An Analysis of Emotional Intelligence and Academic Performance of Four- Year Integrated B.Ed. Trainees

Emotional intelligence plays a vital role in accomplishing the determined objectives of mankind and promoting learning outcomes. For the first time psychologists, Mayer and Salovey coined and used the term “Emotional Intelligence” and defined it as the capacity or ability of an individual for perceiving, processing, knowing and regulating emotional information accurately in an effective manner involving Intra and inter abilities to guide one’s thinking to make certain changes in others. The objectives of the study were to investigate the emotional intelligence scores of four-year integrated B.Ed. Trainees, to compare the emotional intelligence scores of four-year integrated B.Ed. Trainees, in terms of their sex, to compare the academic performance scores of students having high and low emotional intelligence scores and to investigate the relationship between the emotional intelligence scores and academic performance scores of students. To accomplish the objectives of the present study, descriptive survey cum comparative cum correlational methods were used to accomplish the objectives. In the present study, 50 four-year integrated B.Ed. trainees were taken randomly, so the study sample consisted of 150 four-year integrated trainees of Gangadhar Meher University as a whole. To collect data from the sample groups Emotional Intelligence Scale developed by Nicola S. Schutte, John M. Malouff and Navjot Bhullar in 2008 was used, which consists of 33 items in a five-point scale having Cronbach’s alpha reliability of .90 and the test-retest reliability of .78. Along with that, academic performance scores of the last semester of students were taken. The findings of the study revealed that about 6% of students had high emotional intelligence scores and 94% had above-average emotional intelligence scores. The study revealed no significant difference between the emotional intelligence scores of boys and girls. It was also found that the academic achievement scores of students having high emotional intelligence scores were more as compared to the students having low emotional intelligence scores. The study also reported a significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence and the academic performance of students.

intelligence, but in this present era, advancement in the lifestyle of the individual has been noticing from the materialist perspective to a great extent. So, emotional intelligence plays a vital role in accomplishing the determined objectives of humanity and promoting learning outcomes. For the first time psychologists, Mayer and Salovey coined and used the term "Emotional Intelligence" and defined it as the capacity or ability of an individual for perceiving, processing, knowing and regulating emotional information accurately in an effective manner involving Intra and inter abilities to guide one's thinking to make certain changes in others. The research evidence shows that emotional intelligence helps individual to lead a happy life by providing a standard of intelligence to understand the emotional response. Emotional intelligence can be defined as the capacity of individuals to understand their own emotions and to differentiate between their different types of feelings. It is the advanced knowledge, skill, ability of individuals for perceiving, analyzing, managing and evaluating the emotion and different emotional constructs. Human beings show different emotional characteristics, feelings, excitements in their daily life, where emotional intelligence plays a vital role which enables human beings to receive emotions and coordinate them to understand the information related to them (Tyagi & Goutam, 2017).
The concept of emotional intelligence has been defined by different models; ability model, mixed model and trait model (Tyagi and Goutam, 2017). According to the ability model, emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to observe emotion, integrate emotion to check thought, understand emotion and regulate emotion to promote personal growth. According to the mixed model which was developed by Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence includes a group of a wide range of competencies and skills that drive the performance of the individuals. According to Cherry (2018), "emotional intelligence refers to an individual's capacity to understand and manage emotions". It also includes the chief five components. This mixed model of emotional intelligence is based on the following five constructs; self-awareness, selfregulation, social skill, empathy, and motivation.

Figure 1: Constructs of Emotional Intelligence
From the above dimensions, self-awareness mainly refers to the capacity of the individuals to understand and regulate their own emotions which is one of the critical parts of emotional intelligence. According to Goleman, if a person is having high self-awareness, then he has a good sense of humor and confidence. In addition to the above component, self-regulation refers to managing emotional development and regulation with proper expression. On the other hand, the social skills mainly indicated interpersonal contact of the individuals with others in their peer group. Empathy is emotional intelligence refers to the capacity of the individual to understand and know the feelings of other individuals. Last but not the least, motivation in emotional intelligence plays a vital role, which is closely concerned with self-motivation with some internal and external rewards.

