Investigating the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Levels of Emotional Intelligence and their Pragmatic Competence of Apology Speech Act Realization. Case of Master Two Students at M’sila University
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Date
2020-06
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Abstract
The recent years witnessed a remarkable shift in the field of applied pragmatics and SLA research
towards cognitive-psychological concepts and phenomena. The present study, therefore, attempts
to investigate the correlation between Algerian EFL learners’ levels of emotional intelligence and
their pragmatic competence of apology speech act realization at M’sila University. The main aim
of this study is to determine the nature of the relationship between the study variables. In addition,
the study outlines the frequency of the semantic formulas of apology speech act of the
participants, and their levels of emotional intelligence. Furthermore, the study looks into teachers’
beliefs and attitudes about the instruction of pragmatics in oral expression classes, and the relation
between emotional intelligence and pragmatic competence. In order to achieve the objectives of
this study, the mixed research method design incorporating both correlational and descriptive
methods was used. First, for the correlational research, the researchers opted for an oral discourse
completion task (ODCT) and Schutte Self- report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) for a
sample of 30 EFL students at M’sila University to generate the necessary data that were processed
and analyzed through SPSS version 25. The study employed a questionnaire, to teachers of oral
expression module, for the descriptive part of the research. The findings revealed an existing
statistically significant moderate positive correlation with 0,437* value at the significance level
p=0.05. Moreover, the teachers indicated the importance of both explicit and implicit instruction
of pragmatics as well as the high importance of emotional intelligence in developing pragmatic
competence. Therefore, this study sheds light on the significance of emotional intelligence on
pragmatic competence of apology speech act production, it raises both teachers and students’
awareness about this finding, and it calls for the incorporation of emotional intelligence and its
strategies in instructing apology speech act.
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Keywords
Keywords: emotional intelligence, pragmatic competence, apology speech act.