The Impact Of Attachment Patterns And Emotional Intelligence On Language Achievement

Nowadays the research on emotional intelligence(EI) has caught more and more attention, whose important influence on foreign language learning has been confirmed in numerous studies. Attachment, known as a child’s emotional bond to his or her caregiver, has been proved to significantly explain EI and regarded as a good predictor of EI, which also has significant impacts on foreign language learning. The aim of this study is threefold:(1) to examine the general situations of Chinese junior middle school students’ attachment patterns and EI;(2) to see the relationship between students’ attachment patterns and their EI;(3) to explore the impact of students’ attachment patterns and EI on their second language achievement.240 junior middle school students are selected as sample of this study who are in grade eight in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Data in this study is collected by adopting two questionnaires, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form(TEIQue-SF) and Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised Child Version(ECR-RC), which are used to examine the current situations of students’ attachment patterns and EI. And then a series of statistical procedures, such as Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and Regression Analysis is conducted to explore the relationships among students’ attachment patterns, EI and their second language achievement. In addition, face-to-face interview is also used to provide qualitative research support for this study.Results show that the level of students’ EI is relatively satisfactory yet still needs improvement and more than half students are with insecure attachment. Besides, there is a significantly positive relationship between students’ secure attachment and their EI while the relationship of insecure attachment and EI is negatively related. Furthermore, secure attachment and EI have positive impacts on students’ second language achievement but insecure attachment negatively affects their second language achievement.