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International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-4, July – Aug, 2017
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijels.2.4.3 ISSN: 2456-7620
www.ijels.com Page | 15
Emotional Intelligence in High School: The Effects
of Self-Awareness Instruction on Iranian Pre-
university Students’ Academic Achievement
Ehsan Namazian Dost, Asadallah Hashemifardnya, Venus Jalali
Department of English Language Teaching, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
Abstract— The present study investigated the effects of self-
awareness instruction on Iranian pre-university students'
English achievement. It was also designed to see whether
Iranian pre-university students’ self-awareness was affected
by instruction of self-awareness activities or not. To fulfill
the objectives of the study, 60 female students from Efaf pre-
university school, Ahvaz, Iran, were selected and divided into
two groups- one control group and one experimental group.
Then a self-awareness questionnaire and a pre-test- Final
English Exam of Third Grade High School- were given to
both groups. The experimental group received the instruction
on self-awareness but control group did not receive it. After
the treatment which lasted six weeks, a post-test and the
previous self-awareness questionnaire were administered to
both groups. The data were analyzed through Kolmogorov-
Smirnov (K-S) Test, Independent T-Test and Paired T-Test
and the findings showed that instruction of self-awareness
had positive impacts on Iranian pre-university students’
English achievement. The results indicated that their self-
awareness improved through instruction of self-awareness
activities.
Keywords— Emotional Intelligence, Self-Awareness,
English Achievement, Affective Domain.
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Preliminaries
Education is considered as a powerful instrument which
brings about favorable changes in the socio-cultural life of
nations (Hussain, 2004). While giving and receiving, quality
of education depends on emotional balance of the giver and
the receiver in the process of education. Teacher’s role is also
crucial (Mishera, 2012). According to Zumwalt and Craig
(2005), teaching needs a combination of intellectual and
personal qualities. The perfect traits of teaching are
properties like enthusiasm, sociability, friendliness,
organization, consciousness, optimism and flexibility
(Baiocco & Dewaters, 1998). However, the education that is
imparted today concentrates much on the cognitive aspect
and rarely focuses on the affective one. So educational
system of any country should pay its attention to the learners'
Emotional Intelligence (EI). EI alludes to "a capacity or
ability of seeing, surveying and controlling the feelings of
oneself, of others and of gatherings" (Velar, 2003, 135). It is
a variety of non-psychological capacities, capabilities and
aptitudes that influences one's capacity to prevail with
regards to managing natural requests and weights. Salovey
and Mayer (1990) characterized EI as a kind of social
knowledge that envelops the capacity of observing one's own
particular and others' feelings and utilizing the data to
manage considering and activities. As indicated by this view,
EI is a term which incorporates an accumulation of
intrapersonal and relational abilities. Appreciating other
individuals' sentiments, making and keeping relational
connections and, above all, our feeling of social obligation
makes relational abilities; and perceiving and understanding
one's own particular inspirations and feelings contains
intrapersonal aptitudes (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). Prior to
the said definitions, Goleman (1995) gives an arrangement of
capacities and individual attributes basic for achievement in
life, and called them EI. He expressed that EI incorporates
knowing, perceiving and overseeing feelings, rousing self in
others and taking care of connections. The proposed thoughts
by Goleman (1998) have set off a transformation in the field
3 of childcare, home, school and working environment
administration. He firmly trusted that the greater part of the
issues throughout our life, regardless of whether youth
issues, juvenile issues, home and family issues, work
circumstance issues or political, territorial or worldwide
issues are the immediate branches of distortion of the
included estimations, sentiments and feelings of the
concerned people, gathering of people, society and the
countries. Goleman (1998, p. 82) distinguishes five segments
for EI including – (1) Self-mindfulness: The capacity of
recognizing one's enthusiastic states and understanding the
connection between feelings, thought and activity. (2) Self-
Regulation: The capacity of dealing with one's passionate
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-4, July – Aug, 2017
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijels.2.4.3 ISSN: 2456-7620
www.ijels.com Page | 16
states or changing ominous enthusiastic states to more
alluring ones. (3) Motivation: The limit of going into
enthusiastic states identified with a drive to accomplish and
wind up noticeably fruitful. (4) Empathy: The capacity of
perusing, being touchy and affecting other people's feelings.
(5) Social Skills: The capacity to enter and keep tasteful
relational relationship. The concentrate of this examination
is on mindfulness; it is the mental capacity in perceiving who
and what you are. This learning empowers you to
comprehend your own particular identity, emotions and
yearnings deliberately, enabling you to have theoretical
musings about your identity, and things you have done in the
past or will do later on. As per Mayer and Salovey (1997),
mindfulness furnishes you with a distinctive view of your
identity; helping you to understand your qualities,
shortcomings, musings, convictions, inspirations, and
feelings. Moreover, through mindfulness you comprehend
other individuals, how they see you, your mentalities and
your reactions to them at the time. Likewise it encourages
you see where your musings and feelings are taking you. It is
suspected that EI impacts the understudies' English
accomplishment. This examination inspects the impacts of
mindfulness as the principle part of EI on Iranian
understudies' English accomplishment. The significance and
focal points of English learning as a moment dialect is
proceeding to expand step by step. In any case, taking in a
moment dialect can be 4 troublesome. Educators and
specialists trusted that a few people take in a moment dialect
all the more effectively and some with more trouble.
Educators and guardians dependably have been worried
about understudy's achievement in English learning as a
moment dialect and social adjustment both all through the
classroom. Specialists have demonstrated that EI remainder
more than knowledge remainder represents accomplishment
in life and instruction (Pishghadam, 2009). Effective
adapting needs certain enthusiastic skills to occur. People
must control their antagonistic feelings like tension, dread,
and disappointment so that constructive feelings like
excitement and a feeling of achievement can build (O'Regan,
2003). Taking care of feelings in the classroom empowers
both understudies and educators to oversee emotions and
gives helpful techniques to comprehend challenges that
could forestall achievement (Gates, 2000). Pool (1997) says
that enthusiastic prosperity can be a sign of instructive
accomplishment since accomplishment is affected by
different subjective, non-intellectual, individual and
ecological elements.
2.1
Statement of the Problem
There is little research on the area of EI and its correlation to
English learning. Even this research has focused mainly on
the certain talented portion of the students at university level
but high school and pre-university students were neglected.
This study was carried out to help female pre-university
students improve their English learning. The continuous poor
performance at the level of school students in Iran has been
related to many factors; among them one is neglecting EI.
Nowadays, it is gaining more and more importance.
Measures taken by the government at various levels to
eliminate this problem focused more on improving
infrastructure, equipping the schools and providing qualified
teachers, may not have produced the desired results. Poor
achievement among students limits their potentials for
advancement in career and their ability to compete
effectively in an ever increasingly competitive global village.
