Skripsi
The correlation between the 7th grade students’ emotional intelligence and their speaking ability in english class / Imelia Maqbulah
Abstrak
Speaking skill is one of the most essential yet challenging aspects of English language learning particularly for junior high school students who are in the early stages of foreign language acquisition. One contributing factor believed to influence students rsquo speaking performance is Emotional Intelligence (EI) which encompasses self-awareness self-regulation motivation empathy and social skills. This study aims to investigate the correlation between the 7th grade students rsquo emotional intelligence and their speaking ability in English class. A quantitative correlational research design was employed with 40 students selected through stratified random sampling from a population of 364 7th graders. Data were collected using the USMEQ-i (Universiti Sains Malaysia Emotional Quotient Inventory) to measure emotional intelligence and a speaking test based on Brown rsquo s (2004) speaking assessment rubric to assess speaking ability. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Product-Moment correlation. The result reveals a positive and significant correlation between emotional intelligence and speaking ability (r 0.893 p lt 0.001). This finding suggests that students with higher emotional intelligence tend to perform better in speaking English. The implication of this study emphasizes the importance of incorporating emotional intelligence development into language learning strategies to enhance students rsquo speaking proficiency and overall communication skills.