MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HUE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

CHÂU VĂN ĐÔN

INTEGRATING MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES-BASED
ACTIVITIES INTO TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS
TO EFL LEARNERS

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND
METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

HUE, 2019


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HUE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

CHÂU VĂN ĐÔN

INTEGRATING MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES-BASED
ACTIVITIES INTO TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS
TO EFL LEARNERS

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND
METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Code: 9 14 01 11


Teaching Speaking Skills to EFL Learners” has been submitted for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy.
I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. I
have fully acknowledged and referenced the ideas and works of others, whether
published or unpublished, in my thesis.
My thesis does not contain work extracted from a thesis, dissertation or
research paper previously presented for another degree or diploma at this or any
other educational institute.

Signature

CHÂU VĂN ĐÔN

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ABSTRACT

With the philosophy “Every learner is unique and intelligent”, the Theory of
Multiple Intelligences (MIT) has proved to be a humanitarian and favorable premise
to foster and promote learners’ language skills. Armstrong (2017) remarked while
traditional language teaching and learning programs mainly focus on developing
learners’ linguistic and reasoning skills, MIT proposes there are many other ways in
which learners’ language skills can be developed better. As the major aim of
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is to enable students to promote their
speaking skills to achieve progress in communicative competence, EFL instructors
should create favorable conditions for students to develop their speaking skills.
This study was an attempt to investigate the possible effects of integrating
MI-based activities into developing the EFL students’ speaking skills, and then to
find out the students’ evaluation of such an integration of MI-based activities.

from this research regarding the effectiveness of integrating MI-based activities on
developing EFL students’ speaking skills, and the feasibility of promoting EFL
students’ oral performances by integrating MI-based activities into EFL speaking
training programs.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With all of my gratitude, I would like to express my whole-hearted thanks to
the ones who contributed to this thesis with their academic expertise, substantive
help or emotional support.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my
supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trương Viên for his continuous guidance, help, support
and encouragement throughout the course of this study.
Secondly, my sincere thanks also go to the lecturers of the University of
Foreign Languages, Hue University: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trần Văn Phước; Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Phạm Thị Hồng Nhung; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lê Phạm Hoài Hương; Dr. Trương
Bạch Lê; Dr. Phạm Hồng Anh, who have whole-heartedly guided me through each
phase of this journey. I always feel your care about my study and professional
development. Therefore, once again, I would like to express my deep thanks for all
your kind help and enthusiastic encouragement.
I also own a word of thanks to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lưu Quý Khương and Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Tôn Nữ Mỹ Nhật for giving me such valuable suggestions for improving
the quality of my thesis. I would also like to express my thanks to the Board of
Rectors of my university for creating all the favorable conditions for me to take part
in this Ph.D. program. I am grateful to the lecturers and students of the Foreign
Languages Department of the university where the experiment for this study is
conducted, particularly the students of second-year EFL class 2014-2019 (DC14)

Intelligence Center

IQ

Intelligence Quotient

IT

Information Technology

LC

Learner-centered

LLS

Language Learning Strategy

MI

Multiple Intelligences

MIDAS

Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales

MIT

Multiple Intelligences Theory


Zone of Proximal Development

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1

Instruments used in the research .....................................................

41

Table 3.2

Summary of the procedures of the main study ...............................

60

Table 3.3

Stages of analyzing interview data .................................................

64

Table 4.1

Descriptive statistics of mean performance in pre and post-test ....

71


Table 4.7

Mean score of the post-test in comparison with the good mean ....

73

Table 4.8

Participants’ English-speaking performances within 2 groups
before and after the experimental program ....................................

74

Table 4.9

Correlation between the results of the pre-test and the post-test ....

76

Table 4.10

Means scores of experimental participants’ pre and postquestionnaire ...................................................................................

85

Table 4.11

Grouped data for the 6 clusters in the pre-questionnaire ...............


90

Table 4.17

Participants’ preferred MI-based activities ....................................

97

Table 4.18

Summary of the study findings ....................................................... 132

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Figure 3.3

The research procedures ................................................................

39

Figure 4.1

Participants’ intelligences profiles .................................................

69

Figure 4.2

Participants’ speaking performances reported in pre & post tests

TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................

viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................

1

1.1. Background of the study ..............................................................................

1

1.2. Statement of the problem .............................................................................

3

1.3. Research objectives ......................................................................................

4

1.4. Research questions .......................................................................................

5

1.5. Research scope .............................................................................................

5

1.6. Significance of the study ..............................................................................


2.3.1.2. Learner-centeredness approach ..............................................................

18

2.3.1.3. Communicative approach.......................................................................

19

2.4. Speaking skills .............................................................................................

20

2.4.1. Definition of speaking ...............................................................................

20

2.4.2. Components of speaking skills .................................................................

21

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2.4.3. Definition of MI-based speaking activities ...............................................

21

2.4.3.1. Project-based activities ……………………………………………….

24

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................

