Emotional Intelligence and Critical Thinking Ability as Correlates of EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Knowledge

Abstract

The current study examined the correlation among Iranian EFL learners' emotional intelligence (EI), critical thinking (CT) ability, and L2 vocabulary knowledge (VK). To this end, surveys were administered to 75 Iranian advanced EFL participants. Analyses of the data revealed a mutual relationship between the Iranian EFL learners' EI and their L2 VK. Similarly, a positive correlation was found between their CT ability and L2 VK. Additionally, it was revealed that some components of EI enjoy a robust role in predicting the participants' L2 VK. Finally, gender was found not to impact the correlation between the participants' CT ability and their L2 VK. Findings suggest that EFL instructors might reserve a good space in their programs to further nourish and build features of EI and CT ability in the future generations of their L2 learners.