


































Global Research in Higher Education 
ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) 

Vol. 4, No. 4, 2021 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe 

47 

 

Original Paper 

Teacher Burnout: A Case Study among EFL Instructors at the 

English Preparatory Schools at Universities in North Cyprus  

Mübeher Ürün Göker
1*

  

1
 School of Foreign Languages, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale, Turkey 

*
 Mübeher Ürün Göker, E-mail: murungoker@gmail.com 

 

Received: October 17, 2021   Accepted: November 9, 2021   Online Published: December 13, 2021 

doi:10.22158/grhe.v4n4p47                 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v4n4p47 

 

Abstract 

The job of being an English language instructor is both demanding and challenging. Recently many 

researchers have been paying attention to determine teachers’ attitudes, burnouts, and self-efficacy 

towards the subject and to find a relationship between those psychological concepts and certain 

variables. However, there is not much research done in the field of English language teaching in North 

Cyprus, Turkey, and in the Middle East regarding EFL teacher burnout and self-efficacy. This study 

aimed to investigate the perceived levels of burnout among EFL Instructors at the English Preparatory 

Schools in Girne American University, Near East University and the European University of Lefke in 

North Cyprus using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Education Survey developed by Friedman. The 

study, in which 51 EFL instructors participated found that instructors experienced low levels of 

emotional exhaustion, low levels of depersonalization in relationships with students, colleagues, and 

others, and a high level of personal accomplishment in their work. An EFL instructor’s age, marital 

status, work experience, weekly teaching hours, job status, native or non-native status do not seem to 

influence instructors’ responses on each of the sub-scales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. However, 

variables gender and the university they work to influence their responses related to emotional 

exhaustion, but they do not influence their responses related to depersonalization and personal 

accomplishment scores on the Maslach Burnout Inventory. 

Keywords 

teacher burnout, EFL instructor, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment 

 

 

 

 



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1. Introduction 

People especially learn English because it‟s the most common language spoken in the world. Both at a 

distance and face-to-face, in Commerce, Tourism, Professions, Politics, Economics and Education 

English is increasingly needed. The rapid growth of the importance of learning English has made the 

teaching profession one of the world‟s largest educational enterprises. Unfortunately, the realities of 

classrooms have made teaching a stressful environment. It is absolutely one of those jobs that you 

cannot leave at the school or office. Teachers‟ physical bodies, emotions, minds, and spirits are all 

involved in schoolwork. They may find themselves working, or at least thinking about their work even 

on holiday. 

From this standpoint, EFL/ESL teachers have heavier responsibilities than before, and studies show 

that teaching is one of the most stressful jobs as compared to other occupations (Adams, 2001). Recent 

innovations in the field of education and language teaching have created a rather novel role for teachers. 

Teachers are no longer looked at as the mere transferors of knowledge, but as individuals who need to 

communicate and engage with students more than before and to care for their inner worlds (Arnold, 

1999). They are expected to empathize with learners, try to motivate them, and encourage them to 

participate in classroom activities, and generally speaking, to help facilitate learning. However, in 

addition to all these roles, they also need to engage in many other tasks such as paperwork, evaluating 

students, preparing for the class, remaining up-to-date with their teaching area, and preparing their 

teaching materials. At the same time, they might have positive or negative encounters with parents, 

colleagues, administrative authorities, and students, all of which can affect them psychologically. As a 

result, many teachers end up having more negative feelings about themselves, their students, and their 

profession than they were initially. They start developing feelings of emotional exhaustion and fatigue, 

negative attitudes towards their students, and loss of feelings of accomplishment in their job. People 

experiencing these feelings have been described as suffering from „job burnout‟ (Maslach & Jackson, 

1981; Maslach & Goldberg, 1998; Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001; Pietarinen, Pyhältö, Haverinen, 

Leskinen, & Soini, 2021). 

The concept of burnout occurring in stages was researched by Evers et al. (2000), who also encourages 

the view that burnout is a process that has varying levels and degrees. Understanding the extent to 

which an individual suffers from burnout can be helpful in diagnosing and treating the syndrome. Thus, 

to have a better understanding of the development of burnout, its causes must first be investigated. 

1.1 What is Burnout? 

Burnout is described as “a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and 

personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with other people in some 

capacity” (Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter,1996).  

There are also different views on burnout. For example, according to Längle (2003), it is an enduring 

state of exhaustion because of work. Nevertheless, on another level, burnout must be viewed as a form 



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of an existential vacuum characterized by apathy, boredom, and a loss of interest in relationships. 

According to Karazman (1994), people displaying symptoms of an existential vacuum seem to have 

high degrees of depersonalization and emotional exhaustion. Burnouts misinterpret the requirements 

for and components of successful human existence as they lack a sense of inner fulfillment. Burnouts 

view their work as something to serve their own aims and not as something that should be appreciated 

for its unique value and inherent meaning (Längle, 2003). 

As far as burnout is concerned in the field of teacher education, researchers first studied teacher 

burnout through the lens of teacher stress (Smylie, 1999). According to their findings, special education 

teachers are the most prone to high stress and burnout (McIntyre, 1983). However, in the 1980s, 

scholars in teacher education identified the important factors in teacher stress and burnout from 

demographic information such as age, gender, marital status, work experience, and level of education. 

In the early 1990s, researchers began to examine the work-related factors, such as teacher-pupil ratio, 

grade level taught, types of exceptional children taught, and workload. As workload appeared to be the 

most salient element among the work-related factors, some models were proposed to investigate 

teacher burnout regarding it. And findings of that studies show that burnout is a syndrome caused by 

prolonged stress and is certainly in connection with the work environment. Recently, Maslach‟s work 

on burnout seems to have emerged as the dominant framework for studying burnout because of the 

defining psychological constructs she developed. 

