Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement on Test Anxiety among EFL Learners: an Experimental Study

Emotional Intelligence (EI also EQ) is an affective factor capable of being enhanced, (Test) Anxiety is another affective factor capable of being reduced. The present study is based on examination of possible impact(s) of enhancing Emotional Intelligence on the reduction of Test Anxiety among Iranian university students. For this purpose, 45 students in intervention and control conditions completed the "Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire" and filled Sarason Test Anxiety Scale; afterwards, they received instructions on EQ and strategies to enhance it. At the end of the course, the same Test Anxiety Questionnaire was administered to the participants. By the use of descriptive statistics and independent samples t-test the data were analyzed. The analysis of the data uncovered that there is a significant difference in the reduction of studentsʹ Test Anxiety in experimental group. The results can shed light on how students’ emotional intelligence enhancement influences Test Anxiety and also possibly in a broader scale, testing outcomes.