Though the curricula at the secondary school level are
designed to address this inherent gap, the importance of
students’ emotional standard of performance seems to be
missing, misunderstood or neglected. It may be, therefore,
necessary to interrupt the trend of poor English achievement
among secondary students by developing and enhancing
their EI skills which have been observed to be major
determinants of academic achievement because a student
may recover from physical pain or injury, but may never
recover from the terror and degradation of his or her
emotional state. The other problem is that some teachers are
not aware of the different ways children respond to and
display their emotions. Although recognition of emotions
may be universal (Eckman, 1999), emotional expression is
not the same among all cultures and families. Displaying of
emotion may also differ between boys and girls based on the
culture, the society, the country, the family, and
circumstances which they live in. It is important for teachers
to be aware that students may bring into the classroom
different ways to respond to and display emotion, based on
what 6 is normal behavior in their families and communities.
It is also important for students to realize that their classmates
may respond to and display emotions differently than they
might.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
This research followed two main objectives; firstly, it aimed
to seek the effectiveness of self-awareness on Iranian female
pre-university students' English achievement. Secondly, this
study planned to investigate if Iranian pre-university
students' self-awareness is affected by instruction. The
researcher taught some activities related to self-awareness to
see whether they can impact the participants' English
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-4, July – Aug, 2017
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijels.2.4.3 ISSN: 2456-7620
www.ijels.com Page | 17
achievement. As Pool (1997) said providing students with
some activities may allow them to see the controls over their
emotions, behavior, and personality, thereby as teachers, you
might cause desired changes in learners’ ability. If someone
is aware of his/her controls over his/her thoughts, emotions,
words, and behavior, he/she will not have difficulty to make
changes in the direction of his/her life. This research
followed two main objectives; firstly, it aimed to seek the
effectiveness of self-awareness on Iranian female pre-
university students' English achievement. Secondly, this
study planned to investigate if Iranian pre-university
students' self-awareness is affected by instruction. The
researcher taught some activities related to self-awareness to
see whether they can impact the participants' English
achievement. As Pool (1997) said providing students with
some activities may allow them to see the controls over their
emotions, behavior, and personality, thereby as teachers, you
might cause desired changes in learners’ ability. If someone
is aware of his/her controls over his/her thoughts, emotions,
words, and behavior, he/she will not have difficulty to make
changes in the direction of his/her life.
1.4 Research Questions and Hypotheses
The research questions addressed in this study were as
follows: RQ 1. Does self-awareness impact Iranian pre-
university students’ English achievement?
RQ 2. Is Iranian pre-university students’ self-awareness
affected by instruction?
Based on the above questions, the following null
hypotheses were formulated: H0 1. Self-awareness does not
impact Iranian pre-university students’ English
achievement.
H0 1. Iranian pre-university students’ self-awareness do not
affected by instruction.
H0 2. Iranian pre-university students’ self-awareness is not
affected by instruction.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The present study is significant since it dealt with emotions
and their great influence on students' English achievement.
Training emotions should be started from childhood; in this
regard Mishera (2012) believed if proper efforts for training
the emotions and developing proper EI are made right from
their childhood, it will surely help them to lead a better life
in peace and co-operation. So, EI skills should be taken into
account in foreign language learning because EI skills give
an opportunity to learners to improve the capacity for
learning a language and also students can enhance their
English achievement through application of their EI skills.
When a person becomes able to identify his strengths and
weaknesses it becomes easier for him to work upon them to
improve his performance. The same concept should be
adopted by school children in their mentor’s supervision to
assess their strengths and weaknesses so that the achievement
would be a successful accomplishment of the desired
outcomes. Children who have an understanding of the role
that emotion plays in their life will have a better foundation
on which to build successful future. This research can also be
significant because through its findings teachers can support
students in developing self-confidence and self-awareness by
helping them learn to identify what they are thinking and how
they are feeling when they make decisions. This research
provided data that has potential to assist practitioners in
improving their practice, teaching method, policymakers in
enhancing policy decision. It also opens the door to other
researchers in further exploring and adding to existing
research and literature.
II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The early EI hypothesis, now and then alluded to as
passionate remainder, was initially created amid the 1970's
and 80's by the work of clinicians like Howard Gardner, Peter
Salovey, and John Mayer (Lall, 2009). Later this idea
formally turned into the concentration of enthusiasm with
more accentuation on inquire about over the collaboration of
feeling and thought in the field of brain research in 1990's
(Grewal & Salovey, 2005). EI history begun from the idea of
social knowledge. Thorndike in 1920s held that social
knowledge is the capacity to feel for others and act carefully
in human connections (refered to in Goleman, 1998), yet his
contemplations and perspectives were not considered
important until some other time. In 1948, passionate idea was
thought to be in the domain of knowledge. No genuine
endeavor was taken in this field until the point that the mid-
years of the 1980's, the point at which Thorndike's view was
restored again underway of Howard Gardner (Goleman,
1998). Gardner (1983) exhibited eight unique sorts of
knowledge, one of which, the individual insight, cleared a
path for the broad improvement of EI. At last, Mayer and
Salovey in 1990 presented their total EI demonstrate and
characterized it totally in light of Gardner's view (Bar-On,
1997). Truth be told, EI is to a great extent considered as
theability of comprehension and applying the learning made
from our feelings to enable viable working, to diminish push,
and fortify connections. EI writing demonstrates that there
are a ton of definitions for what constitutes passionate
insight. Salovey and Mayer (1990) saw EI as a sort of social
knowledge which incorporates the capacity to control one's
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-4, July – Aug, 2017
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijels.2.4.3 ISSN: 2456-7620
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own and others' feelings and to utilize the data to coordinate
considering and activities. Starting here of view, EI is a term
enveloping an accumulation of intrapersonal and relational
abilities. The capacity of fathoming the sentiments of others,
making and keeping relational connections and above all, our
feeling of social obligation creates relational aptitudes; and
the capacity of perceiving and understanding one's own
inspirations and feelings includes intrapersonal abilities
(Salovey and Mayer, 1990). Keeping in mind the end goal to
gauge EI from this point of view, an expertise based model
conceptualizing EI as an arrangement of capacities
independent of identity characteristics or favored methods
for acting was proposed. The backers of the capacity models
of EI guaranteed that measures of EI ought to be execution
tests confined to an arrangement of feeling related abilities.
