UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLÓGICA DE PEREIRA

FACULTAD DE BELLAS ARTES Y HUMANIDADES

LICENCIATURA EN BILINGÜISMO CON ÉNFASIS EN INGLÉS

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 2018-2

RESEARCH SYNTHESIS: MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

AYALA VARÓN YEISSON CAMILO

ARIAS JUAN ESTEBAN
GALLEGO CANO JUAN ESTEBAN

Article:
In-Seok Kim (2009). The relevance of Multiple Intelligences to CALL instruction. The Reading
Matrix: An International Online Journal. 9(1) p. 1-21.

1. What is the problem that the researcher (s) are investigating and who they are?

In-Seok Kim (2009) researched following and overview of Gardner´s theory of Multiple
Intelligences (MI) and based on multimedia-based approaches in foreign language instruction,
students´ learning preferences and the correlation between students MI scores and listening
scores. This is followed by an analysis on how language learning software could be
implemented to increase students´ use of multiple intelligences styles.

2. What are the major constructs and theories that supported the research?

In-Seok Kim (2009) cites Gardner´s (1983) theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) in order to
establish a mean to understand the ways in which human beings are intelligent, this is how
people learn and remember things. From Gardner´s position it is said that individuals are
capable of processing information in seven different ways. Kim (2009) states that according to
what Gardner proposes, foreign language teachers may help learners to learn using one or two
dominant intelligence for each one. In terms of analyzing CALL Instruction. Kim (2009) draws a
reference from Brett (1998) who affirms that the power and effectiveness of adroitly aligned
multiple learning media should be greater then the sum of their individual parts, in the same line,
Kim (2009) suggests from the findings of Christison (1999) that MI theory can be applied in
teaching English as a second language to adults by: 1) identifying adult ESL students´ strengths
and learning preferences and then, allowing them to become more engaged in their own
focuses.
 3. What are the research questions that guided the study?

a) To what degree does CALL instruction increase students´ listening scores?

b) Does CALL instruction improve students´ MI theory inventory scored and, if so, which
type of MI quotients will increase the most.
c) Which particular type of intelligence correlates most highly with listening ability?

4. What type of reseacth and study are embedded in the research?

This research is qualitative for the questions are oriented to provide answers in terms of
characteristics, orientations and qualities, instead of delving for number consensuses and
numerical results.

5. What is the research context? Who are the participants?

The participants were thirty-nine juniors and seniors majoring in English Language and
Literature at Dongduk Women´s University who participate in the experiment. These students
averaging 22 years old, were enrolled in the 16-week multimedia technology-assisted language
course that this researcher taught in the Spring semester of 2006.

6. What methods did the researcher (s) use to acquire the data and how (number)
and how (took) it?

The researcher conducted 2 instruments for acquiring the data: 1) students were given the
Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) in the listening parts 1 and 2; 2) the
students were given a Korean MI questionnaire.

7. How did the researcher (s) analyze the data?

In-Seok Kim (2009) entered the TOEIC listening scores and MI inventories into the SPSS for
Windows to analyze the results through a process of qualitative analysis.
 8. What are the two main findings reported in this particular study?

In-Seok Kim (2009) presents his findings distributed into two core classifications. 1) student´s
TOEIC listening results before and after CALL instruction and; 2) MI quotients before and after
CALL instruction.

In the first section, the author reveals that before the CALL instruction, the TOEIC listening
scores were 28.38, but after the CALL instruction, the results got to be 32.61. Even though it
could be obvious that the results increased after the intervention, it is not posible to argue that
because as In-Seok Kim (2009) states, this was not compared with a similar non-CALL
instruction course. In the second section, similar results were obtained: the average of the
seven MI quotients increased in .22 after the CALL instruction. These results repeat continously
through all the results that were obtained.

9. How can this article contribute to our development as future English language
teachers?

Multimedia learning has great advantages nowadays, moreover if we consider the relevant
impact it possesses over the way we not only learn but also we teach. By using CALL tools
within the classroom, we as future English language teachers can contribute to alternate among
different pedagogical approaches that allow us to adapt the knowledge of the language we are
in charge of teaching within a society that compels teachers continuously to reinvent themselves
and their practices so students can really acquire the knowledge and can fortify their multiples
intelligences not only focused on language proficiency, but also towards refunding and
searching solutions for their specific needs in real life contexts.

So, as a contribution we can extract from this article, is that we as teachers when using CALL,
as much as possible we should look for the programs and didactics that better fit to students´
conditions and those that foster their autonomy and intellectual progress that then allow them to
collaborate extensively in the classrooms and outside it.