Teaching English Accepting Multiple Intelligence Types Through Arts

International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
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Teaching English, Accepting Multiple Intelligence Types, through

Arts
[PP: 176-183]
Ivana CIMERMANOV
Inst itute of English and American Studies
Facult y o f Arts
Preov Universit y in Preov
Slovakia
Abstract
The article discusses the importance of acceptance of the mult iple intelligence t ypes as one
of the key factor influencing the (language) teaching. It focuses mainly on the possibilit y
to introduce art as a source of material for language teaching, providing a wide spectrum
of possibilit ies to introduce different types o f activit ies. The author understands art not
only as a source for language teaching/learning but something more than that. For her, the
art can be a source for present ing moral and aesthetic values and the material, which will
develop learners as a co mplete personalit y. The art can bring ethics, culture, history to the
language lesson and can help learners to understand the mentalit y and culture o f the target
language countr(ies) more deeply. The paper is the case study done at the secondary
school (1st graders), using so me materials and preparing them for achieving the states aim,
by the author. This study was a space to learn more about the students perception of task
based approach, what gave them a chance to experience a shift fro m teacher-centred
learning to learner centred lesson.
Keywords: Mult iple intelligence, art, personalit y, task-based learning, learner centred
lesson
Suggested Citation:
CIMERMANOV, I. (2013). Teaching English, Accepting Mult iple Intelligence Types,
through Arts. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol-1,
Issue-3, 176-183. Retrived fro m http://www.eltsjournal.org
Vol-1, Issue-3 October-December, 2013
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176
ISSN: 2308-5460
1. Introduction
Teaching English is affected by a lot of factors. The key actors in educat ion are
learner and teacher and these co me to the classroom (does not matter whether tradit ional
or virtual) wit h their characteristics, their predisposit ions, attitudes and aptitudes, their
learning and teaching styles, their intelligence types. In 80s, Gardner defined 7 different
intelligence t ypes: linguist ic, logical-mathemat ical, spat ial, bodily-kinaesthet ic, musical,
interpersonal, intrapersonal; later on the spiritual and natural were added. Some authors
have also added existential intelligence; however this was described by Sternberg as
Intelligence.
2. The Concept of Intelligence
If we ask an average person today-Who is an intelligent?, the most frequent answer
would be Somebody who knows how to behave. Asking the quest ion-Who is an intelligent
person? , we would get the answer-The one who has a lot of knowledge (it might be the
case of Slo vak language only). However, the psycho logists would provide us wit h
different definit io n(s). Most of them agree that it is the abilit y for complex thinking and
reasoning (Ceci, 2001, P. 4). Detterman (2005) includes the skills gained during the
human beings life, in the definit io n, concluding that intelligence refers to a general
mental capabilit y to reason, solve problems, think abstractly, learn and understand new
material and profit fro m past experience. Gardner (in Willingham, 2004) adds another
factor, namely culture, describing intelligence as a bio-psycho logical potential to process
informat ion that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products
that are of value in a culture. There are also vo ices that social co mpetence is an important
component of intelligence as well as that intelligence should cover also the creativit y.
Piaget (1963) defines intelligence as "an adaptationTo say that intelligence is a
particular instance o f bio logical adaptation is thus to suppose that it is essent ially an
organizat ion and that its funct ion is to structure the universe just as the organism structures
its immediate environment" (pp. 3-4, in: Plucker, 2004).
2.1 Theories of Intelligence
As it can be seen, various psycho logists define the term psycho logy in different depth
and breadth. This naturally results in different typo logies and categories of the
intelligence. In the early 1900s, Charles Spearman found that tests of mental abilit y were
posit ively correlated (Detterman, 2005). He introduced g the concept of general
intelligence that underlies all intellectual tasks and mental abilit ies. The second factor he
ident ified is s specific factor that is related to whatever unique abilit ies a particular test
required, so it differed fro m test to test (ibid). In 1938 , Louis Thurstone postulated that
intelligence is a set of independent factors and these are equally important (compared to
Spearmans g). He identified seven primary mental abilit ies: verbal co mprehensio n; verbal
fluency; number, or arithmet ic, abilit y; memory; perceptual speed; inductive reasoning;
spatial visualization.
Raymo nd Cattell and John Horn applied new methods and concluded that there are
two kinds of general intelligence (so me of the definit ion in the introduction reflect it).