For example, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso EI Test (Mayer,
Salovey, & Caruso, 2002) requires the respondents to see a
progression of appearances and report the degree to which
each of six feelings is available, tackle enthusiastic issues,
and answer inquiries concerning passionate situations. The
test assesses the four sub aptitudes of EI as takes after: The
capacity of precisely seeing, evaluating, and communicating
feeling; the capacity of getting to or producing sentiments on
request when they can encourage comprehension of oneself
and someone else; the capacity of understanding feelings and
the learning that gets from them, and the capacity to manage
feelings to upgrade passionate and scholarly development
(Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Different definitions and models
of EI consider it as a blended arrangement of saw capacities,
aptitudes, and identity attributes. As per the pioneer of this
field-Goleman-EI is "the limit with regards to perceiving our
own sentiments and those of others, for inspiring ourselves,
and for overseeing feelings well in ourselves and in our
relationship" (1998, p. 317). For evaluating EI in view of this
point of view, the blended models utilized self-report
measures fusing an arrangement of saw capacities and
attributes. Bar-On (2000), the originator of the world's
generally utilized blended measure of passionate insight, saw
it as a blend of interconnected enthusiastic and social abilities
and aptitudes that decides how effectively we comprehend
and exchange ourselves, acknowledge others and make
correspondence with them, and manages the everyday
necessities and issues. The enthusiastic and social
capabilities and aptitudes in this conceptualization have five
key develops and each build subtends of various firmly
related parts as takes after: (1) Intrapersonal (Self-Regard,
Emotional Self Awareness, Assertiveness, Independence and
Self-Actualization), (2) Interpersonal (Empathy, Social
Responsibility and Interpersonal Relationship), (3) Stress
Management (Stress Tolerance and Impulse Control), (4)
Adaptability (Reality Testing, Flexibility and Problem
Solving), and (5) General Mood (Optimism and Happiness)
(Bar-On, 2006, p. 57). Perfect with this model and as it was
specified, to be candidly and socially smart intends to be
productively mindful of and convey what needs be, to
comprehend and discuss well with others, and to adequately
handle day by day issues, prerequisites and weights. This is
really the appearance of one's intrapersonal capacity to think
around oneself, to understand one's quality and shortcoming
and to pass on one's feelings and considerations non-
dangerously. On the relational level, being sincerely and
socially astute involves the ability to fathom others' feelings,
emotions and needs, and to make and hold alluring, useful
and equally fulfilling affiliations. At last, being candidly and
socially canny means sensibly and adaptably managing the
moment circumstance, tackling issues and deciding. In this
manner, feelings ought to be coordinated in a way that works
in favor of an individual and not against him, and he is
required to be satisfactorily confident, idealistic and dynamic
(Bar-On, 2006). However, a debate exists over a brought
together definition or model for passionate insight, there is a
general understanding that enthusiastic aptitudes have
relationship with accomplishment in numerous territories of
life. In instructive settings, it is generally acknowledged that
to give a proficient learning, understudies require content
range information, as well as capacities related with
enthusiastic and social skills. Experimental investigations
showed that there is a positive relationship amongst EI and
understudies' scholastic accomplishment and other
psychological and full of feeling elements prompt learning.
For instance, Gil-Olarte, Palomera, and Brackett (2006)
found a positive connection between understudies' EI and
their scholarly accomplishment and social capability. In a
comparable vein, Bracket and Katluka (2007) detailed that
their passionate proficiency program intended to advance
feeling related abilities in understudies will likewise upgrade
dynamic thinking and intelligent learning. Moreover,
Mortiboys (2005) expressed that setting up candidly
improving learning circumstances will support the
probability of learners' fulfillment, inspiration and
coordinated effort. The real ramifications advanced by these
investigations has been the need to incorporate enthusiastic
proficiency into the instructive educational modules. These
projects are relied upon to enable understudies to control
their feelings suitably, change undesirable passionate states
to more gainful ones, and comprehend the connection
between feelings, considerations, and activities. Moreover,
the present examination explored the contributing part of
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-4, July – Aug, 2017
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijels.2.4.3 ISSN: 2456-7620
www.ijels.com Page | 19
mindfulness as one of the EI segments in Iranian pre-college
understudies' English accomplishment.
Self-awareness and self-knowledge are two main
components of emotional intelligence. Among the qualities
of mindfulness is the capacity of perceiving one's own
particular emotions. Understudies and instructors may not
generally recognize what they are feeling or comprehend
why they feel a specific way and what to do about how they
feel. Understudies' capacity to appreciate their feelings is
connected to more noteworthy self-assurance, since this
understanding guides them to feel more prominent control
over their inward life (Goleman, 1995). We can bolster
understudies to upgrade this fearlessness by helping them
figure out how to distinguish what they are considering and
how they are feeling when they decide. For instance, an
instructor may show the utilization of self-reflective dialect
in the classroom to enable understudies to connect with their
enthusiastic perspectives. Discussing positive and negative
sentiments is one approach to enable understudies to figure
out how to bargain suitably with their feelings. Discussing
sentiments of stress, outrage, dissatisfaction, and frustration
can enable understudies to figure out how to recognize their
emotions. Educators can encourage this dialog amid class
gatherings or amid one-on-one discussions with
understudies, or as understudies cooperate in sets and
gatherings. For youthful youngsters, stories can give chances
to discuss diverse feelings; for more seasoned understudies,
diary composing might be a beneficial approach to enable
them to recognize complex sentiments. Generally our reality
is related to our position in the public eye, our loved ones,
the necessities and cravings of our body, and the enthusiastic
and scholarly articulations of our brain. For instance: We
may state 'I am an understudy contemplating Mathematics, I
have four siblings and live in Tehran'. We once in a while set
aside the opportunity to consider the genuine idea of our
reality; to pose the inquiry, "Who am I?" (Nelson & Low,
1999). Mindfulness is about figuring out how to better
comprehend why you feel what you feel and why you carry
on especially. When you comprehend this idea you have the
shot and flexibility to change things about yourself
empowering you to make an existence that you like. On the
off chance that you are uncertain your identity, it's practically
difficult to change and wind up plainly self-tolerating. Being
clear about your identity and what you want can be engaging,
giving you the certainty to roll out improvements (Nelson,
Low, and Velar, 2004). Mindfulness has high significance
since when we have a superior attention to ourselves, we can
encounter ourselves as extraordinary and separate people. At
that point, we are engaged to roll out improvements and to
expand on our ranges of quality and in addition distinguish
territories where we might want to make changes.
Mindfulness is accepted to be the initial step to objective
setting. It is monitoring what you're great at while perceiving
frail focuses. This incorporates conceding when you don't
have the response to botches (Goleman, 1995). Truth be told,
a large number of us work on the conviction that we should
seem like we know everything constantly or else individuals
will scrutinize our capacities, and afterward maybe judge us.
