A Study Of Boredom In The English Language Classroom Among Ethnic Minority Junior High School Students In Rural Areas

Boredom in foreign language(FL)learning has been a burgeoning research topic in recent years,and a growing body of research has examined learners’ experiences of boredom in English learning.However,to date,previous research has largely explored the boredom in the university English language classes,but less is known about the boredom of multilingual ethnic minority junior high school students,especially in rural areas of China.Hence,this study was to fill this research gap by exploring the level of ethnic minority junior high school students’ boredom in English learning,whether there were any differences in terms of demographic variables and whether there existed any correlations between boredom and learner-related variables,and the possible factors causing for boredom in the English language classroom.A mixed-methods approach was adopted.A total of 594 participants were recruited from seven junior high schools in ethnic minority dominated regions in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces and participated in questionnaire survey.Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from questionnaire survey and an open-ended question.SPSS 22.0 and Nvivo 12.0 were used to conduct the quantitative and qualitative data analysis.Quantitative analysis revealed that:(1)the level of boredom in the English language classroom among ethnic minority junior high school students was at a low to medium level(M=2.61).More specifically,among the seven subdimensions of foreign language learning boredom,the Power Point presentation boredom was at a medium level(M=3.04),while the levels of other six dimensions were at a low to medium level;(2)There existed differences in students’ boredom in terms of gender,grade and ethnicity.As regards the gender differences,female students were less bored than male students.Grade differences showed that students in Grade 9experienced more boredom than the students in Grade 8.Regarding the ethnicity differences,She minority group students were more bored in the English language classroom than Bai students,Yi students,Dong students,and Miao students.Tujia minority group students were more prone to experiencing boredom in comparison with Buyi students,Miao students,Yi students,Dong students and Bai students;(3)Significant correlations were found between boredom and learner-related variables.Gender was found to have significant correlation with boredom.Boredom was negatively linked to gender,self-perceived FL proficiency,relative standing among peers,attitudes towards the teacher,the FL,and FL culture,while positively linked to grade and self-perceived boredom in the English language classroom.However,there were no significant relationship between ethnicity,the number of previously spoken languages,age of onset of English learning and boredom.When combined,six independent variables(self-perceived boredom,attitude towards the FL,the teacher,FL-related culture,gender and grade)were copredictors of boredom,which could jointly function as predictors in terms of 61.1% students’ boredom in the English language classroom.Among these six variables,self-perceived boredom was the strongest predictor of boredom.Qualitative analysis showed the identification of four categories of factors responsible for student boredom,namely,learner-related factors(e.g.,lack of comprehension,mind-wandering,negative behaviors of peers),language-related factors(e.g.,repetitive and monotonous activities,performance of too easy or difficult tasks),teacher-related factors(e.g.,speaking too much English,irrelevant discussion,monotonous talk)and classroom-related factors(e.g.,lack of interaction,inactive classroom atmosphere,teaching facilities).Among these factors which made students the most bored,lack of comprehension for teachers’ explanation was the most frequently reported,followed by repetitive activities and performance of too easy or difficult tasks.This study provides new insights into the research fields of boredom in foreign language learning and offers some practical implications for English language learning and teaching in junior high schools in rural areas.