They dist inguish between fluid and crystallized intelligences. While the fluid intelligence
represents the bio logical basis, the crystallized one can increase during the human beings
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life and it represents the knowledge and skills obtained through learning and experience. If
we had ment ioned that crystallized intelligence increases during the life, then considering
the fluid intelligence, it increases to adulthood and then declines due to aging process.
The latest popular trends in the Intelligence theory present Howard Gardner and Sternberg.
Stating that Gardners theory o f mult iple intelligence types is one of the latest is not totally
right as it was introduced in 1983. Introduction of the originally seven intelligence types
linguist ic, logical-mathemat ical, spat ial, musical, bodily-kinaesthet ic, intrapersonal and
interpersonal was later added and the eight intelligence was introduced in the late 1990s the naturalist one. The nint h one, the spiritual one is under invest igat ion. The theory was
accepted and is st ill very popular but on the other hand there is a lot of crit ique of
Gardners theory, especially about what can and what should not be called intelligence.
Some psycho logists suggested talking about aptitudes or talents rather than intelligences
(e.g. Bruner).
The triarchic theory o f intelligence was proposed by American psycho logist Robert
Sternberg in 1980s. He suggested three parts of intelligence: analyt ic (reasoning and
solving), creat ive (up to now, it is impossible to measure creat ive intelligence) and last but
not least, the practical intelligence (skills in everyday living).
In 1990s, Peter Salovey and John Mayer suggested that the emotional intelligence is a
complementary t ype to the type o f intelligence measured by IQ tests. Daniel Go leman
expanded the concept to include general social competence (Detterman, 2005).
As one can see, psycho logists study the intelligence and apply different approaches to test
IQ. Modern intelligence test no longer compute scores using IQ formula mental age
/chrono logical age*100. Originally, the first IQ test was written to identify children who
would have problems with formal educat ion in France. Modern intelligence tests give a
score that reflects how far the persons performance deviates fro m the average
performance of others who are the same.
3. The Aim of the Teaching Process
For effect ive teaching process to take place, not only the psycho logist but the
teachers as well should be aware who the students in the classroom are. For the teacher, it
is an important informat ion as one can help the students with not only providing the
(encyclopedic) knowledge but by invo lving the students in the learning/teaching process
using the advantage of knowing the t ype o f intelligence (apt itude, talent), learners st yle
and to help them wit h using learning strategies effectively (see Strakov, 2003).
Here we should ask and answer the quest ion What is the aim of the educat ional
process - to teach or to help the students to learn? To give them knowledge or also to
influence their personalit ies? Discussing the definit io ns and the theories o f intelligence,
thus, it has been showed that the intelligence can be influenced by st imulat ing and
mot ivat ing environment. Similarly, IQ is affected by schooling. Thus, the knowledge and
skills gained at schools should help the students to develop thinking and reasoning.
Many students could learn more effectively than they do now if they were taught in a
way that better matched their patterns of abilit ies (Sternberg, Grigorenko, 2004, p. 274).
A lot of books are being published lately on how to teach children to learn, how to teach
and learn effectively at school, how to apply cognitive, metacognit ive and social strategies
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in learning, how to make the students to think and not only to memorize and repeat the
data and facts. We cannot expect that change comes immediately. We have to start with
the pre-service teachers, to show them that it can be effect ive but they have to experience
it. And ,then we can expect that they will try to apply it in their teaching pract ice.
The question is not how smart people are but in what ways people are smart
(Gardner, in Traub, 1998). It can be argued that what Gardner discusses in his theory are
not intelligences but we all realize that every person is unique and perceives the life and
informat ion that come in different ways. As Chen states the goal o f education is not to
teach mult iple intelligences, but to see them as tools to help achieve educational goals (in
McGuire, 2004). This should be the rule for all the teachers to think about the learner as
about the unique human being that from his or her nature he/she wants to learn, to be
creative and invo lved. In case the creative teacher wants his/her students to be creat ive,
autonomous, using different strategies in learning process, he/she must try to present the
material in a way that his/her student likes it. All the ideas seem to be natural, however, in
practice, the teachers do not test their students int elligence t ypes, learners styles. They do
not discuss the students with the psycho logists and thus, most of the teachers, most of us,
based on our teachers belief, want all our learners to study in a way we are used to, or
even the way we were taught.
