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ABSTRACT
Given the facts that the teaching styles of the instructors affect the academic success and the motivation of the students, and that the ability to use emotions effectively enhances the quality of teaching, this study aimed to investigate whether emotional intelligence of teachers predicted their teaching styles.Relational screening model was used in the study and the total sample consisted of 355 elementary school teachers, 177 male and 178 female, who were randomly selected from 18 schools in Konya in 2015.The Turkish version of Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire - Short Form (TEIQue - SF) and Grasha-Reichmann Teaching Style Inventory were used as data gathering instruments. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between the emotional intelligence of the teachers and their teaching styles in all the sub scales, namely expert, formal authority, personal model, facilitator and delegator. The results suggest that as emotional intelligence is a significant factor that affects the teaching styles of teachers, it is quite likely to help them in improving the quality of education.
JEL Classification: I20.
Keywords: Emotional Intelligence; Teaching Styles; Elementary School.
1.INTRODUCTION
The manners or codes that teachers adopt and perform while teaching affect the learning process. Pedagogical content knowledge, professional competence, communication skills and teaching experience of teachers play significant role in forming their teaching styles as well as their individual characteristics like intelligence, interest and socio-cultural background. While there is no agreed definition of teaching styles as a term, it could be said the definitions that refer to it as "a set of teaching tactics" (Galton, Simon and Croll, 1980) and "a set of attitudes and actions that open a formal and informal world of learning to the student" (Butler, 1984) give a general outline for it. According to Grasha (1996), teaching styles are a part of the dynamic structure in the classroom. Grasha and Yangarber-Hicks (2000) stated that teaching styles are formed in accordance with the teacher's feelings, beliefs and attitudes related with the subjects to be taught. Similarly, Heimlich and Norland (2002) argued that teaching styles are formed as congruence between an educator's teaching behaviours and teaching beliefs.
In various studies, it was argued that teacherswho usually repeat what worked in their learning process tend to teach...