Multiple Intelligences in the Omani EFL context: How well aligned are textbooks to students’ intelligence profiles?

Fawzia Aziz Al Seyabi, Hind A’Zaabi

Abstract


The present study aims at identifying the multiple intelligences (MI) profiles of grade 12 female students in Oman in the light of Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI). It also presents an analysis of the MI profiles of the English textbooks used in grade 12 to determine the extent to which they align or misalign with the students’ profiles. The study used two instruments:  1) an MI survey addressed to 530 students in Muscat Governorate and 2) textbook analysis of grade twelve English textbooks. The results of the study pointed to the existence of misalignment between the sampled students’ intelligence profiles in comparison with the textbooks’ dominant intelligences. The study revealed that grade twelve female students ranked the intrapersonal talent as their strongest intelligence with 84.4%, followed by the bodily-kinesthetic, and the visual-spatial intelligences, whereas the textbooks were found to be heavily based on the verbal-linguistic intelligence with a 100% presence followed by the interpersonal, and the logical-mathematical intelligences. The study urges that future revisions of the Omani EFL curriculum are done through the lens of MI theory in order to improve the quality of students’ learning experiences.


Keywords


Multiple Intelligences (MI), Textbook analysis, Post-basic education

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References


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