1 Use of Multiple Intelligence Theory in Teaching English to Young Learners.

1. Introduction When we think that individual differences are important in education, the kind of intelligences of the students must be known well by the teachers. For this reason, using Gardners Multiple Intelligence Theory is the best way to understand the students potential and abilities, and determine their intelligences. In this study, using Multiple Intelligence Theory in teaching English to the young is discussed. Learning foreign language is different from learning our own language. Therefore, English teachers must know what kind of things the students are interested in, how old they are and what their learning types are to determine their intelligences and develop the process of teaching. English teachers who have an opinion about intelligence types which their students have can apply the most useful course materials and use suitable expression for their young students. Because of this, English teachers must know about eight types of intelligence; linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence and naturalist intelligence, and they can categorize their students according to these types by using various activities. In addition, if English teachers knows what and why they do during the lesson, every activity that they use can be helpful for all the young students who have different intelligences. 2. Characteristics of Young Learners Teaching a new language to young learners is a difficult job, so English teachers should have an opinion about characteristics of their young students and try to teach in that way. Harmer (2001, p.38) emphasizes characteristics of young learners as;
They respond to meaning even if they do not understand individual words. They often learn indirectly rather than directly - that is they take in information from all sides, learning from everything around them rather than only focusing on the precise topic they are being taught. Their understanding comes not just from explanation, but also from what they hear and, crucially, have a chance to touch and interact with. see and

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They generally display an enthusiasm for learning and curiosity about the world around them. They have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher. They are keen to talk about themselves, and respond well to learning that uses themselves and their own lives as main topics in the classroom. They have a limited attention span; unless activities are extemely engaging they can easily get bored, losing interest, after ten minutes or so.

It is important for English teachers to take into consideration these characteristics of young learners while teaching English to them. These characteristics also help English teachers to use intelligence types in a right way for their young students. 3. Multiple Intelligence Theory Intelligence is an ability coming from the birth to understand the events around people, solve the problems they come across and think in a logical way. There is not only one kind of intelligence, Gardner defines the eight types of intelligence. Namely, teachers must know that every student has different intelligence and recognising the intelligence types of their students is the first duty of them. Loh (n.d.) states that Different children have different ways of learning and every one of them has different personality traits, own set of preferences, personal choices and tastes (Section 1, para. 1) . Therefore, when English teachers know that every student is different from each other and have different learning styles, they have to use multiple intelligence during the lesssons. Multiple Intelligence (MI) refers to a learnerbased philosophy that characterizes human intelligence as having multiple dimensions that must be acknowledged and developed in education (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.115). 3.1 Types of Multiple Intelligence Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences suggests that there are eight different forms of intelligence. They are linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, logical-mathematical and naturalist (Fyodorova, 2005, p.45). Every intelligence has different meaning and feature. One person can have several types of multiple intelligence. For example, if a student can not solve a mathematics problem, it does not mean that the student is not intelligent. He or she must have another intelligent type and can do different things successfully.

3 3.1.1 Linguistic Intelligence Linguistic intelligence is formed from skill in considering vocabularies and using language to show and recognize complicated meanings (L. Campbell, B. Campbell, & Dickson, 2004, p. xx). Namely, linguistic intelligence is related to every work which is done with language. The students who have this intelligence have strong mind and they can bear lots of things in their mind. They can learn by listening, writing, reading and speaking. They have an ability to learn new languages. 3.1.2 Logical - Mathematical Intelligence As L. Campbell, B. Campbell and Dickson say, Logical mathematical intelligence makes it possible to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complex mathematical operations (p. xx). That is to say, the students who have this intelligence like mathematical activities, logical puzzles, strategic plays and wonder always about how objects work. They also like working with charts, schemas and figures. They have ability to think in an abstract way and correlate with events. 3.1.3 Spatial Intelligence Armstrong (2000) defines the spatial intelligence as; the ability to perceive the visual spatial world accuretely and to perform transformations (p. 2). In this intelligence, students can form a picture of everything, find differences or similarities between objects quickly and remember visual objects squarely. 3.1.4 Bodily- Kinesthetic Intelligence Armstrong also defines the bodily- kinesthetic intelligence as; Expertise in using ones whole body to express ideas and feelings and facility in using ones hands to produce or transform things (p. 2). The students who have this intelligence are interested in one or more sports activities. They generally learn by acting. When they are learning, they need role-play, drama, theatre, etc. They check their environment, objects and goods by touching and acting. They can remember the things which are done than the things which are said. 3.1.5 Musical Intelligence Fyodorova (2005, p.47) defines the musical intelligence as;

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Ability to sense rhythm, pitch and melody. This includes such skills like ability to recognize simple songs and to vary speed, tempo and rhythm in simple melodies. Some of the most central principle component elements of music are melody and rhythm. A sensitivity to the melody, ability to repeat easily a long melodies after hearing them only once, good memories for tunes ability to recognize the key and so on. A very good sense of rhythm.