On the off chance that you are straightforward with yourself,
you'll concede that truly the inverse is valid. Since whether
you recognize your shortcomings or not, everybody still
observes them. So as opposed to hiding them, the individual
who endeavors to conceal shortcomings really highlights
them, making the view of an absence of uprightness and
mindfulness (Robbins and Judge, 2009). Mindfulness is one
of the main parts of the self-idea to rise. While mindfulness
is something that is basic to every last one of us, it is not
something that we are intensely mindful of at each minute
(Lewis, and Brooks-Gunn, 1978). Rather, mindfulness ends
up plainly one identity player as a part of our identity in view
of the circumstance we are in. We are not conceived with
mindfulness, in any case. Scientists have demonstrated that
the attention to ourselves starts to show up at around one year
of age and grows more by around year and a half of age
(Mullen & Suls, 1982). Goleman (1998) kept up that
mindfulness knowing one's feelings is foundational to
enthusiastic insight and depicted it as monitoring both our
state of mind and our contemplations about that mind-set. He
proceeded with that mindfulness has three parts including
enthusiastic mindfulness, precise self-evaluation, and self-
assurance. Goleman (1998) characterized Emotional
mindfulness as perceiving one's feelings and their
belongings, precise self-appraisal implies knowing one's
qualities and points of confinement, and self-assurance
depicted as sureness about one's self-esteem and abilities. As
per Grayson (2013) enthusiastic mindfulness is the capacity
to perceive one's sentiments. It is not just the capacity to
know about one's sentiments and feelings, additionally to
separate between them, to realize what one is feeling and
why, and to comprehend what caused the emotions (p. 6).
Anderson and Lux (2004, p. 279) contended that a
satisfactory record of independence must incorporate a
particular necessity of exact self-appraisal, which has been to
a great extent disregarded in the philosophical concentrate on
specialists' capacity to assess the allure of following up on
specific motivations or qualities. As indicated by Anderson
and Lux (2004) there is a particular prerequisite of exact self-
appraisal, which is associated more with executing an errand
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-4, July – Aug, 2017
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than with assessing its attractive quality (p. 279). As
indicated by Hargreaves (2000), to end up noticeably viable
learners, youngsters need to build up a solid feeling of self-
esteem and trust in their capacities. They have to figure out
how to assume liability for their own particular learning and
execution, and exhibit constancy and flexibility
notwithstanding snags or misfortunes (p. 32).
Accomplishment in second/outside dialect learning and EI
have some immediate and circuitous connections with
bolster for the immediate connection. For instance, it is
believed that feelings can either draw in or stifle
consideration, which affects the learning and holding of data
(Sylwester, 1998). Along these lines, it can be noticed that
feelings can impact one's adapting either emphatically or
adversely. It was watched that negative impacts of feeling
had a tendency to be a hindrance in understudies'
considerations while they are composing (Kearney 1998),
while Boud, Keogh, and Walker (1985) said that the positive
considering and feelings extraordinarily enhanced the
maintenance of new data and learning by keeping
consideration amid the errand. Through solid proof, Elliot
(2003) specified that when relational abilities are picked up,
learning can be produced. Gardner (1983) and Bar-On (2000)
likewise expressed that relational aptitudes are a piece of
passionate knowledge. EI has positive and productive
impacts on understudies since they can deal with their
feelings and have more positive correspondence and trust in
themselves, different cohorts, and educators. EI will advance
great investigation conduct, and make the learning
background more successful. Additionally, the states of mind
of an instructive setting can propel everybody drew in, with
positive speculation causing positive outcomes (Ellis, 1985).
Elliot (2003) recommended that consolation was a
consideration the result and study propensities for
understudies. Positive consolation would thusly demonstrate
great outcomes in the understudy, and the individuals who
were included would create uplifting states of mind toward
learning. EI can be very viable in the classroom. Where
understudies are failing to meet expectations, educators can
figure out how to advance candidly savvy hones. Educators
can assess the understudies in light of their EI preceding a
class or course, and additionally a short time later. The
understudies' second/remote dialect accomplishments will be
upgraded, as they will have the capacity to enhance their
intrapersonal and relational relations and abilities. EI is one
of the factors that further structures an understudy's dialect
learning setting, albeit scholarly accomplishment is likewise
a matter of subjective capacity. EI likewise makes powerful
family support, contemplate air, and English
accomplishment. EI appears like an idea worth putting
resources into. Those with high EI are at an incredible
preferred standpoint. Confirmation demonstrates that hidden
enthusiastic abilities are the underlying foundations of moral
positions in life (Goleman, 1995).
Literature indicates that EI skills and competencies are vital
to success in educational settings and it also reveals that there
is a significant positive relationship between EI and
academic achievement among higher education students. In
an exploration led by Rozell, Pettijohn, and Parker (2002), a
huge relationship was found amongst EI and aggregate
review point normal (CGPA) of college understudies of Mid-
Western University. Thus among 246 Pakistan young people,
Farooq (2003) demonstrated that understudies with high EI
indicated preferred scholastic execution over the
understudies with low enthusiastic insight. After one year,
Petrides, Frederickson, and Furnham (2004) analyzed the
part of quality EI in scholastic execution and freak conduct
at school. Members were 650 understudies in British optional
instruction. The respondents were made a request to finish
the Trait EI Questionnaire (TEIQ), Eysenk Personality
Questionnaire (EPQ), and Verbal Reasoning Test (VRT).
The scores from Key Stage 3 (KS3) evaluation and General
Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) were likewise
gathered. Data about approved unlucky deficiencies,
unapproved nonappearances, 30 and avoidances were
likewise assembled. The aftereffects of the investigation
showed that characteristic EI directed the connection
between subjective capacity and scholastic execution. Also,
understudies with high characteristic EI scores had less
unapproved unlucky deficiencies. They were additionally
more averse to have been removed from school. Mortiboys
(2005) asserted that making sincerely upgrading learning
conditions can help the probability of learners' fulfillment,
inspiration and joint effort. Aghasafari (2006) found a
noteworthy relationship between's general passionate
knowledge measure and dialect learning procedures.
Moreover, Gil-Olarte, Palomera, and Brackett (2006)
demonstrated a positive connection between understudies'
enthusiastic insight and their scholarly achievement and
social fitness. In a comparative vein, Bracket and Katluka
(2007) demonstrated that their passionate proficiency
program intended to create feeling related aptitudes in
understudies will likewise advance theoretical thinking and
intelligent learning. Another exploration done by Adeyemo
(2007), was led among the Nigerian college understudies and
the discoveries uncovered huge connections amongst's EI
and scholastic self-adequacy with scholarly accomplishment.
