The Mediating Role of Spiritual Intelligence and Teaching Experience in Perceived Leadership Styles of EFL Teachers: A Structural Equation Modelling Analysis

Abstract

As a less-attended area in the research context of Iran, the predictive power of teachers' Spiritual Intelligence (SI), as an inner element, and teaching experience for their perceived Leadership Styles (LS), as an external element, was investigated in this study. Moreover, the perceptions of EFL teachers with high and low level of SI regarding LS and its components were explored. To this end, a structural model was designed and two questionnaires of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ, Avolio, & Bass, 2004) and Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI, King, 2008) were distributed among 236 Iranian EFL teachers. To complement the quantitative data, 10 EFL teachers from both high and low SI groups were requested to partake in a semi-structured interview. The results of quantitative analysis, using regression analysis, revealed that the components of spiritual intelligence and teaching experience significantly predicted the perceptions of leadership styles. Likewise, through Path Analysis, it was evinced that the suggested model, in this study, had a proper fit with the data. Additionally, the content analysis of the data showed that teachers with various levels of SI pointed to the typical characteristics of a teacher leader differently. The results of this study can raise Iranian EFL teachers' knowledge and awareness of SI and LS and provide an in-depth understanding of the concepts and their relevant components.

The Role of Students’ Spiritual Intelligence in Enhancing Their Academic Engagement: A Theoretical Review

“…Nevertheless, some scholars have broken the ice and begun exploring the construct of SI in SLA over the past years arguing that it can promote teachers' pedagogical success, self-regulation, job satisfaction, burnout, professional commitment, and critical thinking ability (Kaur, 2013;Azizi and Azizi, 2015;Zhaleh and Ghonsooly, 2017;Elhambakhsh et al, 2018;Emma et al, 2018). Additionally, in their recent mixed-methods study, Estaji and Pourmostafa (2020) examined the relationship between Iranian EFL teachers' SI and leadership style in light of their teaching experience level. In so doing, 236 EFL teachers completed two questionnaires on these two variables out of which 10 teachers were later interviewed.…”

“…It is an intelligence that focuses on macro-level problemsolving potentials of learners/teachers, particularly problems pertaining to meaning and value of different ways of life (Zohar and Marshall, 2001). It goes beyond a person's mental ability and conventional psychological development, linking the personal to the transpersonal and the self to spirit (Vaughan, 2002;Estaji and Pourmostafa, 2020). As stated by Denny et al (2008), SI can establish a learning atmosphere in which students can reach their full potentials as it capitalizes on their ability to make personal meanings out of life experience, consciousness, and critical thinking.…”

“…Having positioned itself in the body of knowledge in L2 education, SI has recently caught the attention of researchers who mainly explored its impacts and associations with teacherrelated variables such as pedagogical success, leadership style, self-regulation, job satisfaction, burnout, professional commitment, and critical thinking ability (Kaur, 2013;Azizi and Azizi, 2015;Zhaleh and Ghonsooly, 2017;Elhambakhsh et al, 2018;Emma et al, 2018;Estaji and Pourmostafa, 2020). With regard to EFL students, there are only a couple of studies that are limited to the role of SI in developing their writing skills and learning strategies (Santoso, 2016;Sotoudehnama et al, 2018) and the impact of SI on EFL students' classroom behaviors and practices has largely been ignored.…”