School of Foreign Studies, Hunan Normal University, Changsha city, Hunan province, China.
School of Teacher Education, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing city, Zhejiang province, China.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2024 Mar;243:104153. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104153. Epub 2024 Jan 23.
Burnout impairs English as a foreign language (EFL) learning, while engagement enhances it. However, most relevant studies have focused on college students, neglecting senior high school students. To address this gap, this mixed-methods study used two scales to assess the levels of burnout and engagement among 1234 Chinese senior high school EFL students. We also applied a person-centered approach with a statistical software (Mplus 8.7) to identify their latent profiles. Then, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 students and analyzed the data using thematic analysis with a qualitative software (MAXQDA 2022) to investigate the antecedents of their burnout and engagement. The statistical analysis revealed three profiles: high burnout-low engagement (16.0 %), moderate burnout-moderate engagement (61.8 %), and low burnout-high engagement (22.2 %). The profiles were associated with demographic characteristics such as gender, age, and grade. The thematic analysis identified four major antecedents: high academic stress and low academic support for burnout, and high external support and high internal support for engagement. Each major antecedent consisted of several categories and subcategories. This study could inform the design of effective interventions to reduce Chinese EFL students' burnout and increase their engagement.
倦怠会影响英语作为外语(EFL)的学习,而投入则会促进学习。然而,大多数相关研究都集中在大学生身上,忽视了高中生。为了弥补这一差距,本混合方法研究使用两个量表评估了 1234 名中国高中 EFL 学生的倦怠和投入水平。我们还应用了一种基于统计软件(Mplus 8.7)的以人为中心的方法来识别他们的潜在特征。然后,我们对 30 名学生进行了半结构化访谈,并使用定性软件(MAXQDA 2022)对数据进行了主题分析,以调查他们倦怠和投入的前因。统计分析显示了三种特征:高倦怠低投入(16.0%)、中倦怠中投入(61.8%)和低倦怠高投入(22.2%)。这些特征与性别、年龄和年级等人口统计学特征有关。主题分析确定了四个主要的前因:高学业压力和低学业支持导致倦怠,高外部支持和高内部支持导致投入。每个主要的前因都由几个类别和子类组成。本研究可以为设计有效的干预措施提供信息,以减少中国 EFL 学生的倦怠,提高他们的投入。