Development of Social and Emotional Intelligence in Art Students at Foreign Language Classes

The article deals with the development of social and emotional intelligence in art students at foreign language classes. Social and emotional intelligence is important for various spheres of a person’s life, as they increase their professional and personal success and improve their social interaction. For art professionals, a high level of social and emotional intelligence helps to improve communication with the audience as well as to feel more deeply social and emotional phenomena that need to be reflected through art. The article analyzes the features of social and emotional intelligence as psychological phenomena, their common and distinctive features. By comparing the structural components of social and emotional intelligence, their close relationship and the importance of complex development for the individual are proven. The authors made a theoretical analysis of the definition and understanding of social and emotional intelligence in modern psychology. An empirical study was conducted to investigate the level of emotional intelligence in art students of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (NAFAA), Kyiv. The research method was Hall test of emotional intelligence, which measures the general level of emotional intelligence, as well as its level according to scales. The results of the empirical study show that the students have mostly a low level of emotional intelligence. The article attempts to provide recommendations how to foster emotional intelligence development at foreign language classes which take into account students’ psychological characteristics and future profession. The practical results of the study can be applied at foreign language classes at art universities in order to increase students’ social and emotional intelligence. Key words: social intelligence, emotional intelligence, foreign language classes, methods of developing emotional intelligence, empathic listening, empathic discussion, holistic learning.