36

3.1. Revisiting the Research Questions ..............................................................

36

3.2. Research design ............................................................................................

36

3.3. Research procedures.....................................................................................

38

3.4. Research participants ...................................................................................

40

3.5. Research instruments ...................................................................................

41

3.5.1. MI inventory..............................................................................................

42

3.5.2. English-speaking pre-test and post-test.....................................................


3.9.1. The pilot study...........................................................................................

50

3.9.2. The official study ......................................................................................

52

3.9.2.1. Overview ................................................................................................

52

3.9.2.2. The Conventional speaking-training program .......................................

52

3.9.2.3. The experiment.......................................................................................

58

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3.9.3. Administering the MI inventory ...............................................................

61

3.9.4. Administering questionnaires ...................................................................

61


68

4.1.2. Participants’ speaking performances before and after experiment ...........

69

4.1.2.1. Participants’ speaking performances between two groups ....................

70

4.1.2.2. Comparison of the participants’ speaking performances within the
control group prior to and after the experiment ..................................................

74

4.1.2.3. Comparison of the participants’ speaking performances within the
experimental group prior to and after the study ..................................................

74

4.1.2.4. Exploratory investigation: Correlation between the results of the pretest and the post-test ............................................................................................

76

4.2. Discussion of the effects of integrating MI-based activities ........................

77

4.3. Participants’ evaluation of the integration of MI-based activities ...............


4.4.1. Participants’ perceptions of integrating MI-based activities ……………

121

x


4.4.2. Benefits of integrating MI-based activities ……………………………..

124

4.4.3. Participants’ support of integrating MI-based activities ……………….

125

4.4.4. Participants’ preferred MI-based activities suitable with MI profiles …..

127

4.4.5. Frequency of using teaching materials ………………………………….

130

4.4.6. Some remaining problems with integrating MI-based activities ……….

131

4.5. Chapter summary .........................................................................................


LIST OF APPENDICES .....................................................................................

151

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduction
This chapter presents the background of the study, the rationale, objectives,
and scale of the research. Then, the significance of the research is mentioned and
discussed.
1.1. Background of the study
The primary goal of learning a foreign language, according to Brown (2001),
is the competence to carry out communicative activities in which learners are able
to use the target language and express it properly in real-life situations for various
functions and different extents. In language study, oral communicative skills
(mainly speaking and listening competencies) are normally regarded as the ones of
most considerable difficulties to be trained and developed. Such difficulties in
developing speaking skills, according to Harmer (2007), are mainly due to the lack
of authentic documents and environment for practicing speaking the language as
well as the learners’ acquisition methods. Applying various and flexible methods
based on a learner-centered approach and promoting diverse and multiple skills and
intelligences can help develop learners’ oral communicative skills.
Creating a friendly and encouraging EFL speaking environment can help
language learners to communicate effectively with one another. Within this such a
motivating academic environment, language learners feel comfortable to express
and exchange their ideas orally, and thus, make their progress in speaking skills.
“Application of MI-based approach helps students to promote their positive

Teachers are in a bad need to find the right strategies to fit the diverse learning
styles of each individual within the classroom context. In order to achieve the
required skills, the eight MIs need incorporating into everyday classroom learning
(Ezarik, 2001, p. 143).

The change from teacher-centered to learner-centered approach to learning
means a reduction in teacher domination, with a corresponding increase in student
control and initiative (Jones, 2007; Geven & Attard, 2012; Johnson, 2013; Crumly,
2014; and Hoidn, 2016). Learner-centeredness has proved to be a practical approach
in EFL teaching and learning. Johnson (2013, p. 19) views “learner-centered
approach is self-directed learning.” The principle of learner-centeredness stipulates

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that “the teacher's role is a facilitator, with the student acting as a reflective partner”
(Crumly, 2014, p. 26).
Therefore, learning styles and multiple intelligences can be considered
focusing on learner-centeredness and share some common characteristics: the
teacher’s role, in these language teaching and learning approaches, is the one of a
facilitator and a helper, and the learner working as a sharing and active partner.
Another common feature that these theories share among each other is the
viewpoint of training the learner as an entire person. Ahmed (2013) remarked,
“Shifting the central roles from the teacher-centeredness to the student-centeredness
in classroom activities conforms with Dewey’s concept of empowering the
students” (p. 115). According to Gardner (1983), intelligence is defined as “the
ability to deal with problems in real-life situations or to propose solutions
practically valuable in various cultural and social contexts” (p. 214). He proposed
that individuals possess at least eight types of intelligences: bodily-kinesthetic;
interpersonal;

