Crystallized intelligence In EFL: Crossing the boundaries of cognitive disability

Abstract

This paper refers to a single case study that explored if and how crystallized intelligence-based adapted EFL lessons might help a student with cognitive disability improve his communicative competence using the foreign language. The project was developed during 4 semesters (100 sessions) The 100 sessions were divided into observations: Student’s data, communication skills, social skills and affectivity, mobility and self-care, approach to learning, cognitive skills, sensory abilities, reading and writing skills, mathematics skills, academic, social and educational background (30 sessions), literature review and theoretical framework (30 sessions), class activities preparation for the English courses (15 sessions), photography sessions to create teaching materials based on Sebastian’s daily activities (8 sessions), preparation of activities related to crystallized intelligence activation (5 sessions), Sebastian’s field notes (5 sessions) and the adaptation of FCE Test for Advanced English Language Course (4 sessions). This document explains how crystallized intelligence might facilitate EFL learning, how the student enhances his linguistic competence when doing different tasks in the English language courses (Intermediate- Upper Intermediate and Advanced English courses). Likewise, the research included qualitative techniques such as observations, field notes, interviews to teachers and students; and quantitative techniques as a pretest and posttest, which were useful to study the student’s emotions and his perspective about his own learning experience which is composed by seven emerged categories as knowing my knowledge, deepening my knowledge, learning and enjoying my content, creating my own pedagogical materials, facing my own experiences, EFL my main motivation, and achieving my pedagogical materials. After the analysis, the researcher found that there are strong reasons to believe that crystalized intelligence-based teaching materials not only improve language learning, but also boost learning in more general terms.