Related Literatures
Parker et al. (2005) investigated the influence of emotional intelligence on the successful transition from high school to university. The findings of the study revealed that academically successful students had significantly higher levels of several different emotional and social competencies. Finally, the findings of the study implied that for the successful transition from high school to university, emotional intelligence plays a vital role. Fatum (2008) investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence and the academic performance of students and a significant correlation was found. Babelan and Moenikia (2010) investigated the role of emotional intelligence in predicting student's academic achievement in the distance education system by taking 328 samples. The Bar-On Emotional Quotient inventory with a Cronbach alpha reliability of 0.93 and academic mean scores of students was used for collecting relevant data. The findings revealed that emotional intelligence and its dimensions predict the academic achievement of students, which is statistically significant. Fayombo (2012) examined the emotional intelligence and academic performance of university students by taking 151 undergraduate psychology students in Barbados, West Indies by using Barchard (2001)'s Emotional Intelligence Scale. The study reported a positive correlation between the six components of the emotional intelligence scale and academic achievement; and a negative correlation with negative expressivity. Mohzan, et al., (2012) studied the influence of emotional intelligence on academic achievement among students of the Education Faculty, University Teknologi Mara.
The results of the study revealed that the selected students had a high level of emotional intelligence and the two domains of emotional intelligence were significantly and positively correlated with each other. Chamundeswari (2013) conducted a study on the emotional intelligence and academic achievement of higher secondary school students by taking 321 subjects. The emotional intelligence scale (Hydes et al., 2002) was used for collecting relevant data. The findings of the study revealed that both these two variables were positively related to each other. Chew, et al., (2013) conducted a cross-sectional study on emotional intelligence and academic achievement of medical students by taking a first and final year, medical students. The findings of the study made it clear that the total emotional intelligence score was a predictor of good overall continuous assessment, a negative predictor of a poor result overall and was significantly related to the marks of final year students. Tyagi and Gautam (2017) undertook a case study on the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement of the students. They reported that the academic achievement score of students is increasing with the increase of emotional intelligence score; there is a positive correlation between the two variables. Jan, et al., (2018) studied the link between emotional intelligence, library anxiety and academic achievement among university students and reported that all three variables showed a significant positive correlation. Jan and Anwar (2019) examined emotional intelligence, library use and academic achievement of university students and found that students with comparatively higher emotional intelligence scores frequently visited the library; they also reported a positive significant relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance. Pandey et al., (2019) studied the impression of emotional intelligence on the academic achievement of university students by applying different statistical tests like factor analysis, correlation and MANCOVA. The main findings of the study revealed a positive and strong correlation between each of the factors of emotional intelligence and ultimately, it leads that emotional intelligence has a positive influence on the academic performance of the students. After analyzing the research gaps from the above study, the investigators became interested in investigating emotional intelligence among foundyear integrated B.Ed. Students.

Rationale of the Study
Based on the analysis of the above-cited literature, some sorts of research gaps were found by the investigator, which arouse interest in researching emotional intelligence and academic achievement of students. The above-cited literature revealed that emotional intelligence and academic performance of the students both are positively related, which states that the academic achievement of the students increases with the increase of emotional intelligence scores (Fatum, 2008;Babelan and Moenikia, 2010;Fayombo, 2012;Chamundeswari, 2013;Chew, et al., 2013;Tyagi and Gautam, 2017;Jan, et al., 2018;Pandey et al., 2019). Emotional intelligence is vital in bringing academic success, balancing mental and physical health and attaining the fullest development of humanity. In this present era, every person has to be busy in their activities in such a way that they even don't get much more time to spend with their family. Most truly speaking, the students enrolled in the four-year integrated B.Ed. Programme in different universities has to cover up their subject with the B.Ed. Course starting from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm with a lunch break of an hour. Therefore, to measure the emotional development of the four-year integrated B.Ed. Students and to correlate with their academic performance, the present study was taken into account. The above literature also revealed that the emotional intelligence of the students positively influences their academic achievement, which makes it clear that the students had high emotional intelligence scores better as compared to the students having low emotional intelligence (Pandey et al., 2019). However, different studies have been conducted in different parts of the world, but a little study has been done in India, particularly in Sambalpur, Odisha. Therefore, taking into consideration the four-year integrated B.Ed. Trainees of Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur, Odisha, the present study was taken into account.