many difficulties in learning English as a foreign language, particularly how to
develop their EFL speaking skills. This reality is reflected in the results of their
language tests and examinations, from the high-school graduation exams in general
English to the communicative skills tests in particular at tertiary level.
From the survey of the test scores of the EFL first-year students at the
Foreign Languages Faculty at the research site in the second-term of the academic
year 2015-2016, it revealed that the students’ scores were quite low in all language
skills, particularly in the EFL speaking subject. From both of the teachers’ and
students’ viewpoints, EFL Vietnamese students usually feel reluctant in
participating in English speaking activities due to their problems, such as limited
vocabulary, lack of confidence, large number of students in the class,
inconveniences of classroom furniture design, not much use of visual aids in class,
inflexible teaching and learning methods to develop students’ speaking skills, etc.
Aiming at improving the speaking skills, or oral performances as it is
sometimes used interchangeably in this study, for the EFL students at the research
site, the researcher put forward the integration of MI-based activities into the EFL
experimental program as the core of designing and implementing speaking-training
lessons. Then, based on the findings relating to the possible effects of integrating
such MI-based activities, the participants’ evaluation of such an integration of MIbased activities were explored.
1.3. Research objectives
The current study was conducted to achieve the following two goals:
- To survey the effects of integrating MI-based activities into the EFL speakingtraining program to develop students’ speaking skills.
- To investigate the students’ responses to such an integration of MI-based activities
into their EFL speaking-training program.

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1.4. Research questions
The main objectives of this study were set forth to accomplish the two


there were such a limited number of related studies on integrating MI-based
activities into the speaking-training programs, the current study can be considered
an attempt to supplement some theoretical and practical features for this research
field, particularly relating to the application of MIT in general and MI-based
activities in particular in developing speaking skills for EFL students in Vietnam.
Furthermore, in order to achieve the goals of verifying the possible effects of the
MI-based activities in promoting the students’ speaking skills, the study
investigated the relationships between the EFL students’ MI profiles and their
speaking learning strategies. Although the students possessed a diversity of
intelligence types, verbal-linguistic, visual-spatial, interpersonal, and logicalmathematical intelligences were remarkably preferred. This study also attempted to
establish the results of such an integration of MI-based activities to develop the
university students’ speaking skills in Vietnamese EFL context, which can be
considered a contribution in promoting the students’ progress in learning speaking.
Practically, based on the findings of the current study, some implications are
provided for both instructors and students in implementing speaking-training
activities. For instance, the teaching procedures in the experimental program of this
study can not only help instructors to become more aware of creating favorable
conditions for students to demonstrate their oral performances based on their
preferred intelligence types and classroom activities but also encourage students to
be more motivated, confident and engaged in the speaking-training lessons.
This research, therefore, is hoped to make some significant contribution to
(1) establishing some sources of data on tertiary EFL students’ MI profiles; (2)
introducing the teaching materials which are relevant for applying MI-based
activities in Vietnamese EFL speaking lessons; (3) recommending some MI-based
speaking activities aiming at promoting more than one type of intelligences at a
time; (4) establishing the possible effects of MIT application in EFL classroom
instruction practice regarding promoting students’ speaking skills; and (5) initially
catching the students’ support of such an integration of MI-based activities.
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Education and their evaluation of such an integration of MI-based activities.

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Chapter 5 is the discussion on the findings concerning the literature, the
research questions and the analytical framework of the study, from which the
overview picture of teaching and learning EFL speaking skills integrated with MIbased activities in some Vietnamese contexts is highlighted. This final chapter is
also concluded with a summary of the entire research, which is then followed by
some implications of the study from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
Besides, some limitations the researcher had to deal with during this research
implementation are also acknowledged. Finally, several suggested avenues for
further research in the area of integrating MI-based activities into teaching English
speaking skills in particular and communicative language teaching, in general, are
proposed.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction
The literature, in this chapter, related to some relevant studies to the concepts
of multiple intelligences and speaking skills is preliminarily reviewed. Notably, the
chapter includes (1) individual differences in an EFL speaking-training class; (2)
speaking skills: definition, types of speaking-training activities, and MI-based
speaking-training activities; (3) Multiple Intelligences Theory: definition of
intelligence, Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory (1983), some criticisms and
credits of MIT in education; (4) features of Vietnamese EFL learners; the chapter
also briefly describes some previous studies having some close relationships with

refined up to now. Following are the definitions and supportive speaking activities
for each of the eight types of intelligence in MIT:
Verbal-Linguistic

Intelligence: This

is

considered

the

fundamental

competence to be learned by all students. This intelligence is the skill to combine
words to express the concepts from simple to complicated forms to achieve
communicative purposes. This refers to the linguistic competences regarding the
language skills as well as linking them together. This intelligence enables students
to express ideas orally, making conversations, making up stories, and organizing
ideas for coherent and persuasive presentations.
Relevant classroom activities: reporting complicated bulletins; conducting
interviews with celebrities; re-telling a news event; delivering speeches; telling
stories; and the like.
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: the ability to calculate, identify the
quantities, and solve mathematical puzzles. This intelligence enables students to
understand abstract concepts, develop critical thinking and argumentation skills,
think and express their ideas in deductive and conductive methods.
Relevant classroom activities: constructing time charts and filling in them
with necessary information; doing puzzles; giving directions or finding a place
based on a map; producing oral presentations based on statistical results, etc.

These students learn best through direct feeling or touching the objects.
Relevant classroom activities: role-play; drama; using gestures and miming
to tell stories or illustrating the details of an oral presentation or description;
working with peers in different intelligent centers; organizing outdoor activities;
designing posters or participating in project-based activities.

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