Activity-induced boredom in online EFL classes

• Ali Derakhshan ^[1] ; Mariusz Kruk ^[2] ; Mostafa Mehdizadeh ^[1] ; Mirosław Pawlak ^[3]
  1. [1] Golestan University

     Golestan University

     Irán

     
  2. [2] University of Zielona Góra. Poland
  3. [3] Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University. Kalisz, Poland

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• Localización: ELT journal: An international journal for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, ISSN 0951-0893, Vol. 76, Nº 1, 2022, págs. 58-68
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The concept of boredom has recently attracted the attention of researchers in L2 education. As most of the available literature has focused on traditional, in-person classes, very little is known about how L2 students experience this aversive emotion in online classes, especially those prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To fill this gap, this large-scale, qualitative study surveys the opinion of 240 demographically versatile English major students from twenty-five universities in Iran to identify the activity types that are more likely to induce boredom in online classes. Thematic analysis of data, collected through open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and analysed through MAXQDA software, revealed ten different activity types which were boredom-inducing due to their non-engaging or cognitively (un)demanding nature. The findings are then discussed in light of relevant theories of boredom, and suggestions are given for making these activities less boring in online classes.