Factors affecting teacher burnout: an example of EFL University teachers

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES -* - ĐINH THỊ BƯỞI FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHER BURNOUT: AN EXAMPLE OF EFL UNIVERSITY TEACHERS (NHỮ NG YẾU TỐ LÀM GIÁO VIÊN CHÁN NGHỀ : MỘT VÍ DỤ VỀ CÁC GIÁO VIÊN DẠY TIẾNG ANH Ở BẬC ĐẠI HỌC) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES -* - ĐINH THỊ BƯỞI FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHER BURNOUT: AN EXAMPLE OF EFL UNIVERSITY TEACHERS (NHỮ NG YẾU TỐ LÀM GIÁO VIÊN CHÁN NGHỀ : MỘT VÍ DỤ VỀ CÁC GIÁO VIÊN DẠY TIẾNG ANH Ở BẬC ĐẠI HỌC) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Lê Văn Canh HANOI – 2014 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis is entirely the result of my own work I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other university or institution wholly and partially Hanoi, 2014 Đinh Thị Bưởi i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Le Van Canh, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through all phases of the research His stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher Second, my sincere appreciation is extended to all teachers at Faculty of Post – Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, especially who taught me TESOL methodology and research methodology Their lectures as well as their suggestions for teaching and researching inspired me to conduct this study Third, my gratitude is expanded to all university EFL teachers of the university where I conducted this study for their enthusiastic and helpful participations in this survey Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic study ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL : English as a Foreign Language ELT : English language teaching TESOL : Teaching English to speakers of other languages TEFL : Teaching English as a foreign language MA : Master of Arts PhD : Doctor of Philosophy MOET : Ministry of Education and Training CEFR : Common European Framework Reference iii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Teacher burnout levels based on the questionnaire 21 Table 3.3: Main factors leading the EFL teachers to burnout 22 iv ABSTRACT Although teacher burnout has attracted scholarly interest for several decades, it was not until recently the topic caught the attention of scholars, researchers and teacher educators in the field of English language teaching (ELT) This thesis reports on a survey conducted in a university in Vietnam to explore the degree of burnout among a group of university EFL teachers Participants in the survey were 33 EFL teachers of the researched university Two instruments of data collection used in this survey were questionnaires and interviews The findings of the survey show that burnout is an issue among EFL teachers though the level was just moderately high Factors leading to teacher burnout were low salaries, heavy workload, students, administration, collegiality, education policy, and family The study also provides some suggestions for preventing teacher burnout so that educational quality could be raised v TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iii LIST OF TABLES iv ABSTRACT v TABLE OF CONTENT vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims and objectives of the study Significance of the study Research questions of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Structural organization of the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of terminology: Teacher burnout 1.2 Teacher burnout vs teacher demotivation 1.3 Research on teacher burnout in general education 1.4 Research on EFL teacher burnout 10 1.5 Teacher burnout in Vietnam 14 vi CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16 2.1 Context of the study 16 2.2 Participants 16 2.3 Data collection instruments 17 2.4 Data collection procedures 19 2.5 Data analysis methods 20 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 21 3.1 The findings 21 3.1.1 Quantitative data 21 3.1.1.1 The levels of burnout experienced by the EFL teachers 21 3.1.1.2 Factors leading the EFL teachers to burnout 22 3.1.2 Qualitative Data 