‘I’m happy with my job, but …’: Thai EFL Teacher’s Well-Being and Boreout
Keywords:
English as a foreign language, job boreout, teacher emotions, teacher wellbeingAbstract
The profession of foreign language teaching, particularly for non-native English speakers, is often acknowledged for its inherent demands and complexities, prompting a burgeoning interest in scholarly investigation into factors conducive to teacher well-being and boreout. Within EFL instruction, considerable attention has been devoted to the significance of teacher emotions. This paper attempts to examine the predictors of the psychological well-being and boreout of Thai EFL teachers. A group of 541 Thai EFL schoolteachers nationwide participated in this study. Employing two distinct instruments, namely the Index of Psychological Well-Being at Work and the Job Boreout Scale, data were collected online and analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlation, regression analysis, and ANOVA. The findings revealed a significant negative impact of boreout on the psychological well-being of Thai EFL schoolteachers, with higher levels of boreout associated with lower levels of well-being. Regression analysis demonstrated that boreout accounts for 29.8% of the variability in psychological well-being (R²=.298, p < .01), highlighting the importance of addressing boreout to improve teachers’ overall well-being. This study highlights implications for practitioners, teacher educators, and policymakers, advocating for a heightened consciousness toward addressing and minimizing teachers’ boreout to foster teacher well-being and enhance their efficacy within the academic context.
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