Perceived competitive school climate and academic burnout among Chinese university students in the EFL context: the mediating role of linguistic shame

Although perceived competitive school climate is known to be associated with academic burnout among university students, the emotional processes that may explain this association-especially in foreign language learning contexts-remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining the mediating role of linguistic shame in the relationship between perceived competitiveness and academic burnout among Chinese university EFL learners. A sample of 1,701 valid students participated in the study. Using covariance-based structural equation modeling module in SmartPLS 4.0 with bias-corrected bootstrap of 5,000 resamples, results showed a positive association between perceived competitive school climate and academic burnout. More importantly, linguistic shame significantly mediated this relationship, accounting for 66.7% of the total effect. This finding indicates a mediated pathway through which perceived competitiveness relates to academic burnout via learners' feelings of shame about their English performance. The study integrates self-conscious emotion theory into EFL burnout research and highlights that language-specific emotional experiences are not only outcomes but also potential correlates in the association between classroom climate and academic burnout. Practically, the findings suggest that reducing classroom competition and alleviating linguistic shame could be considered together when designing supportive language learning environments.