EFL teachers’ teaching style, creativity, and burnout: A path analysis approach

Abstract

The present study delved into a rarely explored construct in the domain of English as a foreign language (EFL), i.e. teaching style. We hypothesized that teacher creativity plays a role in the styles teachers adopt in language institutes. It was also conjectured that teaching style affects burnout. The role of burnout in teacher creativity was also investigated. To measure teaching style, Grasha’s Teaching Style Inventory comprising five teaching styles (Expert, Authority, Model, Facilitator, and Delegator) on a continuum of teacher vs. learner-oriented styles was employed. The educator version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-ES) and the English Language Teacher Creativity Scale (ELT-CS) were utilized to gauge burnout and creativity, respectively. To examine these causal associations, a path analysis was run. The results demonstrated the role of teachers’ creativity in their preferred teaching style. In particular, it was found that teacher creativity predicts Facilitator and Delegator positively; whereas, it predicts Authority and Expert in a negative direction. The results also revealed that three teaching styles (Model, Facilitator, and Delegator) appear to contribute to burnout prevention whereas the other two teaching styles (Expert and Authority) have no significant role. Finally, the debilitative role of teacher burnout in creativity was demonstrated.

Keywords

• burnout
• creativity
• efl teachers
• path analysis
• teaching style