The Mediating Effect Of Senior Two Students’ English Burnout On The Correlation Between Trait Emotional Intelligence And English Achievement

In China,senior high school students may inevitably develop some negative emotions especially burnout in the process of English learning,which not only affects their psychological well-being,but also affects their English performance.The controlvalue theory and Krashen’s affective filter theory have long suggested that students’ emotions should be taken into consideration seriously during the process of second language education.In addition,the positive psychology movement,which has emerged in academia since 2012,advocates a particular focus on development of students’ trait emotional intelligence(TEI),which refers to a person’s emotional management ability,so that they can experience more positive feelings in the learning process.Therefore,the current study firstly explores the current situation of senior two students’ burnout in English learning and the status of their TEI.Then the correlations among English language learning burnout(ELL burnout),TEI,and English language learning achievement(ELL achievement)(test scores),especially the mediating role of ELL burnout in the correlation between TEI and ELL achievement are explored,thus providing some recommendations for high school English education that might promote students’ English learning well-being as well as learning effectiveness.The current study employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to explore the following three questions:(1)What are the general profiles of the senior two school students’ TEI and ELL burnout?(2)What is the correlation between senior two students’ TEI and ELL achievement?(3)How does ELL burnout mediate the relationship between TEI and ELL achievement? Questionnaire of the Trait Emotional Questionnaire Short Form(TEIQue-SF)and the ELL burnout scale were used to collect quantitative data.The mean score of the participated students’ mid-term and final English test scores were used as the ELL achievement in this study.Totally 295 questionnaires were collected from a middle school in Chongqing.Ten students participated in the face-to-face interview.The quantitative data were analyzed by SPSS25.0,and qualitative data were analyzed by NVivo 11.Results were as follows:First,the majority of the participated senior two students have moderately developed TEI and a medium level of ELL burnout,especially on two aspects — emotional exhaustion and decreased self-efficacy.In addition,in terms of the correlation between TEI and ELL achievement,the Pearson analysis found that they are significantly and positively correlated.Further regression analysis revealed that TEI(total score),emotionality and well-being were significant predictors of senior two students’ ELL achievement.Finally,mediating analysis found that ELL burnout(total score)can partially mediate the correlation between TEI(total score)and ELL achievement,emotionality and ELL achievement,as well as well-being and ELL achievement.Furthermore,more detailed mediating analysis revealed that among the four aspects of ELL burnout,teacher distance can partially mediate all the three correlations mentioned above;decreased selfefficacy can partially mediate the correlation between well-being and ELL achievement;emotional exhaustion can partially mediate the correlation between TEI(total score)and ELL achievement,as well as well-being and ELL achievement.Based on the findings,this study suggests that English educators should pay more attention to students’ emotional experiences in the process of English learning.It’s necessary to cultivate students’ TEI in order to reduce burnout in English learning,thereafter improving their English learning experience and performance.