Prediction of Attitudes Towards the English Course by Social-Emotional Competence and Intercultural Awareness of Students

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine how secondary school students' beliefs about their social-emotional skills and intercultural understanding can forecast their attitudes towards the English course. This study was developed with a focus on the connection between language and culture, as well as the correlation between social-emotional competence and communication abilities. The research model employed in this study follows the relational survey approach, which falls within the realm of quantitative research methods. To gather data, the researchers utilized the Attitude towards English Language Teaching Scale, the Intercultural Awareness Scale, and the Delaware Social Emotional Competence Scale. The study involved students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades as participants. By employing the stratified sampling technique, data were gathered from a sample of 1864 students, with 639 students from the 6th grade, 620 students from the 7th grade, and 605 students from the 8th gradeThe collected data were analyzed using two statistical methods: "simple linear regression" and "multiple linear regression" analyses. The results indicated that when considering intercultural awareness and social-emotional competence variables together, they accounted for approximately 24% of the overall variation in students' attitudes towards the English course. The students' perspectives on intercultural awareness and social-emotional competence emerged as significant predictors of their attitude towards the English course.