Boredom begets boredom: An experience sampling study on the impact of teacher boredom on student boredom and motivation

Abstract

BackgroundBoredom is a common complaint among students. Boredom was previously found to be negatively associated with academic outcomes, such as academic motivation, strategies, and achievement. It is of interest to understand students’ in‐class boredom, especially factors that might exacerbate it.AimsThe current study examines the influence of teacher's boredom on students’ in‐class boredom and learning experience. It aims to understand the relationship between teacher boredom, students’ perceived teacher boredom, student boredom, and student learning motivation.SampleA total of 437 students (54.8% female, MAge = 14.5 years, SD = 1.6) and 17 of their teachers (29.4% female, 76.5% 40 years old or below) participated in the study.MethodsWe conducted an experience sampling study, in which participants completed a 2‐week diary. Data were analysed using multilevel modelling.Results and ConclusionsResults from multilevel modelling of 2,675 post‐class evaluations indicated that teacher boredom was negatively associated with students’ motivation. However, the relationship between teacher boredom and students’ perceived teacher boredom was not significant, suggesting that students did not accurately perceive whether their teacher was bored. Results from indirect effect analysis further revealed that students’ perception of teacher boredom predicted student learning motivation through student boredom. In other words, perceiving teachers being bored promoted students’ own feeling of boredom, which in turn reduced their learning motivation. Together, these results indicate that when a teacher is bored in class, or when students perceive that their teacher is bored, students would have lower learning motivation.

Student Characteristics Associated with Passing the Exam in Undergraduate Pharmacology Courses—a Cross-sectional Study in Six University Degree Programs

“…Furthermore, enthusiasm has been demonstrated as an important teacher quality [13], and a well-slept teacher has been shown preferable for students' academic motivation and in-class satisfaction [14]. Conversely, teachers being perceived as bored may reduce students' learning motivation [15].…”

Bored with school! Bored with life? Well-being characteristics associated with a school boredom mindset

“…This boredom is not strongly linked to the general social studies subject matter but could be because the teacher's presentation was not stimulating and had limited novelty. Tam et al (2020) provide evidence of this boredom dynamic. In their study, for two weeks, high school teachers self-reported their boredom during instruction.…”

Bored to Be Wild: How Boredom Is Related to Pre-Service Teachers’ Intention to Persist in Their Studies

“…Research has highlighted numerous detrimental effects of boredom on students’ academic lives in many different grades such as primary school [ 17 ], secondary school and universities [ 18 ]. Notably, numerous studies emphasize that boredom is related to higher attentional problems [ 5 ], lower lecture attendance [ 19 ], lower effort regulation [ 5 ], lower intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learn, which in turn erodes academic achievement [ 16 , 20 , 21 ]. Moreover, as highlighted by Daschmann et al [ 22 ], boredom is positively correlated with lower grades, enhanced absenteeism, and a higher risk of dropping out.…”

“…In the university context, a study [ 32 ] showed that the expectation for success and subjective task value encourage choice, effort, persistence and continuation in engineering for undergraduate engineering students. In the same way, Neuville et al, [ 21 ] showed that the intention to persist in the first year of university was influenced by students’ perception of their probability of success and by the value and the interest they had for their studies. Neuville et al, [ 21 ] further revealed that students who had a negative emotional adjustment (i.e., a negative emotional state like feelings of distress or a negative physical state like a somatic problem) showed a lower intention to persist.…”

“…In the same way, Neuville et al, [ 21 ] showed that the intention to persist in the first year of university was influenced by students’ perception of their probability of success and by the value and the interest they had for their studies. Neuville et al, [ 21 ] further revealed that students who had a negative emotional adjustment (i.e., a negative emotional state like feelings of distress or a negative physical state like a somatic problem) showed a lower intention to persist. However, to the best of our knowledge, no research has studied the role of specific emotions with the intention to persist in university.…”