The students having this intelligence usually seek an opportunity to use the music in their learning and life. They are interested in musical instruments and can learn to use them easily. When they are learning something, rhythms can be useful for them in the class. 3.1.6 Interpersonal Intelligence Standford (2003) describes interpersonal intelligence as the skill to work with others in small groups in a coopeartive way and the students having it can communicate in a verbal and noneverbal way with other students (p. 81). As we understand from the description, group studies are very important for the students having this intelligence. They usually like being together with their friends or other people and have so many friends. Therefore, they do not have difficulty in according with the people who they do not know, they can communicate with them easily. 3.1.7 Intrapersonal Intelligence Standford also decribes the intrapersonal intelligence as; The internal aspects of the self, such as knowledge of feelings, range of emotional responses, thinking processes, selfreflection, and a sense of intuition about spiritual realities (p. 81). The students with this intelligence know themselves well and are aware of the things which they do. Therefore, they can decide the true things for themselves. They usually want to be alone. They like dreaming and living with these dreams. They can motivate themselves about lessons. 3.1.8 Naturalist Intelligence According to Fyadorova (2005), the students who have naturalist intelligence have a skill for recognizing and classifying plants, minerals and animals, containing rocks and grass and all kinds of flora and fauna, they can also recognize cultural artifacts (pp. 48-49). They are interested in every kind of living things in nature. They like travelling and watching documentaries, keeping an animal, growing plants. They can learn easily by making experiments.

5 4. Teaching English to Young Learners According to Multiple Inteligence Theory Motivating and teaching a different language are difficult for English teachers when they are teaching to the young. However, the students who learn English when they are young can be successful if the teachers can teach the necessity of learning one more language to them. The students comprehending the importance of this can be interested in learning English. Therefore, English teachers must be aware of their students interests, characteristics and intelligences, which is important to make their students motivated in learning English. As Freeman (2000, p.169) also states;
Teachers have always known that their students have different strenghts. In the language teaching field, some of the differences among the students have been attributed to students having different learning or cognitive styles. For instance, some students are better visiual learners than aural learners. They learn better when they are able to read new material rather than simply listen to it.

Teaching a language is an abstract concept for young students, so the materials and activities which are used for teaching them English is very important. Therefore, English teachers should be careful and take into consideration their intelligence types when they choose the materials and activities. To make the students from different intelligences do suitable activities increases their motivation on learning English. According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), Teachers become curriculum developer, lesson designers and analysts, activity finders or inventors, and, most critically orchestrators of a rich array of multisenory activities wtihin the realistic constraints of time, space, and resorces of the classroom (p. 120). In short, the teachers have a big role in teaching the young students English. 4.1 Verbal Learner Verbal learner is the person that is successful in the linguistic intelligence. If we think linguistic intelligence is about language, we can say that a verbal learner has ability to learn a new language. When the verbal learner is a young student, to teach English can involve some special activities for him or her. The verbal young learners can learn English by using language skills; reading, listening, writing and speaking. According to Loh (n.d.) asking the the young students to recite poems and tell stories, encouraging dialogues with them, encouraging them to tell summary and anecdotes of stories, playing board games and puzzles are suitable activities for

6 the verbal learners. Then, for example, English teachers can find simple stories to teach new vocabularies for their young learners, and ask them to summarize the story with simple sentences by using the words which they learn. Bas (2008) also indicates that Teachers can use the games in order to create a valuable atmosphere and develop students' linguistic awareness. In this regard, students can create games on the basis of the storybook or song they have read or listened to (Section 13, para. 2). Therefore, to use some educational games is very helpful for the verbal young learners while learning English. 4.2 Logical Learner Logical learner is the person who is successful in the logical mathematical intelligence. We can think that a person with mathematical intelligence has difficulty in learning a new language, but thats not true. When English teachers recognise their students aptitudes and choose right activities, there is not a problem for them to teach English. Loh (n.d, Section 3, para. 2) explains the activities for logical learners as:
Allow your child experiment with objects, toys and things. Ask your child to paint, draw figures, mix colors and play with colorful toys. Provide board games that enhance thinking and mental ability catalyzing activities. Ask your child to help you out in household chores. Let him or her work on a number of sundry activities.

