Exploring the relationship between multilingual and monolingual high school students' emotional intelligence and their intercultural sensitivity

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Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Yildiz Technical University, Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Languages, Turkey

Approval Date: 2024

Thesis Language: English

Student: Ceren Cömert

Supervisor: Suzan Kavanoz

Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection

Abstract:

The developments in technology have led to a characteristic change of the world. It is getting more and more globalized, interdependent and interconnected as time passes. This new world with its new characteristics brings people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds together both in virtual platforms or in real life. Thus, the ability to understand others, to share their emotions and to respect differences gains more importance in this world where everyone is unique with their own ideas and values. This study aimed to investigate whether being multilingual offers advantages to high school students in Emotional Intelligence and Intercultural Sensitivity, which are important skills in the globalized world of the 21st century and it aimed to explore whether there is relationship between EI and IS of monolingual and multilingual high school students in a multicultural context. 708 students at seven different public high schools in Mardin province, which is a multicultural city located in the southeastern part of Türkiye, participated in the study. Data were gathered through the Turkish adapted version of Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Short Form (TEIQue-SF) and Turkish translated version of Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS). The findings revealed that there is no significant difference between monolingual and multilingual high school students in terms of their emotional intelligence. No significant difference was found between monolingual and multilingual high school students in terms of their intercultural sensitivity. The results showed a positive significant relationship between EI and IS of both monolingual and multilingual high school students. Keywords: emotional intelligence, intercultural sensitivity, monolingualism, multilingualism