On the Relationship between Teacher Autonomy and Feeling of Burnout among Iranian EFL Teachers

Abstract

Few studies(Abel & Sewell, 1999;Bolton, 2010; Fernet, Guay, Senécal, & Austin, 2012) have shed light on the negative influences that teachers’ dissatisfaction and demotivation can have on their professional development. To bridge this gap, the present study investigated the relationship between feelingof burnoutwith teacher autonomy, as a professional development construct, among ELT teachers in Iran. As many as 143 EFL teachers in different private language teaching institutes participated in the study. Data were collected using Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, Jackson, &Leiter, 1996) and Teaching Autonomy Scale developed by Pearson and Hall (1993). Correlation analysis indicated that teacher autonomy was significantly and inversely related to their feeling of burnout (r=53, p<0.05). The Step-Wise Multiple Regression also showed that the components of burnout; i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment were significant predictors of teacher autonomy. The findings offer some implications for in-service and pre-service teacher preparation programs.