Investigating the Effects of English Language Learning Classes on Learners’ Narrative Intelligence

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Hafez Shatery
• Azar Hosseini Fatemi

Department of English, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/lts.v51i4.58866

Abstract

Mateas and Sengers (1999) view narrative intelligence as an entity’s ability to narratively organize and explain experiences. Likewise, Graesser, Singer and Trabasso (1994) regard narrative intelligence as the ability to comprehend and make inferences about narratives that he is told. Other researchers state that narrative intelligence is the ability to produce affective responses such as empathy to narratives one hears (Mar et al., 2011). All cognitive processes in people’s lives depend upon narrative intelligence. According to Randall (1999), narrative intelligence is the ability to perceive and produce narrative structures. While the role of emotional and verbal intelligences has been the subject of many studies in the past decade, there has been a dearth of studies into narrative intelligence. As such, the present study aimed to investigate the extent to which EFL classes boost students’ narrative abilities in different educational contexts, namely, private language institutes and public schools. In addition, it is intended to see if there was a relationship between gender (male vs. female) and the narrative intelligence of students in the above mentioned educational contexts. The data were collected using the Narrative Intelligence Scale (NIS) and then fed into SPSS software. The results of the study revealed that EFL learners in private language institutes enjoyed a higher level of narrative intelligence compared to their counterparts in public schools. In addition, it was revealed there was a significant difference between gender and the narrative intelligence of students at the two educational contexts. 

Keywords

• Narrative Intelligence
• Narrative Intelligence Scale
• Private Language Institutes
• Public Schools

20.1001.1.22285202.1398.52.3.2.9

References

پیش‌قدم، ر. (۱۳۸۶). افزایش تفکر انتقادی از طریق مباحثة ادبی در کلاس‌های زبان انگلیسی. مطالعات زبان و ترجمه، ۴(۴)، ۱۵۳-۱۶۷.

حسینی فاطمی، آ.، پیش‌قدم، ر.، و ناوری، ص. (۱۳۸۹). تأثیر و نقش کلاس‌های آموزش زبان انگلیسی در افزایش هوش هیجانی و سازه‌‌های مربوط. مطالعات زبان و ترجمه، ۴۲(۱)، ۱-۱۷.

حیدری، ف.، خوش‌سلیقه، م.، و هاشمی، م. (1394). هوش روایی و کیفیت ترجمه. مطالعات زبان و ترجمه، ۴۸(۲)، 113-130.

ضیایی، س.، قنسولی، ب.، قپانچی، ض.، و شهریاری، ح. (1397). طراحی، روایابی و اعتبارسنجی شاخص هوش روایی در نوشتار. مطالعات زبان و ترجمه، ۵۱(۴)، 119-137.

 

Amoah, J. (2013). Narrative: The road to black feminist theory. Berkeley Women’s Law Journal, 12)1(, 84-102.

Black, R. S., & Howard-Jones, A. (2000). Reflection on best and worst teachers: An experiential perspective of teaching. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 34, 1-12.

Bruner, J. (1990). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry, 18(1), 1-21.

Elizabeth, C. L., May, C. M., & Chee, P. K. (2008). Building a model to define a concept teacher success in Hong Kong. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 623-634.

Gardner, H. (1990). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Golabi, A., Heidari, F. (2019). Prediction of Iranian EFL learners’ learning approaches through their teachers’ narrative intelligence and teaching styles: A structural equation modelling analysis. Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 8(2), 1-12.

Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional intelligence: why it can be matter more than IQ. London, England: Bloomsbury.

Graesser, A., Singer, M., & Trabasso, T. (1994). Constructing Inferences during Narrative Text Comprehension. Psychological Review, 101, 371–395.

Heidari, F., Khoshsaligheh, M., & Hashemi, M. (2016). Narrative intelligence represented in translational success: issues of coherence, gaps, complexity and aesthetics. Journal of Social Sciences, 39(2), 75-87.

Hosseini, A. (2011, October). Boosting reading skills, narrative intelligence and moral reasoning through fictional narrative-based reading instruction: A comparative study of text genres. Paper presented at the 4th edition of the ICT for Language Learning.

Jarvis, M. (2005).The psychology of effective learning and teaching. London, England: Nelson Thornes Ltd.

Khaghaninejad, M. S., & Chahibakhsh, N. (2015). How do novels and movies improve narrative intelligence and general English proficiency level of advanced EFL learners? Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences, 5(3), 1211-1220.

Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., Djikic, M., & Mullin, J. (2011). Emotion and narrative fiction: Interactive influences before, during, and after reading. Cognition and Emotion, 25.818–833.

Mateas, M., & Sengers, P. (1999). Narrative intelligence. Proceedings of the AAAI Fall Symposium on Narrative Intelligence (pp. 1–10). North Falmouth, MA: AAAI Press.

Mattingly, C., Lutkehaus, N, C., Throop, C, J. (2008). Bruners search for meaning: A conversation between psychology and anthropology. The American Anthropologist. ETHOS. Vol.36. Issues 1.pp. 1-28

Pishghadam, R. (2011). Introducing applied ELT as a new approach in second/foreign language studies. Iranian EFL Journal. 7(2). 8-14.

Pishghadam, R., & Motakef, R. (2012). Narrative intelligence and language learning. International journal of language Teaching and Research, 1(1), 13-20.

Pishghadam, R., & Saboori, F. (2011). A qualitative analysis of ELT in the language institutes of Iran in the light of the theory of ‘world Englishes’. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(3), 569-579.

Pishghadam, R., Baghaei, P., Shams, M., & Shamsaee, S. (2011). Construction and validation of a narrative intelligence scale with the rasch rating scale model. International Journals of Educational and psychological Assessment. 8 (1). 75-90.

Pishghadam, R., Golparvar, E, .Khajavi, G, H., &Iranrad, E. (2011). Narrative intelligence and pedagogica success in english. BELT Journal Porto Alegre 2(2), 178-189. Julho/dezembro

Pishghadam, R., Shayesteh, S. & Heidari, F. (2016) Hybrid modeling of intelligence and linguistic factors as predictors of translation quality. The International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research, 8(1), 101-116.

Randall, W. L. (1999). Narrative intelligence and the novelty of our lives. Journals of Aging Studies, 13(1), 11-28.

Riessman, C. K. (2001). Analysis of personal narratives. In J. F. Gubrium and J.A. Holstein (eds.), Handbook of interviewing. London, England: Sage Publications.

Royae, N., & Evazzadeh, E. (2013). Narrative intelligence and learning strategies. Faculty of Education, Tarbiat Modarres University.

Sikes, p., Gale, K. (2006). Narrative approaches to educational research. Faculty of Education, University of Plymouth.

Steel, R. (1986). Deconstructing history: Towards a systematic criticism of psychological narratives. In S. R. (Ed.), Narrative psychology: The stored nature of human conduct. New York, NY: Praeger.

Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate Statistics (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.