한국 초등영어교사의 소진: 유발 및 극복 요인을 중심으로

Abstract

This study aimed to explore how South Korean elementary English teachers experienced burnout. It also examined why teachers got burned out and how they coped with it. Sixty teachers were surveyed, and fifty teachers were interviewed. The survey responses were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, and the interview data were coded and categorized to draw the symptoms, causes, and cures of teacher burnout. The results are as follows. First, no significant differences were found across teachers with different backgrounds including school size, age, teaching experience, and ELT experience, which indicates that English teachers in diverse contexts could experience burnouts. Second, the teachers suffered from physical symptoms as well as psychological and emotional symptoms. Third, the factors that caused teacher burnout included elementary English class traits, student traits, teacher self-awareness, working conditions, human relationships in school, lack of school support, and individual and social factors. Fourth, the teachers who overcame burnout did so through self-development, confrontation, emotional support, emotion-control strategies, avoidance, and professional assistance. The findings are expected to contribute to prevent and/or alleviate teacher burnout and thus promote teacher development and student learning in the field of primary ELT in South Korea.