Nuda a praktyczna nauka języka angielskiego

Abstract

Boredom in practical English language classesAlthough boredom is among the most common academic emotions experienced by students at all possible levels of education, so far it has not received due attention from SLA theorists and researchers. Accordingly, the present paper aims to discuss the concept of boredom from the L2 classroom perspective with a special regard to the university students of English Philology. In the first part the authors provide a definition, present two basic typologies and highlight the causes of boredom followed by a brief overview of research into boredom in educational settings, whereas the second part is intended to approach a phenomenon of boredom on an empirical basis. The authors report on both quantitative and qualitative research findings concerning the intensity of boredom as felt by the subjects during the practical English language classes. First, the numerical results obtained from the Boredom Proneness Scale and correlated to boredom experienced in practical English language classes are referred to. Then the qualitative data gathered from the students' descriptions of boredom-related situations during the said classes are commented on. Finally, the authors proceed to propose certain L2 classroom boredom-coping options.

The neglected emotion of boredom in teaching English to advanced learners

“…Apart from such largely external causes, some internal factors, such as lack of creativity, enthusiasm, or negative attitudes can also be seen as playing a part, although there is a clear connection between the two types of sources. Such findings largely resonate with those of previous studies undertaken in a similar context by Kruk and Zawodniak (2017, 2018) but, in contrast to Chapman (2013), do not point to the teacher as a key boredom‐inducing factor. It should also be noted that some of the causes of boredom just mentioned have already been identified in previous work on boredom in general (e.g., Davies & Fortney, 2012; Götz, Frenzel , & Haag, 2006; Hill & Perkins, 1985; Larson & Richards, 1991; Preckel et al, 2010).…”

“…To be more precise, in the 12 cases where meaningful differences were detected (with the effect sizes verging on medium in 50% of those), that is, the ones referring to the perception of being stuck in the present, the inability to find and engage in something interesting, overall reluctance to do anything and the overwhelming tiredness when nothing exciting is being done, it was the second‐year participants who reported greater intensity of boredom in practical English classes. While this finding may somewhat contradict the results reported by Kruk and Zawodniak (2017), who showed that English majors become more bored with the passage of time since their induction into their studies, the pattern can also be seen as a natural trajectory that the experience of boredom follows over the duration of the three‐year program. It could reasonably be argued, for example, that enthusiasm related to the admission into a demanding university program, say, in year 1, may with time give way to feelings of tiredness and boredom tied to the nature of instruction or the difficulty to meet the requirements of the practical English course, which might clearly manifest itself in year 2.…”

“…A series of mixed methods studies carried out in the Polish educational context aimed to examine the dynamic nature of boredom and identify factors responsible for the changes it undergoes. For example, Kruk and Zawodniak (2017) set out to investigate the relationship between the English majors’ general proneness to boredom and the level of boredom they exhibited in practical English classes. The findings showed a significant, positive correlation between the two variables and an increasing intensity of boredom over time.…”

“…In order to collect the relevant data, the participants were asked to fill out the Boredom in practical English language classes questionnaire (BPELC), which is a modified version of a similar instrument used in the study carried out by Kruk and Zawodniak (2017). The tool is composed of 27 seven‐point Likert scale items (1—strongly disagree, 4—neutral, 7—strongly agree) dealing with the experience of boredom in practical English language classes.…”

Another look at boredom in language instruction: The role of the predictable and the unexpected

“…As mentioned before, research into boredom in the L2 classroom is extremely scant. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there are just five studies directly related to this issue (i.e., Chapman, 2013;Kruk, 2016aKruk, , 2016bKruk & Zawodniak, 2017, 2018. Several other publications can be seen as indirectly connected with the concept of boredom, either because they explore its flipside in the form of flow in task performance (Aubrey, 2017) or interest and engagement in classroom activities (see e.g., Peacock, 1997;Tin, 2016), or they focus on the broader notion of demotivation (Kikuchi, 2015).…”