The role of social-emotional stability in English among Iraqi kindergarteners

Nowadays, second language learning, among young learners, is considered as one of the main subjects in the field of education around the world. Much research dealt with this subject and focused on the processes of second language learning among young learners. Researchers were trying to understand and diagnose young language learners' strengths and weaknesses. They came up with some evidence that showed language aptitude, gender, age, creativity, and motivation were among the elements that made young students be different from other students. Unlike other research, this study aimed to identify the role of social-emotional stabilities among young learners in second language learning. We specifically examined the influences of these skills in the process of second language learning. For this study, Margret kindergarten was chosen, and thirty-three children were randomly selected who applied for an English language course in the kindergarten. Eighteen of the selected children were females while the rest were males, and the age of the participants was between 4-5 years old. At the beginning of the English course, a pretest was conducted to measure the children's social and emotional skills. After data collection, the finding showed a significant relationship between social-emotional skills and second language learning. Those students who showed a high level of social-emotional skills were more active in learning their second language and passed the test of English proficiency with high degrees, while those students who showed a low level of social-emotional skills could not pass the English language test or passed with low degrees