الفهرس 
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Abstract
COVID-19 has brought countless challenges and potential threats to well- being: physical, economic, social, and emotional. Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic is greatly exacerbating a challenge that digital media use has already wrought on the current generation: limited opportunities for social and emotional learning and reduction in social and emotional well-being. Though virtual platforms have given children and youth the chance for some form of socially distanced connection during COVID-19, research shows that it cannot take the place of face-to-face interaction for building social and emotional skills.
Children need social and emotional instruction, practice, and feedback during sustained interaction and collaboration. In contrast, time spent on devices is linked to lower self-control, more distractibility, less emotional stability, and more difficulty making friends. Social and emotional development was in peril prior to the pandemic. After this time apart, it will take systematic, intentional, and intensive efforts to get social and emotional learning back on track.
The COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously introduced new stressors and removed comforting connections and routines in the lives of children, teens, and adults alike. In addition to the many students who have lost loved ones to the virus, students may be struggling with concerns about health and safety, social
isolation, or the difficulties of learning remotely. They may worry about food insecurity or stable housing as unemployment rises. They may be carrying an added burden of anxiety amidst the increasingly tumultuous racial and political climate. They are certainly missing out on innumerable cherished events and activities with families, friends, classmates, and teammates. All of this ongoing stress and loss will predictably take a toll on social connections, and emotional well-being. That is why social emotional learning (SEL) instruction has proven to be overwhelmingly beneficial now (Katie Rosanbalm, 2021).
SEL was initiated in 1994 by a group that included Daniel Goleman, author of Social Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence, and educator- philanthropist Eileen Rockefeller Growald, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has been a pioneer in the field of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
Social and emotional learning can be defined as the processes through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
(Weissberg, 2015)
To more fully describe SEL, The Collaborative for Academic, Social, Emotional Learning (CASEL) identifies five interconnected core competencies necessary for children‟s social and emotional wellbeing. These five competencies are as follows:
Self-awareness is being aware of how one‟s thoughts and emotions are connected to behavior. Self-awareness includes
optimism and confidence in one‟s abilities, while also acknowledging one‟s weaknesses.
Self-management is the ability to take personal responsibility for one‟s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Self- management includes adaptively coping with personal stress, exercising self-restraint, controlling impulsive reactions, and thoughtfully making decisions by considering the potential repercussions of one‟s actions. Self-management also includes setting goals and working toward those goals.
Social awareness is the ability to understand others‟ perspectives and to be thoughtful of others‟ feelings, even when we may disagree with their viewpoints. Being socially aware includes taking into account social and ethical norms and looking to trusted others for support.
Relationship skills form the basis for friendships and positive social interactions across the life span. Building healthy relationships requires strong two-way communication skills, such as clearly expressing one‟s thoughts and feelings and also listening to and understanding others‟ input. Relationships require give and take, such as offering help to others and asking for help when needed. Healthy relationships require cooperation, conflict resolution skills, and good personal judgment, such as resisting destructive peer pressure.
Responsible decision making is the ability to carefully weigh potential outcomes of one‟s decisions. This includes considering if a choice is safe, ethical, respectful of social norms, and if the outcomes will be beneficial to oneself and others. Responsible decision making also includes taking responsibility for one‟s actions (Mellssa Heath, 2017).
One way of introducing social emotional learning is through reading and during reading and literature classes as
reading helps learners to create characters, activate learners‟ minds, enrich their thoughts, widen their vision and enhance their knowledge. Reading plays a vital role in enhancing their ability to comprehend concepts and ideas. Furthermore, reading is an essential activity for enriching their vocabulary. Moreover, spelling improves when words are seen in print. The more the students read, the better their ability in both listening and pronunciation will be. How well a person can read will affect his/her ability to learn, to acquire knowledge and to communicate! Accordingly, it is important for students to be encouraged and assisted to read well in order to enhance their learning. Educators face difficulties with students who have limited skills in decoding and comprehending, and who lack motivation to read. They are less eager to participate in classroom reading settings. They may be hesitated or afraid of making errors (Le Fever; Moore & Wilkinson, 2003).
Reading books improves concentration and patience. It also helps children develop that patience and concentration, making them better at conversation and conflict resolution. Activities that build a child’s social emotional vocabulary help kids to better understand and express their emotions. Connecting feelings and experiences to concrete vocabulary words helps children develop more self- awareness and build better relationships with others. When we read, watch, or listen to stories, we show greater kindness and willingness to cooperate. We become more empathetic, and understand how others may react in a certain situation. After all, we are storytelling creatures.
Our brains are neurologically hardwired for stories, and a story-rich life is one key to building strong social- emotional learning (SEL) skills.
Literature is known to be a great channel for thought and emotional expression. Books and stories have always been used to promote social- emotional skills such as self-awareness, empathy, and self-management. Therefore, children‟s literature may be essential for children to build their social and emotional learning skills. When choosing children‟s literature, we often think of books that will promote a child‟s feelings of happiness, joy, trust, and love. The more competent children are with SEL skills, the more successful they will be in school and life in general.
