Unit 3: Thought

Reading 1: Practical intelligence lends a hand

Name: Đậu Thanh Thúy . Class: Đọc – Viết 1 hè T14 Groups:………….

ID: 205714023110158
I-Before reading:
1. Work with a partner. Discuss the following questions:
1. What does the word "intelligence" mean to you? Can intelligence be
measured? If so, how?
To me, intelligence means the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge to
solve problems. It can be measured by tests like IQ tests, which focus on logic and
reasoning, but these do not show all types of intelligence.
2. How do you think intelligence influences a person's success in different
areas of life (e.g., academics, career, relationships)?
Intelligence can help people succeed in academics and jobs because it helps them
think quickly and solve problems. But in relationships, emotional intelligence is
more important because it helps us understand others.
3. Do you believe intelligence is innate (born with) or can it be developed
through experiences and learning?
I think some intelligence is natural, but most of it can be developed by learning,
practice, and life experience.
2. Vocabulary review
1. Practical A) The official examination of financial accounts or records.
intelligence
2. Eminent B) A seemingly contradictory statement or situation that may
reveal a truth.
3. Dilemma C) A person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer,
having agreed to work for a fixed period at low wages.
4. Academic D) Expressing oneself clearly and effectively.
intelligence
5. E) Being aware or mindful of something.
Entrepreneurs
6. Conscious F) Individuals who start and manage businesses, taking on
awareness financial risks in the hope of profit.
7. Articulate G) Intelligence as traditionally measured by academic
performance and standardized tests.
8. Apprentice H) A situation requiring a difficult choice between two
alternatives.
9. Paradox I) Highly respected or distinguished.
10. Auditing J) The ability to solve real-life problems and succeed in practical
situations.
1. Practical intelligence – J
2. Eminent – I
3. Dilemma – H
4. Academic intelligence – G
5. Entrepreneurs – F
6. Conscious awareness – E
7. Articulate – D
8. Apprentice – C
9. Paradox – B
10.Auditing – A

3. Fill-in-the-blank exercises using the vocabulary words above.

1. Professor Sternberg's research sheds light on the correlation between

practical intelligence and success in real-life situations.

2. The scientist's groundbreaking discoveries made him an eminent figure in

the field of psychology.

3. When faced with a dilemma, it's important to carefully weigh the options
before making a decision.
4. Traditional education often focuses on enhancing students' academic
intelligence through standardized tests and academic achievements.
5. Many successful entrepreneurs are known for their innovative thinking and
risktaking abilities.

6. It's essential to develop a level of conscious awareness to understand our

own thought processes and behaviors.

7. The professor's lectures were so clear and articulate that everyone in the
class understood the complex concepts.

8. In the past, young people learned valuable skills through apprentice training
under experienced professionals.

9. The paradox of intelligence and success in real life poses an interesting

challenge for researchers.

10. Companies often conduct auditing to ensure financial transparency and

accountability.

II-Reading

Practical intelligence lends a hand

This year, record numbers of high school students obtained top grades in their final
exams, yet employers complain that young people still lack the basic skills to
succeed at work. The only explanation offered is that exams must be getting easier.
But the real answer could lie in a study just published by Professor Robert
Sternberg, an eminent psychologist at Yale University in the USA and the world’s
leading expert on intelligence. His research reveals the existence of a totally new
variety: practical intelligence.

Professor Sternberg’s astonishing finding is that practical intelligence, which

predicts success in real life, has an inverse relationship with academic intelligence.
In other words, the more practically intelligent you are, the less likely you are to
succeed at school or university. Similarly, the more paper qualifications you hold
and the higher your grades, the less able you are to cope with problems of everyday
life and the lower your score in practical intelligence.
Many people who are clearly successful in their place of work do badly in standard
10 (academic intelligence) tests. Entrepreneurs and those who have built large
businesses from scratch are frequently discovered to be high school or college
drop-outs. 10 as a concept is more than 100 years old. It was supposed to explain
why some people excelled at a wide variety of intellectual tasks. But IQ ran into
trouble when it became apparent that some high scorers failed to achieve in real life
what was predicted by their tests.

Emotional intelligence (EQ), which emerged a decade ago, was supposed to

explain this deficit. It suggested that to succeed in real life, people needed both
emotional as well as intellectual skills. EO includes the abilities to motivate
yourself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulses and delay
gratification; to regulate moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to
think, and to understand and empathize with others. While social or emotional
intelligence was a useful concept in explaining many of the real-world deficiencies
of super-intelligent people, it did not go any further than the 10 test in measuring
success in real life. Again, some of the most successful people in the business
world were obviously lacking in social charm.

Not all the real-life difficulties we face are solvable with just good social skills –
and good social acumen in one situation may not translate to another. The crucial
problem with academic and emotional intelligence scores is that they are both poor
predictors of success in real life. For example, research has shown that IQ tests
predict only between 4% and 25% of success in life, such as job performance.

Professor Sternberg’s group at Yale began from a very different position to

traditional researchers into intelligence. Instead of asking what intelligence was and
investigating whether it predicted success in life, Professor Sternberg asked what
distinguished people who were thriving from those that were not. Instead of
measuring this form of intelligence with mathematical or verbal tests, practical
intelligence is scored by answers to real-life dilemmas such as: ‘If you were
traveling by car and got stranded on a motorway during a blizzard, what would you
do?’ An important contrast between these questions is that in academic tests there is
usually only one answer, whereas in practical intelligence tests – as in real life –
there are several different solutions to the problem.
The Yale group found that most of the really useful knowledge which successful
people have acquired is gained during everyday activities – but typically without
conscious awareness. Although successful people’s behaviour reflects the fact that
they have this knowledge. high achievers are often unable to articulate or define
what they know. This partly explains why practical intelligence has been so
difficult to identify.

