Emotional Intelligence in the Development of Saudi English Majors' Emotional and Teaching Skills

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a training strategy based on the emotional intelligence in developing Saudi English language student teachers' emotional and teaching skills, at Imam Mohammed Bin Saud, Islamic University, Saudi Arabia. The study problem identified in the difficulties Saudi English language student teachers' faced during their teaching practicum, as the researcher was a supervisor of the teaching practicum for many years; as well as their low grades on emotional intelligence test which were documented through the pilot study. Reviewing literature and related studies have proved that social and emotional skills are correlated to success in many areas of life, including effective teaching, student learning, quality relationships, and academic performance. Research states that emotional intelligence is seen as an important vehicle for promoting positive, collaborative behavior that will result in more effective and better creativity. Improved emotional intelligence can lead to improved levels of achievement across the whole curriculum. The importance of the ability to recognize, understand, handle and appropriately express emotions has become widely accepted in teaching. Eight –level eight, Saudi English language student teachers, Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud Islamic University followed the training strategy based on emotional intelligence for an academic year, two hours, once a week to develop their emotional and teaching skills. An emotional intelligence questionnaire and an observation checklist designed by the researcher were administered to the study participants before and after the treatment. The students' performance on the emotional intelligence questionnaire revealed that they made big progress in their emotional intelligence skills. Their performance on the observation checklist indicated great achievement on emotional and teaching skills while they were practicing their teaching practicum course. This could be attributed to the training strategy based on emotional intelligence followed by the study participants.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, emotional skills, teaching skills.