Unveiling the Drive and Drift: Exploring Motivation and Sources of Burnout in ESL Learnings

Abstract

Malaysia is one of the countries that teaches English as a second language (ESL). Hence, English is important in students' education. Therefore, learners need to master all four skills where a lack of competence in one will have a direct impact on others. In order to make sure ESL learners can be motivated to learn English without facing any burnout, this study has been conducted. The objective of this study is to explore the perception of learners on their motivation and sources of burnout in the learning of ESL. The study employs a questionnaire to collect quantitative data. A rural of 124 participants from UiTM Selangor responded to the survey. The instrument used is a 5 Likert-scale survey and is rooted in Pintrich and De Groot (1990) and Campos et al. (2011). The survey has 3 sections. Section A has 3 items on the demographic profile, Section B has 24 items on motivation components and Section C has 16 items on burnout. The findings show that in terms of motivation, students are motivated to learn ESL, however, the students still have a feeling of emotional discomfort during examination. Students also experience a mix of exhaustion, emotional drainage, fatigue towards academic commitment as well as having negative feelings about English study tasks. The study also reveals that there is a positive relationship between motivation and sources of burnout when learning ESL. It is hoped that this study can benefit students who would like to study ESL as well as educators who would like to help their students in mastering ESL.