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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1351313
This article is part of the Research Topic Personal Competences in the Academic and Work Environment: Advancing Towards Psychological Wellbeing View all 7 articles

Proactive Personality, Burnout, and Teaching Enjoyment: Exploring Relationships in Chinese English Teachers

Provisionally accepted
Hu Chunyan Hu Chunyan 1*Ying Liao Ying Liao 2
  • 1 College of Education Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
  • 2 Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study examines the relationships between proactive personality, burnout, and teaching enjoyment among Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. The research aims to clarify how proactive personality traits relate to teaching enjoyment and burnout and to explore their interactions in the context of EFL instruction.The study included a sample of 420 Chinese EFL teachers, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to assess the relationships among proactive personality, burnout, and teaching enjoyment. Data underwent detailed statistical analysis to identify both direct and mediating effects within the proposed model.The findings from the SEM analysis revealed significant direct relationships between proactive personality, burnout, and teaching enjoyment among Chinese EFL educators. Proactive personality was associated with a decrease in burnout (β = -.366, SE = .159, p < .001). For every unit increase in proactive personality, teachers reported experiencing higher levels of teaching enjoyment (β = .487, SE = .176, p < .001). Teaching enjoyment, in turn, was a significant mediator in the relationship between proactive personality and burnout (β = -.249, SE = .102, p < .001). These findings suggest that proactive personality is positively associated with teaching enjoyment, which, in turn, may relate to lower levels of burnout among EFL teachers.Discussion: This study highlights the importance of proactive personality traits in enhancing teaching enjoyment and reducing burnout among Chinese EFL teachers. The findings emphasize how proactive tendencies contribute to teachers' well-being, professional satisfaction, and, ultimately, the quality of EFL instruction. These results suggest practical applications, such as developing interventions that encourage proactive traits and increase teaching enjoyment among EFL educators, which may improve the educational experience for EFL students.

    Keywords: proactive personality, burnout, teaching enjoyment, English as a foreign language (EFL), Chinese educators

    Received: 06 Dec 2023; Accepted: 13 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chunyan and Liao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hu Chunyan, College of Education Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.