The relationship between teacher burnout and organizational socialization among English language teachers

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ burnout and organizational socialization levels, and any possible relationship between these two aspects by employing Richmond, Wrench and Gorham’s (2001) Teacher Burnout Scale and Erdoğan’s (2012) Organizational Socialization Scale as quantitative tools. The study further explored the causes of teacher burnout and unsuccessful organizational socialization through a semi-structured interview as a qualitative tool. The results revealed that teachers had a low level of burnout and a high level of organizational socialization, and that there is a negative correlation between teacher burnout and organizational socialization. The interviews indicated that independent of the EFL teachers’ burnout levels; the major issues that led to burnout were pre-service education, heavy workload, poor administrative and collegial support, and students’ low motivation and misbehaviors.