Boredom in Online Language Classrooms: Vietnamese EFL Students' Perspectives

Introduction

Recent research has shown the importance of emotions in second language (L2) learning (Nakamura, 2018). Boredom, a negative feeling frequently experienced by students at school (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012), is a psychological phenomenon that students experience when facing unwanted moments at school and may result in detrimentally unexpected activities and learning outcomes (Pekrun et al., 2010; Tze et al., 2016). Likewise, in recent years, the high time of Covid – 19, language education has witnessed an emerging trend in studying students’ mental health and psychological condition during online learning as a temporary solution due to social distancing (e.g., Kruk & Zawodniak, 2020; Pawlak et al., 2020). The unprecedented switch to online education or emergency remote teaching has challenged the efficacy of language education due to the lack of interaction and adverse effects on students’ emotions (Nayman & Bavlı, 2022). In the Covid-19 and the emerging rise of online teaching thanks to technological development, it is necessary to raise the issue in the EFL local teaching context of Vietnam to explore the causes of and possible solutions to the boredom among Vietnamese EFL students. Specifically, the research issues are addressed in the two following research questions (RQ).

• RQ1. What factors influence the trajectories of self-reported boredom in the online class experienced by Vietnamese EFL students?

• RQ2. What solutions do Vietnamese EFL students suggest reducing experienced boredom in online classes?

Boredom And Its Negative Effects

Boredom is commonly regarded as an unpleasant emotional state in which the individual experiences a general lack of interest and difficulty concentrating on the current activity. Nakamura et al. (2010) argue that “boredom is a multidimensional construct” (p. 2). It involves emotion, cognition, motivation, expression, and physiology. Boredom is also characterized in terms of symptoms, intensity, and manifestation during the learning process. Falman (2009) asserts that boredom manifests through various characteristics such as lethargy, displeasure, distraction, and a distorted perspective of time and space. In education, boredom is a state of weariness or ennui resulting from a lack of engagement with stimuli in the classroom (Kruk & Zawodniak, 2020; Westgate & Wilson, 2018). This definition is adopted in this study as the main framework to guide the discussion on causes of and solutions to boredom.