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The Concept of Linguistic Intelligence and Beyond

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New Perspectives on Individual Differences in Language Learning and Teaching

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching ((SLLT))

Abstract

Four unresolved issues will dominate the discussion of intelligence: whether intelligence is singular, or consists of various more or less independent intellectual faculties, whether intelligence is inherited, and whether any of its elements can accurately be measured? The fourth question is linked more with psycholinguistic investigations than with general psychology: do children learn language using a mental organ, some of whose principles of organization are not shared with other cognitive systems such as perception, motor control, and reasoning? Or is language acquisition just another problem to be solved by general intelligence, in this case, the problem of how to communicate with other humans over the auditory channel? In this paper, I will try to outline what kind of argumentation reinforce the suspicion that there is a special kind of intelligence (mental organ/module)—linguistic one. I try to test the hypothesis of linguistic intelligence in the light of the very idea of multiple intelligences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland

    Szymon Wróbel

  2. Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Szymon Wróbel

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  1. Szymon Wróbel
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Correspondence to Szymon Wróbel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Nowy Swiat 28-30, Kalisz, 62-800, Poland

    Mirosław Pawlak

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Wróbel, S. (2012). The Concept of Linguistic Intelligence and Beyond. In: Pawlak, M. (eds) New Perspectives on Individual Differences in Language Learning and Teaching. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20850-8_7

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