A study on the professional burnout of efl teachers at vocational and technical anatolian high schools in Adana

The aim of this study is to determine the burnout levels of the ELT teachers working at Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools in terms of demographic variables and certain elements which might effect the level of burnout and to try to determine the factors causing burnout. 110 teachers working at Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools in central part of Adana (Seyhan, Çukurova, Sarıçam, Yüreğir) participated in this research. This study is based on a mixed research design, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Demographic Information Form containing 20 questions which have been prepared by the researcher to get information about the personal characteristics of the research group, "Maslach Burnout Inventory (1981)" which involves 22 questions developed by Maslach to measure burnout, and a semi-structured interview technique were utilized. The quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire wereanalyzed by statistical software 17 (SPSS). Moreover, the qualitative data collected using the Demographic Information Form and semi structured interviews were analyzed through content analysis to support the quantitative data. Results revealed that EFL teachers who are working in Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools in Adana have a high level of burnout. The data analysis implicated that burnout existed among EFLteachers with 49 high level of burnout, followed by 37 moderate level, and 24 low. Additionally, on the basis of independent samples' test scores and Anova results, it can be implicated that there is no significant difference in gender, age, marital status, educational background, work experience in terms of burnout. As a result of the detailed study and analysis of the data findings from semi structured interviews, it was found that student-related factors dominate other challenges. The findings also show that work overload, administrative staff, physical environment, and lack of autonomy in decision making are associated with teacher burnout. In order to prevent and reduce burnout levels, some suggestions were also included in the study. Keywords: Burnout, burnout dimensions, vocational and technical high school, teacher