Investigating the ways of knowing based on the multiple intelligence theory in the ESL Classrooms among Form One learners in SMK Muara Tuang / Lona Benjamin

This study investigates the ways of knowing based on the Multiple Intelligence theory (MI theory) in the ESL classrooms among the Form One learners in SMK Muara Tuang. The fundamental of the study is the Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory (1983) supported by Botelho (2003), Green and Tanner (2005), Lazear (2003) and other relevant studies. The study is meant to discover the most dominant way of knowing among the Form One learners. Furthermore, the study aimed to investigate the relationship between the learners' dominant way of knowing with their background aspects namely their gender and their proficiency level based on the grades obtained for the English language in the UPSR examination. This study applied the survey style in collecting the data among 407 Form One learners of SMK Muara Tuang of the Samarahan district. The data is also gathered from the semi-structured interview questions given to 10 selected Form One learners. The findings revealed that all the 8 ways of knowing based on the MI theory were identified among the learners and many of the learners had more than one way of knowing. The study also identified that there were three main ways of knowing based on the MI theory among the learners namely the Interpersonal, Musical and the Naturalist intelligences. Also, the study concluded that regardless the learners' gender and their proficiency level in the English language many of the learners had the same dominant ways of knowing namely the Interpersonal and the Musical intelligences.