The Role of Intelligence in Learning English as a Foreign Language

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between intelligence and learning English in
general, and learning grammar and reading comprehension in particular. Participants were
teenage Iranian learners from Kerman high schools in second grade. The tests were
administered at the end of the year to two mixed classes of 60 learners whose ages ranged from
15 to 19. Standardized tests were employed to assess learners' performance in reading
comprehension, grammar and intelligence (both verbal and nonverbal). The correlation between
the two variables was determined through Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient.
Results of the investigation showed that unlike first language acquisition, there was a positive
correlation between verbal and nonverbal intelligence and learners' English language
development. Data analysis showed that the relationship between intelligence scores and those
of comprehension and grammar scores was significant across all the groups. The results of this
research prove that intelligence is one of the important factors in acquisition of English as a
foreign language, but it is not the only factor.