Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent the repeat Turkish EFL students experience burnout considering the three dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism and professional efficacy, explore whether there is any relationship between these subcategories, and also find out the common metaphors that the Turkish EFL students use to define burnout during their language learning process in a preparatory program at a foundation (non-profit, private) university in Istanbul, Turkey. A sample of fifty-four B1 (intermediate) level Turkish EFL students repeating the same preparatory program for two years and five Turkish EFL instructors offering intensive courses in this particular program participated in the study. The quantitative data was obtained through the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey while the qualitative data was collected from semi-structured interviews and metaphor. The findings of the study revealed that the B1 (intermediate) Turkish EFL students experience high level of exhaustion and cynicism whereas they face low level of professional efficacy indicating their burnout level in the preparatory program.

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