1.2 Three Aspects of Burnout 

Burnout refers to a cluster of physical, emotional, and interactional symptoms, including emotional 

exhaustion, a sense of lacking personal accomplishment, and depersonalization of clients. Maslach and 

Jackson (1981) argue that burnout comprises three factors: (a) “emotional exhaustion”, which is 

described as feelings of being emotionally overextended and exhausted, (b) “personal accomplishment”, 

which is experienced by teachers as decreased feelings of competence and achievement and a tendency 

to evaluate oneself negatively with respect to work and (c) “depersonalization” which is the 

development of negative feelings and attitudes about the profession. 

1.3 Sources of Burnout  

The sources of teacher burnout are known to have multifaceted factors (Maslach et al., 2001). In this 

study, the studies on teacher burnout were categorized into three groups along with the sources of 

burnout they identify: individual factors, organizational factors, and transactional factors. Demographic 

variables or personality variables constitute individual variables (e.g., age, gender, years of teaching 

experience, personality, etc.; Burke & Greenglass, 1988; Friedman & Farber, 1992; Kashahu Xhelilaj, 

Petani, & Ntalla, 2021; Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Organizational factors include institutional and job 

characteristics, e.g., inappropriate work demands, socioeconomic status of the school, and 

administrative support, etc. (Brissie, Hoover-Dempsey, & Bassler, 1988; Evers, Tomic, & Brouwers, 

2004; Farber, 1984; Maslach et al., 2001).  



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On the whole, research studies identifying sources of burnout as individual factors provided the 

answers to “who” experiences burnout, while studies identifying sources of burnout as social and 

organizational factors provided the answers to “what” makes teachers burn out. And finally, 

transactional factors include interactions of individual factors with organizational and/or social factors, 

such as an employee‟s perceptions of leadership style, teachers‟ attribution of student misbehaviors, 

and teachers‟ perceptions of exchange of investments and outcomes (Bibou-nakou, Stogiannidou, & 

Kiosseoglou, 1999; Evers et al., 2004; Friedman, 1995; Van Horn, Schaufeli, & Enzmann, 1999). 

1.4 The EFL Context in North Cyprus 

English as a foreign language is formally taught to Cypriot students from nursery school to university 

education (first year of nursery school, primary eight years of primary school, high school for three 

years, and another year during the pre-university level and university education). Considering the 

content and priorities of the current EFL textbooks used at the English Preparatory Schools of the 

universities, it seems that EFL teaching at universities in North Cyprus is based on the students‟ future 

need to read, understand their subject area at the tertiary level and sometimes translate English books, 

journals, and magazines. Likewise, reading comprehension, essay and report writing, speaking and 

translation are the most emphasized skills at the university level, and students study English basically 

for academic purposes (EAP). Therefore, in most prep schools, both administrative and teaching staff 

claim that they are following the procedures of Communicative Language Teaching. However, the 

traditional way that they are testing the language performance of their students could be a clear 

indicator of the fact that they might use traditional teaching methodology.  

A major principle in CLT is to use language for a variety of purposes and to convey meaningful 

messages. The implementation of CLT requires EFL instructors to be competent in the English 

language to teach it. It is expected that EFL instructors use English with functional ability in 

communicating across the language skills. In North Cyprus most of the teachers are natives or from the 

country of English speaking as an SLA hence, this technique is used in North Cyprus universities.     

The curriculum at North Cyprus universities is, for the most part, top-down and product-oriented in all 

its aspects, directed by each prep school through the monitoring of “educational groups” at various 

organizational levels. Besides, non-native EFL students in North Cyprus EFL have a chance to use 

English outside the classroom because of the existence of foreign students at the university as well as it 

is a touristic country. From the standpoint of working conditions, EFL instructors at the universities in 

North Cyprus have currently been suffering more and more as compared to the early 2000s. There has 

been a decrease in the number of university students coming to study in Cyprus and this has also 

decreased the number of EFL instructors. And this has had reflections in teacher salaries making them 

less.  

 

 



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There are several common complaints from teachers about their work environments. Many don‟t have 

their office or even their desk to store materials. Those who do have their offices often find that the 

facilities aren‟t adequate to handle their students‟ needs. Some don‟t have computers or internet access. 

Others don‟t receive sufficient benefit packages or training hours per year. Some schools don‟t have 

good libraries.  

On the whole, school staffing is about more than just finding teachers to work in schools. It‟s also 

important to retain good teachers. Constant turnover of new teachers leads to students coping with a 

stream of novices in the classroom, this contributes to academic breakdowns, failure to notice specific 

academic problems, and eventually to an environment where the students have to teach as much as to 

learn.  

Finally, the universities can fire EFL instructors regularly for absolutely no valid reason. Most 

instructors have one-year working contracts and they are often underpaid and under-supported in their 

need for educational resources for their students. Poor working conditions can lead to many negative 

issues for teachers including depression, anger, lack of interest, and burnout.  

Several research studies (e.g., Chang & Davis, 2009; Dussault, Deaudelin, Royer, & Loisella, 1999; 

Fullan, 2001; Maslach et al., 1996; Maslach et al., 2001; Napoles, 2021; Saloviita & Pakarinen, 2021; 

Woolfolk Hoy & Davis, 2005) have examined the problem of teacher burnout. Since very little 

research has been done on teacher stress and burnout in the field of EFL/ESL, and there is not much 

research done in the field of English language teaching in North Cyprus, Turkey, and in the Middle 

East regarding teacher burnout and self-efficacy.  

