Are Emotionally Intelligent EFL Teachers More Satisfied Professionally?

Mohammad Hossein Hekmatzadeh, Laleh Khojasteh, Nasrin Shokrpour

Abstract


Despite the fact that Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is an important factor in one’s success in terms of working environment, it is believed that emotional quotient or EQ plays a more important role. With that in mind, this study investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction of English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers who work at private language institutes in Iran/Shiraz. Furthermore, this study tried to answer whether there is a significant difference between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction of Iranian’s EFL teachers in terms of gender.  A 90-item Bar-On questionnaire was used to measure the teachers’ emotional intelligence; also, a modified version of Karavas’s (2010) job satisfaction scale was used to see how satisfied our teachers are with their teaching career. To answer the research question, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient statistical test was run. The results showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction of EFL teachers in Iran/Shiraz. Furthermore, the results revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in emotional intelligence between EFL male and female teachers, but there was no statistically significant relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ job satisfaction in terms of gender. Based on our findings, it is suggested that some preparatory courses aiming at enhancing the important psychological traits such as emotional intelligence should be incorporated in educational programs designed for novice teachers so that it will contribute to pedagogical improvement.

 


Keywords


Emotional intelligence, Job satisfaction, EFL teachers

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.5n.2p.97

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