Language learning strategies, multiple intelligences and self-efficacy: Exploring the links

Abstract

Recent research on students’ multiple intelligences, self-efficacy, and language learning strategies has provided evidence for the development of crucial constructs and generalizations which have direct applications to language classrooms. The present study examined the interrelationships between the strategies language learners take, their level of self-efficacy, and the types of their intelligences (based on Gardner’s (1983) Theory of Multiple Intelligences). To do so, Nation’s (1990) 50-item multiple- choice vocabulary test was administered by a university department to form homogeneous groups across all the majors of the department. Then, three surveys were adapted to explore the links between (1) Self-efficacy in Reading (SER) (Prat-Sala & Redford, 2010), (2) a Multiple Intelligence Scale (Armstrong, 1993), and (3) Oxford’s (1990) Language Learning Strategies. The most striking observation to emerge from the data comparison was that self-efficacy had no significant correlation with multiple intelligences. However, as expected, there was a significant correlation between language learners’ perceptions of their self-efficacy and their language leaning strategies. Additionally, a multiple regression analysis indicated notable results on the use of self-efficacy and multiple intelligences to predict language learning strategies.