Emotional Intelligence: A Fundamental Aspect of Successful Higher Education Teachers

Abstract

Contemporary research appears to be less concerned with the traditional premise that teaching is limited to imparting content knowledge of a certain subject area through effective teaching methodologies. Scholars now are inclined to lean more towards “emotion” than towards “cognition.” Being cognizant of the momentousness of emotional intelligence, the purpose of this research is to clarify the concept of “emotional intelligence,” investigate the degree to which teachers of English at Hassiba Benbouali University of Chlef, Algeria, are emotionally intelligent, and, lastly, make suggestions that could aid in advancing the emotional intelligence of educators. To achieve this goal, 103 EFL students participated in the study. The researchers, grounded in a mixed-methods approach, employed strategies and techniques suitable for both qualitative and quantitative methods. To provide a good interpretation of the open-ended question addressed to the participants, the authors of this research paper resorted to the quantitative content analysis approach. We collected data using a web-based questionnaire that we sent as Google Forms to the students' Facebook accounts. To address the issue of missing data during data analysis, the authors of this research employed the listwise deletion approach. Despite the sink-or-swim scenario and the stressful conditions that consist of the pressure exerted by the administration, absence of professional and emotional development/training, overcrowded classes, lack of coordination among teachers, the nature of the LMD system that is unsuitable for our university’s realities, etc., this research outcome reveals that teachers possess emotional intelligence to some extent.