Connection between Emotional Intelligence and Coherence in EFL Writing

This research is an investigation of the relationship between the emotional intelligence of a group of Iranian English language learners and the coherence of the essays they produced. A 40-item TOEFL-type test of English proficiency including items on grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension with the Cronbach’s alpha reliability of .742, was planned to identify the proficient candidates who could produce substantive and meaningful texts. Moreover, a 33-item inventory of Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale and a task of essay writing on a specific topic were administered. From 110 candidates who took the test, questionnaire and the task, 79 subjects completely submitted them. Forty-five students managed to score above 23 out of 40 on the proficiency test; therefore, their emotional profiles and essays were further analyzed. For objective assessment of the coherence of the essays, Bamberg’s (1984) Holistic Coherence Scale was used with five points ranging from ‘fully coherent’ (4) to ‘unscorable’ (0). The Spearman’s rho test was used in investigating the association between the coherence of the essays and the emotional intelligence of their writers. Flying in the face of the researchers’ expectation, an insignificant relationship was observed.