Peer-graded Assignment |People with high IQ’s are good language learners.”

Hello! My name is Anargyros, I come from Greece, and I have been teaching Greek as a foreign language in Europe and China, since 2007. Years before becoming a teacher myself, I started learning languages (English, French, Italian and Romanian, in chronological order), and, today, I pretend that I can communicate in all the romance and south Slavic languages, as well as in various Greek dialects. Do not ask me about my IQ… it is a shame 😊. But how about people with high IQ. Are they good language learners?

If the statement “People with high IQs are good language learners” implies that there is an essential link between IQ and language learning, then my answer is a clear NO. We can always recall the bright example of François Gouin; a language teacher himself, and an alleged genius of his time, he failed to make use of one full year in Germany. Of course, one — or even more — example is not explaining why I think that IQ has no essential relationship with language learning. Why then, do I disagree?

The main reason is that language (as any other) learning requires more than intelligence. Intelligence is undoubtedly a great tool in a language-learning adventure. Nevertheless, if one has no interest in learning this great tool will remain unused. Similarly, if one has no experience of language learning will need time to figure out the strategies better meeting his learning needs.

To sum up, high intelligence is a great tool for a language learner. And, we can guess that people with high IQ can achieve a lot. However, IQ alone will never be enough. Motivation, goals, interest and the right learning strategies are the features to make one a good language learner.