English teachers can also use these kinds of activities for their logical young learners. For example, they can use schemas when they are teaching grammar rules of the tenses, or they can use pictures and tables when they are teaching vocabularies. To make learning English enjoyful with games which young learners can like is also helpful for them. To supply thinking in concrete way is effective for the logical young learners as Lazear (2000, p.26) states that playing with a variety of concrete objects is effective on the development of logical mathematical intelligence. 4.3 Visual Learner Visual learner is the person who has spatial intelligence. Everything which is visual is important for that kind of learners. They are sensitive to colours very much and they can learn much more things from pictures than the things they read. They like the activities which conclude kind of arts. Hence, English teachers can use the films or cartoons to pique their

7 interest and they can benefit from projectors to supply a visual learning when they teaching some subjects. For example, when the teachers are teaching modals which are one of the grammar subjects, they can use the pictures of a cartoon character which the young students like most. Then, the subject will be easiliy remembered for them. When they are teaching vocabularies they can use flashcards for their visual young learners and it can be also enjoyable for them. For instance, when an English teacher is teaching animals names, the cards which includes their names and pictures are useful for the visual young learners to remember and not forget easily. According to Fyodorova (2005), spatial intelligence requires activities which let the young learners to deal with graphics or visual effects, watch videos, interperet and apply charts, use mind-maping software or graphic organizers, draw and design diagrams (pp. 5758). For English teachers, using these activities is also possible when they are teaching to their visual young learners. 4.4 Physical Learner Physical learner is the person who is successful in bodily- kinesthetic intelligence. This intelligence supplies to control and comment the movements of the body, to use the objects with a great skill, and accordance between body and memory. How can English teachers use this intelligence while teaching to their physical young learners? They can prepare small English role-play activities for their students with the simple sentences, or can ask their physical young learners to do rol-plays about the dialogues which are in their course books. Moreover, they can get them to play taboo by using the vocabularies which they have already learned. For example, when English teachers are teaching colours to their young physical learners, they write the names of the colours to the board and prepare cards for every colour and ask their students to stick the suitable card under the names of the right colours on the board. In that way, the phsysical young learners like learning by using their bodies and it will be also easily remembered for them because they do the activity which they are interested in. Lazear (2000) states that [Bodily- kinesthetic intelligence] involves such things as drama, mime, dance, gesture, facial expressions, role-play, body language, posture, physical exercise, and physical games (p. 23). As we understand, English teachers using body languages is also important for their physical learners and the physical games which the teachers use are also effective for them when they are learning a new language as other things.

8 4.5 Music Learner Musical learner is the person who has musical intelligence. Music learners can remember the melodies of the songs very well and they have the ability to sing songs. They can play some musical instruments or like playing them. They are sensitive to the sounds around them. When they are studying, they generally like listening to music and they make rhythms with objects unconscioulsy. Loh (n.d, Section 5, para. 2) lists the activities for musical intelligence as;
Allow your child to listen to different musical tunes and melodies Bring home a tape or CD recorder Ask him or her to play favorite tunes and music Let your child attend music classes Let him or her learn playing a musical instrument

When English teachers take into consideration these activites, they can choose the best ones for their musical learners. For example, when they are teaching one subject of the grammar, they can choose a popular song which includes that grammar subject. They write the lyrics of the song with some blanks on the papers and give them to the students to fill in the blanks. Moreover, when they are teaching some subjects of English to their musical young learners, they can get them to listen classical musics to elicit the motivation. 4.6 Extrovert Learner Extraovert learner is the person who has interpersonal intelligence. The students who have this intelligence like studying with groups, sharing the things which they have with other students. As Bas states (2008), Group the children together whenever and wherever [is] possible. This does not mean that they have to work in groups all the time, but most children like to have other children around them, and also sitting with others encourages cooperation (Section 6, para. 2) They act as a leader in the group works. Their communication with their teachers and friends is very strong and they are interested in social activities very much. They generally want to do their homework or play games with their friends or another person. They usually try to help the people who need something. Richards and Rodgers define some activities for interpersonal intelligence such as cooperative groups, peer teaching, group brain storming, conflict mediation, board games and pair work (p. 121).

