خلاصة:
The present study aimed at investigating the relationship among critical thinking, emotional intelligence and speaking ability of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 100 learners majoring in English at private language institutes in Sanandaj were selected as the participants of the study. The participants filled out the Bar-On (1997) emotional intelligence questionnaire, took the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) Form B, and sat an interview, the results of which were checked by Language Oral Ability Assessment checklist adapted from IELTS Speaking Skill Test. The results of the multiple correlation analyses revealed emotional intelligence, followed by critical thinking, correlated significantly highly with learners’ speaking ability. The results also revealed all components of emotional intelligence significantly correlated with learners’ speaking ability. The results further showed there was a significant positive relationship between critical thinking and emotional intelligence. Further analyses revealed that almost half of the components of emotional intelligence correlated significantly relationship among emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and speaking highly with critical thinking. The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that emotional intelligence was the strongest predictor of speaking ability followed by critical thinking. The results further indicated that among the components of emotional intelligence, assertiveness, social responsibility, and reality testing significantly predicted learners’ speaking ability. The results also showed among the components of emotional intelligence, only assertiveness significantly predicted learners’ critical thinking. The findings imply that learners who are emotionally intelligent and are critical thinkers are more capable in speaking skill. The results as well as the implications of the study are discussed in more detail in the paper.
ملخص الجهاز:
A, in TEFL, Bu-Ali Sina University Received on January 28, 2014 Accepted on June 11, 2014 The present study aimed at investigating the relationship amongcritical thinking, emotional intelligence and speaking ability of Iranian EFL learners.
The participants filled out the Bar-On (1997) emotional intelligence questionnaire, took the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) Form B, and sat an interview, the results of which were checked by Language Oral Ability Assessment checklist adapted from IELTS Speaking Skill Test.
4. 2 Materials and Instruments The instruments adopted in the present study included "The California Critical Thinking Skills Test form B" developed by Facione and Facione (1993), Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Test adapted for the context of Iran by Dehshiri (2003), and an interview, the outcome of which was checked by the Language Oral Ability Assessment Checklist adapted from IELTS Speaking Skill Test.
The questionnaire’s items are in the form of short sentences which measure 15 factorial components of emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, self-regard, self- actualisation, independence, empathy, interpersonal relationship, social responsibility, problem solving, reality testing, flexibility, stress tolerance, impulse control, happiness, and optimism.
79 Valid N (listwise) 100 The first research question set out to investigate whether there was any significant relationship among critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and speaking ability of Iranian EFL learners.
e. critical thinking and emotional intelligence) significantly predicted Iranian EFL learners’ speaking ability, the results of which are summarised in Table 4.
Next, ANOVA was run to investigate whether the combination of various components of emotional intelligence significantly predicted Iranian EFL learners’ critical thinking abilities, the results of which are summarised in Table 12.