25 3.2 Discussions of the findings 32 3.2.1 Burnout level of the EFL teachers 32 3.2.2 Factors leading the EFL teachers to burnout 33 PART C: CONCLUSION 34 Recapitulation of major findings 34 Implications of the study 34 Limitations of the research and suggestions for future studies 35 REFERENCES 37 APPENDIX A I APPENDIX B III APPENDIX C IV vii APPENDIX D V APPENDIX E 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Nonverbal Immediacy on Student 40 Motivation and Affective Learning”, Journal of Communication Studies, 1(2), pp 152-168 Zhouchun, H (2011), “Job Burnout of English Teachers in Secondary Schools in Western China”, Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 34(1), pp 35-46 41 APPENDIX A TEACHER BURNOUT SCALE This questionnaire is a scientific study of burnout in academic staff in the Faculty of Foreign Languages Name of the teaching staff involved in the study will be kept strictly confidential The information will be collected only for scientific purposes Thank you in advance for your valuable contribution to this study Directions: Please complete the following measure This measure is designed to determine how you currently feel about your job There are no right or wrong answers Please indicate the degree to which each statement applies to you by marking whether you: Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree _1 I am bored with my job _2 I am tired of my students _3 I am weary with all of my job responsibilities _4 My job doesn‟t excite me any more _5 I dislike going to my job _6 I feel alienated at work _7 I feel frustrated at work _8 I avoid communication with students _9 I avoid communication with my colleagues _10 I communicate in a hostile manner at work _11 I feel ill at work I Strongly Agree _12 I think about calling my students ugly names _13 I avoid looking at my students _14 My students make me sick _15 I feel sick to my stomach when I think about work _16 I wish people would leave me alone at work _17 I dread going to school _18 I am apathetic about my job _19 I feel stressed at work _20 I have problems concentrating at work ** Thank you very much ** II APPENDIX B INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (English version) Main interview question: What are the factors leading you to burnout? Suggested questions for the main question: What you think about your salary? How are your working hours? How are your fringe benefits? Do you have good job security? why/ why not? How is your manageable workload? Do you work for a reputable organization? why/ why not? How are you fairly treated in your organization? How leaders give rules and procedures at work? How are you supported by other teachers? 10 How are your relationships with colleagues? 11 How are your relationships with your students? 12 How are your relationships with your leaders? 13 How is your working environment? 14 When you receive enough feedback about the effectiveness of your performance from the person you report to? 15 What you think about current education policy? III APPENDIX C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (Vietnamese version) Main interview question: Những yếu tố làm cho bạn chán nghề? Suggested questions for the main question: Bạn nghĩ tiền lương mình? Thời gian làm việc bạn nào? Phụ cấp tiền lương bạn nào? Cơng việc bạn có đảm bảo an tồn lao động khơng? (tại có/ khơng) Công việc bạn xắp xếp nào? Cơ quan làm việc bạn có đáng tin cậy khơng? (tại có/ khơng) Cơ quan làm việc bạn đối xử công nào? Nhà lãnh đạo đưa quy định tiến trình làm việc nào? Đồng nghiệp ủng giúp đỡ bạn công việc nào? 10 Quan hệ bạn với đồng nghiệp nào? 11 Quan hệ bạn với sinh viên nào? 12 Quan hệ bạn với lãnh đạo nào? 13 Môi trường làm việc bạn nào? 14 Khi lãnh đạo phản hồi đầy đủ kết qủa công việc bạn báo cáo? 15 Bạn nghĩ sách giáo dục tại? IV APPENDIX D INTERVIEW FOR A PARTICIPANT (English version) Questions and answers: What are the factors leading you to burnout? I think this is the burning issue that needs to be considered Well, there are many factors triggering burnout for me But the first thing is salary I am not satisfied with the salary I earn You know, I have been teaching