Exploring the Roots and Remedies of Students' Academic Hatred and Boredom in English Language Education: A Descriptive Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

This study adopted a descriptive qualitative approach to explore the roots and remedies of Chinese EFL students' academic hatred and boredom. To this end, a sample of 43 Chinese EFL students was selected through convenience sampling for in‐depth interviews. Thematic analysis indicated that academic hatred stemmed from ‘language complexity,’ ‘instructional monotony,’ ‘excessive pressure’, and ‘examinations.’ The analysis further revealed that student boredom was primarily rooted in ‘lack of diversity’, ‘task difficulty’, ‘teacher instruction’, and ‘boring textbooks’. Concerning the remedies, the findings indicated that academic hatred could be alleviated through ‘establishing a supportive learning environment’, ‘changing learning methods’, ‘setting realistic goals’, ‘forming positive mindsets/attitudes’, and ‘having interpersonal communication in the class’. The findings also revealed that boredom could be mitigated by ‘diversifying learning materials and tasks’, ‘establishing a positive classroom climate’, ‘encouraging group work’, and ‘connecting learning to real‐world situations’. The findings offer valuable pedagogical implications for addressing and managing negative emotional experiences in second language (L2) education and for fostering more engaging and emotionally supportive learning environments.