Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory and Foreign Language Achievement

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to find if there were any significant differences
between Iranian EFL learners of high and low proficiency with regard to their multiple
intelligence abilities. To reach to this aim, 106 subjects participated in the study and the
researcher made use of: 1) the Persian version of Mckenzie’s multiple intelligence (MI)
Inventory; and 2) the learners’ final term grades as the measure of their language learning
achievement. Analyzing the data employing some independent -samples t-tests, it was found that
there was a statistically significant difference [t (104) = 2.100, p (two-tailed) =.038] in the mean
of verbal intelligence scores of the low and high achieving groups, which was larger among the
high achievers. As such, it can be concluded that that more proficient EFL learners have a
higher verbal intelligence, indicating that more successful learners may be more intelligent
‘verbally’ than their less proficient counterparts. Finally, verbal and visual intelligences―with
the highest mean scores― were the two mostly used types of intelligences by both high and low
achieving groups.