The Relationship between Multiple Intelligences and Iranian EFL Learners’ Level of L2 Lexical Knowledge: The Case of Gender

Abstract

Human cognitive competence represents individuals’ subconscious knowledge of abilities, talents, and mental skills collectively called “multiple intelligences (MIs)”, which play a pivotal role in facilitating human learning. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to determine the magnitude of the relationship existing between multiple intelligences and Iranian EFL learners’ level of second language (L2) lexical knowledge on one hand and the partializing impact of gender on the other. For this purpose, from the population of the senior undergraduate students majoring in translation at Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran, a sample of 88 students, 24 males and 64 females, were randomly selected. First, Mckenzie’s (1999) MIs Inventory was administered to specify the size of individual types of intelligences in each learner’s MIs composite. Then, the learners were provided with Nation’s (2001) receptive level test a week later to gauge their level of L2 lexical knowledge. The findings revealed that the scores on MIs inventory correlated positively with those of L2 lexical knowledge. Alternatively, different types of intelligences served as useful predictors for estimating the quality of learners’ vocabulary knowledge. Finally, it was found out that gender did indeed have a different effect regarding the learners’ vocabulary knowledge.