Investigating the Role of Emotional Intelligence and Vocabulary Knowledge in Iranian EFL Learners’ Willingness to Communicate

English has changed into an international language after the second world war and over a million people speak it as their first, second or third language across the world. However, knowing a language is accompanied with speaking skill and the ability to communicate with it. Vocabulary knowledge is important because it includes all the words we must know to access our background knowledge, express our ideas and communicate as well as possible, and learn about new concepts. Second language willingness to communicate has become a significant concept in second language learning and communication in recent years. This study aimed to find out the role of emotional intelligence and vocabulary knowledge on Iranian EFL learners’ willingness to communicate. To this end, 120 Iranian male and female English learners were selected. They were studying English as a foreign language in Arash, Pardis, and Saba English language institutes in Shahrebabak. The emotional intelligence questionnaire, vocabulary knowledge test and willingness to communicate questionnaire were given to the participants. To analyze the data, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and willingness to communicate among Iranian EFL learners. It was also indicated that there was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and vocabulary knowledge among Iranian EFL learners. The results of the present study could help course book designers, curriculum planners, foreign language institutes, and teachers to provide and use more proper materials and methods of instruction. Students’ parents can alsoattempt to increase their emotional intelligence through which they can be made more willing to communicate.

Keywords:

Emotional intelligence , Willingness to communicate , Vocabulary knowledge , EFL learners