This study aimed to investigate potential inside and outside classroom sources of burnout among 

instructors of EFL within the university preparatory context in North Cyprus. Based on the research 

and problems discussed above, there is a need to examine EFL instructors‟ perceptions of their burnout 

within the university English preparatory context in North Cyprus. The study is also expected to have 

implications for the current attitudes of EFL instructors towards their job and professional 

development. 

1.5 Hypothesis  

EFL instructors‟ perceived burnout is correlated with their performance and a teacher who is prone to 

burnout may be inefficacious and have lower competence in his or her capabilities while carrying out 

instructional activities.  

 

 

 

 

 

 



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2. Method 

As this study aimed to investigate the perceived levels of burnout among EFL instructors in North 

Cyprus, the research design of this study was a descriptive survey method. Maslach Burnout 

Inventory-Education Survey developed by Friedman (1999) was used to determine the frequency of 

burnout in respondents. The MBI-ES is the predominant instrument used to assess burnout in teachers 

and educational administrators (Maslach, Jackson, & Schwab, 1986). 

2.1 Research Questions 

Four research questions were asked and answered on 1) the extent to which EFL instructors 

experienced emotional exhaustion in their work; 2) the extent to which EFL instructors experienced 

depersonalization in relationships with students, colleagues, and other; 3) the extent to which they 

experienced personal accomplishment at work; 4) if burnout among them was influenced by selected 

individual characteristics of gender, job status, native or non-native status, university they work, age, 

marital status, work experience and weekly teaching hours.  

2.2 Participants 

A total of 51 EFL instructors working at the English Preparatory Schools of Girne American University, 

Near East University, and the European University of Lefke participated in this study. The participants 

were not selected as participation was voluntary. Participants filled out the questionnaires 

anonymously.  

 

Table 1. Matrix Detailing Participant Demographics 

Particulars Variables Frequency Percent  

Universities where participants 

work 

Near East University 24 47.1 

European University of Lefke 14 27.5 

Girne American University 13 25.5 

 

Marital status of the participants 

 

 

Single  17 33.3 

Married 31 60.8 

Divorced  3 5.9 

Gender of the participants 

 

Male 13 25.5 

Female 38 74.5 

Age of the participants 

 

 

 

21-30 23 45.1 

31-40 13 25.5 

41-50 10 19.6 

51 and over 5 9.8 

Work experience of the 

participants 

0 2 3.9 

0-5 17 33.3 



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6-10 14 27.5 

11-15 6 11.8 

16-20 7 13.7 

21 and over 5 9.8 

Weakly teaching hours of the 

participants 

 

8-16 9 17.6 

17-20 26 51.0 

21-24 14 27.5 

25-30 1 2.0 

Job status of the participants Full time 47 92.2 

Part time 4 7.8 

Native/non-native status of the 

participants   

Native speaker 16 31.4 

Non-native speaker 35 68.6 

 

2.3 Data Collection Procedures and Instruments 

The instrument selected for this study was the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Education Survey developed 

by Friedman (1999) to determine the frequency of burnout in respondents. The MBI-ES consists of 22 

statements describing the feelings an individual might have as a result of being over-stressed or burned 

out. It also measures burnout on three sub-scales: Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP), 

and Personal Accomplishment (PA). The reliability of the questionnaire was also tested, and the 

Cronbach‟s Alpha Coefficient was found as .731. 

After selecting the data collection instruments, the necessary permissions were obtained from the 

directors of Preparatory Schools of the three universities to administer the questionnaire. As the 

instructors agreed to participate, the instrument was administered at the instructors' work sites.  

2.4 Data Analysis  

After the data were collected at the Fall Semester of 2010-2011 Academic Year, the researcher used 

SPSS (PASW 18.0) to analyze the data collected. 51 questionnaires were coded for statistical analysis 

with PASW 18.0. The data were examined for reliability over the entire questionnaire and according to 

the six sub-groups, descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, frequencies, 

percentages were computed to summarize the instructors‟ responses to the items in the questionnaire, 

and independent sample T-Test and ANOVA tests were used to determine whether there was a 

statistically significant effect of demographical variables. The analyses were done in the order of the 

research questions.  

 

 

 

 



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3. Result and Discussion 

Results gained from this study are given and discussed based on each research question.  

3.1 Results and Discussion of the Research Question 1 

The research question 1 seeks answers as to the perceptions of EFL instructors regarding the perceived 

levels of burnout related to emotional exhaustion-EE. The data for this is seen in Table 2. 

 

Table 2. Mean Scores of Participants on Emotional Exhaustion-EE 

ITEM N MEAN SD 

I feel used up at the end of the workday. 50 2.14 1.64 

I feel emotionally drained from my work. 51 1.29 1.30 

I feel I am working too hard on my job. 50 2.44 2.11 

I feel frustrated by my job. 51 .86 1.05 

I feel fatigued when I get up in the morning and have to face another 

day on the job. 

50 .74 1.12 

I feel burned out from my work. 51 .69 1.01 

Working with people all day is really a strain for me. 51 .57 .72 

I feel like I am at the end of my rope. 51 .25 .48 

Working directly with people puts too much stress on me. 51 .63 1.01 

 

In response to the first research question, the research findings reveal that EFL instructors work very 

hard and they get tired at the end of the day.  

Concerning item analysis to investigate the high and low burnout beliefs among EFL instructors, the 

third item “I feel I am working too hard on my job” (M=2.44) shows the highest mean among the nine 

items related to Emotional Exhaustion-EE in the questionnaire. It might be implied that instructors 

are working very hard and this may lead to burnout over time (Dorman, 2003; Schwab & Iwanicki, 

1982). This also shows that the working loads of EFL instructors are very high as compared to teaching 

loads of primary and secondary school teachers in North Cyprus working very hard. 

