Pre-service ELT teachers' level of cultural intelligence: A mixed method study

The primary purpose of this thesis study was to examine Turkish pre-service ELT (English Language Teaching) teachers' overall cultural intelligence (CQ). Besides, the Turkish pre-service ELT teachers' overall level of cultural intelligence and four dimensions of cultural intelligence were compared in terms of their gender, school types (state/private high school), dual citizenship status, overseas experiences, speaking multi-languages, and having international friends. The Turkish ELT pre-service teachers' cultural intelligence was also examined concerning the participants' age and school categories. A total of 126 Turkish pre-service ELT teachers was included in the study. All participants were selected from one of the large state universities in Turkey and were in their fourth year of their study. A mixed method research design was adopted for the purposes of the present study. The study was quantitative in that a larger group of participants were administered a "Cultural Intelligence (CQ)" scale yielding quantitative data. The scale consisted of three parts: participants' consent forms, participants' demographic information, and the scale itself that included twenty items, which represented "metacognitive CQ", "cognitive CQ", "motivational CQ", "behavioral CQ". As a statistical analysis tool, SPSS 24 was used. In relation to the qualitative phase of the present study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 interviewees via an online video conferencing software (Zoom). Content analysis was performed for the semi-structured interviews. The results of the present study indicated that Turkish pre-service ELT teachers' level of overall cultural intelligence was high. With regard to the sub-dimensions of CQ, the participants' metacognitive, motivational, behavioral cultural intelligence was higher, whereas their cognitive, cultural intelligence was found moderately higher. Gender as a variable showed no statistical difference in terms of overall CQ. However, the female participants' behavioral CQ was found higher than the male pre-service ELT teachers. As for the participants' having a dual citizenship status, the participants' overall CQ showed no statistical difference. However, the participants who had a dual citizenship demonstrated higher levels of metacognitive CQ than those of having a single citizenship. Moreover, the findings indicated that the participants who had foreign friends had significantly higher levels of CQ. The study also revealed that the participants' CQ significantly differed in terms of school categories (i.e. the types of high schools that they graduated from), indicating that the pre-service ELT teachers from Anatolian high schools seemed to report higher CQ levels than those who graduated from science and religious high schools. The findings of the current study underscored the significance of preparing Turkish pre-service ELT teachers to their future careers by equipping them with higher cultural intelligences and by carefully considering the contributing factors for the development of their CQ.