The Impact of Socio-Emotional Learning on the Proficiency of EFL Learners: Case Study of Second Year EFL Students

Abstract

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a fundamental slice of the human education and development through which all people from different categories and ages acquire and apply the knowledge, and the skills needed in order to develop healthy identities, and achieve different objectives. This research is a case study that attempts to investigate the impact of social emotional learning on EFL learners, seeking for better learning outcomes. The objectives behind this work shed lights at the effectiveness of SEL programs in improving English language proficiency among students. and exploring how to incorporate strategies in English language education to enhance students’ communication skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities. To reach these aims, the work is based on a Mixed-Method approach allowing for a diversity of data which is collected from a sample of second year EFL students in the department of English, Tlemcen University. The work adopts 02 different research instruments, a questionnaire is administered to L1 students in the English department, which consists of open-ended questions that provide qualitative data, and close-ended questions that provide on the other hand quantitative data. Besides, a non-participant observation that takes place in the same class where the questionnaire is distributed and with the same participants to observe whether the teacher has an impact on his/her learners to develop SEL skills in their learning journey, and whether the students may have any classroom performance difficulties. A statistical analysis is used to analyze the close-ended questions, and a content analysis for the open-ended questions. The tools used addressed methodology, describe the study participants, data collection procedures and data analysis. As a result of this study, it was found that incorporating SEL principles and strategies into the English language teaching and learning process had a positive impact on the communication English skills, critical thinking and problem-solving abilities of L1 students. It also offers conclusions and implications based upon the study results with an emphasis on the use of SEL principles in teaching and learning process for analytic student’s development.