Effects of EFL Learners’ Perceived Social Support on Academic Burnout: The Mediating Role of Interaction Engagement

Abstract

Social support is a significant environmental factor predicting academic burnout, but the underlying mechanism of structural relationship between these two variables needs further verification. Students’ perceived social support in the higher education environment is mainly from their teachers and peers. Taking 352 non-English undergraduates as respondents, this article explored the relationship between EFL learners’ perceived support from their teachers and peers, interaction engagement and academic burnout. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to analyze the data collected through an online questionnaire survey. The research results showed that (1) Social support is negatively correlated with academic burnout; (2) Interaction engagement has a negative association with burnout; (3) Social support has a direct positive effect on interaction engagement; (4) Social support, mediated by interaction engagement, has an indirect effect on academic burnout. Understanding the above-mentioned mechanism that learners’ perceived support and interaction engagement influence academic burnout may be helpful for lessening academic burnout and improving performance in EFL leaning.