Statement of the Problem
As per the rationale of the present study, the following research questions emerged in the mind of the investigator for the investigation. 1. What is the level of emotional intelligence of a four-year integrated B.Ed. Trainees? 2. Is there any significant difference between the emotional intelligence scores of four-year integrated B.Ed. trainees in terms of their sex? 3. Is there any significant difference between the academic performance of students having high and low emotional intelligence scores? 4. Is there any relationship between emotional intelligence scores and academic performance scores of students? To find out the answers to the above-cited questions, the present study was taken into considerations titled 'An Analysis of Emotional Intelligence and Academic Performance of Four-Year Integrated B.Ed. Trainees'.

Objectives of the Study 1. To investigate the emotional intelligence among
four-year integrated B.Ed. trainees descriptively 2. To compare mean scores of emotional intelligence scores of four-year integrated B.Ed. trainees in terms of their sex 3. To compare mean scores of academic performance scores of students having high and low emotional intelligence scores. 4. To study the relationship between the emotional intelligence scores and academic performance scores of students.

Hypotheses of the Study
• The level of emotional intelligence among fouryear integrated B.Ed. Trainees are high. • There exists no significant difference between mean scores of emotional intelligence scores of four-year integrated B.Ed. trainees in terms of their sex. • There exists a significant difference between mean scores of academic performance scores of students having high and low emotional intelligence scores. • There exists a positive relationship between emotional intelligence scores and academic performance scores of students.

Delimitation of the Study
The present study was delimited to the emotional intelligence and academic performance of fouryear integrated B.Ed. trainees of Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur.

Method of the Study
In this present study, the primary purposes were to study the emotional intelligence of four-year integrated trainees, to investigate the relationship between the emotional intelligence and academic achievement of trainees and to compare the academic achievement of students having high and low emotional intelligence, therefore different quantitative research methods like descriptive survey cum causal comparative cum correlational methods were used combinedly to accomplish the above-cited objectives.

Population and Sample
All the students studying four-integrated B.Ed. Programme at Gangadhar Meher University was the population of the present study. As per the university data, the four-year integrated B.Ed. Programme was started for the first time in 2016 at Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur. So, presently the students of forth-year were busy in school internship program. Therefore, 50 students from each of the three-year (1st, 2nd, 3rd year) students were taken randomly, so the study sample consisted of 150 four-year integrated trainees of Gangadhar Meher University.

Tools and Techniques
To collect data from the sample groups, the following instruments were used in the present study.

Emotional Intelligence Scale
The standardized Emotional Intelligence scale developed by Nicola S. Schutte, John M. Malouff and Navjot Bhullar in 2008 was used, consisting of 33 items in a five-point scale having options like Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Undecided, Agree and Strongly Agree. The tool was based on four factors: perception of emotions, managing emotions in the self, social skills or managing others' emotions, and utilizing emotions. The internal consistency of the Emotional Intelligence Scale as measured by Cronbach's alpha was .90 and the test-retest reliability of the tool was .78 for total scale scores.

Academic Performance Score Card
A scorecard was prepared by the investigator, where the grade point average obtained by the selected students of four-year integrated in their last semester was noted down.

