The Effect Of Mi Theory On ELT Of A Group Of College Students

With the constant development of China’s reform and opening up, the compound talents who are able to master professional knowledge and do well in English are becoming more and more popular. Over the years, due to the impact of traditional teacher-centered teaching model, educational ideas and teaching methods are still lagging behind. Moreover, the quality of college English teaching is not quite outstanding. How to develop students’various intelligences and how to improve teaching and learning efficiency in order to reach the level of College English Curriculum Requirementsare still urgent problems of college English teaching.Dr. Howard Gardner, a distinguished American cognitive psychologist, points out a new theory about intelligence development in his book Frames of Mind:The theory of multiple intelligences. He pointed out that intelligence is not just a single construct and human beings possess at least eight relatively independent intelligences. The eight kinds of intelligences include verbal-linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, and naturalist intelligence. Each person has his own unique intelligent combination. Gardner rejects the traditional concept of intelligence. He believes MI Theory is a pluralistic view of mind, recognizing many different and discrete facets of cognition, acknowledging that people have different cognitive strengths and contrasting cognitive styles. The theory of Multiple Intelligences has become a major guideline of educational reform in many countries and attracts a lot of attention all over the world. Based on Gardner’s MI theory, the author designed various teaching activities and used different kinds of instructional tools in the teaching process. Finally, the author carefully analyzed the results of this research. This experiment aims to testify whether the MI-based teaching can motivate students’ interest toward English learning, improve students’ achievements in English learning and help for students’all-around developments.In this study, the subjects are two intact classes of freshmen.120subjects are involved in this study who are majored in International Trade and Computer. Class One consists of60students, which is the experimental group. Class Two consists of60students too, which is the control group. The two classes are taught by the same teacher and their average English level are similar. During the process of this experiment, different teaching approaches are applied in different classes. The author implements several instruments to carry out this experiment, such as questionnaires, exams and interviews. After one semester, the author makes a comparison between the two classes to find out whether there is a performing difference after the experimental teaching.The data which are collected through experiments and instruments shows that the experimental group has great changes after the instruction based on MI theory. That’s to say, students of the experimental group become more active and more interested in English learning than before. Besides, the students’all-around development has got motivated after MI-based instruction. However, students of the control group still get bored and inefficient in English learning as before. It indicates that the instruction based on MI theory improves not only students’various language abilities but also their all-around development in personalities and qualities, so it is feasible and necessary for college English teachers to know MI theory and learn how to design college English courses based on the theory of MI in order to improve the effectiveness of English teaching and learning.