A Correlational Study Of Different-level English Teachers' Teaching Efficacy And Burnout

With the combination of science and technology, globalization and internet, human society has entered the era of knowledge economy. Competition between nations has become increasingly fierce. In essence, the competition is that of comprehensive national strength,and that of national quality. Education plays a critical role in improving a nation's comprehensive national strength and national quality. Teachers are the key factor that determines the quality of education. They play a crucial role in education, in fostering high-quality personnel and in improving national quality. The role that a teacher plays in education is determined by his teaching efficacy. Burnout harms both teachers and education. Teacher burnout and teaching efficacy have attracted wide attention in the world.In China, the researches on the relationship between teaching efficacy and teacher burnout are fewer. Few studies have investigated the relationship between English teachers'teaching efficacy and burnout. The English teachers distinguish themselves from the teachers who teach other subjects. Teaching English involves transforming its culture and society, and involves forming a new thinking pattern as well as fighting against a fostered thinking pattern. Compared with teaching other subjects, teaching English is then made an especially arduous task. Researches need to be conducted to examine burnout and teaching efficacy of English teachers.The thesis attempts to investigate empirically teaching efficacy levels and burnout levels of the English teachers in Hebei province, as well as the relationship between them. Theoretically, the results of the study contribute to the enrichment of the empirical studies of teaching efficacy and teacher burnout. Besides, the thesis extends the research field of teaching efficacy and burnout. Practically, with the results of this study in hand, educational administrators would be informed of the teaching efficacy and burnout levels of the English teachers. The results of the study would be useful for the educational administrators to detect those teachers who are discouraged or those teachers who find themselves in difficulty, to take effective and targeted measures to prevent burnout and to lessen the English teachers'burnout when burnout occurs to them. 257 English teachers from primary schools, from middle schools and from colleges and universities were surveyed in the study. The questionnaires employed in the study involved Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES) by Gibson and Dembo and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) by Maslach and Jackson. The English teachers'scores on teaching efficacy and burnout have been analyzed by SPSS 13.0.The thesis has been concluded as follows:1. The study reveals that the English teachers in Hebei province experienced higher teaching efficacy, serious emotional exhaustion, slight depersonalization and slighter reduced personal accomplishment.2. For the primary school English teachers, they possessed the highest level of teaching efficacy. They experienced medium emotional exhaustion and slight depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment.3. The middle school English teachers reported high level of teaching efficacy, suffering greatly from emotional exhaustion, medium depersonalization and not very serious reduced personal accomplishment.4. The study reveals that the teaching efficacy level of the college English teachers was higher. The college English teachers reported higher degree of emotional exhaustion and lower degree of depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment.5. Significant teaching efficacy difference appeared among the primary school English teachers, the middle school English teachers and the college English teachers, so did the difference related to burnout. Specifically, the middle school English teachers and the primary school English teachers differed significantly in teaching efficacy and burnout; the college English teachers and the primary school English teachers differed significantly in teaching efficacy; the middle school English teachers and the college English teachers differed significantly in burnout.6. Among the three categories of English teachers, the middle school English teachers reported the lowest degree of teaching efficacy and the highest degree of burnout, and the primary school English teachers the highest teaching efficacy and the lowest burnout.7. Correlation analysis shows teaching efficacy negatively correlated with burnout at low degree. According to the findings of the research, the English teachers in Hebei province are suffering from burnout; some of them are even suffering seriously from burnout. Measures should be taken to lessen the burnout, including strengthening the English teachers'teaching efficacy, taking measures to lessen the English teachers'burnout socially, organizationally and individually. Targeted measures should be taken according to school level.