Another examination was done in 2007 by Pishghadam in
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-4, July – Aug, 2017
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which he attempted to decide the impact of enthusiastic and
verbal insights on second dialect learning. He led an
investigation with 576 EFL understudies. The discoveries
demonstrated that tuning in, perusing, talking, composing,
and GPA unequivocally associated with two measurements
of passionate insight, i.e., stretch administration and
intrapersonal abilities. Sünbül and Aslan (2008) similarly
revealed positive connection amongst EI and scholastic
accomplishment among 312 Education understudies in
Konya and Turkey. Rouhani (2008) inspected the connection
between connection styles and EI at college of Tehran. Two
hundred understudies (107 young ladies, 93 young men)
were the respondents of this examination. The discoveries
demonstrated that connection styles are related with
Emotional Intelligence. Secure connection style was 31
decidedly connected with EI and uncertain connection style
(avoidant, uncertainty) were adversely connected with EI.
Ghanizadeh and Moafian (2010) found that passionate
knowledge assumes a positive part in educating adequacy.
Arranging basic intuition inside the system of passionate
insight, Ghanizadeh and Moafian (2011) demonstrated that
EI has a facilitative part in enhancing EFL learners' basic
deduction capacity. Of late, Mishera (2012) researched the
impact of EI on Academic Achievement of senior optional
understudies. A specimen of 1000 understudies was drawn
receiving arbitrary cum bunch inspecting procedure from
Government senior auxiliary schools of Jaipur locale,
Rajasthan. In the wake of gathering the information the
consequences of the examination demonstrated that EI
emphatically impacts understudies' scholastic
accomplishment particularly female understudies. All the
more as of late, Upadhyaya (2013) investigated the
connection amongst EI and scholastic accomplishments
among understudy instructors. The discoveries of the
investigation uncovered that EI is decidedly identified with
scholastic accomplishment (hypothesis and practice) and
understudy educators with high EI scored better in principle
and useful examination than the understudy instructors with
low enthusiastic insight. The significant ramifications
advanced by the said thinks about has been the need to
coordinate enthusiastic proficiency into the instructive
framework. These projects are required to help understudies
control their feelings suitably, change undesirable passionate
states to more profitable and good ones, and comprehend the
connection between feelings, contemplations, and activities.
III. METHOD
3.1 Participants
The participants of the present study were 60 female students
studying at Efaf pre-university school, Ahvaz, Khouzestan,
Iran. Most of the participants were at the age of 17 or 18. This
community was homogeneous since all of them passed the
final exam of the third grade of high school. Although there
were some individual differences among them, this
community was regarded as roughly homogeneous by the
educational staff as they shared the same teacher and learning
materials, therefore the researcher followed the same
routines and considered them as the participants of this study
without further manipulations. All the participants were
native Persian speakers who were preparing themselves for
entering the university. Since there were just two pre-
university classes in the school where the present study was
taken place, they were divided into 2 groups of thirty
members; a control group and an experimental one. Students
in experimental group received self-awareness instruction
alongside English but control group received English
instruction only. It should be noted that instruction was given
based on pre-university English book materials.
3.2 Instruments
To collect the data to answer the questions of the study, the
following instruments were utilized.
3.2.1 Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT)
The firs instrument that was used in this study was the
Oxford Placement Test (OPT) to make the respondents
homogeneous.
3.2.2 Final English Exam of Third Grade High School
The second instrument which the researcher used to collect
the data was the Final English Exam of Third Grade High
School in Khordad 1394 (Persian date which equals June
2014. It includes grammar, vocabulary, cloze test, and
reading passage. FEEOTGH is one of the standardized tests
held all over Iran to advance to pre-university level. All third
grade high school students wishing to promote to higher level
have to pass all their final tests including English. This test
was used as the pretest in order to make the researcher aware
of the participants' current level of English knowledge.
3.2.3 Self-Awareness Questionnaire
The third instrument which was applied in this study was a
self-awareness questionnaire (Appendix C). It consisted of
39 items adopted from online questionnaires developed by
some researchers (Silver & Claret, Davies, Downing, Ziv,
2012). Since the participants could not answer the English
version of the questionnaire the researcher herself prepared
the Persian version of the questionnaire (Appendix D) then
two English translators checked it and made some changes.
The questionnaire was modified and then piloted on a similar
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group in another school whose course book and level were
the same. The reliability of the questionnaire was computed
through the application of Kuder and Richardson (KR-21)
formula and it was 0.82. Finally the questionnaire was
distributed among the respondents. All measures in this self-
awareness questionnaire used a 6 point Likert scale from 1 =
Never to 6 = Always. Of course, it should be mentioned that
for other university lecturers checked the questionnaire for
final validation.
3.2.4 Self-Awareness Activities
Self-awareness activities utilized in this study were four
activities presented in the book by Neale, Spencer-Arnell and
Wilson (Neale, Spencer-Arnell & Wilson, 2009, p. 108);
these activities were related to self-awareness (Appendix E).
They included: Self-awareness activity 1, 2, 3, and Self-
awareness activity 4. The first activity was ''understood your
intuition'', the second was ''Three steps to increasing self-
awareness'', the third was ''Identifying emotions'' and the
fourth was ''Learning from the past''. It is worth noting that
under each activity there were one or two related paragraphs.
These activities were completely translated into Persian and
they were taught for developing students' self-awareness.
The translated activities (Appendix F) were taught to the
experimental group by the researcher during seven sessions.
On the other hand, control group received no self-awareness
instruction. At the end, the researcher administered a posttest
to find the effects of the instruction of the mentioned
activities on students' English achievement.
3.2.5 English Pre-University Book Materials
Four lessons of English pre-university book- lesson one to
four- were selected under the guidance of the supervisor.
These lessons covered grammar, vocabulary and reading
passage. They were taught to both experimental and control
groups. They took 12 sessions to end.
3.2.6 Researcher-Made Post-Test
The last instrument was a researcher-made post-test; this test
was similar -in form and content- to the pre-test but the items
covered pre-university book materials (Appendix G).
Reliability and validity of this test were measured. After the
researcher constructed the test, he gave it to four experts to
examine its face and content validity. That is, to get sure
about the Content Validity Index (CVI) of the test items, four
English experts checked the test and made some changes
concerning the clarity and simplicity of the items.
Subsequently, some of the test items were modified and then
a similar group was given this test to pilot it. Finally, the final
version of the test became prepared and then the target
participants received it. It should be mentioned that KR-21
formula was used to compute the reliability of pre-test and
post-test. The results of computation revealed that the
reliability of pre-test and post-test was 0.71 and 0.74
respectively. The post-test was administered to help the
researcher assess participants' performance after instruction
and compare respondents' scores with pre-test scores. It is
worth mentioning that the previous self-awareness
questionnaire was given to the participants again to check
their EI after self-awareness instruction.
