Since boredom significantly contributes to diminished motivation among learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), there is a need to identify factors that influence boredom. Amidst various elements that can precipitate students\' boredom, educational-related concepts have garnered particular attention, with the learning environment emerging as a chief focal point due to its consequential importance to learners. Specifically, the role of teachers\' clarity and immediacy in manipulating learners\' performance, enthusiasm, and involvement has been widely recognized. Consequently, in this study, we scrutinized the impact of EFL teachers\' immediacy and clarity in mitigating learners\' boredom. To this end, we collected data from 383 Chinese students through the administration of three scales measuring their perceptions of teacher clarity, teacher immediacy, and learners\' boredom. We identified significant associations between teachers\' clarity and immediacy and learners\' boredom. In Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, both teacher immediacy and clarity were robust predictors of students\' boredom, with about 48% of the variance in students\' boredom accounted for by teachers\' immediacy, and 53% of this variance attributed to teachers\' clarity. We elaborate upon the implications of these findings in our discussion.

With the wave of positive psychology in second language acquisition, more emotion factors are gaining scholarly attention. Despite extensive research on Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI), burnout and boredom in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) studies, the interplay of these variables remains unknown and the related impact on EFL learner\'s English Language Performance (ELP) is still underexplored. Given this, in light of Control-Value Theory (CVT), the present study used a quantitative method to examine the mediating roles of boredom and burnout in the connection between TEI and ELP among Chinese university students engaged in EFL endeavor. Data were collected from 489 s-year non-English major students. Structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze the relationships. Results revealed that TEI significantly influences ELP among Chinese EFL university students, through its correlation with both boredom and burnout. Higher levels of TEI are associated with reduced experiences of these negative states, which in turn are linked to improved language performance. These may imply that teacher educators should integrate emotional intelligence training into curricula and professional development to improve students\' effectiveness and learning outcome.

UNASSIGNED: Short video apps are very popular among Chinese college students, and some students even rely on them. Most of the current research has focused only on Internet addiction and has seldom focused on the phenomenon of short video addiction. Its influencing factors and formation mechanism are worth exploring.
UNASSIGNED: This study aimed to explore the relationship between social exclusion and short video addiction among college students and the mediating roles of boredom and self-control.
UNASSIGNED: This study adopted a multistage investigation and investigated 532 college students (39% male; mean age 19.32 ± 1.23 years) with a social exclusion scale, boredom proneness scale, self-control scale, and short video addiction scale. The mediating effect was tested with Process 3.1.
UNASSIGNED: The results showed that social exclusion has a positive predictive effect on college student\'s short video addiction. The impact of social exclusion on college student\'s short video addiction was mediated by boredom and self-control, and the chained mediation of boredom and self-control.
UNASSIGNED: Theoretically, this study modified the I-PACE model, indicating that personal and distant social factors should be considered in individuals with behavioral addictions, such as short video addiction. Practically, the results suggested that schools should reduce peer rejection and improve students\' mental health literacy to reduce boredom and enhance self-control, thus effectively preventing short video addiction.

BACKGROUND: A significant issue in the language education context is examining the coping strategies that learners apply to combat boredom in the class environment. As a significant contextual element affecting different dimensions of learners\' acquisition, teacher support in general education has been extensively studied but widely neglected in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. Also, having a relationship with a teacher can help a learner cope better with school challenges as the teacher can act as a reference for the learner.
METHODS: To this end, 268 EFL learners participated to fill out the three scales namely, Teacher Support, Teacher-Student Rapport (T-SR), and learners\' Boredom Coping Strategies (BCS).
RESULTS: Using multiple regressions, the results revealed that there are constructive links between these concepts as they affect learners\' BCS, and both T-SR and teacher support were predictors of learners\' BCS while the better predictor was teacher support.
CONCLUSIONS: As a result, it can be assumed that these two elements can enhance the students\' BCS in language acquisition which ends in declining boredom. Additionally, this research may have further implications for the team members of language teaching in academic environments.

This study aimed to demonstrate the empirical distinctiveness of boredom at work and work engagement in relation to their potential antecedents (job demands and job resources) and consequences (psychological distress and turnover intention) based on the Job Demands-Resources model. A three-wave longitudinal survey was conducted among registered monitors of an Internet survey company in Japan. The questionnaire included scales for boredom at work, work engagement, psychological distress, and turnover intention as well as participants\' job characteristics and demographic variables. The hypothesized model was evaluated via structural equation modeling with 1,019 participants who were employed full-time. As expected, boredom at work was negatively associated with quantitative job demands and job resources and positively associated with psychological distress and turnover intention. In contrast, work engagement was positively associated with job resources and negatively associated with turnover intention. Thus, boredom at work and work engagement had different potential antecedents and were inversely related to employee well-being and organizational outcomes. However, contrary to expectations, qualitative job demands were not significantly associated with boredom at work. Further investigation is needed to understand the relationship between boredom and qualitative job demands, which require sustained cognitive load and the use of higher skills.