The first item “I feel used up at the end of the workday” (M=2.14) in the questionnaire shows the 

second-highest mean among the nine items related to Emotional Exhaustion-EE. It might give the 

idea that EFL teachers feel used up at the end of the day after high working loads. And this result also 

supports the fact that they are not happy with the working conditions in terms of weekly teaching hours. 

However, this might also reveal that EFL instructors make a great contribution to language learning 

development in the EFL context in North Cyprus.  

Regarding the lowest means, the researcher has identified two items: “I feel like I am at the end of my 

rope” (M=.25) and “working with people all day is really a strain for me” (M=.57). This result might 



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reveal the fact that EFL instructors are highly energetic and hard-working. As discussed earlier, 

emotional exhaustion, as the core element of burnout, is considered to be the most obvious 

manifestation of this complex syndrome. Within this framework, EFL instructors included in this study 

are not prone to burnout due to the enthusiasm they feel for their job.  

As discussed earlier, working conditions play a major role in burnout (Cheek, Bradley, Parr, & Lan, 

2003; Dorman, 2003). Concerning our research study context, there might be a wide range of factors 

involved. From the standpoint of working conditions, EFL instructors at universities in North Cyprus 

have currently been suffering more and more as compared to the early 2000s. They get paid less than 

they used to in the early 2000s. There are still serious problems in terms of their work environments. 

Many don't have their office or even their desk to store materials, whereas instructors teaching at other 

departments have better work environments. Weekly teaching hours of EFL instructors at preparatory 

schools are higher than those of instructors teaching at other departments at the universities and 

primary and secondary school teachers in North Cyprus.  

It is also worth mentioning that the results are consistent with the previous studies done by (Brissie et 

al., 1988; Burke & Greenglass, 1993; Gold & Bachelor, 1988; Farber, 1984; Maslach et al., 2001).   

3.2 Results and Discussion of the Research Question 2 

Research question 2 seeks answers as to the perceptions of EFL instructors regarding the perceived 

levels of burnout related to depersonalization-DP. The data for this is seen in Table 3. 

 

Table 3. Mean Scores of Participants on Depersonalization-DP 

ITEM N MEAN SD 

I feel students blame me for their problems. 51 .39 .85 

I have become more callous toward people since I took this job. 49 .27 .73 

I worry that this job is hardening me emotionally. 51 .63 .97 

I do not really care what happens to some students. 47 .70 1.31 

I feel I treat some students as if they were impersonal objects. 51 .29 .98 

 

As can be seen in Table 3, the research findings reveal that EFL instructors have very low levels of 

perceptions for the items related to depersonalization-DP. It might mean that they are far away from 

depersonalization and teaching as a profession does not harden them emotionally even though they 

work very hard.  

Concerning item analysis to investigate the high and low burnout beliefs among EFL instructors, the 

fourth item “I do not really care what happens to some students” (M=.70) shows the highest mean 

among the five items related to depersonalization-DP in the questionnaire. However, it is so low 

(M=.70) that there is no need to interpret in a way that EFL instructors are likely to be close to 

depersonalization. This item like the other four clearly shows that EFL instructors are far away from 



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depersonalization due to low levels of beliefs regarding depersonalization among EFL instructors.  

Regarding the lowest means, as pointed out before, the researcher defined all other 4 items related to 

depersonalization as having low means at similar levels: “I have become more callous toward people 

since I took this job” (M=.27), “I feel I treat some students as if they were impersonal objects” (M=.29), 

“I feel students blame me for their problems” (M=.39), “I worry that this job is hardening me 

emotionally” (M=.63).  

As discussed earlier, Evers et al. (2004) describe depersonalization as “a negative callous and detached 

attitude towards the people who one works with, i.e., patients, students” (p. 132). Taking the low level 

of means of the participants related to depersonalization into consideration, this result might reveal the 

fact that EFL instructors in this study are far away from depersonalization because perception level to 

the item “I have become more callous toward people since I took this job” is very low (M=.27).  

3.3 Results and Discussion of the Research Question 3 

Research question 3 seeks answers as to the perceptions of EFL instructors regarding the perceived 

levels of burnout related to personal accomplishment-PA. The data for this is seen in Table 4. 

 

Table 4. Mean Scores of Participants on Personal Accomplishment-PA 

ITEM N MEAN SD 

I feel exhilarated after working closely with my students. 49 3.63 2.30 

I feel very energetic. 50 5.08 .96 

In my work, I deal with emotional problems very calmly. 51 4.37 1.66 

I can easily understand how my students feel about things. 51 5.25 1.01 

I have accomplished many worthwhile things in this job. 50 5.14 1.14 

I deal very effectively with the problems of my students. 50 4.86 1.14 

I feel I am positively influencing other people`s lives through 

my work. 

50 5.02 1.16 

I can easily create a relaxed atmosphere with my students. 50 5.46 .83 

 

As can be seen in Table 4, in response to the third research question, the research findings reveal that 

EFL instructors on average felt rather confident of their competence to perform their job professionally.  

Concerning item analysis to investigate the perceptions of EFL instructors regarding the perceived 

levels of burnout related to personal accomplishment-PA, the eighth item “I can easily create a 

relaxed atmosphere with my students” (M=5.46) shows the highest mean among the eight items related 

to personal accomplishment-PA in the questionnaire. It might be implied that EFL instructors are 

quite able to do perform good classroom management skills. It might also give the idea that most of the 

instructors feel comfortable with the way they cope with students‟ problems.  