English at this university for ten years but I am paid only 5-6 million VND per month, while my wife earns 3.5 million VND The university also pays for excessive hours but the pay, which is half as much as a compulsory teaching hour is paid, is too little in comparison to our responsibility and effort It is thought that we prepare a lesson plan for all classes In addition, the pay for such excessive hours of a school year is paid to us in almost half following year At present, my family rents a flat in the university campus We are not capable to buy a house I have to find part time job to earn more money for feeding two children and for paying for an MA course Moreover, we have to contribute some fees such as charity, Youth, Union fee, Party fee… The second thing that leads me to burnout is my students I teach five nonmajor English classes Students in these classes often consider English as subsidiary subject and not pay attention to it While I try my best to impart a matter to them, or while I suggest them that discuss about certain matter, most of them not show interest in discussion, even they dare not saying a word They always express their discourage and tiresome I make no progress though I try my effort Consequently, they feel unwelcome and get bored Besides, I teach two major English classes Most of the students have low English fluency Most of them have weak English basis, we therefore have to try our utmost to teach them They have many exercises and assignments but V they not complete enough Consequently, they lose their motivation, and so we Moreover, That there are a lot of students in a classroom is a big problem It is really rare at other universities that there are 40 to 50 English specialized students in a class as it is at our university In an English classroom, the students often have to take part in designed activities It is therefore very hard for us to arrange groups of such a great number in a class It is worse that there are 60 to 80 students in a non-English specializing class, where most of them not pay attention to English learning How are your working hours? Oh, this is very burning issue I am very busy I have to teach 40 periods per week Moreover, I have some periods in the weekend even though I not want to There is too much work and it makes me very exhausted Moreover, I have to design supplementary teaching plans and prepare documents for teaching, which I not want to Sometimes, I have to translate certain documents and papers concerning to the school and interpretation in some meetings for leaders of universities from other countries It is true that I can speak English, but I am a teacher, not a translator or interpreter I feel really bored to doing such thing How is your manageable workload? I can not manage my workload because of lots of works How are you fairly treated in your organization? Another reason makes us burn-out is from the leaders Our petitions are hardly conveyed to the rector The Dean not give satisfactory answer to our questions We have to hold many positions without any explanation We give 40 lessons per week in the daytime, and sometimes still have to VI participate in certain evening seminars And I not understand why not recruiting more teachers while there is a big demand How are your relationships with colleagues? I have a good relationship with most of the colleagues How is your working environment? The working environment is unfriendly We are under continuous check of an inspection committee of the university This causes discourage, inhibition and pressure Class must be started and ended on time, even one minute of lateness for class is not allowed Inspector is always present in the corridor of the classroom during eight working hours at school Plus to it, there is a deputy rector who occasionally goes checking the inspector all of a sudden to see if he/she is working In my opinion, this is completely unnecessary at a university What you think about current education policy? Compulsory lessons for non-majored students at university are impractical It is the fact that 95% non-english-majored students are not interested in English English is an