Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools

Research on teacher burnout is expanding, but its effects on second language acquisition and its relationship with teacher engagement remain underexplored. This thesis examines the impact of burnout among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers on various aspects of teacher engagement, includin...

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Main Author: Derecskey, Veronika Csilla
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/79889/
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author Derecskey, Veronika Csilla
author_facet Derecskey, Veronika Csilla
author_sort Derecskey, Veronika Csilla
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Research on teacher burnout is expanding, but its effects on second language acquisition and its relationship with teacher engagement remain underexplored. This thesis examines the impact of burnout among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers on various aspects of teacher engagement, including cognitive-physical, emotional, and social interactions with colleagues and students, based on Klassen et al.’s framework (2013). Following an exploratory study, 31 secondary school English language teachers in Hungary were interviewed. These discussions revealed significant insights into how teacher burnout can affect their engagement, showing that engagement can be negatively, positively, or unaffected. The cognitive-physical aspect was found to be most adversely affected. Interestingly, burnout and engagement were found to coexist, with some teachers experiencing both positive and negative impacts on their engagement. The study also emphasises the critical role of emotional engagement in language teaching (Gkonou & Mercer, 2017). It highlights the emotional consequences of burnout and its effects on teachers’ daily interactions and over time. Teachers’ narratives illuminate their efforts to manage the consequences of burnout, detailing their broader emotional experiences, coping mechanisms, and techniques for reengaging with their teaching roles. This qualitative study provides important insights from the experiences of EFL teachers in Hungarian secondary education, addressing a significant gap in the existing literature.
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spelling nottingham-798892024-12-10T04:40:12Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/79889/ Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools Derecskey, Veronika Csilla Research on teacher burnout is expanding, but its effects on second language acquisition and its relationship with teacher engagement remain underexplored. This thesis examines the impact of burnout among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers on various aspects of teacher engagement, including cognitive-physical, emotional, and social interactions with colleagues and students, based on Klassen et al.’s framework (2013). Following an exploratory study, 31 secondary school English language teachers in Hungary were interviewed. These discussions revealed significant insights into how teacher burnout can affect their engagement, showing that engagement can be negatively, positively, or unaffected. The cognitive-physical aspect was found to be most adversely affected. Interestingly, burnout and engagement were found to coexist, with some teachers experiencing both positive and negative impacts on their engagement. The study also emphasises the critical role of emotional engagement in language teaching (Gkonou & Mercer, 2017). It highlights the emotional consequences of burnout and its effects on teachers’ daily interactions and over time. Teachers’ narratives illuminate their efforts to manage the consequences of burnout, detailing their broader emotional experiences, coping mechanisms, and techniques for reengaging with their teaching roles. This qualitative study provides important insights from the experiences of EFL teachers in Hungarian secondary education, addressing a significant gap in the existing literature. 2024-12-10 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/79889/1/Veronika%20Derecskey_20217777_thesis.pdf Derecskey, Veronika Csilla (2024) Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. second language acquisition TEFL teaching English as a second language teacher engagement burnout secondary schools Hungary
spellingShingle second language acquisition
TEFL
teaching English as a second language
teacher engagement
burnout
secondary schools
Hungary
Derecskey, Veronika Csilla
Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools
title Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools
title_full Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools
title_fullStr Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools
title_full_unstemmed Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools
title_short Understanding and Overcoming Burnout: Insights into EFL Teacher Engagement and Reengagement in Hungarian Secondary Schools
title_sort understanding and overcoming burnout: insights into efl teacher engagement and reengagement in hungarian secondary schools
topic second language acquisition
TEFL
teaching English as a second language
teacher engagement
burnout
secondary schools
Hungary
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/79889/