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Contributing Factors, Attribution, and Coping in Academic Boredom: An Exploratory Case Study of Graduate Students in Education

Contributing Factors, Attribution, and Coping in Academic Boredom: An Exploratory Case Study of... This exploratory qualitative case study investigates how graduate students in education experience, attribute, and combat academic boredom. Three areas of concern are addressed: (a) the contributing factors to boredom, (b) how attributional style (internal vs. external) relates to coping with boredom, and (c) the differences between combating class-related boredom and learning-related boredom. Results showed that the onset of boredom was mostly influenced by a lack of interest, lack of utility value, and autonomy frustration. This study extended the existing literature by discovering an interaction between students’ attributional style and their coping strategies for boredom during classroom instruction. Specifically, students who argued that the instructor should hold more responsibility for boredom in class tended to take avoidance coping as their primary strategy (e.g., doodling). By comparison, students who opted to approach the problem positively (e.g., taking notes) are prone to attribute internally. Attribution does not appear to have a mediating effect on the relationship between experience of boredom and coping strategies for learning-related boredom. Implications for graduate and adult education and findings in the context of recent theoretical frameworks are discussed. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Adult Learning SAGE

Contributing Factors, Attribution, and Coping in Academic Boredom: An Exploratory Case Study of Graduate Students in Education

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References (55)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2021 The Author(s)
ISSN
1045-1595
eISSN
2162-4070
DOI
10.1177/1045159520987304
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative case study investigates how graduate students in education experience, attribute, and combat academic boredom. Three areas of concern are addressed: (a) the contributing factors to boredom, (b) how attributional style (internal vs. external) relates to coping with boredom, and (c) the differences between combating class-related boredom and learning-related boredom. Results showed that the onset of boredom was mostly influenced by a lack of interest, lack of utility value, and autonomy frustration. This study extended the existing literature by discovering an interaction between students’ attributional style and their coping strategies for boredom during classroom instruction. Specifically, students who argued that the instructor should hold more responsibility for boredom in class tended to take avoidance coping as their primary strategy (e.g., doodling). By comparison, students who opted to approach the problem positively (e.g., taking notes) are prone to attribute internally. Attribution does not appear to have a mediating effect on the relationship between experience of boredom and coping strategies for learning-related boredom. Implications for graduate and adult education and findings in the context of recent theoretical frameworks are discussed.

Journal

Adult Learning – SAGE

Published: Aug 1, 2022

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