University Students' Multidimensional State Boredom and Strategies to Cope with Classroom Boredom

Mehdi Solhi

doi:10.17323/jle.2021.12256

Abstract

This study sought to examine how university students' state boredom dimensions (i.e., disengagement, high arousal, low arousal, inattention, and time perception) and their boredom coping strategies (i.e., cognitive approach, behavioral approach, cognitive avoidance, and behavioral avoidance) in the classroom are mediated in relation to gender and academic year. A total of 186 undergraduate students from a Turkish university, majoring in English language teaching in the faculty of education voluntarily participated in the study. The results indicated that the male participants experienced higher levels of boredom than the females in all levels of the state boredom. Additionally, the females had more inclination to use cognitive approach, while the male participants exhibited more behavioral approach to cope with boredom. Secondly, the participants with different academic levels only scored differently in disengagement, a state boredom dimension, and in cognitive approach, a boredom coping strategy. The findings highlight the significance of identifying student boredom and thereby specifying strategies to relieve their boredom in the classroom. Indeed, by gaining a proper understanding of the reactions triggered by boredom in classes, we would be able to spot the developmental paths of these reactions and thereby adopt the necessary measures to deal with student boredom.

Highlights

Affective factors commonly refer to the emotional domain of human behavior, and, as a hotly debated topic in second language acquisition (SLA) since the 1970s, has presented important implications and practical applications to language teaching methodology (Brown, 2014)
The purpose of this study was twofold: At the outset, gender-mediated relationship between university students’ state boredom dimensions and their coping with boredom strategies were explored
The results indicated that the male students had a significantly higher mean score in behavioral approach, while the mean score of the female participants was significantly higher in cognitive approaches for coping with boredom, indicating that the male and female participants exhibited different cognitive and behavioral approaches to cope with boredom

Summary

Introduction

Affective factors commonly refer to the emotional domain of human behavior, and, as a hotly debated topic in second language acquisition (SLA) since the 1970s, has presented important implications and practical applications to language teaching methodology (Brown, 2014). Over the past several years, the pendulum has swung in favor of an interest in learners, rather than only being concerned with teachers, textbooks, and methods (Yule, 2014) in language education. This shift is regarded as one of the most fundamental transitions in the field of language learning and teaching, and thereby the focus on the learner is considered to be of paramount importance in SLA.

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Conclusion