 



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The second highest item is “I can easily understand how my students feel about things” (M=5.25). It 

might give the idea that instructors are more interested in listening to the problems of students 

developing empathy. And the following three high items “I have accomplished many worthwhile things 

in this job” (M=5.14), “I feel very energetic” (M=5.08), and “I feel I am positively influencing other 

people`s lives through my work” (M=5.02) might also reveal that EFL instructors do not feel exhausted 

or indifferent toward serving or helping people. Although it is not easy to gain a sense of 

accomplishment, the EFL instructors included in this study appear to have gained it. Bandura (1997) 

argues that self-efficacy reflects an individual‟s beliefs in his or her capabilities to pursue a course of 

action to meet given situational demands. Viewed in this light, an efficacious teacher may have higher 

competence in his or her capabilities while carrying out instructional activities.  

Regarding the lowest means, the researcher identified only one item which was not low at all. “I feel 

exhilarated after working closely with my students” (M=3.63) might reveal the fact that EFL 

instructors have a high level of efficacy regarding their teaching competence. It is still worth noticing 

that EFL instructors appear to be working very enthusiastically despite their poor working conditions.  

As discussed earlier in the literature review, burnout is manifested in the following ways: work 

overload, lack of control over one‟s work environment, lack of community among teachers in the 

school, lack of fairness in work assignments, and the uneven distribution or absence of rewards 

(Maslach et al., 1996; Napoles, 2021). Within this context then, one can argue that level of personal 

accomplishment seems not to have reduced for EFL instructors at universities in North Cyprus. 

3.4 Results and Discussion of the Research Question 4 

Research question 4 seeks answers as to the perceptions of EFL instructors regarding the variation 

according to a) gender, b) job status, c) native or non-native status, d) university they work, e) age, f) 

marital status, g) work experience, and h) weekly teaching hours.  

a) gender: To respond to this problem, the researcher made use of descriptive statistics and a “t” 

test to analyze the collected data. Table 5 shows the results of descriptive statistics. 

 

Table 5. Corresponding Mean Scores for Gender 

 Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 

Emotional exhaustion Male 13 10.3846 6.86220 1.90323 

Female 35 10.8286 9.22747 1.55973 

Depersonalization at work Male 13 1.6923 1.25064 .34687 

Female 33 2.4848 3.37381 .58730 

Personal accomplishment at work Male 13 36.0769 9.10551 2.52541 

Female 35 39.8286 5.19890 .87877 

 

 



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As it is seen in Table 5, the mean values of female instructors in terms of emotional exhaustion, 

depersonalization at work, and personal accomplishment at work are higher than those values of male 

instructors. However, only this does not indicate that there is a statistically significant difference 

between male and female instructors. To interpret whether there is a significant difference between 

them, independent samples “t” test results are illustrated in Table 6. 

 

Table 6. Independent Samples Test for Gender 

 

Levene‟s 

Test for 

Equality of 

Variances t-test for Equality of Means 

F Sig. T Df 

Sig.(2 

tailed) 

Mean 

Difference 

Std. Error 

Difference 

Emotional 

exhaustion 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

2.696 .107 -.158 46 .875 -.44396 2.81694 

Equal variances 

not assumed 
  

-.180 28.926 .858 -.44396 2.46070 

Depersonalization 

at work 

 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

4.865 .033 -.820 44 .416 -.79254 .96612 

Equal variances 

not assumed 

 

 

 
 

-1.162 43.956 .252 -.79254 .68209 

Personal 

accomplishment at 

work 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

11.16

9 

.002 -1.791 46 .080 -3.75165 2.09505 

Equal variances 

not assumed 
  

-1.403 15.004 .181 -3.75165 2.67394 

 

Regarding emotional exhaustion, it provides the t value (t=-1.158) and the degrees of freedom (df=46). 

From the table above, it is also observed that significance was .107, which was higher than .05. 

Consequently, it can be concluded that the difference between male and female instructors in terms of 

emotional exhaustion is significant. It might be concluded that there are differences between men and 

women in terms of emotions and expressions of emotions. This fact might have had an impact on the 

responses of the female participants related to items for emotional exhaustion. However, regarding 



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depersonalization at work and personal accomplishment at work, no statistical significance has been 

found. In other words, male and female instructors have the same perceived levels of burnout and they 

have similar beliefs related to items for depersonalization at work and personal accomplishment. 

b) job status: To respond to this problem, the researcher used descriptive statistics and a “t” test 

to analyze the collected data. Table 7 shows the results of descriptive statistics. 

 

Table 7. Corresponding Mean Scores for Job Status 

Job status  N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 

Emotional exhaustion Full Time 45 10.6889 8.72255 1.30028 

Part Time 3 11.0000 7.54983 4.35890 

Depersonalization at work Full Time 42 2.0238 2.86687 .44237 

Part Time 4 4.7500 2.87228 1.43614 

Personal accomplishment at 

work 

Full Time 44 38.5000 6.75656 1.01859 

Part Time 4 42.2500 3.30404 1.65202 

 

As can be seen in Table 7, the mean values of both full-time and part-time EFL instructors in terms of 

emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal accomplishment at work are very 

similar. However, this does not indicate that there is a statistically significant difference between the 

perceptions of both full-time and part-time EFL instructors regarding emotional exhaustion, 

depersonalization, and personal accomplishment at work. 

