Multiple Intelligences Theory and its relevancy too classrooms and teachers.

Everybody is smart in different ways, so different methods must be applied according to different brains and intelligences of each of the students. The theory represents eight different capacities of knowing, understanding and learning about our world. 

The Eight Intelligences

1.  Linguistic- people with this intelligence are able to understand and grasp the idea of syntax, semantic, pragmatic and practical use of a language.  

2. Logical- Mathematical- people with this intelligence are organized and usually known to have critical thinking, they are good with numbers and graphs.

3. Spatial- the ability to perceive the space and the surrounding world very well, because of the sensitivity to color, shape and form.

4.  Bodily- kinesthetic- people with this intelligence are the best in using their whole body to express feelings and ideas, to communicate. 

5.  Musical- the ability to understand music, differentiate sounds and chords from one another, perceive and express sound.

6. Interpersonal- these people are super sensitive and aware to other people's feelings, intentions and motivations.   

7. Intrapersonal- these people are self aware. They can interpret their own thoughts and feelings very well, they are completely aware of their inner mood, intentions and motivations.

8.  Naturalist- this is a new intelligence that was added recently, these people are able to recognize and classify environmental stuff around them. 

It is important that we as teachers will be able to identify our students' abilities and recognize their strengths and weaknesses with applying the theory in our classes and improving our students' performances.

Here Are Some Examples:

Students can learn the exact thing in more than one way, while one student prefers to learn from listening to the teacher, the other prefers to learn from reading about it in a book. There can be more than one way to teach something. 

A teacher that teaches according to the eight intelligences is not teaching in a traditional method, but keeps jumping from one type of intelligence to the other, sometimes combining few of them together in creative ways.   

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When it comes to the teaching of a foreign language, teachers may often use and consider the verbal linguistic intelligence as they teach and assess their students. But this intelligence can be supported with the other intelligences in order to teach more effectively and to improve the students understanding.

The teacher can develop the musical intelligence as part of her teaching methods because it can easily be related to language- vocabulary, grammar and communication.  Learning new songs involves the learning of the language as a whole. 

The teacher can develop the body- kinesthetic intelligence in her students with integrating elements of drama and performance, something that encourages the students to use the language, to present it orally, and to communicate with the class.  

The interpersonal intelligence is very important and must be developed within the English lessons, because it encourages listening, collaboration, leadership and problem solving skills, all of which are crucial skills for today's world.  

Even the natural intelligence can be developed during English lessons with simple tasks, such as describe your school's yard or neighborhood. By doing so, the students can learn grammatical structures for descriptive sentences in English. 

Moreover, researchers found that there is a significant relationship between multiple intelligences and speaking and writing skills. These skills can be improved if a student practices them through his dominant intelligence.   

Other researches show that students achieved greater success when the multiple intelligence theory was used. 

The article encourages us, English teachers to apply the multiple intelligence theory in our classes, to come up with more innovative and creative methods for teaching. Teachers must be aware to their students' intelligence in order to teach them more effectively. With understanding this theory, teachers can understand their students much better, they can answer their needs and adjust the learning process to each student individually.