The effectiveness of guided emotional writing on emotional intelligence and emotional discourse of pre-service preschool teachers

The purpose of this study was to enhance preservice early childhood teachers’ emotional intelligence and their ability to engage in emotional discussions through guided emotional writing. The participants were students enrolled in elective professional courses in early childhood teacher education. A quasi-experimental design was adopted to implement a guided emotional writing instructional intervention, with comparisons made between the experimental group and the control group. The results indicated that the experimental group showed a gradual increase in the use of “causal words” and “mental-state words.” Their scores on the Emotional Intelligence Scale were higher than those of the control group. In addition, their emotional discourse during picture book discussions was superior to that of the control group in both quality and quantity. The findings of this study demonstrate that emotional writing can effectively enhance preservice teachers’ emotional intelligence and emotional discourse performance. The results may serve as an important reference for early childhood teacher education programs.