3.3 Data Collection Procedures
For gathering the needed data to answer the questions of the
current study, in the first step the researcher personally
attended to Efaf pre-university school, Ahvaz, Khouzestan,
Iran and she gave the Final English Exam of Third Grade
High School to 60 female students. After making aware of
the respondents' English knowledge, the researcher
distributed self-awareness questionnaire among the
participants. Then the researcher began to teach the
mentioned self-awareness activities (3.3.3 Self-awareness
Activities) and four lessons of English pre-university book to
the experimental group while the control group was deprived
of this instruction. The treatment lasted 6 weeks; in each
week two sessions were held. Each lesson was taught in three
sessions. Besides teaching the pre-university materials to the
students, self-awareness activities were taught to them. In
each session the researcher tried to make the participants
aware of their own abilities, feelings and emotions before
starting the lesson. She told them the related motivating
stories; advised them to know their abilities and so on. Even
the researcher told the participants from her own personal
experiences to activate their interests to learn English better.
She encouraged the students to become effective learners, to
develop a strong sense of self-worth and confidence in their
abilities. She taught them to take responsibility for their own
learning and performance, and demonstrate persistence and
resilience in the face of obstacles or setback. On the other
hand, the control group just received traditional instruction
on English pre-university book. Finally the previously
mentioned researcher-made post-test was administered to
both groups to find the possible effects of self-awareness
instruction on students' English achievement. The researcher
gave the self-awareness questionnaire to both groups to
check their self-awareness after the treatment.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In order to analyze the gathered data, the SPSS (Statistical
Package for Social Science) software was used. In analyzing
the data, descriptive statistics was used for getting basic
information like mean, minimum and maximum, frequency
and standard deviation (SD). In inferential statistics
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Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) Test, Independent Test and
Paired T-Test were used to check the normality of the
variables. Figures were used to show the results more clearly.
Throughout the thesis the acceptable (sig) level is % 5(
0.05). For accepting or rejecting the hypotheses, P-value
=0.05 is used which is compared with (sig) in tables. If (sig)
is less than 0.05 (sig. 0.05 ), the null hypothesis is rejected
but if (sig) is higher than .0.0 (sig. 0.05 (, the null
hypothesis is accepted.
4.1 Test of Normality
In data analysis, first of all, the normality of distribution was
investigated. For normality, Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test
was used. The null hypothesis here is the normality of the
sample under consideration and the opposite assumption
implies that the sample is not normal. Throughout the thesis
the acceptable (sig) level is % 5( 0.05).Table 1 shows the
normality of each variable.
Table.1: Tests of Normality
score
questionnaire
Kolmogorov-
Smirnov
Experimental
Control
Experimental
Control
Pretest
Posttest
Pretest
Posttest
Pretest
Posttest
Pretest
Posttest
Statistic
.123
.156
.079
.116
.110
.095
.113
.099
Sig.
.200*
.062
.200*
.200*
.200*
.200*
.200*
.200*
It is worth noting that the test is based on the Z score and to
accept or reject the premise, the significance level (sig) was
used, which was the same as P-Value. If the significance
level (sig) is less than 0/05 (
0.05
), we conclude that
the null hypothesis is rejected and the variable under study is
not normal and if it was more than 0/05 (
0.05
), the null
hypothesis is accepted and the variable is normal. According
to this information, distribution of all scores in general
English test and self-awareness questionnaire are normal.
4.2 Descriptive Statistics
Table 2 presents basic information about the pre-test and
post-test scores of the participants in self-awareness
questionnaire and general English test.
Table.2: Descriptive Statistics
N
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Std. Deviation
Score
Experimental
Pretest
30
10.00
18.00
13.6500
2.32546
Posttest
30
12.00
20.00
15.9333
2.16450
Control
Pretest
30
10.00
17.50
13.6333
2.24831
Posttest
30
10.00
18.00
13.7167
2.23099
questionnaire
Experimental
Pretest
30
1.62
2.31
2.0106
.18996
Posttest
30
4.90
5.44
5.1715
.12802
Control
Pretest
30
1.66
2.28
1.9855
.17578
Posttest
30
1.62
2.41
2.0106
.19668
Based on Table 2, the lowest score of the experimental
participants’ in general English pre-test is 10; the highest is
18 and the average is 13.65. As above table shows, in general
English post-test the lowest score is 12; the highest score is
20 and the average is . That means the treatment was
very effective on the participants. The participants did better
after the experiment.
Table 2 also indicates the scores of the control group in the
general English pre-test and post-test. The lowest score in
pretest is 10; the highest score is and the average is
. In posttest the lowest score is 10; the highest score is
18 and the average is 13.71. It is very obvious that the control
group has no improvement.
In self-awareness questionnaire the lowest score of the
experimental group in the pre-test is 1.62; the highest score
is 2.31 and the average is 2.01. In the post-test the lowest
score is 4.9; the highest score is 5.44 and the average is 5.17.
As it is indicated in the above table, the lowest score of the
control group in the pre-test is 1.66; the highest score is 2.28
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and the average is 1.98. In the post-test the lowest score is
1.62; the highest score is 2.41 and the average is 2.01.
4.3 Inferential Statistics
4.3.1 The Comparison between Mean Scores of
Experimental and Control Groups in General English
Pre-test
In Table 4.1 the mean scores of General English pre-test in
both experimental and control groups was checked out which
the distribution of pretest mean scores in both groups was
normal. So it was necessary to use independent T-test. The
results of this test are reported in Table 4.3. In this test, the
null hypothesis expresses the equality of the mean of pretest
scores in both experimental and control groups and the
opposite assumption shows the difference.
Table.3: Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Equal variances assumed
.004
.947
.028
58
.978
.01667
Independent sample T-test is composed of two tests. At the
outset it checks the equality of variances of two samples; this
test is calculated through using F statistics. As illustrated
above F is 0.004 (F=0.004) and Sig is 0.947 (Sig=0.947). The
significance level is higher than 0/05, so the assumption of
homogeneity of two variances will be accepted and row
results titled as “Equal variances assumed” in the mean
equality test of two samples was considered. The equality test
of two means, with T statistics shows that (t=0.028, df=58
and sig=0.978); significance level (sig=0.978) is bigger than
the significance level set for the study (0.05). This indicated
that there was no significant difference between the mean
scores of pretest in both experimental and control groups. In
the pre-test both groups were the same.
