| Summary: | Gardner’s 1983 ‘Theory of Multiple Intelligences’ has
inspired educators the world over for over three decades.
Due to the fact that this approach to education implies the
use of alternative assessment methods and that most of the
research studies on Multiple Intelligences contain a large
amount of qualitative reports from various stakeholders at
these schools, the present study sought to quantify positive
learning outcomes expressed as ‘Feuerstein’s socialconstructivist,
language-learning, mediation variables,’ and a
selection of variables related to ‘tenets of the Multiple
Intelligences approach to education,’ with the goal of
accounting for as much of the variance in assessment
performance on either internally- or externally- monitored
standardized exams as possible.
Hinging on a statistical analysis using Spearman
principle factor analysis, two themes emerged from the data
of 20 peer- or externally-reviewed studies on the outcomes of
approaching both general and ESOL education through
Multiple Intelligences Theory. These themes, ‘progressing
from amateur to expert learner’ and ‘cooperation with others’
were then shown to associate with the ESOL vocabulary
learning-strategies model of Tseng, Dörnyei, and Schmitt
(2006), and contextualized through a discussion of refugee
English as a Second Language (ESL) programs in the U.S.A.
and the U.K., which could stand to benefit from a cooperative,
Multiple Intelligences, learning community, where individual
differences are respected, self-regulation in the learning
process is encouraged, and job-training is integrated with
language learning.
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