The relationship between spiritual intelligence and self-regulation with success of Iranian EFL university lecturers

Abstract

Successful lectures adapt themselves to the circumstances and comply with changes in addition to having good psychological adjustment, interpersonal relationships, and performance on achievement-related tasks. Researchers acknowledge that self-regulation (SR) and spiritual intelligence (SI) are both crucial for success in many life domains. As lecturers can influence the complex process of learning in education, understanding the factors influencing their pedagogical success can help them achieve more effective teaching. This study investigated the relationship between spiritual intelligence (SI) and self-regulation (SR) with pedagogical success of 20 Iranian EFL university lecturers, instructing at the universities in Yazd, Iran, whose success was assessed by 83 of their EFL learners studying for a bachelor’s degree. For this purpose, a sequential mixed-method was designed. Quantitative data were gathered through Spiritual Intelligence questionnaire (SIQ), self-regulation questionnaire (SRQ), and Characteristics of Successful Teachers’ Questionnaire (CSTQ). To enrich the data, qualitative data were also gathered through classroom observations. The findings from Pearson product correlation coefficients revealed that there was a positive and meaningful relationship between the lecturers’ SI and SR with their success. Also, observation checklists revealed a high contribution of some components of SI (e. g. transcendent self-realization, spiritual experiences, and patience) to the teachers’ pedagogical success. The more spiritually intelligent lecturers being more responsible, courageous, creative, confident, and conscious, had a better interpersonal relationship and were less anxious about pursuing their educational goals. Besides, the successful lecturers proved to have a better ability to develop, implement, and flexibly maintain planned behavior in order to achieve their goals. Such findings imply that high levels of SI and SR can help L2 lecturers promote their success and, in turn, improve their learners’ L2 achievement in the classroom.

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

“…Likewise, the concept seems to be more fitting fields that are religionoriented (Emmons, 2000;Koenig et al, 2000). 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.…”

“…This proposition came into vogue with a groundbreaking study of multiple intelligences (MIs) by Gardner (1983) who proposed different intelligences for learners to which teachers must pay attention. However, in L2 research, the cognitive aspect of intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) have dominated the field for decades, especially their impacts and correlations with other L2 learning variables (Elhambakhsh et al, 2018).…”

“…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.…”