Using Multiple Intelligences In English Reading Class

In recent years there are many reforms and researches about middle school English teaching in our country. Some new teaching methods are proposed. Howard Gardner put forward Multiple Intelligences Theory in 1980s, which has aroused great interest and attention at home and abroad. Especially at abroad a large number of both theory and empirical researches have been done. Some Mi-based schools have been set up and expected positive outcomes have been made. In China, though it is not long ago to start the research about this theory, great significance was made, especially in Taiwan. Theory of Multiple Intelligences proposes that every student has at least more than eight intelligences. Teachers should provide appropriate ways to exert students' strong intelligences and develop their weak intelligences. It advocates that teachers should address students' individual and providing a range of activities and experiences to facilitate learning. Among multiple intelligences, interpersonal intelligence focuses on collaborative learning and intra-personal intelligence focuses on developing autonomy learning ability. These all conform to the New Curriculum Standard formulated by Education Ministry in 2002. In recent years, educators and researchers at home and abroad have been studying how to incorporate Multiple Intelligences into various subjects' teaching. However, most researches on Multiple Intelligences are about native language or science subjects. Research about using Multiple Intelligences in English as second language teaching is very few and limited. The aim in this thesis is to explore, the role and the practical teaching model of Multiple Intelligences in English as second language teaching class in our country by experiment study.Two research questions have been raised as follows: 1. Can application of MI theory in middle school English class in our country promote students' English learning interest? 2. Can application of MI theory in middle school English class in our country improve students' English grades?The participants in this research project are senior middle school students in two first-year classes in Beijing No. 5, and there are 49 students in each class. One class istreated as experiment class and another one is control class. The experiment class is given treatment, namely, using Multiple Intelligences theory in teaching while the control class is taught in traditional methods. After one term treatment, comparison about English learning interest and English grades are made in two classes.The results of the analysis show that Multiple Intelligences theory play positive roles in English as second language teaching and learning, which changes teachers' traditional opinion towards students and traditional teaching styles. Teachers design multiform activities based on Multiple Intelligences. By doing so students' involvement rate, English learning interest and practical ability have been raised. Quantitative design has been employed and the statistics can be referred to for further investigation in the area. The project tentatively proposes some English instructional methods based on Multiple Intelligences suitable in our country, more research is needed in order to investigate further into these areas.