Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Research Background

English is getting great importance nowadays, and English learning in all seniorhigh schools plays an important role in National Matriculation Test. Due to theexpectation from teachers, parents and the schools, due to the difficulties of learningcontents，and due to the unsatisfactory teaching equipments, teachers' methods, allthose make the students feel exhausted and have no interest as well as lose confidencein English learning gradually, their academic performance becomes poor, which mayattribute to the later phenomena of English learning burnout. Since senior high schoolis a critical period for students' learning, and is the critical time students formingindividual outlook on life and values, the present author chooses this topic forresearch according to what mentioned above, aiming to reveal senior high schoolstudents' English learning burnout during this period, which will find it beneficial totheir study. The major reasons for the present research are discussed as follows. Speculation on learning bumout has been going on since the late 1980s, and ithas prompted a considerable publication this field, and there are 460 academic articleson various subjects that have been published in CNKI journal. But it can be found thenumber of academic articles on English learning bumout is only 16 in CNKI journal,and only one academic article is published in the foreign language core periodical. Asfor the research methodology, three researchers have adopted empirical method andthe rest used investigation methods (questionnaires and interview). And for theresearch samples, most researches focus on university, college, vocational and juniorhigh school students, none of the researches pay attention to senior high schoolstudents.

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1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Study

The research of senior high school students' English learning burnout is farenough. What's more, as the above-mentioned, only a few researches have been dealtwith the factors that may cause bumout, such as, teacher's interpersonal relationship，learner's attitude, test washback, etc., which closely connect with English learningburnout. So，it can be seen that it has realistic significance to probe into the field ofsenior high school students' English learning burnout.The present study aims at studying senior high school students' English learningburnout in Yangxi County, Guangdong province, to find out the different factors thatcan cause English learning burnout. All these can be taken as the major purposes ofthe study.Therefore, the significance of the presait research can be seen from two aspectsas follows: theoretical aspect and practical aspect.Theoretical aspect: The present research employs Krashen's affective filterhypothesis, humanistic learning theories and theories of self-efficacy as the guidanceto reveal how English learning attitude, anxiety, self-esteemed, self-efficacy affectstudents' English learning burnout. Since learning burnout is closely related to thetheories of psychology and human learning, the present research is，no doubt, to putthose theories into practice, which can help further 如rich and perfect the ideologicalsystem of teaching methodology, and which can be seen that the present research willnot only help teachers get a better understanding of senior high school students'English learning bumout, but also help them know how to deal with this kind ofburnout theoretically and scientifically.

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Definitions of Burnout

Many previous researchers have tried to give his or her definition of burnout.According to the need of the study, general bumout and learning burnout are speciallyillustrated in this section. The word bumout has been coined for a kind some time, and it was firstproposed by Bradley (1969) in a paper on juvenile delinquency intervention. It wasFreudenberger (1974)，the clinical psychologist^ who firstly used "bumout" todescribe the symptoms of patients' body, emotion and spirit. Thus, it is regarded as thebom of occupational bumout. Freudenberger made the definition of bumout as"individual chronic fatigue, depression, and frustration when the individual's work isnot recognized by another person or organization and are not rewarded accordingly."While Maslach defined occupational bumout as anotion exhaustion,depersonalization and diminished personal accomplishment.Bumout, as suggested in Longman Dictionary, is made a comparisonwith a machine time when a jet has finished all of its fuel and stops operating”，ifan individual becomes bumout, he may stop functioning efficiently,

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2.2 Relationship between Burnout and Other Concepts

From ttie above definition of learning bumout，it may be easily made a confUsionon bumout with other concepts. Bumout is a common phenomenon, most people maydisplay bumout sometimes. So in this section, the relationships between burnout andseveral concepts are illustrated one by one, so that bumout can be better understood.What's more, these relationships are closely related to the theme of this study. All the human beings suffer some kinds of stress, which is an inevitable part oflife. In Longman Dictionary, stress is defined as continuous feelings of worry aboutone's work or personal life, which prevents one from relaxing.For students, stress becomes so common across much painful school experience,such as, academic stress, achievement stress, emotional distress or test stress.Chandler (1981) identified two prerequisite for increased stress levels: (a) theenvironment fails to meet the needs of the students, (b) The environment demandsexceed the level to which the students can successfully respond. Cooke (1983) hasdone a research on school stress; he suggested that day-to-day stresses can lead tolarge or even permanent declines in IQ scores. In China, students suffer most from thelatter one; there is too much expectation on them. Stressfiil people may have negativefeelings about self and have muddled thinking, and those people also suffer fromdistraction, headache, nausea, depression, and hopelessness. Xinmin Newspaper(2008) has reported that there are totally 76 students to commit suicide in China dueto the course load and stress, which was distressful.

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Chapter 3 Research Methodology.........21

3.1 Research Questions......... 21

3.2 Subjects......... 23

3.3 Instrument......... 25

3.4 Research Procedures......... 25

Chapter 4 Analysis of the Results and the Major Findings......... 27

4.1 Reliability and Validity of the Questionnaire .........27

4.2 General Description of English Burnout Level......... 30

4.3 Differences of the Subjects' English Learning ......... 31

4.4 Analysis of the English Learning Burnout Effecting Factors......... 33

4.5 Major Findings  ......... 46

Chapter 5 Relevant Suggestions .........48

5.1 Creating Harmonious Classroom Learning Atmosphere......... 48

5.2 Treating all the Students Equally and Paying Special.........   50

5.3 Helping Students Build up Correct English Learning.........51

5.4 Helping Students to Optimize Learning Method ......... 52

5.5 Emphasizing the Process of English Learning.........   53

Chapter 5 Relevant Suggestions

5.1 Creating Harmonious Classroom Learning Atmosphere Through Enriching Teaching Methods

As the results of the study show that most subjects could not get help from others,or an atmosphere of laziness or wanderings dominates the class. In classroomteaching, teacher should create a harmonious learning atmosphere for students'English learning in a context of English as a foreign language where students getlimited opportunity to practice their English. Generally speaking, harmoniousclassroom learning atmosphere should be cooperative, active，less anxious butmotivating. In class, teacher always plays a very important role in providing studentswith good learning atmosphere. For this problem，teacher can use peer tutoringmetiiod, which was proposed by Chinese educator Tao Xingzhi in 1930s, in Chinese itmeans "system of little tutor", which means that the excellent students may act asteachers to help the lower level students in their study. In fact, this method can beeasily applied in senior high schools because the students' seats are fixed，thus,teachers can arrange the seats, letting one excellent student sit with one lowerachievement one. This method is not only beneficial for the low achievement students,but also the excellent students and teachers.

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Conclusion

The survey of the study lasted two months. Thanks to flie good cooperation ofthe subjects and the help of autiior's supervisor, the survey has gone smoothly andachieved convincing results, in other word, the research objectives are gained. All theset questions are answered successfully. English is a compulsory course for the seniorhi迪 school students. As a foreign language, the students' English learning conditionsare limited, study atmosphere is weak as well as other reasons that make they feelbored and worn out easily. What current status of Yangxi No. One Middle School ishow to improve the students' learning efficiency and reduce the English learningburnout are the survey questions that the author has proposed in the present study.Most importantly, the present survey is different if compared with the previousones, because very few previous researches on learning burnout have probed into thefactors of teacher's interp sonal relationship, study atmosphere，test anxiety andlearners' attitude which are highlighted in this research. Generally speaking, thisresearch has got some significant value for further study.

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Reference (omitted)