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Applications of Multiple Intelligences in the EFL ClassroomIn the late seventies when Howard Gardner was doing research on brain damage, he did not expect it to lead him to develop a theory that would alter the way people around the world approach education (Gardner, 2003). However this is what happened when his findings on how different kinds of brain damage affected different abilities led him to write a book about different types of intelligences called ?Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences,? released in 1983. Since then the concept of multiple intelligence has been successfully incorporated into all types of education, including the teaching of english as a foreign language (TEFL). There are many ways that the consideration of different types of intelligence can help students learn english and make lessons more interesting. According to Gardner the nine types of intelligence are spatial, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential. Gardner originally only indicated the first seven, but he added naturalistic and existential intelligence later based on his research. By tailoring lessons students with different abilities in these intelligences, a teacher of english to speakers of other languages can make the material more accessible. Creating lessons that include content designed for different types of intelligence can help more students understand the material more effectively because ?no two individuals ? not even identical twins ? have the same intellectual profile? (Gardner, 2006). The variety that results from creating different types of lessons can also make the class more engaging for all students. In order to determine how they can best adapt their lessons to their students? strengths, many EFL teachers now complete an assessment of each type of intelligence with their students (Currie, 2003). Many assessments and questionnaires are available for this purpose. A teacher may find that some students have a high rating in visual intelligence and others have higher scores in bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Knowing this, the teacher can create activities that make the material accessible to both groups. For example by using photographs and paintings to demonstrate the meaning of new vocabulary for students whose strength is high in the area of visual intelligence. An activity for learning new language that may be especially effective with students high in bodily-kinesthetic intelligence would be a game like charades in which students must act out the meaning of new words. It is important for EFL teachers to use the concept of multiple intelligences in a way that will actually benefit their students. Some have argued that in the attempt to frame lesson content in a way that caters to different types of intelligence, teachers can sometimes end up being confusing. EFL teacher Karen Currie points out that ?it is not the case that the teacher should try to involve all of the intelligences at all times in every lesson,? (Currie, 2003). This would be similar to teaching 9 different lessons at once! It would be more desirable to include activities that utilize different intelligences in different lessons, so that throughout the course students with different strengths have the chance to use them. Gardner himself has also pointed out that not all concepts should be taught using every type of intelligence (Ghosn, 1997). This doesn?t mean that a lesson about pitch and stresses can?t include a game that would use a bodily-kinesthetic learning style, but that ultimately knowledge about pitch is more strongly related to other types of intelligence, like musical intelligence. While such relatively new research is still being refined in application, students around the world have benefitted from the concept of multiple intelligences, including learners of english. Through assessment and the use of a variety of lessons that utilize different types of intelligences, an EFL teacher can make english more accessible to students with varying strengths. The english language may be most strongly related to linguistic intelligence, but that does not mean that it is the only type of intelligence one needs to use in order to learn it. References: Currie, Karen L. (2003). ?Multiple Intelligence Theory and the ESL Classroom -- Preliminary Considerations.? Retrieved 2/14/2011 from: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Currie-MITheory.html Gardner, Howard. (2003). ?Multiple Intelligences After Twenty Years.? Retrieved 2/14/2011 from: http://www.consorzionettuno.it/materiali/B/697/773/16/Testi/Gardner/Gardner_multiple_intelligent.pdf Gardner, Howard. (2006). ?Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons.? Retrieved 2/14/2011 from: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qEEC8lyAwWoC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=howard+gardner+multiple+intelligence&ots=uNOdIGIfjf&sig=ohMuQwLn0F9xzRl40BTr7b0xta4#v=onepage&q=howard%20gardner%20multiple%20intelligence&f=false Ghosn, Irma K. (1997). Teaching EFL to Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved 2/14/2011 from: http://eric.ed.gov:80/PDFS/ED438713.pdf