Smartphone addiction has been found to be a widespread public health issue, especially among youth. Previous studies reported a significant association between anxiety and smartphone addiction, but the underlying mechanism in this relationship is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating roles of boredom proneness and self-control in the relationship between anxiety and smartphone addiction.
Self-reported measures of anxiety, boredom proneness, self-control and smartphone addiction were administered to 1,526 Chinese college students.
Smartphone addiction scores varied between 10 and 60 with an average of 30.89 ± 10.57 points. Anxiety had a direct and positive effect on smartphone addiction (effect = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.11-0.25), and an indirect effect on smartphone addiction through boredom proneness (effect = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.06-0.15) and self-control (effect = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.13-0.20). Boredom proneness and self-control sequentially mediated the relationship between anxiety and smartphone addiction (effect = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.10-0.15).
Anxiety is positively associated with smartphone addiction, and boredom proneness and self-control are important mediators in this relationship. Strengthening self-control and mitigating boredom could prevent smartphone addiction in anxious college students.

Anxiety may contribute to agitation and distress in learners that can influence learning. Along with anxiety, boredom has been the focus of many recent investigations in the context of second language (L2) learning involving young learners. Anxiety and boredom would limit learners\' imagination power, and can deter creativity, one of the indispensable skills in the 21st century. Mindfulness is another construct that is in line with creativity and its perspective to control anxiety is assured in literature. The proposed programs of mindfulness can influence creativity positively in the moment and over time. This is made possible by enhancing the level of the person\'s attention on daily activities which yields creative outcomes. In a world where stress and, often, distress undermine creativity, mindfulness emerges as an essential contributor to learners\' success in educational practice. The current review focuses on young English as a foreign language (EFL) learners given that many believe stress and anxiety are commonplace among youth, leading to a decrease in creativity. Research findings reveal that mindfulness enhances creativity. Therefore, the improvement of students\' well-being can be achieved by gradually incorporating mindfulness into the educational domain. Considering the important role of these factors in the language learning process, the purpose of this review is to examine the possible interactional effect of mindfulness in relation to creativity, learners\' anxiety, and boredom in the context of L2 education among young learners. This is followed by proposing some suggestions for future research, as well as pedagogical implications.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its link to the emergence of everyday sadism is a matter of public concern worldwide. However, previous studies are nearly silent regarding the causal relationship between the two variables. We address this gap by theorizing that exposure to information about coronavirus can increase sadistic behavior by inducing state boredom. We conducted three complementary controlled experiments, which comprised multiple participants populations (N = 784, student and community samples) and measurement techniques of sadism, to test our theoretical perspective. Based on self-report measures, Study 1 found that Chinese university students who were exposed to a reminder of COVID-19 exhibited a higher level of everyday sadism than participants in the control condition. Study 2 replicated this finding in a more generalized population. Additionally, results revealed that state boredom mediated this effect. Moving beyond subjective self-report data in Studies 1 and 2, Study 3 assessed a different behavioral operationalization of sadistic tendencies, namely, shredding worms. As expected, priming COVID-19 salience has an immediate, statistically significant influence on sadistic behavior in impactful real-world contexts. Overall, these findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic not only has grave effects on economy and society, but has implications for the malevolent side of human nature.

To analyze the relationship between boredom proneness and phubbing among Chinese college students and examine how self-control and bedtime procrastination mediate this relationship during the COVID-19 outbreak.
A total of 707 Chinese college students were voluntarily surveyed. They completed the Generic Scale of Phubbing (GSP), Short Boredom Proneness Scale (SBPS), Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS), and Self-Control Scale (SCS).
(1) The results revealed that men scored higher on boredom than women. (2) The analysis revealed significant associations between each of the variables. Boredom proneness was positively correlated with bedtime procrastination (r = 0.318; P < 0.001) and phubbing (r = 0.418; P < 0.001) and negatively correlated with self-control (r = -0.518; P < 0.001). (3) Mediation analysis suggested that self-control and bedtime procrastination mediate the relationship between boredom proneness and phubbing (effect of self-control = 0.094, P < 0.001, 95% CI [0.062∼0.128]; effect of bedtime procrastination = 0.025, P < 0.001, 95% CI [0.011∼0.042]; and effect of self-control and bedtime procrastination = 0.032, P < 0.001, 95% CI [0.020∼0.046]).
Self-control and bedtime procrastination mediate the association between boredom proneness and phubbing among Chinese college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNASSIGNED: Research findings from various academic domains have demonstrated that students\' self-efficacy (SE) influences their academic performance while limited studies have explored how foreign language reading SE influences reading performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the relationship between reading SE, intrinsic cognitive load (CL), boredom, and reading performance.
UNASSIGNED: The participants were 272 English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners at a comprehensive university in China, who attended a compulsory English course for improving their English reading and writing proficiency. Data were analyzed through SPSS and structural equation modeling (SEM).
UNASSIGNED: The result of the study provided support for the hypothesized relationships. Students\' English reading SE is positively related to their reading performance and negatively related to intrinsic CL. Their intrinsic CL during reading comprehension is negatively related to reading performance. Reading boredom is negatively related to reading SE and reading performance but positively related to CL. Furthermore, students\' CL mediates the relationship between reading SE and performance while the negative achievement emotion of boredom moderates the relationship between reading SE and CL.
UNASSIGNED: The research highlights the importance of cognitive and emotional factors in influencing the relationship between foreign language reading self-efficacy and reading performance. Implications for EFL teachers and researchers are discussed.