Research Article
An Empirical Study of English Learning Burnout Among Chinese Senior High School Students

Yuchen Zhong, Honggang Liu

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Zhong Y, Liu H. An empirical study of English learning burnout among chinese senior high school students. Eur J Eng Lang Ed. 2022;2(2):77-88. doi: 10.12973/ejels.2.2.77
Zhong, Y., & Liu, H. (2022). An empirical study of English learning burnout among chinese senior high school students. European Journal of English Language Studies, 2(2), 77-88. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejels.2.2.77
Zhong Yuchen, and Honggang Liu. "An Empirical Study of English Learning Burnout Among Chinese Senior High School Students," European Journal of English Language Studies 2, no. 2 (2022): 77-88. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejels.2.2.77
Zhong, Y & Liu, 2022, 'An empirical study of English learning burnout among chinese senior high school students', European Journal of English Language Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 77-88. Zhong, Yuchen, and Honggang Liu. "An Empirical Study of English Learning Burnout Among Chinese Senior High School Students." European Journal of English Language Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, 2022, pp. 77-88, https://doi.org/10.12973/ejels.2.2.77.

Abstract

A number of researchers in language education have investigated the effects of language learning emotions. Burnout, a negative affective factor, is deemed a shared phenomenon among language learners. In the context of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in China, Chinese EFL learners, especially senior high school students, seem to be vulnerable to English learning burnout (ELB). ELB is a three-dimensional concept derived from job burnout in psychology and academic burnout in general education. It possesses three principal components: Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Reduced Efficacy. The present study aims to explore ELB levels, gender dissimilarities, and English learning performance differences in ELB among Chinese senior high school students. We administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory-EFL Student Survey to a sample of 377 Chinese senior high school students, analyzing the collected data through descriptive statistics, an independent sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 26.0. Our significant findings are as follows: 1) Chinese senior high school students had low overall and dimensional ELB levels; 2) there was no significant gender difference in students’ ELB levels; and 3) the students’ English learning performance levels significantly differentiated their ELB levels. Some theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Keywords: Chinese senior high school students, English learning burnout, English learning performance, gender, levels.


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