An Empirical Study On Multiple-Intelligences-Based College English Instructional Mode

Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences (TMI) touched off a wave of educational innovation not only in U.S., but throughout the world. College English Curriculum Requirements (CECR) issued in 2007 put forward some new concepts for the English Language Teaching (ELT) reform in China, while, currently, the college English teaching practice calls for developing a lot to satisfy them in that the key issue is how to introduce fresh conceptions into practice.It is noteworthy that in China most of the tentative studies were conducted in a broad sense, and there were few empirical studies especially for non-English majors in this field. The present research attempts to infuse, the fresh pedagogy, Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences into the ELT, in the hope to verify that the TMI, in accordance with the CECR magnificently, will be beneficial to students'academic achievements.The basic procedure of this empirical study, lasted from September 2009 to June 2010, can be represented as follows:first of all,111 freshmen in two classes from both the School of Optoelectronic Engineering and the International Economics and Trade of Xi'an Technological University were chosen as subjects, one of which were regarded as the experimental class of 55 students; the other, as the controlled one of 56. Furthermore, in-class teaching with after-class activities, the questionnaires, the pre-test and post-test and so forth were applied as the method in this research. The statistical analysis employed are descriptive statistics and Pearson Correlation Analysis, so as to find out the general distributions and features of multiple intelligences among non-English majors in Tertiary institutions, the relationship between multiple intelligence and English academic achievements. A keen insight into the accumulations and results of the research, conducted by software SPSS 18.0, indicate a satisfaction of students'diversity concerning multiple intelligences, a better egoboo and ego massage as well as significant achievements in maintaining students'interest in English learning, active involvement in class activities and splendid opportunities after class, using their own preferred intelligence and exerting effective ways to individual teaching guidance. Additionally, the multiple-intelligences-based (MI-based) college English instructional mode does generate a more positive learning atmosphere and influence on students'academic achievements (Sig=0.032