The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Cognitive Strategy Uses of Saudi English Foreign Language Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the connection between emotional intelligence, strategy use, and vocabulary knowledge. However, very little attention has been paid to this subject, to the best of researchers’ knowledge. To this end, intermediate students were considered through the Cambridge English: Key English Test (KET). After taking the test, 50 male students with a mean age of 16 whose grades equaled (between 45 and 69) were chosen for this research sample. Adopting a correlational design, the researchers gathered three types of scores: an emotional intelligence questionnaire, cognitive strategy use questionnaire, and a vocabulary knowledge test. The data were checked for linearity of the relationship and normality of the distribution. Finally, Pearson product-moment correlation was conducted to identify any possible correlation between the variables. The results showed a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and cognitive strategy use. The data analysis also indicated a relationship between emotional intelligence and vocabulary knowledge. Moreover, the data analysis showed that in comparison with cognitive strategy use, vocabulary knowledge has a higher correlation with emotional intelligence. The findings have some pedagogical implications for instructors of proficiency courses, writing textbook developers, EFL learners, and language teachers who can benefit from this research results.