Causes of Boredom in Language Classrooms and Students’ Coping Strategies: A Case in Vietnam

نوع مقاله : مقاله تحقیق

نویسندگان
1 Graduate Student, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2 PhD, School of Foreign Languages, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
چکیده
Emotions are well-documented to influence behaviors, learning process, and learning outcomes. Boredom, a negative emotion, can affect students significantly in academic settings. This case study explores the causes of students’ boredom in foreign language classrooms and their coping strategies. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with twenty English-majored juniors learning Chinese as an additional required language at a university in Vietnam. Results showed that boredom in English language and Chinese language classrooms could be classified into four broad categories: lesson-related, teacher-related, student-related, and others (e.g., learning environment). As the students reported, task diversity, teachers’ sense of humor, and students’ motivation were supposed to reduce boredom in language classrooms. To overcome this negative emotion, the students used various facilitative and debilitative strategies. They positively attempted to mitigate boredom by initiating jokes with their teachers and classmates, suggesting interesting topics to discuss, and raising hands to change the classroom atmosphere. However, other students tended to have gossips with their classmates, text their friends, and go outside for a while. The results suggest implications for improving foreign language teaching and learning in Vietnam and other similar contexts.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات


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