Boredom and achievement in L2 learning: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Abstract Research on boredom in second language acquisition has proliferated, with mixed findings on its links to L2 achievement. However, no meta-analysis has explored this correlation. The present meta-analysis examined their links based on 37 independent samples with 17,800 individual participants from 34 primary studies. A negative correlation was found with a medium effect size ( r = −0.30, 95 % CI : −0.34, −0.27). Moderator analyses revealed varying effect sizes across different measures of boredom and achievement, types of achievement, educational levels, and age groups of participants. Our findings underscore that boredom exerts both short-term and long-term impairing effects on L2 learning, offering L2 teachers important insights for instructional design, classroom practices, and self-assessment. This study also suggests key directions for future research, including a granular conceptualization of boredom across varying timescales and levels of situational specificity, research design improvements, measurement enhancements, and exploration of diverse research contexts.

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