Investigating Cultural Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence as Predictors of Teacher Burnout among EFL Teachers

Abstract

The study was an attempt to discover any possible correlation between EFL teachers' burnout and their emotional and cultural intelligence. Furthermore, it aimed at finding out which variable: Emotional or cultural intelligence could be a better predictor of teacher burnout. The study also delved into the possible relationship of gender and Iraqi EFL teachers' burnout and investigated which gender was more affected by burnout. Finally, male and female Iraqi teachers were compared and contrasted with regard to emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence. To this end, three questionnaires: (1) Maslach Burnout Inventory–Educators' Survey (MBI-ES), (2) the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) developed by Van Dyne et al. (2008), (3) Wang and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) were submitted to more than 200 teachers either in person or via email or an already-generated Google Doc link of the three questionnaires. Some teachers remained reluctant to share their responses and refused to fill out the questionnaires and 164 Iraqi EFL teachers completed all the three questionnaires. The results demonstrated that Iraqi EFL teachers' burnout and their emotional and cultural intelligence correlated significantly but negatively. Both emotional and cultural intelligence could significantly and almost similarly predict teacher burnout. Moreover, teacher burnout and gender were significantly correlated and Iraqi EFL female teachers were more susceptible and vulnerable to teacher burnout. The study implies that emotionally and culturally-aware teachers might be able to take precautionary measures to either mitigate or curb teacher burnout.