing Anxiety and Lack of Confidence:
Writing anxiety is common among many students who also worry about their writing competencies. Fear of producing wrong results or having low grades is enough for students to refrain writing an essay. Furthermore, no specified guidelines for writing essay or the procedures that will be followed result into lack of knowledge or understanding by students concerning how essay is done hence the apprehension and disinterest towards the type of academic writing.
These include, but are not limited to, changes in learning preferences, diminishing relevance, assessment pressures, short time for writing assignments and writing anxiety among students. However, as educators, we must respond to such concerns by changing teaching ways to stimulate students’ interest in essay writing. In a bid to boost student essays, we should stress that essays prepare students for real life by giving them practical experience, relevant experience, as well as a set of transferred skills.
 
References
 
Agustin, M. S., Diawati, C., & Jalmo, T. (2023). Teachers’ Perception toward Electronic Student Worksheet Based on chiken manure Waste Treatment Projects to Improve Students' Creative Thinking Skills. Jurnal Penelitian Pendidikan IPA (JPPIPA), 9(3), 1050-1058.
Febriyanti, E. R., & Rizki, M. (2021, October). Argumentation Skills: An Analysis on EFL Students’ Essays Based on Toulmin’s Model of Argument. In 2nd International Conference on Education, Language, Literature, and Arts (ICELLA 2021) (pp. 86-95). Atlantis Press.
Kayaalp, F., Gökbulut, B., Meral, E., & NAMLI, Z. B. (2022). The Effect of Digital Material Preparation Training on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Self-Confidence of Pre-service Social Studies Teachers. Journal of Theoretical Educational Science, 15(3), 475-503.
Rosário, P., Högemann, J., Núñez, J. C., Vallejo, G., Cunha, J., Rodríguez, C., & Fuentes, S. (2019). The impact of three types of writing intervention on students’ writing quality. PloS one, 14(7), e0218099.
Subandowo, D. (2022). The Use of Linguistic Features in Indonesian Students’ Texts at Hungarian Universities. Central European Journal of Educational Research, 4(1), 131-141.

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