EFL Students’ Burnout in English Learning: A Case Study of Chinese Middle School Students

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the English learningburnout of Chinese middle school students to provide solutions to reduce it. Foreign Language Classroom Burnout Scale (FLCBS) is used to make an investigation into 212 middle school students of different grades in No. 10 Middle School in Xi’an city in China. After both qualitative and quantitative analyses of data collected from the questionnaires, it finds out that: 1) a medium level of English learning burnout exists in the students of No.10 Middle School (M=53.80). 2) In terms of grade, three grades have no statistically significant differences in burnout (p=0.377>0.05). 3) As for gender, there is statistically significant difference (p=0.001<0.05). The male’s total burnout is higher than the female’s, especially in Low Efficiency (p=0.006<0.05). 4) There is statistically significant difference in English learning burnout between different majors (p=0.001<0.05). The learning burnout of science students is higher than that of art students, especially in Depletion and Low Efficiency. Based on the research findings, it puts out such suggestions for teachers to lower down students’ English learning burnout as building up students’ confidence, adopting new teaching methods, and improving the relationship between teacher and students.