Multiple Intelligences Theory,
Independent Language Learning
and the Internet
Andy Morrall
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Were you ever bored at school?
- Do you like listening to music?
- Do you like chatting?
- Are you a curious person?
Content
- Can you name a type of dinosaur?
- Were you taught about dinosaurs at school?
- How did you learn about dinosaurs?
Do you think some kids would like to:
- talk about dinosaurs?
- learn scientific concepts about dinosaurs?
- draw pictures of dinosaurs?
- pretend to be a dinosaur?
- sing a dinosaur song?
- think about what kind of dinosaur they would like to be?
- guess what kind of dinosaur their classmates would like to be?
- learn about dinosaur behaviour?
How do kids learn about dinosaurs?
- Read books
- Watch videos
- Surf the Internet
- Play computer games
- Use computer CDs
Interest and Motivation
As teachers, how can we
retain the interest and
motivation of students?
My Problem
- I'm the I.T. Coordinator
- 5 million hits is not enough
- Need for more interesting and motivating materials
- How?
- I needed a theoretical framework.
A Tale of Two Teachers
- Howard Gardner
Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory
Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences. London: Fontana.
- Henri Holec
Independent Learning (IL)
Holec, H. (1981). Autonomy and foreign language learning. Oxford: Pergamon.
Jill Bell's idea of narrative
Education and Culture
- Both wanted more students to be well-educated
- Both were concerned with culture
- Gardner mainly addresses educational content
- Holec mainly addresses learning method
MI Theory - Background
- Gardner thinks that there are 8 abilities which are valued in cultures all around the world.
- He calls these 'intelligences'
- He originally defined intelligence as 'the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings' (Gardner 1999, p.33). He has now refined this, and sees intelligence as
'a biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture' (Gardner 1999, pp.33-4).
- What cultural things can you think of that fit this description?
The Eight Intelligences
- Linguistic
- Mathematical / Logical
- Spatial
- Bodily-kinesthetic
- Musical
- Interpersonal
- Intrapersonal
- Naturalist
Criteria
- potential isolation by brain damage
- the existence or savants, prodigies and other exceptional individuals
- an identifiable core operation or set of operations
- a distinctive development history
- an evolutionary history
- support from experimental psychological tasks
- support from psychometric findings
- susceptibility to encoding in a symbol system
Examples
- potential isolation by brain damage - Linguistic - Broca's area
- the existence or savants, prodigies and other exceptional individuals - Mathematical - Rain Man
- an identifiable core operation or set of operations - Spatial - art, map making
- a distinctive development history - Bodily-kinesthetic - crawl, walk, run, somersault
Examples 2
- an evolutionary history - Musical - animal calls, whale songs
- support from experimental psychological tasks - Inter-personal - you can't have 2 conversations at the same time
- support from psychometric findings - Intra-personal - IQ, EQ, AQ
- susceptibility to encoding in a symbol system - Naturalist - food webs
4 Key Points
- each person possesses all eight intelligences, although with different profiles
- most people can develop each intelligence to an adequate level of competency, i.e. that the level of intelligence is not fixed, and can be improved by study
- intelligences usually work together in complex ways, for example, solving a problem may require the use of multiple intelligences
- there are many ways to be intelligent within each category; e.g. good at one sport but not another
Intelligences, not Learning Styles
- Gardner sees style as a general approach that an individual can apply to every conceivable content
- e.g. activists, theorists, pragmatists and reflectors (Honey & Mumford, 2004)
Independent Learning - Definition
- Independent Learning is "Learning in which an individual or group of learners study on their own, possibly for a part of parts of a course, without direct intervention from a tutor. This can involve learners in taking greater responsibility for what they learn, how they learn, and when they learn" (Jeffries, p.1990).
IL Philosophy
- Holec (1981, p.1) describes a change since the 1960's from a view of man as a
'product of his society' to man as a 'producer of his society', and the role of adult education as having the objectives of equal opportunities, responsible autonomy, personal
fulfillment and the democratisation of education.