4. Language Learning and Multiple Intelligences
There has been a vast body o f research available language learning and mult iple
intelligences. The research on foreign-language learning abilit y (Grigorenko, Sternberg, &
Ehrman, 2000; cited in Sternberg, 2002) reported that the scores on dynamic tests (where
one learns at the t ime o f test) correlated more highly wit h a test of foreign-language
learning abilit y (the Modern Language Aptitude Test MLAT) than wit h a test of general
abilit y. Scores also significant ly predicted success in foreign-language classrooms at the
U.S. Foreign Services Inst itute (FSI), an inst itute for teaching languages to foreign-service
officers and military personnel.
In a foreign langiage teaching and learning process, the study skills are considered to
be very important in a students life. This is quite clear fro m Sternberg and Grigorenkos
(2004: 275) claim that When students think to learn, they also learn to think. Thus,
implement ing learning strategies in the language learning, as well as the students
cognizance o f them, has its irreplaceable posit ion in the learning/teaching process. This
means that teaching needs individual approach and especially at the beginning o f the
schooling when students form their learning habits. It means that students should be
presented various ways of work with text, words, etc. so they can find the way that works
best for them. Any concept, worth teaching, can be approached in at least five different
ways that, roughly speaking, map onto the multiple intelligences (Gardner, in Traub,
1998) .
4.1 Task-based Approach
Language learning is often crit icized for lack of real co mmunicat ion, abundance o f
controlled act ivit ies, rather than authent ic activit ies or activit ies simulat ing rea l
communicat ion. The origin o f task-based learning is connected with Prabhus procedural
syllabus in Bangalore project, where students were asked to solve problems e.g. by
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looking at a train t imetable and discussing questio ns such as When does the Brindavan
Express leave Madras. TBL understands tasks as act ivit ies, where the learner uses the
target language for a communicat ive purpose (goal), in order to achieve an outcome. They
are goal-oriented. The emphasis is on understanding and conveying meanings in order to
complete the tasks successfully. All tasks should have an outcome (see Nunan, 2004;
Willis, 2006).
Skehan (in Nunan, 2004: 4), drawing on a number of other writers, puts forward five key
characterist ics of a task:
1) meaning is primary
2) learners are not given other peoples meaning to regurgitate
3) there is so me sort of relat ionship to comparable real-world act ivit ies
4) task complet ion has so me priorit y
5) the assessment of the task is in terms of outcome.
Prabhu classified the tasks, that he used in secondary school classes in Bangalore, into
three categories:
1) Information-gap activities: invo lving a transfer of given informat ion fro m one
person to another, one form to another, or one place to another.
2) Reasoning-gap activities: involving the discovery o f new informat ion through
inference, deduction, practical reasoning
3) Opinion-gap activities: invo lving the expression of personal preference or attitude
as a response to a given situat ion (Willis, 1996, p. 36)
The cycle applied in Task-based approach consists of three main stages. Pre-task (in
which teacher introduces a topic and introduces the crucial vocabulary needed for tasks
understanding. In the main part Task cycle students work on their task. They may work
individually or in groups. They plan the output, the report on how they did the task and
present it to the who le class. The third stage is Language focus where students discuss the
vocabulary they needed and they pract ice the vocabulary and phrases they needed during
preparing the report.
This makes language a means o f co mmunication and only in the fina l stage the
language that was needed is discussed. Students can see the meaning and importance of
learning it rather than accept it as a rotten language memorising. They perceive language
learning as meaningful and useful.
4.2 Arts in Foreign Language Teaching
Foreign language teaching and Arts can co mplement each other. Picture description
and picture stories are very co mmo n act ivit ies to practise speaking and/or writing. Watt
(2004) names several posit ive aspects of art that might be advantageous in teaching. The y
are:
1. It is a form of communication.
2. It says so mething. It's not just pretty.
3. It takes into account our senses.
4. It reflects societ y.
5. It gives meaning or new understanding to the world.
6. It begins inward and moves outward.
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7. It is the spirit of the time.

8. It's about making statements.
9. We know it is art by the discussio n it generates.
10. If it transmits a point or message, it is art.
11. We need to understand the context within which the art has emerged to understand it.
12. It makes you think.
13. It is open to interpretation.
14. Understanding modern art is like learning a new language, except there is no Berlitz
course.
15. Contemporary art is the art of our times.
5. Using Arts in Foreign Language Teaching: Authors Experience
After providing all the necessary background, in this section o f the paper, I would like to
present an experience we had wit h the students.