To reveal whether there is a statistically significant difference between the perceptions of full-time and 

part-time EFL instructors, independent samples “t” test results are illustrated in Table 8. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Table 8. Independent Samples Test for Job Status 

 

Levene‟s 

Test for 

Equality of 

Variances t-test for Equality of Means 

F Sig. T Df Sig.(2-tailed) 

Mean 

Difference 

Std. Error 

Difference 

Emotional 

exhaustion 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

.238 .628 -.060 46 .952 -.31111 5.17269 

Equal 

variances 

not 

assumed 

  

 

-.068 

 

2.371 

 

.951 

 

-.31111 

 

4.54871 

Depersonalization at 

work 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

.188 .666 -1.817 44 .076 -2.72619 1.50033 

Equal 

variances 

not 

assumed 

  

 

-1.814 

 

3.594 

 

.152 

 

-2.72619 

 

1.50273 

Personal 

accomplishment at 

work 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

1.356 .250 -1.090 46 .281 -3.75000 3.43984 

Equal 

variances 

not 

assumed 

  

 

-1.932 

 

5.657 

 

.104 

 

-3.75000 

 

1.94080 

 

As it is seen in Table 8, it is observed that there is no statistically significant difference between the 

perceptions of full-time and part-time EFL instructors related to emotional exhaustion, 

depersonalization at work, and personal accomplishment at work. In other words, full-time and 

part-time EFL instructors have similar beliefs and opinions related to items for emotional exhaustion, 

depersonalization, and personal accomplishment at work. 

c) native or non-native status: To respond to this problem, the researcher used descriptive 

statistics and a “t” test to analyze the collected data. Table 9. Below shows the results of 

descriptive statistics.  

 

 



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Table 9. Corresponding Mean Scores for Native/Non-native Status 

Native or non-native status  N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 

Emotional exhaustion Native Speaker 14 10.2143 9.20851 2.46108 

Non-Native Speaker 34 10.9118 8.44723 1.44869 

Depersonalization at work Native Speaker 15 1.4000 2.13140 .55032 

Non-Native Speaker 31 2.6774 3.20819 .57621 

Personal accomplishment at 

work 

Native Speaker 14 40.5000 6.23575 1.66658 

Non-Native Speaker 34 38.1176 6.70940 1.15065 

 

As it is seen in Table 9, the mean values of both native and non-native EFL instructors in terms of 

emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal accomplishment at work are very 

similar. However, this does not indicate that there is a statistically significant difference between the 

perceptions of both native and non-native EFL instructors. To reveal whether there is a significant 

difference between the perceptions of native and non-native EFL instructors in terms of emotional 

exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment at work, a “t” test was utilized. The results 

of the “t” test are shown in Table 10. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Table 10. Independent Samples Test for Native or Non-native Status 

 

As it is seen in Table 10, regarding emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal 

accomplishment at work, no statistical significance was found between the perceptions of both native 

and non-native EFL instructors. In other words, native and non-native EFL instructors have similar 

opinions related to items for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment at 

work. 

d) university they work: To respond to this problem, an “analysis of variance” ANOVA was 

applied. The results of the analysis are given in Table 11.  

 

 

 

 

Levene‟s 

Test for 

Equality of 

Variances t-test for Equality of Means 

F Sig. T Df 

Sig. 

(2-tailed) 

Mean 

Difference 

Std. Error 

Difference 

Emotional 

exhaustion 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

.319 .575 -.253 46 .801 -.69748 2.75292 

Equal 

variances 

not 

assumed 

  

-.244 22.505 .809 -.69748 2.85580 

Depersonalization 

at work 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

1.294 .261 -1.396 44 .170 -1.27742 .91499 

Equal 

variances 

not 

assumed 

  

-1.603 39.415 .117 -1.27742 .79679 

Personal 

accomplishment at 

work 

Equal 

variances 

assumed 

.644 .426 1.140 46 .260 2.38235 2.08919 

Equal 

variances 

not 

assumed 

  

1.176 26.019 .250 2.38235 2.02521 



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Table 11. Corresponding Mean Scores for University Participants Work ANOVA 

 Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 

Emotional exhaustion Between Groups 499.553 2 249.777 3.794 .030 

Within Groups 2962.364 45 65.830   

Total 3461.917 47    

Depersonalization at work Between Groups 27.888 2 13.944 1.661 .202 

Within Groups 360.982 43 8.395   

Total 388.870 45    

Personal accomplishment at 

work 

Between Groups 157.972 2 78.986 1.881 .164 

Within Groups 1889.341 45 41.985   

Total 2047.313 47    

 

As can be seen in Table 11, the mean values of instructors working in three different universities in 

terms of the emotional exhaustion are different. However, only this does not indicate that there is a 

statistically significant difference among the EFL instructors working at three different universities. To 

interpret whether there is a significant difference among them, scheffe test results are illustrated in the 

Table 12. 

 

Table 12. Multiple Comparisons of 3 Universities (Scheffe) 

Dependent Variable (I) University 

Name 

(J) University Name Mean Difference 

(I-J) 

Std. 

Error Sig. 

Emotional exhaustion Near East 

University 

European University 

of Lefke 

-7.65035
*
 2.83834 .034 

Girne American 

University 

-1.34266 2.83834 .894 

European 

University of 

Lefke 

Near East 

University 

7.65035
*
 2.83834 .034 

Girne American 

University 

6.30769 3.18241 .152 

Girne American 

University 

Near East 

University 

1.34266 2.83834 .894 

European University 

of Lefke 

 

-6.30769 3.18241 .152 

Depersonalization at 

work 

Near East 

University 

European University 

of Lefke 

-1.86081 1.02251 .203 



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Girne American 

University 

-.80952 1.04849 .744 

European 

University of 

Lefke 

Near East 

University 

1.86081 1.02251 .203 

Girne American 

University 

1.05128 1.15989 .666 

Girne American 

University 

Near East 

University 

.80952 1.04849 .744 

European University 

of Lefke 

-1.05128 1.15989 .666 

Personal accomplishment 

at work 

Near East 

University 

European University 

of Lefke 

4.14286 2.23568 .191 

Girne American 

University 

.45055 2.28669 .981 

European 

University of 

Lefke 

Near East 

University 

-4.14286 2.23568 .191 

Girne American 

University 

-3.69231 2.49572 .343 

Girne American 

University 

Near East 

University 

-.45055 2.28669 .981 

European University 

of Lefke 

3.69231 2.49572 .343 

Note. * The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level. 

