The Importance of Emotional Expression in College Learning : A Quantitative Assessment of Emotional Intelligence in First Year Students in a Korean University

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a topic that has become important for modern psychology. Having been researched in professional and school environments, it is an issue that addresses the whole person and informs the overall success of people in school. The topic has become an important concern for Korean educational research, as evidenced by several recent studies on emotional intelligence in the workplace and on the university campus. To build on studies in this topic in educational research and provide a new insight on emotional intelligence in Korea, a study was conducted at a Korean university. In 2019, a simple quantitative test with sections based on five different aspects of emotional intelligence, emotional perception, emotional regulation, empathy, emotional expression, and emotional utilization, with 47 multiple choice questions was administered to 101 freshmen university students from a Korean university. The EQ test was based on a 1996 test first developed by Seoul National University for elementary and middle school students and was adapted for university students. The results of this simple quantitative test showed differences between gender and major among the various university students. Furthermore, the males were shown to have a higher level of emotional intelligence than females. Additionally, compared to the 1996 study that tested elementary and middle school students, freshmen university students from this sample of 101 were shown to have a very similar level of emotional intelligence to the elementary students who had been tested in 1996. However, they demonstrated a higher level of emotional regulation and a lower level of emotional expression. The findings of this test have important implications for the field of education in Korea, as they reveal a need to implement educational practices that will encourage and support students and enable them to have a positive and meaningful experience in school and boost their emotional learning.