Balancing Motivation and Burnout in The Learning of Foreign Languages

Being motivated and experiencing burnout during study is a common occurrence, and there appears to be a number of dimensions in which they are related. Despite having the most sophisticated educational frameworks, students always rely on their own motivation to meet their learning goals and avoid burnout at the same time. However, motivation is the driving force behind learning and can act as a mediator in reducing burnout in students. Hence, this study investigates the balancing motivation and burnout in the learning of foreign languages. A quantitative method is used to explore the relation of motivation and burnout in the learning of foreign languages. The data was collected using a five-point Likert scale survey adapted from (Pintrich Campos, et al., 2011). There are four sections in the survey. Section A are items on the demographic profile, Section B are 24 items on motivational factors and Section C are the 16 items on burnout factors. 125 undergraduate students studying French at a public university in Malaysia were selected using purposive sampling to answer the survey. The study found that task beliefs and extrinsic motivation drive learners more than intrinsic motivation. Though students are motivated, they are also found to be burned out. This demonstrates the connection between motivation and burnout. The data evaluated using SPSS further supports this, demonstrating a moderate positive correlation between motivation and burnout. The results indicated a significant pedagogical outcome and issued invaluable aspects and future research exploring the correlation between motivation and burnout in the learning of foreign languages is recommended.