Intelligence Quotient (IQ) as a Predictor of Reading Comprehension and Writing Achievement of EFL Learners

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating Intelligent Quotient (IQ) as a predictor of reading comprehension and writing achievement as well as to correlate the students' reading comprehension with their writing achievement. The participant of the study were 32 senior high school Indonesian students. There are three instruments used in this study, those are IQ test, reading comprehension test, and writing test. Upon obtaining the whole data needed, Pearson Product Moment formula was employed to determine the correlation of IQ with reading comprehension and writing achievement as well as reading comprehension with writing achievement. The result of this study revealed that IQ made significant contribution in predicting reading comprehension (23.42%) and writing achievement (16.08%). In addition, the correlation coefficient of reading comprehension and writing achievement shows that they are moderately correlated (r=.587), meaning that reading comprehension contributes as many as 34.45% to writing achievement.

Effect of Fluid Intelligence on Reading and Listening Abilities

“…The significant impact of intelligence on reading comprehension (t = 5.43, p < .05) and listening ability (t = 5.55, p < .05) supports prior works (Esmaeel and Zahra, 2015;Ningrum and Wibowo, 2017). This finding suggests that the brain network of people with higher intelligence has shorter path lengths and thus better cognitive ability (Langer et al, 2012).…”

“…Empirically, there is no doubt that intelligence is good predictors of language skills. A study conducted with a group of 32 secondary Indonesian school students revealed a significant contribution of intelligence to reading comprehension (Ningrum and Wibowo, 2017). However, Corso et al (2016) found no direct link between intelligence (measured using Raven's Progressive Matrices), and reading comprehension among fourth and sixth graders in Brazil.…”