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

CHAU VAN DON

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


UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Truong Vien (PhD)
Reviewer 1: Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Van Long (PhD)
Reviewer 2: Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Quang Ngoan (PhD)
Reviewer 3: Huynh Anh Tuan (PhD)

The dissertation to be defended to Board of Examiners At the Thesis
Examination Council of Hue University At 03 Le Loi street, Hue City
Date …… month …… year 2019

This dissertation can be found at:

- The National Library
- The Library of University of Foreign Languages, Hue University
(57, Nguyen Khoa Chiem Street, Hue City, Thua Thien Hue Province)


Công trình được hoàn thành tại:
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ

Người hướng dẫn khoa học: PGS.TS. Trương Viên
Phản biện 1: PGS.TS. Nguyễn Văn Long
Phản biện 2: PGS.TS. Nguyễn Quang Ngoạn
Phản biện 3: TS. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

Luận án sẽ được bảo vệ tại Hội đồng chấm luận án cấp Đại học Huế
Họp tại Số 03 Lê Lợi, TP. Huế
Vào lúc … giờ, ngày … tháng … năm 2019


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.
Therefore, to attain those two main objectives, the mixed research method was
adopted: the quantitative approach utilizing a quasi-experimental study in which
MI-based activities were integrated into an experiment. The participants were 60
EFL second-year students from the research site, randomly selected on their
voluntary basis and were divided into an experimental group and a control group.
The possible effects of such an integration of MI-based activities into the speakingtraining program were measured via the means of a pre- and post-test and the
questionnaire administered to the experimental group as the two main research
instruments. The qualitative approach, aiming at collecting some supplementary
evidence regarding the participants’ responses. Qualitative data were collected from
30 experimental participants via the evaluation form and the interviews with six
randomly chosen participants from the experimental group.
The findings from the English speaking pre-test and post-test revealed
significant statistical differences between the participants’ test scores of their EFL
oral performances before and after taking part in the instructional intervention. The

ii


results of data analysis of the test scores shows that there was a significant
difference (M = .43) in favor of the post-test. Such an improvement of the mean
score in the post-test indicates that the program had some effects on improving the

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 2014-2018 (DC14)
for their participation into the experimental study by filling the questionnaires,
taking the pre/post-test, and answering the interview.
Last but not least, the unconditional, innumerable, great affection, sacrifice
and care of my family members for me during my Ph.D. program-taking journey
beyond words. They are always the source of motivation and aspiration for me to
overcome all my difficulties and achieve what I have academically dreamed so far.

iv


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CEFR

European Framework of Reference for Languages

CLT

Communicative Language Teaching

EFL


MIDAS

Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales

MIT

Multiple Intelligences Theory

MOET

Ministry of Education and Training

PBL

Project-based Learning

EF

Evaluation Form

SLA

Second Language Acquisition

SPSS

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

TEFL

Descriptive statistics of mean performance in pre and post-test...........69

Table 4.2

Residuals Statistics ………………………………………….….

69

Table 4.3

Case Processing Summary ……………………………………...

70

Table 4.4

Test of Homogeneity of Variances ……………………………...

70

Table 4.5

Difference between means of pre-test and post-test …………….

70

Table 4.6

Mean score of pre-test in comparison with the accepted mean..............71



Comparing mean score of Pre-questionnaire and Scale 3 (NS).............86

Table 4.14

Grouped data for 6 clusters in post-questionnaire....................................... 87

Table 4.15

Mean scores of post-questionnaire.................................................................... 88

Table 4.16

Comparing mean score of Post-questionnaire and Scale 4 (“A”)..............88

Table 4.17

Participants’ preferred MI-based activities.................................................... 95

Table 4.18

Summary of the study findings......................................................................... 131

vi
Figure 3.3

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


Figure 4.1

1.7. Organization of the thesis.......................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................ 9
2.1. Multiple Intelligences Theory.................................................................................................. 9
2.2. Individual differences in an English speaking class........................................................... 13