4.3.2 The Comparison between Mean Scores of
Experimental and Control Groups in General English
Post-test
In Table 1 the mean scores of General English posttest in
both experimental and control groups was checked out which
the distribution of posttest mean scores in both groups was
normal. So it was necessary to use independent T-test. The
results of this test are provided in Table 4.4. In this test, the
null hypothesis expresses the equality of the mean of posttest
scores in both experimental and control groups and the
opposite assumption shows the difference.
Table.4: Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Equal variances assumed
.000
.983
3.906
58
.000
2.21667
Independent sample T-test is composed of two tests. At the
outset it checks the equality of variances of two samples; this
test is calculated through using F statistics which is
here with the Sig of . The significance level is higher
than 0/05, so the assumption of the homogeneity of two
variances will be accepted and row results titled as “Equal
variances assumed” in the mean equality test of two samples
was considered. The equality test of two means, with T
statistics equals= (t=), (df=58) and (sig=0/000);
significance level (sig=0/000) is smaller than the significance
level set for the study (0.05). This means that there was a
significant difference between the mean scores of post-test in
both experimental and control groups. Due to the difference
in means, the posttest mean of experimental group was 2.22
scores higher than posttest mean of control group.
4.3.3 The Mean Scores of Pre-test and Post-test of
General English Test in Experimental Group
In Table 1 the mean scores of pre-test and post-test of
General English Test in experimental group was checked out
in which the distribution of pre-test and post-test mean scores
in experimental group was normal. So it was necessary to use
paired T-test. The results of this test are presented in Table 5.
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In this test, the null hypothesis expresses the equality of the
mean of pre-test and post-test scores in experimental group
and the opposite assumption shows the difference.
Table.5: Paired Samples Test
Mean
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Posttest - Pretest
2.28333
20.694
29
.000
As revealed in Table 5, the amount of statistic T is 20.694
(t=20.694), df=29 (df=29) and significance level is 0.000
(sig=0.000) which is less than 0.05. This indicated that there
was a significant difference between the mean of pre-test and
post-test scores in experimental group. The mean of post-test
is 2.28 points higher than the mean of pre-test. So, instruction
was effective in the experimental group.
4.3.4 The Mean Scores of Pre-test and Post-test of
General English Test in Control Group
In Table 1 the mean scores of pre-test and post-test of
General English Test in control group was checked out in
which the distribution of pre-test and post-test mean scores
in control group was normal. So it was necessary to use
parametric paired T-test. The results of this test are shown in
Table 6. In this test, the null hypothesis expresses the equality
of the mean scores of pre-test and post-test in control group
and the opposite assumption shows the difference.
Table.6: Paired Samples Test
Mean
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Posttest - Pretest
.08333
.990
29
.330
As illustrated in Table 4.6, the amount of statistic T is 0.990
(t=0.990), df=29 (df=29) and significance level is
(sig=) which is higher than 0.05. This indicated that
there was not a significant difference between the mean
scores of pre-test and post-test in control group. So, it is
concluded that instruction was not effective in the control
group.
4.3.5 The Mean Scores of Self-awareness Questionnaire
of Pretest in Experimental and Control Groups
In Table 1 the mean scores of self-awareness questionnaire
of pretest in both experimental and control groups was
checked out which the distribution of self-awareness
questionnaire mean scores in both groups was normal. So it
was necessary to use independent T-test. The results of this
test are provided in Table 7. In this test, the null hypothesis
expresses the equality of the mean scores of self-awareness
questionnaire in both experimental and control groups and
the opposite assumption shows the difference.
Table.7: Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F
Sig.
t
df.
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Equal variances assumed
.040
.842
.532
58
.597
.02513
As Table 7 shows, F statistics is (F=) and significance
level is (). The significance level is higher than 0/05, so
the assumption of homogeneity of two variances will be
accepted and row results titled as “Equal variances assumed”
in the mean equality test of two samples was considered. The
equality test of two means, with T statistics shows that
(t=), (df=58) and (sig=). Significance level
(sig=) is higher than the significance level set for the
study (0.05); meaning that there was not a significant
difference between the mean of self-awareness questionnaire
scores of pre-test in experimental and control groups. It is
concluded that in the case of self-awareness questionnaire
scores in the pretest both groups are on the same level and
they have the same knowledge.
4.3.6 The Mean Scores of Self-awareness Questionnaire of
Post-test in Experimental and Control Groups
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In Table 1 the mean scores of self-awareness questionnaire
of posttest in experimental and control groups was checked
out which the distribution of self-awareness questionnaire
mean scores in both groups was normal. So it was necessary
to use independent t-test. The results of this test are indicated
in Table 8. In this test, the null hypothesis expresses the
equality of post-test mean scores of self-awareness
questionnaire in experimental and control groups and the
opposite assumption shows the difference.
Table.8: Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Equal variances assumed
5.342
.024
73.774
58
.000
3.16091
Independent sample T-test is composed of two tests. At the
outset it checked the equality of variances of two samples;
this test is calculated through using F statistics which is
here with the Sig of . The significance level is higher
than 0/05, so the assumption of homogeneity of two
variances will be accepted and row results titled as “Equal
variances assumed” in the mean equality test of two samples
was considered. The equality test of two means, with T
statistics shows that (t=), (df=58) and (sig=).
Significance level (sig=) is smaller than the
significance level set for the study (0.05). This indicated that
there was significant difference between the mean scores of
post-test in experimental and control groups. The mean of
post-test in experimental group is points higher than the
mean of post-test in control group. So, instruction was
effective in the experimental group.
4.3.7 The Mean Scores of Pretest and Posttest of Self-
awareness Questionnaire in Experimental Group
In Table 1 the mean scores of pretest and posttest of self-
awareness questionnaire in experimental group was checked
out which the distribution of self-awareness questionnaire
mean scores of both of pretest and posttest in experimental
group was normal. So it was necessary to use parametric
paired T-test. The results of this test are depicted in Table 9.
In this test, the null hypothesis expresses the equality of the
mean scores of pretest and posttest of self-awareness
questionnaire in experimental group and the opposite
assumption shows the difference.
Table.9: Paired Samples Test
Mean
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Posttest - Pretest
3.16083
72.615
29
.000
Based on Table 9, the significance level is 0.000 (sig=0.000)
which is less than 0.05. This indicated that there was a
significant difference between the mean scores of pretest and
posttest of self-awareness questionnaire in experimental
group. The mean of self-awareness questionnaire post-test is
3.16 points higher than the mean of pre-test. So, instruction
was effective in the experimental group.
4.3.8 The Mean Scores of Pretest and Posttest of Self-
awareness Questionnaire in Control Group
In Table 1 the mean scores of pretest and posttest of self-
awareness questionnaire in control group was checked out
which the distribution of self-awareness questionnaire mean
scores of both pretest and posttest in control group was
normal. So it was necessary to use parametric paired T-test.
