The Mediating Role of Cognitive Engagement in the Relationship Between Achievement Goals and Academic Burnout among Iranian EFL Learners

Notwithstanding the saliency of cognitive engagement, achievement goals, and academic burnout in the learning process, their triple interaction has been underresearched. Thus, the current study aimed to test a structural model of cognitive engagement, achievement goals, and burnout and specifically to investigate the hypothesis that cognitive engagement mediates the effect of achievement goals on burnout. To this end, a total of 384 advanced Iranian EFL learners from different private English language teaching institutes in the cities of Shiraz and Bushehr were selected based on the convenience sampling method. The participants of the study were requested to complete three adapted and validated Likert scale instruments on cognitive engagement, the modified version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey, and achievement goals entailing 12, 10, and 12 items, respectively. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach was carried out to test the hypothesized model of the study. The results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) confirmed that the three instruments well fitted the data of the study. Also, the goodness-of-fit indices indicated a good model fit. Likewise, the findings of path analyses demonstrated that achievement goals negatively affected burnout and positively impacted cognitive engagement. Further, cognitive engagement was found to partially mediate the relationship between achievement goals and burnout. The findings of the present study may hold substantial theoretical and practical implications for EFL teachers, syllabus designers, and educational policymakers.