Emotional intelligence as a predictor of information-seeking behavior among English as a foreign language (EFL) learners

This study investigated the impact of the emotional competencies on students’ information-seeking behaviors in resource-constrained environments among 2 years English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. The Wilson model of information behavior and Wong and Law’s Emotional Intelligence framework was adopted and a quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used. The population of the suty comprised of 177 secondary, intermediate, and undergraduate students aged 13–18 years were selected using stratified random sampling technique. The study concludes that the respondents’ emotional intelligence was very high, especially in the dimensions of self-emotional appraisal and the use of emotion. Students’ access to informal digital resources (social media, search engines, AI tools) was much greater than their access to formal academic databases and library resources. The correlation analysis revealed a positive, significant correlation between overall emotional intelligence (EI) and information seeking (IS) among ELF learners. Though, regression analysis showed that the individual facets of emotional intelligence had little predictive power for the structured information-seeking practices. The findings reveals that emotional intelligence is useful for motivating, persisting, and overcoming psychological obstacles to students’ information seeking. The findings further indicates that it is not enough to overcome structural barriers such as digital literacy, limited access to information sources, and a lack of support for academic resources in the library. The study thus, highlights the need for holistic educational programs that include emotional development and information literacy trainings in the context of educating disadvantaged EFL learners.