Deconditioning - Holec recommends:
- students should realise that there is no ideal teaching method
- so teachers can't know that method
- L1 is useful in learning L2
- learning experience is generalisable
- learners can self-assess
IL and IT
- Does IT replace teacher control with computer control?
- Esch's (1996) criteria:
- choice of activity
- flexibility - the ability to change activity
- modifiability
- reflectability/negotiability; e.g. a learning advisory service, learner-training courses or a help desk.
- share-ability - with other learners
Levels of independence
Nunan's (1997) model 'Autonomy: levels of implementation.'
- Awareness - learners identify their strategies and styles
- Involvement - learners make choices
- Intervention - learners modify or adapt tasks
- Creation - learners create their own tasks
- Transcendence - learners become teachers and researchers
My problem re-visited
- I surveyed 22 CILL students and asked about:
- their hobbies and interests
- their course
- were they good at things from the 8 intelligences; e.g. understanding their strengths and weaknesses
- did they like using English Internet pages to learn about these things
- their highest qualification in these things
Research Question
- Based on Gardner's typology of intelligences, what topics do students like to learn about from English-language web pages?
Survey Participant Profile
- Range of attendance in CILL: 42 - 2,300 minutes
- Courses: Engineering (5), Translation (5), Accountancy (4), Design (4), Bio-medical science, Logistics, Medical, Optometry and Hotel & Tourism Management (1 each)
- 12 male and 10 female
- Twelve were in Year 1, 8 in Year 2, 1 in Year 3, and one was a Post-graduate student.
Results
- They like to use English web pages to study interpersonal, musical, naturalist and linguistic intelligences.
- Of those who both liked using English web pages to study an intelligence, and whose hobby or interest involved it, the most popular were music and bodily-kinesthetic.
- Students who agreed that they were both good at an intelligence, and liked using English web pages to learn about it preferred musical, interpersonal and naturalist intelligences.
Conclusion 2
- Interpersonal and naturalist intelligences were also popular.
- Could have more resources and tools to help students communicate in English
online
- Online communication materials on online communication; e.g. netiquette, and
ICQ/SMS abbreviations such as CUL8R (See you later).
- Could have more links to materials involving nature; e.g. food and the
environment in Hong Kong.
Application - Report Writing (MI)
- Linguistic and Inter-personal- interviewing for data
- Maths / logic
- statistics and recommendations
- deductive grammar analysis
- Bodily-kinesthetic - reports on sport; e.g. company team
Report Writing 2 (MI)
- Music - reports on music; e.g. company band
- Intra-personal - reports on personal development techniques or courses
- Naturalist - reports on food, pets or animal rights
Report Writing 3 (IL)
- Decondition the students
- Follow Esch's criteria
- Increase the students' independence
Bibliography 1
- Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple intelligences in the
classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
- Benson, P. & Voller, P., eds. (1997) Autonomy and
Independence in Language Learning London: Longman.
- Esch, E. (1996). 'Promoting learner autonomy: criteria for
the selection of appropriate methods' in Pemberton, Richard; et al.(1996).
Taking Control: Autonomy in Language Learning, Hong Kong, Hong Kong University
Press, 35 ¡V 48.
- Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: the theory of multiple
intelligences. London: Fontana.
- Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed. New York: Basic.
Bibliography 2
- Holec, H. (1981). Autonomy and foreign language learning.
Oxford: Pergamon.
- Honey, P. & Mumford, A. (2004). peterhoney.com - Online
Shop - Manuals. Retrieved December 14, 2004 from
http://www.peterhoney.com/
- Jeffries, C. et al. (1990). A-Z of Open Learning. National
Extension College Trust.
- Nunan, D. (1997) Designing and adapting materials to
encourage learner autonomy. In Benson, P. & Voller, P., eds. (1997) Autonomy
and Independence in Language Learning London: Longman, 192 ¡V 203.
Sites - Linguistic & Logical / Maths
Sites - Musical & Bodily-kinesthetic
Sites - Visual, inter- & intra-personal
Sites - All the Intelligences