THE IMPACT OF LINGUISTIC AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON THE READING PERFORMANCE OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS

Following innovations in intelligence and its radical changes from a unitary concept (IQ) to a multi-dimensional conceptualization, i.e. multiple intelligences and the need to design classroom activities based on the L2 learners’ cognitive styles, this study examined the impact of linguistic intelligence and emotional intelligence on the reading comprehension ability of the Iranian EFL learners. Data was gathered through two questionnaires and a reading test and analyzed through two-way ANOVA and Multiple Regression. The results revealed that the students with a high level of linguistic intelligence showed a higher reading ability than those with a lower level of linguistic intelligence. The results, however, showed no significant difference among the students with different degrees of emotional intelligence. Moreover, the results indicated that linguistic intelligence is a relatively strong predictor of reading performance, accounting for more than 40% of the variance observed in the students’ performance on the reading comprehension test.