Mayor and Salovey (1990) introduced EI firstly. Since then, scholars such as Bar-On, Goleman etc. also did researches on EI. It became a critical topic and was taken into consideration in various fields, such as job performance (Ernest H. O’Boylejr et al, 2011), academic achievement (K.V Petrides et al, 2004; Paloma Gil-Olarte Marquez et al, 2006), etc. More recently, increasing interests has been drawn to EI and second-language learning (Vida Azizi, 2012). Therefore, it is natural to assume that whether there is a positive relationship between EFL students’ EI and their foreign language achievement. The question is that the more EFL learners possess emotional intelligence, the more successful they would become in learning a foreign language. Furthermore, currently there is a need for more fresh studies explaining the relationships between EI and different facets of EFL, such as writing, listening, speaking, and reading.
Since there are few researches focus on the relations between reading achievement and EI, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether EI as well as its various components are respectively associated with reading achievement, i.e. whether EI can predict reading learning achievement. It is hoped that the information obtained from this study would be able to evoke the attention on the importance of these issues so as to contribute to the language education, and provide EFL students with a better second language learning experience.