EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AS A GROWTH DRIVER FOR STUDENTS' ASSERTIVENESS WITHIN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

In the context of a need for lifelong learning as a factor determining success of a modern qualified specialist in the international labor market, assertiveness and creativity of an individual throughout the process of self-education are of a top priority. Formation of the latter is in the stage of a significant progress during the period of study at university, since by this very moment students have formed a conscious attitude towards such activities, connected with vision of their future professional growth. The authors suppose that Emotional Intelligence (EI) can be a major source of creativity and assertiveness of a specialist, as it enormously contributes to further development of an effective motivation for continuous learning, as well as to an awareness of a need for a creative approach to it. Development of EI and Emotional Awareness (EA), in its, turn, is directly related to metacognitive practices, being implemented in a classroom and incorporated into assignments for students' individual work. This research examined the relationships between the current level of EI of a student and a level of one's motivation formation for further continuous self-education and creative thinking. According to the hypothesis of the authors, higher level of emotional intelligence being achieved via development of metacognitive practices allows to form in students a genuine assertiveness in self-educational activities and a possible creative approach to these, rather than teach them how to fit into particular circumstances conditioning them to behave in a prescribed manner. The research was conducted on 234 students from Russian universities in different cities in 2016-2017 academic year. Classroom activities of the research participants were structured in the way to maximally contribute to the EI development, with an emphasis on the formation of self-education strategies and an ability to make independent, non-standard decisions. Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), metacognitive practices, and interviewing of participants were used to test hypotheses of the research. Application of metacognitive practices were aimed at enhancing creative thinking of a student, as metacognition can promote/boost problem solving skills, and interplay between metacognitive activities and creative thinking is of great importance. The authors contemplated on the phenomenon of metacognitive activities through the prism of its insights on emotional awareness and emotional management. EA of a participant, educational climate of classroom activities have been taken as an explanatory mechanism to understand the relationships between the level of EI and students' creativity and conscious assertiveness in the extracurricular activities. The findings of the study revealed (1) the significant effect of metacognitive practices on EI development; (2) the direct relationship between the EA of a person and ability to be creative and active in the self-educational process; (3) making extracurricular classes within the educational environment conducive to EI development exhibits the highest student's creativity when a student showed more proactive position and when the climate of training was favorable for creativity; (4) more developed EI forms a truly creative and active approach to educational activities, but not its imitation; (5) developed EI is inevitably interconnected with Cognitive Flexibility (CF) (degree of being categorical/rigid or lenient), as vague motivation and relatively blurry level of EI entails lowered CF, that can be a reason of a poor adaptability to new environment and conditions.