Learning Burnout Among College Students And Its Correlation With Epistemological Beliefs

Learning burnout, an increasingly focused phenomenon involving physical and spiritual exhaustion, dehumanization, resentment against studies and belief recession in self-accomplishment, is attributed to lack of interest and motives in studies, learning load and pressure, and individualized psychological factors. Learning burnout kills students'interest and motives in their studies, and therefore imposes considerable negative impact on their academic expectations.Epistemological beliefs, a newly developed topic in metacognition research and a concept employed by psychologists when conducting epistemological studies in view of psychological perspectives, is defined as the internal surroundings of learners concerned with studying activities. Comparatively an independent belief system, it makes students'knowledge views (beliefs in essence of knowledge and knowledge acquisition) its central concept. With theoretical denotative in relation to students'beliefs in studies, teaching and capability, epistemological beliefs play a instruction and regulation role in students'cognitive processing and learning behaviors.After defining the conception of learning burnout and epistemological beliefs and reviewing contemporary researches and their future directions , the author investigated the factors and relationship between learning burnout and epistemological beliefs. It is conducive to a better understanding of status quo and attributive factors of learning accidie and epistemological beliefs and further acquaintance with cognitive mechanism in students'learning process to deal with regression analysis based on predictive variables (scores deriving from integral-constructive dimension, separated-receptive dimension, and gross index) and dependent variables (sores of three dimensions and gross index of learning burnout among university students). Improving learning burnout through changing students'epistemological beliefs, this research aims at the availability of theoretical proofs to practical instruction and educational reforms.Through the correlative research on factors and relationship between learning burnout and epistemological beliefs with 500 students sampling from Liaocheng University and Weifang Medical College, the results are as follows:(1)Learning burnout, not considerably serious though, existed among some college students, misconduct ranging first, followed by low self-accomplishment and depression.(2)There existed a significant gender difference in view of learning burnout, depression and misconduct, boys scoring higher than girls. However, girls were considerably more mature and active in separated-receptive dimension and total scores in epistemological beliefs, no gender difference being there in low self-accomplishment dimension, though.(3)There is also a remarkable grade difference in the field of learning burnout. Sophomores demonstrated more depression, misconduct and low self-accomplishment, and witnessed more learning burnout than freshmen; sophomores were more of misconduct and low self-accomplishment than juniors, learning burnout of the former being higher than the latter. Seniors are more depressed than freshmen. Grade difference is there in epistemological beliefs, too. Freshmen were more mature and active than juniors and seniors. In regard to integral-constructive dimension and epistemological beliefs, freshmen were dramatically more mature and active than sophomores. As far as separated-receptive dimension and epistemological beliefs, sophomores were more mature and active than juniors and seniors.(4) There was no significant specialty difference in regard to learning burnout and epistemological beliefs.(5)Except the incorrelation between low self-accomplishment in learning burnout and separated-receptive dimension in epistemological beliefs, there exists apparent negative correlation among dimensions in learning burnout and epistemological beliefs. Epistemological beliefs offered reliable predictions to pressure, misconduct and general level of learning burnout, while the integral-constructive dimension served the same function in low self-accomplishment in epistemological beliefs.