The procedure of Data Collection
To collect data from the selected sample group, the investigator took the permission of the Coordinator of a four-year integrated B.Ed. Programme, G. M. University, Sambalpur; and after taking permission personally, the investigator met with the students of the first, second and third year and administered the standardized emotional intelligence scale and collected relevant data, along with that the academic performance scores of the last semester were also collected.

Statistical Technique Used
As the present study was purely quantitative, so both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were employed to analyze the obtained data. However, to analyze the data regarding the emotional intelligence scores of students, the norm was followed, where the cut-off score of the scale was calculated and as per the cut-off score, the distribution was made like: high emotional intelligence, above average, average, below average and low emotional intelligence. On the other hand, for comparing mean t-test and for studying correlation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used in the present study.

Analysis and Interpretation Objective-1
The first objective of the present study was to examine the emotional intelligence of a four-year integrated B.Ed. trainee studying at Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur. To accomplish this objective, the emotional intelligence scale was administered and scoring was made strictly following the scoring guide; proper care was given to the scoring of negative and positive items. First of all, the raw score of each respondent was calculated and the cut-off score of the entire scale was calculated by multiplying the no. of items and the response options, which revealed that the range of the score was 33-165. Accordingly the result was interpreted.
The data mentioned in the above Table 2 revealed that about 94% of respondents were having above average emotional intelligence scores; on the other hand near about 6% of respondents were having high emotional intelligence score. So, it can be said that all the four-year integrated B.Ed. trainees have above-average emotional intelligence scores.

Figure 2: Percentage of Emotional Intelligence scores
The above Figure-2 represents the same data as obtained from the above Table No. 2, where it was found that near about 6% of students were having the highest emotional intelligence scores and 94% were having above-average emotional intelligence scores, so it can be concluded that all the fouryear integrated B.Ed. Students had high emotional intelligence scores.

Objective-2
The second objective of the study was to compare the emotional intelligence scores of fouryear integrated B.Ed. trainees. Here, after the data scoring, the entire data of emotional intelligence was divided into two parts viz: boys and girls; then the data was inserted in SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) and 't' test was employed for mean comparison. The below table shows the result of the t-test. The above Table No. 3 depicts the mean, SD, N, df and t-value of both boys and girls in terms of their emotional intelligence. It reveals that the t-value is 0.537 which is not significant at 0.05 level of significance with df 148, which indicates that the mean emotional intelligence scores of four-year integrated boys and girls do not differ significantly as the obtained t-value (0.537) was less than the table value (1.98) at 0.05 level of significance. Thus, the null hypothesis that is there is no significant difference between the mean emotional intelligence scores of boys and girls is accepted. Hence, it can be concluded that boys and girls don't differ significantly in terms of emotional intelligence scores.

Objective-3
The third objective was to study the impact of emotional intelligence on the academic performance of the students, here to study the impact two separate groups were formed viz: one group of students having above-average emotional intelligence score and other group having below-average emotional intelligence score, for this purpose the mean of the raw scores obtained by the students was calculated and accordingly two groups were formed. Then, the academic performance scores of students having above and below average emotional intelligence core were compared; the table depicted below gives clear information about the same.
The below Table no. 4 provides information about the mean, SD, N, df and t-value of the academic performance of students having above and below average emotional intelligence scores. The below table reveals that the obtained t-value (2.442) is greater than the table value at 0.05 level of significance (1.98) with 148 df. Thus the alternate hypothesis i.e. there exists a significant difference between the academic performance of students having above and below average emotional intelligence scores, is at this moment accepted. So, it is stated that there is a significant difference in the means of these two groups, where the group of students having aboveaverage EI is more as compared to the other group, so it is at this moment revealed that students with higher emotional intelligence scores are performing better than the students having lower EI scores. So, finally, it can be stated that there is the positive impact of emotional intelligence on the academic performance of a four-year integrated B.Ed. trainees.

