The Relationship Between Multiple Intelligence And Successful Second Language Learning

Gardner (1983) suggested that there is more than one factor for evaluating human thinking. He called it multiple intelligences. Since then this approach has grabbed a lot of attention in different fields especially in education. It illustrates that how learning is different across individuals and also it demonstrates its influence on teaching which leads to different approaches and methodologies. It explains that the students can improve in any of their intelligence if they are activated appropriately. However, this idea is not the one with which most scholars agree. Ebeling (2000) said that “teachers should expect that some students could not learn what has been taught because of their diversity of needs”. This element should be considered seriously in second language acquisition development. However, it should be considered that some aspects of Multiple Intelligence (MI) would excel the others in different learners. Based on Gardner (1983) teachers’ instructional pedagogies must vary to fit all students with eight different approaches to MI. The instructors have to design different activities in the classroom to activate and develop the full potential of the student's multiple intelligence (Lazear, 1994). On the other hand, language learners need to expose, adapt and practice using their intelligence thoroughly to turn learning into an independent procedure. Reese (2002) discussed that in this approach there is no correct or incorrect style of learning or teaching. It is important to know and apply what works best for each student. This argument was ignored in the traditional learning pedagogy. Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory influenced and changed the common idea of human capacity. This revolutionary concept was based on empirical experience in combining knowledge in different disciplines. In his theory eight popular bits of intelligence were introduced as followed:

Linguistic Intelligence: this intelligence is about the proficiency level of language. It mostly deals with the learners’ ability in vocabulary, structures, and storytelling. Instructors can provide this group with tasks on oral presentation, reading, and writing, activities regarding authentic aspects of their lives.

Mathematical Intelligence: this intelligence is the ability to figure out, perceive and understand the reasons, and rules explicitly and provide a rationale. This group can follow the instructors’ logical order. As a result, they are the ones with the best performance in traditional language classrooms.

Visual Intelligence: this intelligence enables the person to create abstract and spatial pictures to solve tasks. This group visually understands the world. They are good at using charts, videos, pictures, or any other visual real.

Kinesthetic Intelligence: the people with this intelligence use body language and facial expression in a very skillful manner to express and deliver their goals and negotiate the meaning. They are good at controlling their body movements. They learn better by touching and sensing the objects. So, in designing learning tasks for this group varieties of physical movements should be considered.

Musical Intelligence: this group perceives the sound, the rhythm, and the pitch of the music better than the others. They use this to understand and express their feeling, communicate, and transfer their emotions. This intelligence is integrated with rationalization and rules. So, it ties closely to Math intelligence. However, informal educational pedagogies, this group have mostly been neglected in some cultures.

Interpersonal Intelligence: this intelligence is about the understanding of self-individual, personal desires, feelings, and interactions. This is the ability to perceive and interpret moods, motivations, and others ‘desires. This group is good at professions like political or religious leaders, businessmen, consular, and instructors.

Intrapersonal Intelligence: people with this intelligence usually have good self-respect and are motivated by imagination. In the educational system, they should be motivated, encouraged, and praised more than the others. Language instructors need to design tasks that could involve their emotions and activate their inner thoughts. This group is patient and they follow the rules. So, they could perform better in a long-lasting project within a semester.

Naturalistic Intelligence: this group bases their understanding on observation and experiment. They consider themselves as a part of nature and the environment. They benefit a lot from activities like observing nature, noticing the changes, and classifying varieties of plants. So, outdoor field trip activities are strongly recommended for this group.

By these definitions, we may be able to realize our dominant intelligence or intelligence and the capacity to activate or develop them to be able to use them effectively in everyday life-routines as well as in learning situations. Base on Nolen (2003), language instructors need to adjust this theory to their teaching pedagogy and strategies to fulfill the learners’ individual needs. This will help the learners effectively activate their learning style. Regarding that many studies have been done to apply different exercises and tasks by activating different multiple intelligence. In this review I focused on the following questions regarding MI and language learning: 1- Is there any relationship between intelligence and language learning ability among Second Language learners? 2- Can intelligence or a combination of intelligence affect second language learning positively or negatively?

A review of some relevant studies reveals that the relationship between multiple intelligences and second language learners’ achievement is controversial. Some think that multiple intelligence influences teachers’ and learners’ beliefs positively. They claim that this approach has been introduced as a substitute for the traditional one. It introduces enough knowledge for teachers to enables them to alter, design, and define their own teaching philosophy and pedagogy to make them more suitable for each learner. Also, learners will be able to develop their awareness toward their unique intellectual capacity and strength, develop their learning styles, and tend to higher educational achievements. Many researchers have introduced and applied this trend in teaching. They suggest that this approach has two important impacts on second language acquisition. It involves all intelligence to improve learning independently and upgrades knowledge construction. Moreover, teachers can help language learners with better ways to improve their reading, and writing skills by applying MI comparing to the traditional approaches. It can provide language instructors with wider and more applicable teaching strategies in language teaching. On the other hand, some researchers claim that there is no relationship between multiple intelligences and second language learners’ progress. For example, Pour-Mohammadi, Abidin, and Ahmed (2012) claim that not only there is no relationship between some aspects of intelligence and language learning development, but also they suggest that some of these aspects affect the outcome negatively. Some other researches focus on the effect of MI on some specific sub-skills of language like structure, vocabulary, or skills like listening, writing, and reading. The review of these studies shows that there is no specific pattern regarding their progress. For example, some scholars claim that grammar shows negative progress with interpersonal and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. However, the others have a positive impact on that. Also, there is some evidence of the positive effect of linguistic and logical intelligence on reading and vocabulary. About listening it seems that there is some positive relationship between linguistic intelligence and listening skill. However, the relationship between intelligence and writing skill is controversial. While some studies show a positive correlation in writing quality, others suggest a negative effect on writing.

Overall this review research reveals that for almost all the students there are some aspects of one or more multiple intelligence which are more significant comparing to the others. For example, naturalistic and visual intelligence plays a great role in Art. However, for science students, math and logical intelligence show more influence. In English language learning, there are some significant positive relationships between their MI and English development. However, it was illustrated that some had greater contributions to language learning compared to others. For instance, interpersonal intelligence shows a more positive impact on language achievement. This is followed by mathematical intelligence. On the other hand, naturalistic intelligence shows the least influence on language learning followed by rhythmic one. However, some researchers claim the negative effect of MI on language learning achievement and language instructors’ pedagogies.

In conclusion, in this paper, I reviewed the relationships between MI in general and second language learners’ achievements in vocabulary, grammar, as well as other language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing separately and holistically negatively and positively. I also showed the influence of different aspects of MI and its correlation with language learning achievement. It was revealed that this concern is controversial. The findings proved the existence of relationships both negatively and positively. It seems that logical, linguistic, and interpersonal intelligence were more dominant compared to the others like naturalistic in respect to their influence in second language acquisition. Although, it seems that there is no significant evidence of the overall influence of MI, both positive and negative impacts are possible. O the other hand some studies show that multiple intelligences can have a strong impact on language practices for learners. Students will be able to get their best performance. This approach could motivate and encourage learners to become more aware of their personal privilege in specific parts or parts of MI and apply and use them as a learning tool in the English language. It can help the students learn and develop their learners’ autonomy properly and adjust it to their intelligence effectively by thoughtful and well-designed in-class tasks and activities. Finally, these studies suggested that English Language instructors should acknowledge and identify their students’ intelligence and apply different approaches to activate and utilize their attitude, gain the best results and develop their student's MIs and abilities. The teacher can apply classroom tasks and activities that are more relevant and beneficial for their learning styles.