A Survey Of English Learning Burnout And Its Causes At The Stage Of Basic Education

English learning burnout (ELB) has been a frequently encountered phenomenon by English teachers at the stage of basic education. Although the recent few decades have witnessed an increasing number of researches on leaning burnout (LB), researches on LB of one specific subject like English are very few. None of the existing researches on ELB has given a comprehensive explanation of the development of ELB throughout the whole stage of basic education. This study was undertaken to explore the current situation of ELB existing in the students at the stage of basic education, to find out the developing trend of ELB throughout the whole stage of basic education, and to investigate into the causes of ELB with a hope of putting forward some suggestions to alleviate ELB.The instruments employed in this study were a35-itemed questionnaire on ELB and a42-itemed questionnaire on the affecting factors of ELB developed by the current investigator. A semi-structured interview was also conducted to further probe into the affecting factors of ELB. Totally737students from Panyu District enrolled in the survey, with261students from3primary schools,229from3junior middle schools, and247from3senior middle schools.15were selected out of the valid703subjects for the interview. Based on the data collected from the questionnaires and the interview, the major findings are summarized as follows:1. ELB is a frequent phenomenon in English classes at the stage of basic education and the number of students who suffer from burnout syndromes is relatively large. 2. Significant differences exist in ELB among the three sections of the stage of basic education. From primary school to senior middle school, students’ELB level increases sharply. In each section, grade differences in ELB are also significant. The students’ELB levels develop in a parabola type trend.3. Among the three sections of the stage of basic education, gender difference in ELB is significant. Male students reported a higher degree of burnout than female students. However, gender difference in ELB fades with the ascending of grades.4. Significant differences exist in the affecting factors of ELB among the three sections of the basic education. Gender differences are also significant.5. Four factors are detected as the predictors of ELB:the students-related factors (SRF), the teacher-related factors (TRF), the course-book-related factors (CRF) and the environment-related factors (ERF). Of the four factors, CRF is the most effective predictor of ELB, followed by SRF, TRF and ERF.6. Suggestions for the possible solution to ELB and for future improvement in English teaching and learning are put forward.