Publication details
Key Factors in Teacher Behaviour Enhancing the Emotional Intelligence in Language Learners
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The language learner is facing numerous obstacles on his or her journey to efficient language learning. Experience and research (e.g. Goleman, 2013) are both increasingly showing that emotional intelligence plays a major, or perhaps even crucial role in the process. However, there is no generally accepted policy, no curriculum, no widely spread courses that would help the students to address the relevant issues. These would most often be related to motivation and autonomy, and this presentation is going to look at those among different groups of students, from IT to Arts students and the role of the teacher in this process. Ideally, students are motivated to study on their own, autonomously, with only minimal guidance on the part of their teachers, according to their diverse needs, which in return makes their studies efficient. However, in reality, this is often not the case. In reality, students experience ups and downs in motivation rather too often; they are not always able to assess their needs and autonomously decide what course of action to take. They have not been taught how to deal with procrastination and negative emotions which can soon enough turn into toxic thinking. They were not given the basics of self-awareness, which is crucial, as Daniel Goleman puts it, to all learning, neither were they informed about the way their attention works. They are also told by their parents and schools that STEM knowledge is all that brings good jobs, success and money. As a result, the learners often buy these concepts and are persuaded to pursue careers and paths they are not entirely sure of. Eventually, what happens is a further crisis in motivation, and as they are not equipped with tools they could use, their learning situations might escalate in a series of failures. Failures are, as all the experienced teachers know, the exact opposite of what we are looking for when dealing with motivation and autonomy. This paper is going to discuss the background of the situation described above, introduce some recent research in the area and also suggest a solution. Various sharing sessions served as the base for the qualitative method that sheds light on this issue. From this background, real-life examples will be provided, In the second part, among others, latest findings from Oxygen project in Google company will be discussed together with the implications brought by Cathy N. Davidson (Davidson, 2017), an author who writes about revolutionising the university. Finally, a solution will be offered, which I see in one of the roles of the teacher who, trained in emotional intelligence, will be able to enhance students´ learning, curiosity and the willingness to try and make mistakes. Also, who will understand the need to generate success in students and the necessity for them to acknowledge it. In short, this presentation hopes to bring evidence, based on long-term practice, discussions within special interest groups and experience either in class or individual counsellings, that subtle interference from the side of the teacher, based on the findings of Emotional Intelligence research as carried out by Marc Brackett (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence) and many others, can make all the difference. Just like a steersman who needs in-depth knowledge about the seas to navigate his ship safely, the teacher needs the EI knowledge to help to get his or her students on their ideal individual, autonomous and motivated paths. Goleman, D. (2013). Focus. The Hidden Driver of Excellence. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Davidson, C. N. (2017). The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World In Flux. New York: Basic Books. |