2.3. Social Interaction, Learning Styles and Individual Differences................................ 14
2.3.1. Relationship between Multiple Intelligences, Learning Styles, LearnerCenteredness, and Communicative Approach........................................................................... 17
2.3.1.1. Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles............................................................... 17
2.3.1.2. Learner-centeredness approach...................................................................................... 18
2.3.1.3. Communicative approach................................................................................................. 18
2.4. Speaking skills.............................................................................................................................. 20
2.4.1. Definition of speaking........................................................................................................... 20
2.4.2. Components of speaking skills........................................................................................... 20

viii


2.4.3. Definition of MI-based speaking activities.................................................................... 21
2.4.3.1. Project-based activities ……………………………………………….

24

2.4.3.2. Poster-making activities ………………………………………………

24

2.4.3.3. Common features between project-based and poster-making activities

25


ix


3.9.3. Administering the MI inventory......................................................................................... 60
3.9.4. Administering questionnaires.............................................................................................. 60
3.9.5. Administering speaking pre-test and post-test.............................................................. 60
3.9.6. Administering interviews and evaluation form............................................................ 61
3.10. Data analysis............................................................................................................................... 62
3.11. Research reliability and validity.......................................................................................... 63
3.12. Chapter summary...................................................................................................................... 64
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.................................................................. 65
4.1. Effects of integrating MI-based activities.......................................................................... 65
4.1.1. Participants’ MI profiles........................................................................................................ 66
4.1.2. Participants’ speaking performances before and after experiment....................... 67
4.1.2.1. Participants’ speaking performances between two groups................................... 68
4.1.2.2. Comparison of the participants’ speaking performances within the
control group prior to and after the experiment........................................................................ 72
4.1.2.3. Comparison of the participants’ speaking performances within the
experimental group prior to and after the study....................................................................... 72
4.1.2.4. Exploratory investigation: Correlation between the results of the pretest and the post-test............................................................................................................................ 74
4.2. Discussion of the effects of integrating MI-based activities....................................... 75
4.3. Participants’ evaluation of the integration of MI-based activities............................ 81
4.3.1. Participants’ responses in the questionnaires................................................................ 82
4.3.1.1. Findings from pre-questionnaire.................................................................................... 85
4.3.1.2. Findings from post-questionnaire.................................................................................. 87
4.3.2. Participants’ responses in the evaluation form............................................................. 97
4.3.3. Participants’ responses in the interviews....................................................................... 102
4.3.4. Impacts of the extra-curricular speaking-training activities................................... 115
4.4. Discussion of findings on participants’ evaluation of integrating MIbased activities..................................................................................................................................... 119
4.4.1. Participants’ perceptions of integrating MI-based activities ……………

5.3. Limitations of the study........................................................................................................... 138
5.4. Recommendations for further study.................................................................................... 138
AUTHOR’S WORKS....................................................................................................................... 140
REFERENCES

141

LIST OF APPENDICES.................................................................................................................. 149

xi


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

intelligences in participating and performing classroom activities. Nunan and Baily
(2009), Oxford (2001), and Ezarik (2001) also shared their common viewpoint that
teachers could find their proper ways of teaching through focusing on the students’
learning styles and thinking strategies:
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

2


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


therefore, more facile for many teachers and students to concentrate on the written
form and use of the language instead of developing the speaking skills.
Vietnamese EFL students are in the same situation and always confront with
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.

4

skills for the EFL students by organizing the discussion and interaction activities
like group work in intelligence centers according to their similar MI profiles. As
5


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)
(2)

establishing some sources of data on tertiary EFL students’ MI profiles;

study aims to fulfill.
Chapter 3, then, demonstrates in detail the research methodology of the study
from the selection of the research philosophy, research approach to the description
of data collection and data analysis procedures as well as the criteria for ensuring
that the study was conducted in the stable and ethical conditions.
Chapter 4 is the presentation of the two findings in lines with the two
established research questions regarding the possible effects of integrating MI-based
activities into the speaking training program for EFL students majored in English
Education and their evaluation of such an integration of MI-based activities.

7


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.

8


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The literature, in this chapter, related to some relevant studies to the concepts