THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AND ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AMONG IRANIAN EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The primary objective of this study was to explore the effects of emotional intelligence and use of language learning strategies on English proficiency among Iranian EFL university students. The participants were 135 undergraduate students in Hormozgan province in Iran majoring in English Teaching and English Translation from Islamic Azad University. This study employed correlation and regression methods for data analysis. A series of instruments were used to obtain the related data including Nelson Proficiency Test, Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). The results revealed that there was a negative relationship between emotional intelligence and English proficiency but a positive relationship was found between English proficiency and use of language learning strategies. Metacognitive and affective strategies tended to affect English proficiency more. Social strategies were the least effective.