EFL Students’ Emotional Intelligence and Attitudes Towards English Language Learning: An Exploratory Study

Since Salovey and Mayer first introduced the idea of emotional intelligence (EI) in 1990, the topic has been extensively researched, particularly in relation to how it affects other facets of life. Although numerous scholars have tackled this issue within the educational setting, the relationship between EI and students' attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language (EFL) has not been the subject of any research. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role that EI plays in learning a foreign language and to determine whether gender, age and nationality influence the potential relationship between these two factors. An exploratory study was conducted in order to provide answers to the research questions. Sixty-nine students from a high school in northeastern Italy participated in the study by answering to a questionnaire that measured their EI using the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale and their attitudes toward EFL using the Abidin et al. (2012) proposal. According to the data analysis, students had low levels of Emotional Intelligence as well as a tendency for having a negative attitude toward EFL. Although future research is needed, it might be argued that these two factors have a positive relationship, with the former impacting the latter. The two factors may be related, and this relationship may be significant since putting an emphasis on EI development may positively affect attitudes about learning English. This would have important implications for students, teachers, and parents as well.