Taalonderrig en die teorie van meervoudige intelligensie

Abstract

Language teaching and the theory of multiple intelligence. Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard's School of Education, claims in his book Frames of Mind (1983) that we do not have a single, fixed intelligence that can be determined with a standardized IQ test. He theorizes that there are at least eight different intelligences, and every person has a different combination of these intelligences. This article focuses on the implications of the theory of multiple intelligence on language teaching. One of the consequences will be that educators have to present learning opportunities in a wide variety of ways (Armstrong 1994: 1) to give learners the opportunity to learn in different ways. Several methods and activities are proposed to develop the different intelligences in the language classroom. Assessment is also discussed. A classroom featuring MI instruction can focus on alternative assessment methods which can accommodate students' different intelligences, their different levels of ability and their special needs (Seghers & Baker 2001). The fact that language is taught in the framework of outcomes-based education, gives language educators the ideal opportunity to develop the different intelligences of learners, therefore the connection between MI and outcomes-based education gets attention as well in this article.


(Journal for Language Teaching: 2002 36(3-4): 233-245)