Emotional Intelligence of Chinese Teachers and its Impact on Classroom Dynamics and Student Engagement

This research investigates the correlation between teachers' emotional intelligence and classroom dynamics, as well as the level of involvement shown by students in a university environment through a descriptive correlational methodology. Using Daniel Goleman's framework, the assessment focused on many aspects of emotional intelligence, including self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. The study also assessed the dynamics inside the classroom, including how it was managed, the instructional tactics used, the overall atmosphere, the level of differentiation, and the effectiveness of communication. Additionally, it examined the level of student involvement, including the meaningfulness of activities, the students' sense of competence, the support for their autonomy, the extent of collaborative learning, and their orientation towards mastery. Validated self-designed questionnaires were used to gather data from 30 instructors and 900 students. The findings reveal that instructors assessed their emotional intelligence as moderate, with empathy being the greatest and social skills being the lowest. Students evaluated classroom dynamics as somewhat successful in managing, creating an atmosphere, adapting to individual needs, and effectively using teaching methods and communicating. The engagement levels were moderate for meaningful activities and mastery orientation but low for competence, autonomy support, and collaborative learning. Correlation analysis indicated that there were no significant connections between teachers' overall emotional intelligence and students' assessments of classroom dynamics or participation. This implies that emotional intelligence does not directly impact these elements.