چكيده
The present study is designed to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and thinking styles of Iranian bilingual EFL learners. To this end, a total of 200 learners of both genders were selected randomly. In terms of meeting the requirements for mono/bilingualism the researcher had in mind, 100 bilingual EFL learners were selected out of 650 students studying at Payame Noor University in Tabriz, and 100 monolingual EFL learners were chosen out of 160 students studying at Shahid-Beheshti University in Tehran. In the process of the research, the three instruments, namely demographic questionnaire, Bar-On’s (1997) domestically standardized test (widely known as Emotional Quotient Inventory ), and Sternberg and Wagner’s (1992) Thinking Styles Inventory (TSI) were used. The results were indicative of the existence of significant differences between monolingual and bilingual learners in terms of emotional intelligence. Also, it was found that there is no significant difference between monolingual and bilingual regarding their thinking styles. Moreover, the last set of analyses revealed that there is significant relationship between learners’ emotional intelligence and their executive and judicial thinking styles. However, there is no significant relationship between learners’ emotional intelligence and their legislative thinking styles. The findings of the present study highlighted the need for emphasizing two concepts of emotional intelligence and thinking styles in EFL context.
