The Application Of Multiple Intelligence Theory To English Reading In Junior High Schools

Howard Gardner first proposed MIT in his work Frames of mind: the theory of Multiple Intelligence,which focuses on the intelligent differences between individual students and advocates students' development in an all-round way.Subsequently,the theory was gradually applied to the field of education,such as teaching strategies,teaching activity design,teacher training and so on,and there were many researches on the application of MIT to reading teaching at home and abroad,but they mainly focused on teaching activities,teaching strategies,teaching evaluation or other single aspect.However,researches on how to use MIT to design effectively for Chinese junior high school English reading teaching are relatively few.Due to the examination pressure,many Chinese junior high school English teachers over-emphasize the teaching of language knowledge and language skills in reading teaching.It is easy to neglect students' comprehensive development of intelligence in English reading,which may lead to the lack of English reading interest and unsatisfactory reading scores.Therefore,this study mainly discusses on how to apply MIT to junior high school English reading teaching,aiming at improving students' English reading scores and reading interest.The study will explore the following three questions:1.What is the current situation of English reading teaching in junior high schools ?2.To what extent will the MIT-based English reading teaching improve students' reading scores?3.To what extent will the MIT-based English reading teaching arouse students' reading interest?This study adopts quantitative research and supplemented by qualitative research.Two ninth-grade classes in a junior high school in Jinan City are selected as EC and CC.Through class observation,multiple intelligence self-evaluation,basic situation of English reading questionnaires and reading tests,the author designs reading teaching approach based on MIT to improve students' reading scores and reading interest.Before the experiment,the author observes the reading situation of the two classes and through the statistical analysis of the scores of the English reading part of the new semester entrance examination,the Multiple Intelligence Self-Evaluation Scale and Questionnaire on the Basic Situation of Junior High School Students' English Reading,the reading situation and the characteristics of intelligence of the two classes are determined.For there is no significant difference in English reading scores and interest,thus the author determines the EC and the CC.Then,combined with MIT and the intelligent characteristics of the two classes,the teaching design of reading class is carried out and a three-month teaching experiment is conducted in the EC.During this period,in EC,teaching activities based on MIT is designed and reading teaching approach based on MIT is carried out,which is in an effort to improve students' reading performance and reading interest,however,in CC,traditional reading teaching methods are still implemented.After the experiment,the author once again conducts a questionnaire on the basic situation of English reading in two classes,and compares the results of the questionnaire and the scores of English reading post-test with the pre-test data.It is concluded that there still exist some problems in the current junior high school English reading teaching such as activity design and textbook processing;the English reading teaching under the guidance of MIT is conducive to improving students' reading performance;it is also conducive to stimulating students' reading interest.