The role of emotional intelligence in decreasing the anxiety in language learning

Abstract

Many researchers have shown that including emotional intelligence (EI) skills in the process of teaching and learning can increase academic achievement in language learning. At the same time, including the EI in language curricula can increase the quality of teaching and learning, because by helping students to show personal responsibility they will learn effectively and complete their tasks efficiently. It will lead towards the achievement of their personal, academic and career excellence. The study explores the perceptions of the Language Centre (LC) teachers regarding the implications of the EI skills in language teaching during the academic year 2016/2017. It highlights the importance of embedding the EI into language syllabi and demonstrates the recognised need for well-developed EI skills to gain higher academic achievement. The objective of this article is to emphasise some characteristics of EI to today’s language teaching and learning trends, used at the LC, South East European University. By examining the relationship between EI and language learning, this study will try to increase teachers’ understanding of EI skills in language learning and also provide some insights for sharing experiences regarding the implementation of these skills in the classroom.

Keywords: Emotional inteligence, motivation, language teaching.