An Empirical Study on English Learning Burnout among Chinese English Majors—Taking English Major Undergraduates at X University as an Example

Abstract

Burnout has a great impact on students’ learning achievement and motivation. This paper investigates the English Learning Burnout (ELB) of 122 English Major undergraduates from one first-rate university in Xi’an by questionnaire. After the quantitative analysis, it finds that participants show a high level of burnout from English learning (M = 3.28, SD = 0.96). Among three dimensions of English learning burnout, cynicism occupies the first (Mean = 3.31, SD = 0.94) and emotional exhaustion ranks the second (Mean = 3.28, SD = 0.97), followed by reduced personal accomplishment (Mean = 3.27, SD = 0.88). To deeply explore the factors influencing the ELB, linear regression analysis is conducted. Results of linear regression analysis show that four kinds of factors influencing learning burnout proposed in previous studies including school factor, disciplinary factor, personal factor and social factor contribute to the ELB. Based on the research finding, it proposes suggestions for teachers to pay more attention to students’ psychology for learning. Meanwhile, it is also suggested that the curriculum be optimized to meet the need of the talent market and students’ prospects.