The Study Of Teaching Method Matrix Based On Multiple Intelligences And Learning Styles

The target of the thesis is to find out the teaching methods matrix based on the perceptual learning styles and multiple intelligences to better direct the college English teachers to adopt appropriate and effective teaching methods to develop the classroom activities efficiently and to promote a positive and harmonious classroom climate. Through reviewing a lot of literature on learning styles and multiple intelligences, the author finds that the theory of multiple intelligences focuses on learning content, while learning styles theory stresses on the students how to learn, how to acquire knowledge and process information. In language teaching, teachers may enable students to be a passive receiver of information if they ignore any respect of the two elements. The two theories integration teaching not only stimulates students to fully develop their potential but promote them to study actively and experience the joy of success. The teaching methods matrix based on the two theories help teachers to adopt flexible and appropriate teaching methods to different students’needs.Compared with other theses which cope with learning styles and multiple intelligences separately or that deal with these two theories with other elements such as learning strategies, academic performance, gender, motivation etc., this thesis deals with the teaching methods matrix based on perceptual learning styles and multiple intelligences of non-English major students. The present thesis indicates that teachers need to equip themselves with more flexible teaching methods in the teaching of college English to cater to varied needs of learners with different learning styles and multiple intelligence profiles. The current thesis is conducted by using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore the non-English majors’perceptual learning styles preferences and the distribution of multiple intelligences. The subjects are126participants coming from the second-year junior college students who are the students of physical department of Northwest University. The results are collected through the following two instruments:questionnaires and interviews with the subjects of the present thesis. The Statistical Package of Social Science SPSS17.0was used to analyze the quantitative data. In order to measure the distribution of learners’perceptual learning styles and multiple intelligences of Chinese non-English majors, Reid’s (1984) Perceptual Learning Styles Preference Questionnaire and the Multiple Intelligences Inventory were employed in the present thesis.Both the statistical results and the findings from questionnaires and interviews are carefully analyzed to explore the distribution of Chinese non-English majors’perceptual learning styles and multiple intelligences. The following are the main findings of the current thesis. (1) Firstly, the statistical results show that the majority of Chinese non-English majors have multiple learning styles and they prefer to learn with various learning channels rather than one or two, which reflects students’ diversity in acquiring and processing information. Subjects in the present thesis prefer tactile and kinesthetic learning styles most while they enjoy the group learning style least.(2) Secondly, all the subjects possess different levels of intelligences and every one has a unique intelligence combination, which shows that students have different interests in their obtained information. The results indicate that logical-mathematics and spatial intelligences in the present study are more comfortable for the subjects and the naturalist and musical intelligences are less comfortable for them.(3) Finally, the establishment of teaching methods matrix based on the above findings combines learning styles and multiple intelligences and provide teachers with effective and proper teaching methods to design classroom activities.