Research Article: Impact of Innovative Emotion Training in Preschool and Kindergarten Children Aged from 3 to 6 Years
Abstract:
Children’s emotional abilities have been shown to be related to academic performance, peer acceptance, and in-school adjustment. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of innovative emotion training designed to promote the emotional abilities of 316 preschool/kindergarten children aged from 3 to 6 years old enrolled in public schools in the first three levels (L1, L2, and L3). Another objective was to examine the transfer effects on language comprehension and mathematics abilities. The emotion training (eight sessions) focused on the identification, comprehension, and expression of emotions and were co-constructed with teachers. Children were tested before and after the training on emotion, language, and mathematics skills. Results showed an improvement in emotional abilities in young children of L1 (3–4 years) and L2 (4–5 years) in the intervention group compared to those in the non-intervention group. Also, although children’s emotion basic abilities were correlated with their language comprehension and mathematics abilities, the nature of this link was not demonstrated to be causal. Findings are discussed in regard to the influence of the level and in regard to links with academic variables.
Introduction:
A recent large-scale meta-analysis showed a significant link between student’s emotional abilities and school performance from elementary to university levels [1]. The ability models of emotional intelligence (EI) conceptualize EI as a cognitive ability. The following four main abilities were generally identified [2]: (a) emotional perception, (b) ability to integrate emotional information and then use it as an input or support in cognitive tasks or decisions, (c) comprehension of emotions, and (d) emotional…
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