9 English teachers can use these activities for their extrovert young learners while teaching English. For example, a teacher can make small groups in his/her class, he/she determines one topic for each group, and ask them to prepare a group work to present with a grammar subject they have already learned or he can create a competition environment among the groups and ask them to play with the words which they have already learnt. 4.7 Introvert Learner Introvert learner is the person who has intrapersonal intelligence. The people with intrapersonal intelligence like studying alone and they prefer to do projects and homeworks individually. They are aware of their own thoughts, abilities, desires and motivations. This kind of students are thought as asocial or dissonant people but it is not true, because every intelligence type has its own teaching ways, and to follow these ways is more helpful for students who are from different intelligences. Introvert young learners usually do not have difficulty in concentrating on the lessons and they can motivate themselves more easily than the other students can. Loh (n.d, Section 8, para. 2) also lists the activities for intrapersonal intelligence as;
Provide an ample amount of time for your child to play on his or her own Encourage your child to write memoir and keep a diary. Provide him or her tools and equipments that provide quiet and engaging activities.

Intrapersonal intelligence implies possibility for the learner to express his/her own preferences and to understand his/her styles of learning (Fyodorova, 2005, p.53). Therefore, when English teachers have an opinion about their introvert young learners preferences and styles, they can make activities which are suitable for them. For example, they can ask them to keep a diary in English with simple sentences or can give them homeworks to do individually. Furthermore, English teachers can advise them to study with some English education programs such as books or CDs on his own at home. These activities which are individual are useful for introvert young learners to learn English. 4.8 Natural Learner Natural learner is the person who has naturalist intelligence. The students with natural intelligence have an interest about searching the living things in the nature. They can wonder

10 the events in the environment. They like going for a trip in the environment, going to zoos or visiting the museums. They can introduce and classify the plant and animal species easily. They like growing plants and keeping domestic animals such as dogs, cats, birds, fish etc. English teachers can teach English to their natural young learners by doing suitable activities for them. For example, they can take their students to the zoo to teach the animal names or they make picnics and they can play some English games in the picnic. Furthermore, sometimes English teachers can do their courses outside when the weather is beautiful, to be in nature is motivating for them and they can learn the subject about English actively. 5. Conclusion and Suggestions If we think that the contemporary education is important today, English teachers should use the new theories and methods. Multiple Intelligence Theory is one of them, so being knowledgeable about this theory is useful for English teachers as for other teachers. As unearthed in this paper, Multiple Intelligence Theory is very useful for teaching English to young learners who have different intelligence. Therefore, English teachers should determine their young students interests to have an opinion about their intelligence kinds. For this reason, firstly, they should learn their young students characteristics. After learning their young students characteristics and intelligence types, English teachers can use the suitable activities for their young learners. They can use verbal activities for the students with linguistic intelligence, logical activities for the students with logicalmathematical intelligence, visual activities for the students with spatial intelligence, physical activities for the students with bodily- kinesthetic intelligence, music activities for the students with musical intelligence, social activities for the students with interpersonal intelligence, introvert activities for the students with intrapersonal intelligence and natural activities for the students with naturalist intelligence. To be successful in teaching English to young learners, using these appropriate activities is fundamental. All in all, English teachers use Multiple Intelligence theory while teaching grammar rules or vocabularies to their young learners who have different intelligence. As a suggestion, the teachers should prepare suitable atmosphere for applying Multiple Intelligence activities because the teachers have a big role to use these activities effectively for their young students.

11 References Armstong, T. (2000). Multiple intelligences: in the classroom. The United States: ASCD. Bas, G. (2008). Integrating multiple intelligences in ESL/EFL classrooms. The Internet TESL Journal, 14(5). Retrieved April 19, 2010, from http://iteslj.org/Lessons/HuangCulturalActivity.html

Campbell, L., Campbell, B. & Dickinson, D. (2004). Teaching and learning through multiple intelligences. The United States of America: Pearson.

Freeman, D. L. (2000). Tecniques and principles in language teaching (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Fyodorava, A. (2005). Multiple intelligence theory in improving the quality of virtual education. Unpublished MA Thesis, University of Joensuu, Joensuu, Finland.

Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching (3rd ed.). China: Longman.

Lazear, D. (2000). The intelligent curriculum: using multiple intlligences to develop your students ull potential. Chicago: Zephyr.

Loh, A. (n.d.). Multiple intelligences activities in children: the basics. Retrieved April 18, 2010, from http://www.brainy-child.com/article/multiple-intelligence-activities.shtml

Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd ed.). United States of America: Cambridge University Press.

12 Standford, P. (2003, November). Multiple intelligence for every classroom. Intervention school & clinic, 39(2), 80-85. Retrieved April 20, 2010, from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=2&sid=97fa1e6f-42e4-41a1-811a323291aa2aea%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db= a9h&AN=11022285 in