Professor Sternberg found that the best way to reach practical intelligence is to ask
successful people to relate examples of crucial incidents at work where they solved
problems demonstrating skills they had learnt while doing their jobs. It would
appear that one of the best ways of improving your practical intelligence is to
observe master practitioners at work and, in particular, to focus on the skills they
have acquired while doing the job. Oddly enough, this is the basis of traditional
apprentice training. Historically, the junior doctor learnt by observing the
consultant surgeon at work and the junior lawyer by assisting the senior barrister.

Another area where practical intelligence appears to resolve a previously

unexplained paradox is that performance in academic tests usually declines after
formal education ends. Yet most older adults contend that their ability to solve
practical problems increases over the years. The key implication for organizations
and companies is that practical intelligence may not be detectable by conventional
auditing and performance measuring procedures. Training new or less capable
employees to become more practically intelligent will involve learning from the
genuinely practically intelligent rather than from training manuals or courses.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is in recruitment, as these new studies strongly

suggest that paper qualifications are unlikely to be helpful in predicting who will be
best at solving your company’s problems. Professor Sternberg’s research suggests
that we should start looking at companies in a completely different way – and see
them as places where a huge number of problems are being solved all the time but
where it may take new eyes to see the practical intelligence in action.

Questions 1-5
Choose the correct answer, A, B, C or D.
Write the answers in your answer sheet from 1-5.
1. Professor Sternberg’s study showed that
A. qualifications are a good indicator of success at work.
B. education can help people cope with real-life problems.
C. intelligent people do not always achieve well at school.
D. high grades can indicate a lack of practical intelligence.
2. What is the ‘deficit’ referred to in the fourth paragraph?
A. People with high IQ scores could not score well in EO tests.
B. EO tests were unable to predict success at work.
C. High 10 scores did not always lead to personal success.
D. People with high EO scores could not cope with real life.
3. Professor Sternberg’s research differed from previous studies because
A. he used verbal testing instead of mathematics.
B. he began by establishing a definition of intelligence.
C. he analyzed whether intelligence could predict success in real life.
D. he wanted to find out what was different about successful people.
4. Part of the reason why practical intelligence had not been identified before
Professor Sternberg’s study is that
A. the behaviour of successful people had never been studied.
B. successful people are too busy with their everyday lives.
C. successful people cannot put their knowledge into words.
D. successful people are unaware of their own abilities.
5. In order to increase the practical intelligence of employees, companies need to
A. adopt an apprentice-style system.
B. organise special courses.
C. devise better training manuals.
D. carry out an audit on all employees.
Questions 6-12

Classify the following characteristics as belonging to

A) academic intelligence (A0) tests
B) emotional intelligence (EO) tests
C) practical intelligence tests
Write the correct letter A, B or C, next to Questions 6-12 below.

6. measures skills which are likely to improve with age

C – measures skills which are likely to improve with age
7. assesses people’s social skills

B – assesses people’s social skills

8. measures the ability to deal with real-life difficulties
C – measures the ability to deal with real-life difficulties
9. the oldest of the three tests
A – the oldest of the three tests
10. high scorers learn from their actions
C – high scorers learn from their actions
11. high scorers are more likely to stay calm in difficult situations
B – high scorers are more likely to stay calm in difficult situations
12. questions have more than one possible answer.
C – questions have more than one possible answer
III-Post-reading
1. Discussion in groups:
1. What are the main differences between practical intelligence, academic
intelligence, and emotional intelligence?
Academic intelligence refers to learning from books, doing homework, and passing
exams. Emotional intelligence is about dealing with emotions—how we understand
and respond to our own and other people’s feelings. Practical intelligence is more
about solving real-life problems, like making decisions or handling unexpected
situations.
2. Do you agree with Professor Sternberg's findings regarding the inverse
relationship between academic intelligence and practical intelligence? Why or why
not?
Yes, I agree. I’ve noticed that people who are very good at school sometimes find it
hard to deal with everyday tasks. In contrast, many successful people I know were
not excellent students, but they’re good at thinking practically and making smart
choices in life.
3. How might the concept of practical intelligence change the way we view
success and intelligence in society?
If practical intelligence is more recognized, people will see success not just through
test scores or degrees. Instead, problem-solving skills and the ability to act wisely
in real life will be considered valuable too. This could change how we educate
students and choose people for jobs.
4. What are some examples of practical intelligence that you have observed in
your own life or in others?
A good example is my neighbor, who never went to college but runs a small
repair shop. He always finds clever ways to fix things, talks well with customers,
and manages money wisely. He didn’t learn those things in school—he learned
from life.
2. Reflective writing:
Do you think practical intelligence is more important than academic intelligence in
the real world? Why or why not?

I think practical intelligence is more useful in daily life. While academic

knowledge is helpful in school or university, it doesn’t always prepare us for real-
world challenges. People with practical intelligence can adapt better, solve
problems faster, and often succeed in work and life. So in my view, being smart in
real-life situations is more important than just having good grades.