Goal orientation is emerging as a useful construct for understanding how people develop, attain or demonstrate competence in learning and performance. It is generally accepted that goal orientation comprises three factors–learning, performance approach, and performance avoidance orientations. At present, there is disagreement among achievement goal theorists regarding the beneficial r inimical nature of performance-approach goals. Although burnout has generally been regarded as a work-related disorder it may also be useful in the school context. School is a setting in which students work: Students attend classes and do assignments in order to pass exams and acquire a degree. Student burnout can be defined as consisting of exhaustion due to school demands, cynical, and detached attitude toward one’s school, and feelings of inadequacy as a student. In order to examine and investigate the mediating effects of academic self-efficacy on the relationship between goal orientation and student burnout, 1139 students as subjects were chosen randomly. SEM results revealed that(1) learning goal orientation and performance- approach orientation have significantly positive direct influence on student burnout, but performance- avoid approach can exert significantly negative direct effect on student burnout; (2)academic self-efficacy is one of the mediating factors that goal orientations affect student burnout. Learning goal orientation and performance- approach orientation influence student burnout fully through academic self-efficacy, but performance- avoid approach affects student burnout partly through academic self-efficacy.