Objective To study the level of academic self-efficacy and learning burnout among junior middle school students in rural areas

and also to assess their effect on academic performance in these students.Methods Based on the method of stratified cluster sampling

325 rural junior middle school students from Qianxi County

Guizhou Province were included in this study.The Academic Self-Efficacy Scale and Learning Burnout Inventory were used for the survey.Data were collected and statistically analyzed.Results Students of different grades varied significantly in their overall score of academic self-efficacy and all the sub-scale scores（F=5.690

5.062

5.907

respectively;P <0.05）.Students of different grades also varied significantly in their overall score of learning burnout and the sub-scale scores of emotional exhaustion

reduced efficacy

and learning cynicism（F=6.318

6.746

3.830

4.198

respectively;P <0.05）.The overall score of learning burnout and the sub-scale scores of emotional exhaustion and learning cynicism in male students were significantly higher than those in female students（t=2.734

2.486

2.167

respectively;P<0.05）.Correlation analysis revealed that

academic self-efficacy was negatively correlated with learning burnout（P<0.05）;academic performance was positively correlated with academic self-efficacy score and all of its sub-scale scores（P<0.05）

but had negative correlations with learning burnout score and all of its sub-scale scores（P<0.05）.Regression analysis indicated that

academic self-efficacy combined with learning burnout could predict academic performance

which explained 16.1% of the variations in academic performance among these students.Conclusion Academic self-efficacy and learning burnout are important factors that may influence students′academic performance.As these two factors are predictive of academic performance

teachers may provide targeted counseling and intervention according to the academic self-efficacy and learning burnout levels of individual students

which may help to improve their academic performance.