Gender, ethnic, field of study and their relationship with emotional intelligence among Malay Language students

This study aims to look at gender, ethnicity, students’ field of study and their relationship with emotional intelligence when learning the Malay language. The study used questionnaires research tool which was conducted on 400 students in form 4 in ten selected schools in Miri district, Sarawak. The emotional intelligence questionnaire used the Inventory Salovey and Mayer Emotional Intelligence; consisting of five domains, which are: recognising their own emotions, managing their own emotions, motivating negative emotions, recognizing emotions of others and handling relationships. Data were analyzed using the 18.0 version of The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Inferential statistical t-test, one way Anova and Pearson correlation were used to explain and test the hypothesis. The results showed that the highest emotional intelligence of students is emotional intelligence to manage their own emotions. The t-Test analysis showed significant differences between emotional intelligence and gender, race and the students field of study. The Pearson correlation analysis showed a significant negative relationship between emotional intelligence and pupils’ achievement with the students’ mean score in the Malay Language. The implications of the studies show that teachers should take into account the various aspects of emotional intelligence within students in planning teaching and learning activities in Malay Language classes. High levels of emotional intelligence can help students achieve academic success in the Malay Language.