This article reports a study investigating the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) awareness-raising on Iranian university students' overall as well as variable-specific L2 motivation. The 136 participants (107 males, 29 females) were divided into a control group and an experimental group, both of which completed the same motivation questionnaire at the beginning and end of the study, with the latter receiving EI awareness-raising in seven sessions over a seven-week period. The results of paired and independent sample t tests showed that EI awareness-raising did not have any statistically significant positive effect on Iranian university students' overall L2 motivation, but they had a statistically significant positive effect on the Instrumentality- prevention aspect of L2 motivation. The study highlights the importance of becoming familiar with and applying three motivational strategies which may be considered as universal motivational strategies.