5.1 Background to the experiment
We decided to work with Van Goghs work. He was a Dutch painter and
representative o f post impressio nism. The first stage of the block o f the lessons was
focussed on the characteristics o f the Impressio nism and the period. Students could go
through the paint ings and find the co mmo n characterist ics o f impressio nis m. The pictures
were hanging on the wall and teacher acted as a guide giving interactive lecture on
selected paint ing (Monnet Water Lilly Pond, Houses o f Parliament West minster; Renoir
Girl wit h a Hoop; Degas Dancers at The Bar). Students were presented basic presentation
skills and thinking t ime techniques.
In the second stage, students had to prepare an interactive lecture about Van Gogh and
Post-Impressio nism. Students became the curators of the exhibit ion and they could choose
set of pictures (the first setto describe the period and characterist ics of postimpressionis m; the second oneto describe so me mo ments of Van Goghs life the period
of friendship with Paul Gauguin).
5.2 Selected Paintings (From 1888)
The fo llowing paint ings were considered for the studyBedroom in Arles, 1888
The night Caf, 1988
Still Life: Vase wit h Twelve Sunflowers, 1888
Van Gogh's Chair, 1888
Or
PAUL GAUGUIN AND VINCENT VAN GOGH
Paul Gauguin's Armchair, 1888,
Paul Gauguin, The Painter of Sunflowers: Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1888,
Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin, 1888
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear
The Yellow House, 1988
5.3 Tasks and activities
The students were challenged to start with brainstorming or list ing about the feelings,
emotions the paint ings evoke as well as the objects they could see. They were also
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suggested to sort them and then to compare the paint ings to find the similarit ies and
things in co mmo n, or to find differences. They should have decided how to hang the
paint ings and to prepare the commentaries. To be able to prepare commentaries, they were
challenged to visit gallery websites and to read (or listen) to the information provided. To
find more facts, they were reco mmended to visit the libraries and find more info about the
life o f painters and period they lived in. In the final stage, the vocabulary, dealing wit h
paint ing techniques, was pract ised focusing on emot ions, vocabulary, expressing feelings
and attitudes as well as past tenses.
Students gave us a posit ive feedback especially about the creativit y aspect (even
though so me o f them expressed they would be more happy select ing paint ings on their
own). They also ment ioned that they would like to prepare a handout (treasure hunt) as it
is used to be in big galleries and museum in abroad (students recent ly visited London and
National gallery). That was really mot ivat ing for me as a teacher as they wanted to
develop the activit y and topic further.
5.4 Results
Fro m the teachers perspect ive, based on this experiment, I may claim that students
were cooperative and co llaborative. We believe that this task especially allo wed different
people to present their skills and abilit ies to contribute to common output. Different types
of act ivit ies allowed different mult iple t ypes o f intelligences to participate in reaching the
commo n mutual aim.
Through the tasks and activit ies, Linguist ic and intrapersonal students could find the
data whereas logical-mathemat ical t ype students could find the similarit ies and differences
in paint ings, and could sort them according to some criteria. The spat ial could decide how
to arrange them on the wall whereas the bodily-kinaesthet ic could hang the paint ings, vis it
the library, copy the necessary material. The musical students could find the appropriate
music that would be in harmony wit h the paintings and interpersonal students could
prepare the interactions for the guide and visitors. These are just minor task, however, they
all contributed in almost all tasks, but they were the leader in those particular tasks.
6. Conclusion
To conclude, task-based approach, similarly as pro ject work, allows students to be
creative and to find language they need. The language, in fact, beco mes the means o f
communicat ion and act ivit y beco mes meaningful. Another advantage is that students of
different intelligence types can find their posit ion within a group and have the feeling of
being important and significant in a group. This also contributes to intrinsic mot ivat ion
which later reflects in students attitudes towards language learning. This was clear fro m
the experiment using Arts in foreign language teaching. The author also humbly accepts
that the article did not have an ambit ion to bring relevant data on efficacy o f using task
based approach or arts in language learning, but rather to share a posit ive experience fro m
students activit y.
About the Author:
Ivana Cimermanov ho lds PhD and works at the Department of English and Literature
at the Facult y o f Arts, Preov Universit y in Preov, Slovakia. She received her Ph.D. in
Educational Techno logy fro m Constant ine, the Philosopher Universit y in Slovakia. Her
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thesis topic was using techno logies in language teaching, which remains the major focus
of her research. She is also an author of number of articles, studies and textbooks.
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International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies

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International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies