A Study Of Adult English Learners Learning Burnout From The Perspective Of Motivation Theory

Adult English learning burnout mainly refers to a kind of students’ behavior like emotional exhaustion, low sense of achievement, distance of teacher and bad habits in the learning process due to some inner factors and external factors(school, family,society etc.), thus producing behavior of school-weariness and escaping from learning. Adult learners in China, a special learning community, are not valued by the whole society. Generally speaking, these adult learners’ English level is low and some of them dislike learning English. Such phenomenon seriously influences students’ learning efficiency and teaching quality. Based on the saying ‘Motivation is the key to the learning’, we need to investigate English learning motivation of adult learners. We can therefore improve adult learning enthusiasm against learning burnout by the means of analyzing and discussing characteristics of their learning motivation and discussing the ways of stimulating it.This thesis is focused on the research of the adult learning burnout problem. On the basis of relevant theories, the phenomenon of adult learning burnout and the motivation for English study as well as their relationship are understood through the questionnaires and survey. After the analysis and integration of the data, the possible causes of learning burnout through the students’ interviews of some unsolved problems are explored. Some possible solutions and strategies are proposed so as to arouse adults study enthusiasm and promote the development of English education of adults.The main findings of this thesis are as follows. Firstly, the phenomenon of adults’ learning burnout in English study does exist. Secondly, both inner factors and external factors influence adults’ English learning burnout. Inner factors include composition structure of students, lack of confidence, improper habits and learning motivation.External factors are composed of society and school.There are solutions from two aspects. One is from society, and the other is from the school. The aspect from school includes prevention mechanism, changes of teaching methods, motivation stimulation,and rational arrangement of curriculums.