Volume 5 - Issue 14 (2026-05-20)

The Relationship Between Iraqi EFL Students' Cultural Intelligence, Spiritual Intelligence, And Communication Competence

Dr: Rafid Ala Mjead

Open Educational College – Karbala Center

AbstractIt examines the correlation between cultural intelligence, spiritual intelligence and communication competence among a sample of Iraqi English as Foreign LanguageEFL students. Although multiple intelligences have received increasing recognition in language education research, only a few studies have addressed how cultural and spiritual intelligences simultaneously impact communicative abilities within specific educational environments like Iraq that are affected by conflict. This research is conducted in the context of a quantitative correlational design and surveys Iraqi university students who are in an English language studies major. Results show that cultural intelligence and communication competence have a significant positive correlation, and spiritual intelligence has a significant positive correlation with communication competence. The results also provide evidence that cultural intelligence is a stronger predictor of communication competence than spiritual intelligence, although both constructs make a meaningful contribution to overall communicative effectiveness for students. These findings indicate that Iraqi EFL teachers need to include intercultural awareness and spiritual development in their language curricula in order for students to be able to communicate effectively. This research adds to the developing literature on MI in EFL environments and also has practical implications for curriculum development in historical contexts or post-conflict education writers.