EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Tetiana Andrienko,Vlad Genin,Nataliia Chumak

doi:10.20535/2410-8286.201013

Abstract

Studying the factors of successful acquisition of ESL speaking skills in Ukrainian adult learners, the authors focused on the correlation between emotional intelligence and development of oral communication skills, and, on the other hand, on the growth of these indicators as a result of purposeful inclusion of content-related emotions into activities aimed at the development of speaking and listening skills. Theoretically based on the ideas of emotional intelligence as an important factor in human interaction and guided by the hypothesis that content-related emotions intensify emotional involvement and have a positive influence on the acquisition of oral communication skills, the researchers applied Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test and the English Language Oral Communication Skills Test developed by the authors, to measure the key oral communication skills indicators against a 100 point scale. Experimental teaching of 124 undergraduate students of International Relations during September 2018 – May 2019 proved a beneficial influence of including emotions in the learning activities on the acquisition of ESL oral communication skills, as well as on student motivation and overall quality of student experiences. Significant increments in Emotional Intelligence and ESL oral communication skills in the experimental group compared to insignificant growth of the same indicators in the Reference group allow to establish a positive correlation between the growth of emotional intelligence and acquisition of the ESL speaking skills pursuant to inclusion of content-related emotions into the ESL learning in Ukrainian students.

Highlights

IntroductionPedagogical and andragogical studies prove that the results of learning activity do not solely depend on the students’ intellectual potential and cognitive efforts, inferring the importance of studying the role of emotions in successful acquisition of required skills, in particular, in adult education
Recent developments in psychology, pedagogical and andragogical studies prove that the results of learning activity do not solely depend on the students’ intellectual potential and cognitive efforts, inferring the importance of studying the role of emotions in successful acquisition of required skills, in particular, in adult education
Mastering effective oral communication skills in a foreign language for adult learners majoring in International Relations is an important professional competence ensuring their ability to efficiently exert influences on the audience, persuade interlocutors, effectively negotiate etc

Summary

Introduction

Pedagogical and andragogical studies prove that the results of learning activity do not solely depend on the students’ intellectual potential and cognitive efforts, inferring the importance of studying the role of emotions in successful acquisition of required skills, in particular, in adult education. Mastering effective oral communication skills in a foreign language for adult learners majoring in International Relations is an important professional competence ensuring their ability to efficiently exert influences on the audience, persuade interlocutors, effectively negotiate etc. The role of emotional involvement, along with cognitive efforts, in learning a foreign language and acquisition of communication skills in that language, is of interest to teaching methodology, pedagogical and androgogical studies as well as to educational psychology. It is undoubted that a person’s emotional state greatly influences the effectiveness of learning. Embarrassment or anger can motivate the learners to redouble their efforts, provided that the learners want to succeed and believe in their chances

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