Emotional Intelligence and Its Relevance to Foreign Language Students Anxiety
Subject Areas : Educational PsychologySaeideh Ahangari 1 , Afshin Taghizadeh 2
1 - Assitant professor of English Department, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.
2 - M. A. in TEFL
Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Anxiety, stress management, interpersonal skill, intrapersonal skill,
Abstract :
Many studies have been conducted on anxiety in EFL classroom settings and also on individuals' Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills in a variety of situations. The major purpose of this study was to assess if there were any specific relationships between Iranian EFL learners’ EI skills (such as interpersonal, intrapersonal and stress –management) and their anxiety level. Participants of the study were 152 EFL college students, both males and females, who were selected randomly among freshmen and sophomores in Islamic Azad University -Tabriz. The researcher utilized two questionnaires to collect the required data in order to determine the level of foreign language classroom anxiety and emotional intelligence skills. The first questionnaire was Horwitz's foreign language classroom anxiety scale (FLCAS) and the second one was Bar-on's Emotional Intelligence test. Based on the quantitative findings of this study, it was found that there exited a significant correlation between foreign language learning anxiety and emotional intelligence skills in total. It was also found there were significant negative correlations among all the selected sub skills of EI in this study, except between interpersonal relationships and anxiety. It was also noted that the difference of anxiety mean scores between EFL male and female participants was not significant. Based on results of this study, the difference of EI mean scores between EFL males and females was not significant, except the sub skills "stress-management, self-actualization and stress – tolerance", in which there was a significant EI difference means scores.
Bar-On, R. (1997). The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): Technical manual. Toronto. Canada: Multi-Health Systems. Inc.
Brown, H.D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.). White Plains, NY: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.
Burden, R.L &Williams, M.(2002). Psychology for language teachers. A social constructivist approach (5th ed.). Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Chau, Ch-T. (2003). Foreign language anxiety and Emotional Intelligence: A study of EFL students in Taiwan. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M university-Kingsville.
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence . New York: Bantam Books. Retrieved December 08, 2007,from http:// www.eiconsortium.org
Horwitz, K.E. (1986). Preliminary Evidence For The Reliability And Validity Of A Foreign Language Anxiety Scale. TESL Quarterly, 20,559-562.
Horwitz, K.E. (2001). Language Anxiety and Achievement. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. Vol.21, Pp.112-126. Cambridge university press.
Katayal, S. and Awasthi, E. (2005). Gender differences in Emotional Intelligence in Chandigarh, India. J. Hum. Ecol. , 17(2): 153-155 (2005).
Mayer, J. D. & Salovey, P. (1990). Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, cognition and personality. pp.185-211.
Meng, X &.Wang, Q. (2006). Psychological Factors and Teachers' Language.
US-China Foreign Language. Vol. 4, pp.70-73. No.5 (Serial No. 32).
Harbin Institute of Technology.
Montes-Berges, B. and Augusto, J. M. (2007). Exploring the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence, coping, social support and mental health in nursing students, Journal of psychiatric mental health Nursing, Vol. 14(2), 163-71.
Nelson, D. & Low, G. (2003). Emotional Intelligence and College Success: A Research-Based Assessment and Intervention Model. Javelina Emotional Intelligence (EI) Program at Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Oginska-Bulik, N. (2005). Emotional intelligence in the workplace: exploring its effects on occupational stress and health outcomes in human service workers. International Journal Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, Vol. 18(2):167-75.
Samouie et al., (2001). Tehran Sina Research Institute.
Schmitt, N. (2002). An introduction to applied linguistics.Arnold Publishers. Co-publisher: Oxford University Press Inc.
Stys ,Y. & Brown, Sh. L. (2004).A Review of the Emotional Intelligence literature and implications for corrections. Research Branch correctional Service of Canada.
Zhao Na, (2007). A study of high school students’ English learning anxiety .The Asian EFL journal, vol.9 number 3.