Objective-4
The fourth objective of the study was to examine the relationship between the emotional intelligence scores of four-year integrated B.Ed. trainees. To accomplish this objective, the emotional intelligence scores and academic performance scores of the students were arranged and inserted in SPSS and Pearson's product-moment coefficient of correlation was calculated, which is depicted in the table below. The above table-5 provides information about the variable names, N and coefficient correlation value. It is found that the Pearson's productmoment coefficient of the correlation value is 0.662, which indicates a strong positive correlation. The coefficient of correlation value 0.662 is greater than the table value at 0.01 level i.e. 0.208, so the result is significant at 0.01 level of significance. Thus, the formulated alternate hypothesis i.e. there is a positive relationship between the emotional intelligence and academic performance of students, is accepted. So, it can be said that the academic performance scores of students increase with the increase of emotional intelligence scores of the students; on the other hand, the academic performance scores of students decreases with the decrease of their emotional intelligence score.

Main Findings
• The findings of the study revealed that about 6% of students had high emotional intelligence scores and 94% had above-average emotional intelligence scores. • The study revealed no significant difference in mean scores of emotional intelligence between boys and girls. • The study revealed a significant difference in mean scores of academic performances of students having above and below average emotional intelligence scores, which reveals that the academic achievement scores of students having high emotional intelligence scores were more as compared to the students having low emotional intelligence scores. • The study also reported a significant positive correlation between the emotional intelligence and academic performance of students.

Discussion of the Results
The present study revealed that most of the students are having high emotional intelligence scores; it also revealed no significant difference between the academic performance of boys and girls. The study also revealed the positive impact of emotional intelligence on the academic performance of students; and also reflects that the emotional intelligence scores of students are strongly and positively associated with the academic performance of students; this finding is similar to the findings of most of the related literature (Fatum, 2008;Babelan and Moenikia, 2010;Fayombo, 2012;Chamundeswari, 2013;Chew, et al., 2013;Tyagi and Gautam, 2017;Jan, Sureshkumar, 2018;Anwar and Warraich, 2018;Pandey et al., 2019).

Implications of the Study
The present study reveals that emotional intelligence is strongly associated with the academic performance scores of students; thus, in-classroom situation emphasis should be given for the increase of emotional intelligence scores through different approaches, which will ultimately result higher academic performance among the students. So, the students should be emotionally developed, which will result higher academic success in life. The study of emotional intelligence has implications for teachers, students and all the stakeholders of education. In this present situation, there is a need to develop emotional intelligence among undergraduate students to a great extent.

Suggestions for Further Research
• Similar studies can be conducted by increasing the sample size and taking students from Integrated B.Ed.-M.Ed., as in this study, only Integrated B.Ed. Students are taken into consideration. • A perception study can be conducted to identify the factors that contribute to the increase of emotional intelligence of the students at different levels of education. • An experimental study can be conducted to identify the impact of some psychological constructs on the emotional intelligence of students. • A correlational study can be conducted to identify the relationship between emotional intelligence and other psychological concepts like metacognition, self-efficacy, etc.

Conclusion
After the analysis of the above findings, it can be said that emotional intelligence plays a vital role in increasing the academic performance of students at different levels of their education, from which it is reflected that in school and college level efforts should be made by the stakeholders to develop the emotional intelligence of the students to a great extent, which will ultimately help them for their allround development. It is not the duty of a teacher only to inspire the children for the development of their emotional intelligence; it is the duty of everyone directly and indirectly associated with the education of the students. We all know that today's education system is directed towards quality education in terms of higher academic achievement in the group. Still, in other ways, the present education system in some part of the country is confined to the four walls of the schools and colleges, which hampers the all-round development of the students, so adequate efforts should be made to visualize and balance the same for the development of both scholastic and nonscholastic abilities of the students. It is a fact that academic procrastination negatively influences the academic performance of students (Baral, et al., 2020), so developing emotional intelligence among students may help to get rid out of this issue.