Teachers’ Burnout and their Feedback-ability

The current study sought to investigate Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ willingness to receive feedback and its relation to burnout. To this end, Teachers’ Willingness to Receive Feedback Scale (TWRFS), along with Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were administered to 200 English language teachers working at different private language institutes of Mashhad. The data was analyzed by means of Pearson Correlation Coefficient, SEM Path Analysis, and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. Considering the directionality of feedback, the obtained results indicated a significant negative relationship between willingness to receive direct feedback and burnout; the more willing teachers are to receive direct feedback, the later they might experience burnout. With regard to the valency of feedback, willingness to receive negative feedback significantly predicted teacher burnout; that is, teachers who are more open to negative feedback seem to be more prone to burnout. Ultimately, the implications of these findings for the training and support of teachers were discussed, and interventions to treat or prevent burnout were put forward.