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The Relationship between Trait Emotional Intelligence and Experienced ESL/EFL Teachers’ Love of English, Attitudes towards Their Students and Institution, Self-Reported Classroom Practices, Enjoyment and Creativity

  • Jean-Marc Dewaele

    Jean-Marc DEWAELE is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism. He has published widely on individual differences. He is former president of the International Association of Multilingualism and of the European Second Language Association and member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning. He is General Editor of the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. He won the Equality and Diversity Research Award from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013) and the Robert C. Gardner Award for Excellence in Second Language and Bilingualism Research (2016) from the International Association of Language and Social Psychology.

Abstract

This paper reports an investigation into the relationships between global trait emotional intelligence (Trait EI), as well as the four factors that constitute it (well-being, emotionality, self-control, and sociability), and quantitative data from 513 experienced ESL/EFL teachers from around the world about their love of English, their attitudes towards their students and institution, their self-reported classroom practices, their enjoyment, unpredictability and creativity. The results showed significant positive correlations. The analyses revealed that global Trait EI, well-being and sociability were significantly positively correlated with most dependent variables while emotionality and self-control were significantly correlated with a number of dependent variables. Global Trait EI and emotionality were significantly positively linked to the English proficiency of English foreign language users but not to that of the English L1 users. The pedagogical implication is that having a sufficient level of Trait EI helps teachers deal effectively with their own and their students’ emotions.

About the author

Jean-Marc Dewaele

Jean-Marc DEWAELE is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism. He has published widely on individual differences. He is former president of the International Association of Multilingualism and of the European Second Language Association and member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning. He is General Editor of the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. He won the Equality and Diversity Research Award from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013) and the Robert C. Gardner Award for Excellence in Second Language and Bilingualism Research (2016) from the International Association of Language and Social Psychology.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my participants for taking the time to fill out the questionnaire. Many thanks also to Sarah Mercer and Christina Gkonou for their collaboration on this project. The comments from the reviewer were much appreciated.

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Published Online: 2019-01-22
Published in Print: 2018-11-27

© 2018 FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy

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