A teacher's attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, and skills are referred as ‘professional identity' that affects students. Research has focused on knowledge and skills but, downplayed teacher's emotional intelligence. Studies states that teachers' emotional intelligence affects how student engage. There are a few studies on the relationship between emotional intelligence of teachers and student engagement. This study aims to assess the relationship of student engagement with professional identity and emotional intelligence of language teachers. This study is conducted on 30 language teachers and their respective current students. For this, standardized tools were used for the assessment of variables undertaken for the study. The data was analysed statistically. The findings states that professional identity and emotional intelligence of language teachers is significantly positively correlated with student engagement. So, language teachers who are emotionally intelligent and have a healthier professional identity engage students to a higher level.
TopIntroduction
Humans are called “rational animals” or “social animals”. Humans are similar to other animals or organisms in various ways, but there are a few things that make them different than other species, like: the anatomy of the brain, language, self-awareness, abstract and rational thoughts, moral behaviour, reasoning and culture. Among these factors, language plays a pivotal role in making humans superior to other kinds. It is because, through language, only his/her awareness, thinking, and behaviour can be expressed. Language facilitates communication not only on a personal level, but also on an academic, professional, and social level. So, due to the crucial role of language, it is studied or taught to children in their early years as a subject. Children's acquisition of language skills is facilitated by the early use of language in educational settings and at home. A command of the language makes an individual more skilled at conveying his/her thoughts and ideas in a better way.
Language is taught to students in their further educational institutes as a major subject. Learning in any subject requires understanding and rapport between the students and teacher. This rapport is formed by the teacher in various ways. Personality, subject knowledge, communication skills, appearance, interpersonal abilities, experience, teaching methods, political affiliations, gender, ethnicity, values and beliefs. All these factors contribute to a teacher's rapport with students. Previously, it was discovered that mastery or command over subject matter or material was only one of the defined criteria of being a “good teacher” (Hoyle & John, 1995). Along with the revolution in the educational sector, the criteria for a good educator have been redefined. Nowadays, it is considered that teachers not only transmit knowledge, but they also play the role of classroom manager and learning facilitator as well (Vermunt, 1995). It is crucial for teachers to have this knowledge in order to improve programmes, create effective activities, provide students with top-notch explanations, and accurately identify students' comprehension and errors. Along with this, it is necessary to have a connection or engagement with students. This engagement consists of understanding of things going on in students’ minds and using better communication techniques to learn about the personal issues of students. All these factors a teacher has in his personal and professional life are collectively known as the “identity” of an individual (Beijaard, 1995; Hanna et al., 2020; Trent, 2010).