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English English Studies at NBU, ISSN 2367-5705 (Print), ISSN 2367-8704 (Online)

CORRELATION BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY IN COLOMBIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Vol.11, Issue 2, 2025, pp. 315-332 Full text: PDF . HTML

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.25.2.7
Web of Science: 001643786800008

Authors:
1 Ailyn Jariany Garnica-Rey https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4218-5946
2 Cristian Edgardo Navarro-Arana https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1090-2839

Affiliation:
1 Midwest Academy, Carmel, Indiana, USA [ror=]
2 Instituto Comunitario Minca, Santander, Colombia [ror=]

Contributor roles:
Conceptualization, Methodology (A.G-R.) lead;
Investigation, Data curation, Formal Analysis (C. N-A.) lead;
Project administration, Validation (A.G-R., C.N-A.) equal;
Visualization (C. N-A.) lead; Writing – original draft,
Writing – review & editing (A.G-R., C.N-A.) equal.

Abstract
[abstract=This research examined the correlation between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and English proficiency among 30 students aged 11-12 from a public school in Colombia. Participants were selected using simple random sampling, and data were collected through a non-experimental, quantitative, correlational design with a Pearson correlation analysis. EI was assessed using the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test, while English proficiency was measured using the Cambridge A1 Movers exam. Findings showed that EI had a weak to moderate positive correlation with Overall English Proficiency (OEP), and a moderate positive correlation with Listening skills, with correlations of r = 0.38 and r = 0.49, respectively. As the results were statistically significant, through a regression analysis, it was found that EI individually contributed 14.7% and 24.3% to the mentioned variables. However, there was a weak, but statistically insignificant, correlation with the other skills. We concluded that EI may enhance OEP, particularly influencing listening skills; nonetheless, further research is needed, as other factors may have influenced the results.]

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, English Language Teaching, Social and Emotional Learning

Article history:
Submitted: 26 September 2025
Reviewed: 01 October 2025
Accepted: 08 October 2025
Published: 20 December 2025

Citation (APA):
Garnica-Rey, A. J. & Navarro-Arana, C. E. (2025). Correlation between emotional intelligence and English language proficiency in Colombian secondary school students. English Studies at NBU, 11(2), 315-332. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.25.2.7

Copyright © 2025 Ailyn Jariany Garnica-Rey and Cristian Edgardo Navarro-Arana

This is an Open Access article published and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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