Examination of students' social emotional language learning competences at a university context

Over the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in interest in social and emotional learning (SEL) in education (Humphrey, 2013; Durlak, Domitrovich, Weissberg, & Gullotta, 2015). SEL is a global educational movement that is gaining traction and it is defined as the ability to detect and control emotions, solve problems efficiently, and form positive relationships with others (CASEL, 2003). One of the main target of this study is to investigate "Social Emotional Foreign Language Learning" (SEFLL) competences of university English language preparatory class students. This study also aims to investigate whether there are any significant differences in students' SEFLL competences based upon their demographic characteristics such as their gender, age, the school they graduated from, their place of growth, their parents' educational background, their parents' knowledge of foreign languages and their family income status. For the investigation of participants' SEFLL competences "Social Emotional Foreign Language Learning Scale" (SEFLLS), developed by Zaimoğlu (2018) was used. This study was conducted at the School of Foreign Languages of a Turkish university. The sample of this study consists of 746 university English language preparatory students. The results revealed that participants had relatively higher competency in social relations and decision-making competences compared to self-regulation. The results also revealed that participants' parents' knowledge of foreign language affected teheir SEFLL competences.