The results of this test are mentioned in Table 4.10. In this
test, the null hypothesis expresses the equality of the mean
scores of pretest and posttest of self-awareness questionnaire
in control group and the opposite assumption shows the
difference.
Table.10: Paired Samples Test
Mean
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Posttest - Pretest
.02505
1.570
29
.127
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Based on Table 10, the significance level is 0.127
(sig=0.127) which is higher than 0.05. This indicated that
there was no significant difference between the mean scores
of pretest and posttest of self-awareness questionnaire in
control group.
4.4 Discussion
This section elaborates on the results and findings presented
in the previous part. To discuss the results of the research, the
research questions raised earlier in the study will be referred
to as follows:
RQ 1. Does self-awareness impact Iranian pre-university
students’ English achievement? This study examined the
effects of self-awareness instruction on improving Iranian
students' English achievement. After analyzing the data, the
results showed that there was not a significant difference
between experimental and control groups' performance in
pre-test, but in contrast there was a significant difference
between the results of pre-test and post-test of the two
groups. It could be also observed that experimental
participants got better scores and had better performance
after the treatment. The findings indicated that self-
awareness instruction enhanced Iranian students' English
achievement. The results of this study confirm the outcomes
of previous studies like Arabsarhangi and Noroozi (2014).
Arabsarhangi and Noroozi (2014) investigated the "The
Relationship between Self-awareness and Learners’
Performance on Different Reading Comprehension Test
Types among Iranian EFL Elementary Learners. They
selected 50 adult Elementary Iranian EFL learners at the age
of 15 to 30 from English language learners of Iran Mehr
institute (Garmsar, Iran). According to the results of data
analysis through the regression and ANOVA tests, the null
hypotheses were 61 rejected and the correlation of the
variables and effectiveness of self-awareness on learners’
reading comprehension were proved. The findings of the
present study support the results of Petrides, Frederickson,
and Furnham (2004); they examined the role of trait EI in
academic performance and deviant behavior at school. The
results of the study demonstrated that trait EI moderated the
relationship between cognitive ability and academic
performance. Moreover, students with high trait EI scores
had less unauthorized absences. Both this study and the study
of Petrides, Frederickson, and Furnham in 2004 confirm the
positive effects of emotional intelligence on students'
performance. Both studies enable students and teachers to
manage feelings and provide useful methods to solve
difficulties that could prevent success. The results of the
present study are also congruent with a research conducted
by (Pishghadam, 2007). He tried to determine the influence
of emotional and verbal intelligences on second language
learning. He conducted a study with 576 EFL students.
RQ 2: Is Iranian pre-university students’ self-awareness
affected by instruction? After the results were obtained, it
was proved that instruction could increase participants' self-
awareness. The findings confirm the idea of Hargreaves
(2000): To become effective learners, young people need to
develop a strong sense of self-worth and confidence in their
abilities. They need to learn to take responsibility for their
own learning and performance, and demonstrate persistence
and resilience in the face of obstacles or setbacks. Mortiboys
also (2005) claimed that creating emotionally enhancing
learning environments can boost the likelihood of learners'
satisfaction, motivation and collaboration. Results of the
current study support Adeyemo's (2007) findings; which
revealed significant correlations between EI and academic
self-efficacy with academic achievement. Furthermore, the
results confirm the findings of Gil-Olarte, Palomera, and
Brackett (2006) which proved a positive correlation between
students' emotional intelligence and their academic success
and social competence. In a similar vein, Bracket and
Katluka (2007) which indicated that their emotional literacy
program develop emotion-related skills in students, will also
promote abstract reasoning and reflective learning which is
another finding of this study. Ghanizadeh and Moafian
(2011) also proved that EI has a facilitative role in improving
EFL learners' critical thinking ability. The outcomes of this
study are consistent with Mishera (2012) who investigated
the effect of EI on Academic Achievement of senior
secondary students. A sample of 1000 students was drawn
adopting random-cum cluster sampling technique from
Government senior secondary schools of Jaipur district,
Rajasthan. After collecting the data the results of the study
showed that EI positively impacts students' academic
achievement especially female students.
V. CONCLUSION
According to the results of data analysis which were drawn
in the previous chapter, it can be concluded that the findings
were in agreement with theoretical framework of this study
which was on the basis of Goleman’s model of EQ (1995),
and because of focusing on self-awareness as one of the
important component of Goleman’s theory and its
association with learning language, the present study might
help to extend the previous studies in this domain. Based on
the obtained findings, researcher of this study came to the
conclusion that there was a correlational relationship
between self-awareness and learners' language achievement.
In fact, self-awareness instruction impacted Iranian pre-
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university students’ English achievement. Experimental
group outperformed in the post-test after the treatment.
Students’ self-awareness was also affected positively by
instruction. In a nutshell, it is now quite obvious from the
results of this study that there is a close relationship between
English language learning and self-awareness instruction.
The results of the present study are useful for teachers to
understand that self-awareness is critical in the process of
teaching and learning. Thus, if emotions and perceptions
appear to influence teaching and learning practices,
identifying and regulating the factors that contribute 64 to the
development of teachers and students deserve consideration.
This, in turn, necessitates exploiting and developing courses
and preparation programs for EFL teachers focusing on skills
associated with self-awareness to help students handle their
emotions appropriately, shift undesirable emotional states to
more productive ones, understand the link between emotions,
thoughts, and actions, attract and sustain rewarding
interpersonal relationships in the classroom, and be sensitive
to students’ emotions. The findings of this study are
beneficial for the students; they should be able to recognize
their abilities, strengths, and capacities instead of feeling low
and develop ability to work and study in adverse emotional
conditions of life. The teachers should be competent to
identify the changing emotional classroom environment and
have the ability to empathize, encourage and connect with
students on emotional level.
Further experimental researches should be conducted
between boy and girl students and also on primary level
students. In the present research sex and ethnic bias were not
taken into account. A more detailed study is needed to
explore the relationship between self-awareness and these
variables in foreign language learning. Moreover, in the
current study, the effects of self-awareness was on foreign
language learning, next studies should be carried out to
investigate the impacts of self-awareness on second language
teaching. Another study should be done to examine the role
of self-awareness in language testing, specifically the
relationship between self-awareness and different test forms.
This study was conducted in an EFL situation. Further
research with the same topic can be conducted in other
situations. The researcher calls for implementing another
study with larger numbers of participants in order to
supplement the findings from the current study. This study
lasted for six weeks. Succeeding studies can allocate more
time to find out the effectiveness of self-awareness
instruction on other areas of language learning. 66
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