| The theory of multiple intelligences (MI) was put forward by an American psychologist, Howard Gardner, in 1983. Gardner proposes at least eight different intelligences (verbal- linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist intelligence) to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. The education in our country is influenced by Spearman's two-factor theory of intelligence. Only students'linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences are emphasized, and other intelligences are ignored. The theory of Multiple Intelligences has become one of the guiding ideas for the educational reforms in many areas and countries since it was put forward in the 1980s. The MI theory provides many implications for our educational practices. The teaching models in college English education will be diversified under the guidance of the MI theory.In January 3rd, 2004, Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education issued College English Curriculum Requirements (For Trial Implementation) (CECR), providing colleges and universities with the guidelines for English instruction to non-English major students. The reform of the teaching mode has been indicated as the key reform in CECR. It pointed out that the new model should be built on modern information technology, particularly network technology, and college English teaching will be free from the constraints of time or place and geared towards students'individualized and autonomous learning. CECR reflects some advanced philosophies such as individualization, collaboration, modularization and hypertextualization. All these ideas are well in line with the teaching model and curriculum designing ideas advocated by the MI theory. Therefore, college English teaching had better be redesigned and improved under the guidance of Gardner's MI theory. The purpose of this study is to apply MI-based teaching in college English classroom and to testify whether the applying of MI theory to college English classroom is feasible; whether the MI-based classroom teaching can improve the college students'proficiency of English and arouse their interest and motivation towards English learning as well.In this study, the subjects are two intact classes of juniors. 62 subjects are involved in this study who majored in Japanese. One of these students'learning goals is to pass the College English Test Band 4.Class One consists of 30 students, which is the experimental class. Class Two consists of 32 students, which is the control class. The average English level of students in each class is similar. The MI theory based teaching method is used in the experimental class, Class One. In contrast, traditional method is used in the control class, Class Two. Three instruments were used in the experiment: questionnaires, exams and interviews. After one semester, the researcher makes a comparison between the two classes to find out whether there is a performance difference after the experimental teaching.The results of the analysis show that the experimental class obviously gets better performance in the exam than the control class. The MI theory plays important roles in college English teaching, which changes teachers'view towards students and changes the traditional way of teaching. The teacher designs various class activities under the guidance of MI theory. By doing so, students can be better motivated with MI-inspired teaching activities and perform better in exams compared with students studying in a traditional teaching context. Hence, the MI theory undoubtedly gives support to and provides a theoretical basis for the college English teaching reform.
|
PDF Full Text Request