Teaching with Heart and Soul

Abstract

In this chapter, we argue that emotional (EI) and social intelligence (SI) are core competencies for language teachers. EI and SI refer to an individual’s abilities in understanding and managing their own emotions as well as their interpersonal relationships. Both competencies are especially important for language teachers given the inherently interpersonal and communicative nature of contemporary foreign language learning and teaching. Nevertheless, they are rarely addressed in teacher training programmes and are notably absent from the research landscape with respect to SLA. We report on the results of a survey on the EI and SI of 890 EFL teachers from across the globe. The survey consisted of items which measured both trait and educational-context-specific EI and SI. The results revealed a strong positive correlation between trait EI and SI and educational-context-specific EI and SI. Female teachers were found to score slightly higher on both constructs than male teachers. In addition, a significant positive correlation was found between levels of EI and SI and teaching experience. Multiple regression analyses also showed that gender and teaching experience made the greatest contribution to teachers’ trait EI and SI. We conclude our chapter by reflecting on the practical implications suggesting that EI and SI are skills that should be incorporated into pre-service and in-service teacher training courses.