DEVELOPING THE SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING MODEL TO PROMOTE NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND MOTIVATION TOWARD BUSINESS ENGLISH COMMUNICATION

Abstract

            This study presented the social and emotional learning in an academic environment that inspired non-English major students, allowing them to focus on how and what they will learn for. A case study was done to explore this research method with a sample of twenty freshmen students with different background, work experiences and ages. It aimed to find out if offering social and emotional supporting strategies can enhance twenty students categorized as field independent and field sensitive learners. The objectives of this study were to: (1) offer social and emotional learning support to students in an academic environment; and (2) develop the positive attitudes of non-major students who are learning Business English communication in order for the teachers to adjust their teaching methodologies for students in a small class. The researcher explored learners’ problems both in oral and written communication by using strategy review on conversation strategies: controlling the language; checking and confirming; and reflecting and reacting. It was found that students preferred smaller classes for non-major related courses and perceived positive emotions as enhancers for their language learning process. The findings revealed that implementing social emotional learning into classroom is an effective way of 21^st century learning and life skills.