Can nursing students' perceived teacher enthusiasm dampen their class-related boredom during theoretical lessons? A cross-sectional study among Chinese nursing students

Stability of the Mitigating Effect of Students’ Perceived Teacher Enthusiasm on Class-related Boredom: Moderating Role of Boredom Proneness and Perceived Task Difficulty

“…Goetz and colleagues suggested teacher enthusiasm as one of teachers' core teaching characteristics, and found that supportive presentation style, which included teacher enthusiasm, could significantly predict students' class-related boredom [31]. Moreover, a group of researchers recently reported the direct and indirect relationships between teacher enthusiasm and students' class-related boredom [4,5]. In a similar study, an outcome variable model of teacher enthusiasm was constructed, and an indirect predictive role of teacher enthusiasm on class-related boredom was supported [27].…”

“…Although teacher enthusiasm may play an important role in mitigating students' class-related boredom, few studies have investigated this relationship [4,5]. In terms of a theoretical basis, theories explaining the mitigating role of teacher enthusiasm on class-related boredom have been limited.…”

“…For example, in the control-value theory of achievement emotions and the study by Mann and Robinson, students' boredom proneness and perceived task difficulty were important antecedent variables of class-related boredom [13,24]. Cui et al found that after controlling for the effects of boredom proneness and perceived task difficulty, students' perceived teacher enthusiasm predicted their class-related boredom negatively and significantly [4,5]. Based on the previous research by Cui and colleagues, the current study aimed to further explore whether boredom proneness and perceived task difficulty may moderate the relationship between perceived teacher enthusiasm and class-related boredom, and whether students' perceived teacher enthusiasm can predict their class-related boredom significantly and stably among students with different levels of boredom proneness and perceived task difficulty.…”

“…Class-related boredom is a negative emotion widely experienced by students, which may affect their learning process and outputs as well as health [3]. The latest research has shown that students' perceived teacher enthusiasm negatively predicted their class-related boredom significantly, which suggests that increasing teacher enthusiasm may be an efficient way to mitigate students' class-related boredom [4,5]. In the theories of boredom antecedents and related empirical research, individuals' boredom proneness and perceived task difficulty were considered to be important factors influencing boredom in specific situations [6,7].…”

“…Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 2645 2 of 15 stable mitigating effect of perceived teacher enthusiasm on students' class-related boredom among students with different levels of boredom proneness and perceived task difficulty [4,5]. Exploring the relationships among these variables could provide an important research basis for future interventional studies.…”