On the Relationship between Iranian EFL Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence and Classroom Management Styles across Gender

Classroom management is an indispensable piece of the teacher’s career since a teacher who isunable to manage the classroom effectively cannot cause an efficient teaching. Thus, the presentstudy investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ emotional intelligence and its relationship withclassroom management styles in private language institutes. To this end, Martin, et al.’s (۱۹۹۸)Attitudes and Beliefs on Classroom Control Inventory (ABCC), and Bar-On’s (۱۹۹۷) EmotionalIntelligence (EI) questionnaire were administered to ۱۶۰ Iranian EFL teachers working in privatelanguage institutes. The analysis of the findings through Pearson correlation revealed thatinterpersonal (r= .۲۳۹, p= .۰۰۲), adaptability (r= .۳۱۸, p= .۰۰۰), and general mood (r= .۱۶۲, p=.۰۴۱) sub-scales had a significant positive correlation with instructional management. Moreover,interpersonal (r= .۱۶۲, p=.۰۴۱) and general mood (r= .۲۶۵, p= .۰۰۱) sub-scales had a significantpositive correlation with the people management. Finally, interpersonal (r= .۱۰۷, p=.۰۰۹) andgeneral mood (r= .۱۲۵, p= .۰۰۸) sub-scales had a significant positive correlation with thebehavior management. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated a significant positive correlationbetween Iranian EFL teachers’ total emotional intelligence and total classroom managementstyles. (r= .۲۱۶, p= .۰۰۶). Finally, statistically significant differences among teachers' classroommanagement styles (but not their EI) were found with respect to gender. The pedagogical andtheoretical implications were accordingly discussed.