The study examined ad answered the following main question:
What is the Effect of the Social-Emotional Learning Strategy on Promoting EFL Students’ SEL Competencies and Critical Reading Skills in the First Cycle of the Basic Education?
In order to answer the aforementioned question, the following sub-questions were answered:
1- What are the features of the SEL strategy?
2- What are the SEL competencies/ skills needed to promote critical reading?
3- What is the effect of the SEL strategy on promoting EFL students‟ critical reading skills?
4- What is the effect of the SEL strategies on promoting students‟ Social Emotional domain?
5.2 Pedagogical Implications:
The present study’s findings underscored the significant and effective role that Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies play in enhancing the critical reading skills of primary second-grade students in an international school setting. The intricacy of these skills is evident in the diverse components and
sub-skills that fall under critical reading. These skills extend beyond mere acquisition of foreign language vocabulary, encompassing various cognitive abilities crucial for English language learning in the Egyptian context. Consequently, the design and planning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curricula at the elementary level should incorporate SEL-based activities into teaching materials to support Egyptian children’s overall English proficiency and proficiency across all language skills.
The integration of SEL strategies into foundational FL curricula must consider the social, emotional, behavioral, and psychological needs of Egyptian elementary students. It becomes the duty of school leaders, educators, and teachers to facilitate the adoption of SEL strategies within educational settings. Moreover, education policymakers should explore avenues to expand SEL implementation in public schools across Egypt. Such an initiative could potentially revolutionize the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) process in the Egyptian public school system, aligning with the efforts of the Egyptian Ministry of Education to enhance English language instruction in the local context.
The SEL is of a paramount importance particularly at the early educational stages of children. Thus, teachers are required to have a correct perspective on the benefits, definitions and implementation ways of the SEL strategies. Teachers should be also equipped with correct solutions to overcome barriers and challenges of implementing SEL strategies. Teachers should be trained to handle the problem of short resources necessary for using the SEL strategies in the classrooms. Teachers should also be prepared to well organize their classroom times to adequately perform SEL-based activities and teaching instructions.
Due to the great importance of implementing SEL strategies, teacher preparation programs need to give priority for developing the pupil-teachers‟ ability to be eligible for carrying out these strategies in the classrooms and successfully train their students to learn and apply SEL skills within and outside schools.
5.3 Limitations of the Study:
• Initially, the participants were 64 students. However, two participants in each group were excluded due to their absence.
• At the beginning, the researcher found it difficult to convince the experimental participants of using the SEL strategies. However, they gradually got used to practice the SEL strategies due to the researcher‟s simplification of these strategies.
• Initially, some experimental students were hesitant to take part in the discussion either in groups or in pairs. The researcher had to motivate and encourage them to collaborate with their classmates.
• It was also difficult to coordinate with the experimental participants‟ parents due to their occupied schedules.
• The limited time of FL classes could be a barrier for full implementation of the SEL strategies.
• The FL syllabus restricted to some extent the researcher‟s skills to provide SEL practice opportunities to the experimental students.
• Initially, issues of school timetables along with other academic issues hindered the researchers‟ efforts to fully implement the SEL-based activities.
5.4. Findings of the study:
The findings of the current study are summed up below:
• The experimental group students outperformed their counterparts in the critical reading skills posttest as a whole due to the received instruction which utilized the SEL strategies.
• The experimental group students outperformed their counterparts in each skill of the critical reading sub-skills posttest due to the received instruction which utilized the SEL strategies.
• The higher development of the experimental group‟s critical reading skills as a whole is attributed to receiving instruction by employing the SEL strategies.
• The experimental participants had higher rating scores of the SEL competencies, namely self-awareness, self- management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.
5.5 Recommendations:
Below are recommendations based on the concluding findings:
1- Teachers‟ preparation programs should take into considerations equipping the Egyptian EFL teachers with training necessary for applying the SEL strategies in FL classes.
2- Designers of FL curricula and syllabi should incorporate the SEL strategies-based activities into the basic education schools textbooks.
3- The implementation of SEL strategies should be generalized to include the public schools as well.
4- Students in the basic education schools should be given more opportunities to practice SEL-based activities.
5.6 Suggestions for further Research:
Below is a list of tentative research topics that can be recommended for further research in the Egyptian EFL context:
1- A study may explore the potentiality of using SEL strategies in developing other FL skills of primary second grade students.
2- A replicable study might be conducted using similar samples and strategies in the Egyptian public schools.
3- The effect of using SEL strategies on the basic education school students‟ attitudes and motivation towards learning English can also be investigated.
4- A study may investigate the EFL teachers‟ perception of using SEL-based activities in providing FL instruction.
5- A study can be carried out to examine the planning of teachers‟ preparation programs in line with providing adequate to implement the SEL strategies.