Exploring the Relationship Between Foreign Language Proficiency and Cultural Intelligence

This study employed a Persian Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) and a disclosed Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to explore the relationship between cultural intelligence (CQ) and English as a foreign language (EFL) proficiency. The administration of these two measures to one hundred forty five undergraduate university students majoring in various fields of knowledge in three Iranian universities showed that both the CQS and its Cognitive, Motivational, Behavioral, and Metacognitive factors are significantly but negatively related to the TOEFL and its structure subtest. However, when the EFL learners were divided into low, middle and high proficiency groups on the basis of their TOEFL scores, the scores of the middle proficiency group on the TOEFL and its structure subtest showed negatively significant correlations with the CQS and its Cognitive and Motivational factors indicating that only this group rate their own cultural intelligence higher in order to improve their low and developing EFL proficiency in general and its structure in particular. However, no significant relationships could be found between the reading subtest of the TOEFL and the CQS of low, middle (intermediate) and high proficiency groups. Neither did the four factors underlying the CQS correlate significantly with the reading subtest of the three groups. The implications are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.