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Academic burnout, shame, intrinsic motivation and teacher affective support among Iranian EFL learners: A structural equation modeling approach

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Abstract

The present study was an attempt to test a hypothesized educational psychology model investigating the relationship among perceived teacher affective support, intrinsic motivation, shame emotion and academic burnout among Iranian EFL (English as a foreign language) learners. To this end, 306 EFL learners were conveniently sampled, and were asked to complete relevant questionnaires. SPSS was used for tabulating the data and running descriptive statistics, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted to assure the construct validity of the questionnaires used. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was hypothesized and tested through AMOS program with maximum likelihood estimation. The SEM analysis indicated that the final model had acceptable fit to the data set. The significant standard coefficients of the drawn paths showed that teacher affective support, intrinsic motivation and shame directly predicted academic burnout. In addition, teacher affective support exerted indirect effect on academic burnout through the mediation of intrinsic motivation and shame. Implications are discussed and suggestions are provided for future research.

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The authors would like to thank all colleagues and EFL students for their warm cooperation during the data collection phase.

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Karimi, M.N., Fallah, N. Academic burnout, shame, intrinsic motivation and teacher affective support among Iranian EFL learners: A structural equation modeling approach. Curr Psychol 40, 2026–2037 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-0138-2

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