important subject and teaching English to students is good, however, the question is how to teach effectively, not just to teach edequate lessons We have to teach English for non-majored students in different departments Those classes construct our burnout They are meaningless for both students and teachers because it is impossible to teach three periods of English for all students, estimated at 100 students, who not love learning English VII APPENDIX E INTERVIEW FOR A PARTICIPANT (Vietnamese version) Questions and answers: Những yếu tố làm cho bạn chán nghề? Tôi nghĩ vấn đề cộm cần quan tâm À, có nhiều nhân tố gây cho tơi chán nghề Nhưng nhân tố tiền lương Tơi khơng hài lịng với tiền lương tơi kiếm Bạn biết dạy tiếng anh trường đại học 10 năm lương 5,6 triệu tháng cịn lương vợ tơi có 3,5 triệu Nhà trường trả tiền thừa dạy cho chúng tơi q thấp so với trách nhiệm cơng sức tơi phải bỏ nhà trường trả tiền tiết dạy thừa nửa so với tiết dạy bắt buộc Họ cho chúng tơi soạn giáo án dạy cho tất lớp Không tiền lương tiết dạy thừa năm sang nửa năm sau chúng tơi nhận Hiện gia đình tơi th phịng nhà tập thể nhà trường Chúng ko có khả mua nhà riêng Tơi phải nhận thêm việc ngồi để kiếm thêm tiền ni nhỏ tiền để học thạc sĩ Hơn chúng tơi phải đóng góp số khoản phí tiền ủng hộ, đồn phí, đảng phí, v v Điều thứ hai làm cho tơi chán nghề sinh viên Tôi dạy năm lớp không chuyên Sinh viên lớp coi môn tiếng anh môn phụ nên họ khơng quan tâm đến Khi tơi cố gắng để truyền đạt vấn đề cho sinh viên đề nghị họ nói vấn đề đa số họ khơng thích nói chí khơng dám nói câu Trong học họ chán nản mệt mỏi Cho dù cố gắng khơng thể cải thiện nên tơi chán nản Ngồi ra, tơi dạy lớp chun ngữ Hầu hết sinh viên có mức độ thành thạo tiếng anh thấp Hầu hết họ có tiếng anh thấp tơi VIII phải lỗ lực việc dạy Họ có nhiều tập phải làm họ không làm đủ Cuối họ động lực Hơn nữa, Số lượng sinh viên đông lớp học vấn đề cộm có trường mà có số lượng sinh viên lớp chuyên ngành tiếng anh lại có số lượng sinh viên 40 đến 50 sinh viên trường Bạn biết môn tiếng anh sinh viên phải tham gia vào hoạt động học Cho nên lớp đông làm cho chúng tơi khó xắp xếp Ngồi lớp khơng chun cịn đến 60 đến 80 sinh viên Nên học môn tiếng anh đa số sinh không không ý vào việc học Thời gian làm việc bạn nào? À, vấn đề cộm bận rộn Tôi phải đảm nhận 40 tiết dạy tuần Ngồi tơi phải dạy số tiết vào cuối tuần tơi khơng muốn Khối cơng việc q nhiều thực làm kiết sức Hơn nữa, phải thiết kế giáo trình bổ trợ chuẩn bị tài liệu cho việc dạy tơi khơng muốn việc Thỉnh thoảng phải dịch số tài liệu, công văn liên quan đến trường phiên dịch số họp lãnh đạo với trường nước bạn Đúng, biết tiếng anh, giáo viên biên phiên dịch Tôi thực thấy chán nản làm việc Công việc bạn xắp xếp nào? Tôi xắp xếp hợp lý cơng việc q nhiều việc Cơ quan làm việc bạn đối xử công nào? lý khác dẫn đến việc chán nghề nhà lãnh đạo Những kiến nghị chúng tơi khó đến hiệu trưởng Trưởng khoa trả lời không thỏa đáng vấn đề đưa Chúng phải đảm nhận nhiều cơng việc mà khơng lời giải thích Ban ngày dạy lớp với 40 IX tiết tuần mà tối lại có buổi hội thảo bắt buộc tham gia Tôi không hiểu thiếu giáo viên mà lại không tuyển thêm Quan hệ bạn với đồng nghiệp nào? Tơi có quan hệ tốt với hầu hết đồng nghiệp Môi trường làm việc bạn nào? Môi trường làm việc không thân thiện luôn bị kiểm tra đội ngũ tra trường Điều làm cho chán nản, ức chế áp lực Giờ vào lớp nghỉ phải quy định chí khơng sai đến phút Những cán phòng tra ln ln ngồi hành lang lớp học tiếng làm việc trường Lại cịn có ơng hiệu phó kiểm tra tra viên xem họ có làm việc hay không Tôi nghĩ trường đại học không thiết phải Bạn nghĩ sách giáo dục tại? Những tiết học bắt buộc cho sinh viên hệ không chuyên trường đại học không hợp lý Sự thật 95% sinh viên không chuyên anh không quan tâm đến môn tiếng anh Tiếng anh môn học quan trọng việc dạy cho sinh viên việc tốt vấn đề dậy cho có hiệu khơng phải hình thức Chúng tơi phải dạy tiết học bắt buộc cho sinh viên không chuyên khoa khác Những tiết dậy lý làm tơi chán nghề Những tiết dạy bắt buộc hồn tồn vơ nghĩa sinh viên giáo viên khơng thể dạy tiếng anh ba tiết tuần cho tất những lớp khơng thích học tiếng Anh với số lượng sinh viên lên đến gần trăm người X