 

Regarding emotional exhaustion, from the table above, it is also observed that significance was .34, 

which was lower than .05. Consequently, it can be concluded that the difference in EFL instructors 

working at 3 different universities in terms of emotional exhaustion is significant. It might be 

concluded that there are differences among the perceptions of participants in terms of emotional 

exhaustion, which is quite natural. This might be because all these three universities have different 

working environments and different organizational structures where relations and interactions between 

the administrative and teaching staff could be different. However, regarding depersonalization at work, 

personal accomplishment at work, no statistical significance has been found. In other words, all EFL 

instructors working at three universities have the same perceived levels of burnout and they have 

similar beliefs related to items for depersonalization at work and personal accomplishment. 



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e) age: To respond to this problem, an “analysis of variance” ANOVA was applied. The results 

of the analysis are given in Table 13.  

 

Table 13. Corresponding Mean Scores for Age ANOVA 

 Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 

Emotional exhaustion Between Groups 180.026 3 60.009 .805 .498 

Within Groups 3281.891 44 74.588   

Total 3461.917 47    

Depersonalization at work Between Groups 41.564 3 13.855 1.675 .187 

Within Groups 347.305 42 8.269   

Total 388.870 45    

Personal accomplishment at 

work 

Between Groups 118.337 3 39.446 .900 .449 

Within Groups 1928.975 44 43.840   

Total 2047.313 47    

 

As it is seen in Table 13, the mean values of participants of all age groups in terms of emotional 

exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal accomplishment at work are very similar. In other 

words, regarding emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal accomplishment at 

work, no statistical significance was found between the perceptions of EFL instructors from all age 

groups.  

f) marital status: To respond to this problem, an “analysis of variance” ANOVA was applied. 

The results of the analysis are given in Table 14.  

 

Table 14. Corresponding Mean Scores for Marital Status ANOVA 

 Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 

Emotional exhaustion Between Groups 213.350 2 106.675 1.478 .239 

Within Groups 3248.567 45 72.190   

Total 3461.917 47    

Depersonalization at work Between Groups 5.351 2 2.676 .300 .742 

Within Groups 383.519 43 8.919   

Total 388.870 45    

Personal accomplishment at 

work 

Between Groups 14.519 2 7.259 .161 .852 

Within Groups 2032.794 45 45.173   

Total 2047.312 47    

 

 



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As it is seen in Table 14, the mean values of participants of all marital status groups in terms of 

emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal accomplishment at work are very 

similar. In other words, regarding emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal 

accomplishment at work, no statistical significance was found between the perceptions of EFL 

instructors from all marital status groups.   

g) work experience: To respond to this problem, an “analysis of variance” ANOVA was applied. 

The results of the analysis are given in Table 15.  

 

Table 15. Corresponding Mean Scores for Work Experience ANOVA 

 

Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. 

Emotional exhaustion Between Groups 91.719 5 18.344 .229 .948 

Within Groups 3370.198 42 80.243   

Total 3461.917 47    

Depersonalization at work Between Groups 21.982 5 4.396 .479 .790 

Within Groups 366.888 40 9.172   

Total 388.870 45    

Personal accomplishment at 

work 

Between Groups 145.115 5 29.023 .641 .670 

Within Groups 1902.198 42 45.290   

Total 2047.313 47    

 

As can be seen in Table 15, the mean values of participants of all work experience groups in terms of 

emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal accomplishment at work are very 

similar. In other words, regarding emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work, and personal 

accomplishment at work, no statistical significance was found between the perceptions of EFL 

instructors from all work experience groups.   

h) weekly teaching hours: To respond to this problem, an “analysis of variance” ANOVA was 

applied. The results of the analysis are given in Table 16.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Table 16. Corresponding Mean Scores for Weekly Teaching Hours ANOVA 

 Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. 

Emotional exhaustion Between Groups 189.969 3 63.323 .834 .483 

Within Groups 3264.457 43 75.918   

Total 3454.426 46    

Depersonalization at work Between Groups 25.711 3 8.570 .972 .415 

Within Groups 361.533 41 8.818   

Total 387.244 44    

Personal accomplishment 

at work 

Between Groups 698.335 3 232.778 7.817 .000 

Within Groups 1280.516 43 29.779   

Total 1978.851 46    

 

As it is seen in Table 16, the mean values of participants who have different weekly teaching hours in 

terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization at work are very similar. However, regarding 

personal accomplishment, it is observed that significance was .000, which was higher than .05. 

Consequently, it can be concluded that the difference between different weekly teaching hours in terms 

of personal accomplishment is significant. It implies that different teaching loads might have had an 

impact on the responses of the over-loaded EFL instructors related to items for personal 

accomplishment. This finding also supports the fact that EFL instructors are not happy with the 

working conditions in terms of weekly teaching hours as they have no time for research or professional 

development. 

 

4. Conclusion and Recommendations 

The researcher‟s goal in undertaking this survey study was to investigate the perceived levels of 

burnout among EFL Instructors at the English Preparatory Schools in Girne American University, Near 

East University, and the European University of Lefke in North Cyprus. This study also aimed to 

determine the possible impact of the demographic characteristics of the EFL instructors on the 

perceived levels of burnout. 

