EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE INFLUENCE ON COLLEGE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE INTERACTIONS IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

This study examined the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) and cultural intelligence (CI)
on English language development, interaction, and academic performance among Nigerian
college students. Recognizing that linguistic proficiency extends beyond cognition to
encompass socio-emotional and intercultural competencies, a structured questionnaire was
administered to 100 students randomly selected from three Colleges of Education. The analysis
of data employed descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, ANOVA, and multiple regression
to evaluate five hypotheses. The findings indicated substantial positive correlations between
cognitive intelligence (CI) and English language development, CI and interaction, as well as
emotional intelligence (EI) and language development (p < 0.05). The combined influence of
EI and CI was also significant, indicating that students with greater emotional stability,
empathy, adaptability, and cross-cultural awareness demonstrate stronger communicative
competence. Additionally, cultural exposure was found to enhance language fluency,
confidence, and engagement. The study concludes that embedding emotional and cultural
intelligence frameworks into English language pedagogy can advance holistic learning. It
recommends developing affective instructional models that integrate emotional regulation and
intercultural understanding for sustainable linguistic growth.