The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Language Learning Strategy Use

This study was conducted to determine the influence of emotional intelligence on the choice of learning strategies. To this end, 100 Iranian EFL students with the average age of 24.4 (30 male and 70 female) were asked to fill out the Persian versions of Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) (Bar-On, 1997a) and SILL (Oxford, 1900) questionnaires. The descriptive findings of the study revealed that metacognitive strategy was the most frequently used strategy among Iranian EEL learners, whereas the least preferred strategy was affective strategy. It was found that emotional intelligence is significantly correlated at the (<0.001) level with language learning strategies. Meanwhile, emotionally more intelligent students use more strategies than the emotionally less intelligent students. Also significant differences were found among two groups in the choice of strategies. In the end, conclusions and pedagogical implications were discussed. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.