Based on the results of this study, it might be concluded that EFL Instructors working at the English 

Preparatory Schools of these three universities are not prone to burnout when examining the perceived 

levels of burnout among EFL instructors. As discussed earlier, burnout is a process with different levels 

and degrees. With the introduction of Communicative Language Teaching, realities of learning and 

teaching in an EFL classroom life have put much more burden on language teachers and made teaching 

a stressful occupation because EFL teachers have heavier responsibilities than before and research 

studies demonstrate that teaching is one of the most stressful jobs as compared to other professions. 

Understanding the extent to which teachers suffer from burnout can be helpful in diagnosing and 



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treating the syndrome. 

From this standpoint of view, this study targeting the population of all EFL instructors working at the 

universities in North Cyprus aimed to determine the extent to which EFL instructors experienced 

personal accomplishment in their work, the extent to which they experienced depersonalization in 

relationships with students, colleagues and others, the extent to which they experienced emotional 

exhaustion in their work and finally if burnout among EFL instructors was influenced by selected 

individual instructor characteristics of gender, age, marital status, work experience, weekly teaching 

hours, job status, native or non-native status and the university they worked. 

As we all well know, instructors who exhibit characteristics of being burned out are not effective in the 

classroom and they believe they can no longer be responsible for the behavior or active learning of the 

students in their classroom. Approached from this angle, burned-out instructors are not effective in the 

classroom, they provide their students with fewer positive reinforcements, and also they have negative 

effects on student performance. Results gained from this study show that EFL instructors are not very 

satisfied with their institutions, work environment. Paradoxically, however, within the context of this 

study then, the level of personal accomplishment seems not to have reduced for EFL instructors at 

universities in North Cyprus. 

As far as depersonalization is concerned, low perceived levels of mean scores of the participants related 

to depersonalization might reveal the fact that EFL instructors in this study are far away from 

depersonalization. For example, the perception level of the item “I have become more callous toward 

people since I took this job” is very low (M=.27). As pointed out before, the other 4 items related to 

depersonalization were also defined to have low means at similar levels. 

As discussed before, EFL instructors should empathize with learners, try to motivate them to 

participate in classroom activities, and help facilitate learning. In addition to all these roles, they are 

also expected to engage in many other tasks such as paperwork, student evaluation, preparation of 

materials for the class, and professional development. They are also likely to have positive or negative 

encounters with parents, colleagues, administrative authorities, and students, all of which can affect 

them psychologically. 

It is in this way that, many instructors end up having more negative feelings about themselves, their 

students, and their profession. They start developing feelings of emotional exhaustion and fatigue, 

negative attitudes towards their students, and loss of feelings of accomplishment in their job. People 

experiencing these feelings have been described as suffering from “job burnout” (Maslach & Goldberg, 

1998; Maslach et al., 2001; Norhisham, Husain, Abas, & Haza, 2021). 

Taking the results of this study into consideration concerning emotional exhaustion, which is seen as a 

personal psychological status that cannot capture other behaviors related to burnout, it seems that EFL 

teachers feel used up at the end of the day after high working loads. And this result also supports the 

fact that they are not happy with the working conditions in terms of weekly teaching hours. As 



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discussed earlier, burnout is manifested in the ways such as work overload, lack of control over one‟s 

work environment, lack of community among teachers in the school, lack of fairness in work 

assignments, and the uneven distribution or absence of rewards (Maslach et al., 1996). 

When one perceives a threat, a stress response is triggered and a series of physiological and 

psychological changes occur and stress occurs when that person perceives that he/she is incapable of 

coping with life‟s demands (ERIC Development Team, 2002). What is clear is that teachers face many 

demands from students, parents, administrators, and peers every day. These demands can lead to stress 

that, over time, can end in burnout.   

It is well known that all EFL instructors work on a contractual basis at the universities in North Cyprus 

and the universities can dismiss EFL instructors from their job regularly for absolutely no valid reason. 

Most instructors have one-year working contracts and they are often underpaid and under-supported in 

their need for educational resources for their students. Poor working conditions can lead to many 

negative issues for teachers including depression, anger, lack of interest, and burnout. As part of my 

inductive observation and individual talks with some EFL instructors, I have observed that most of the 

instructors complain about working conditions, work environment, teaching loads, salaries. 

Paradoxically, however, results gained from this study show that EFL instructors claim that they are not 

prone to burnout. 

4.1 Recommendations for Future Research 

As pointed out earlier, very little research has been done on teacher stress and burnout in the field of 

English Language Teaching. As this study aimed to investigate the perceived levels of burnout among 

EFL Instructors at the English Preparatory Schools in Girne American University, Near East University, 

and the European University of Lefke in North Cyprus, further research studies could be conducted 

primarily to investigate potential inside and outside classroom sources of burnout among instructors of 

EFL within university preparatory context in North Cyprus.  

Based on the research and problems discussed above, there is also a need to examine the causes of 

burnout within the university preparatory context in North Cyprus. Similar studies could also be carried 

out in other EFL settings like primary and secondary schools. 

 

Acknowledgements 

This study has been produced from my MA study entitled “A Study on Burnout among EFL 

Instructors at the English Preparatory Schools at Universities in North Cyprus” conducted at the 

European University of Lefke in 2011. It was also presented as a poster presentation at the International 

Congress on Education for the Future: Issues and Challenges, at Ankara University, Faculty of 

Educational Sciences, Ankara, Turkey on May 13-15, 2015.  

 

 



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