The Application Of Multiple Intelligence Theory To Oral Business English Teaching In Vocational Colleges

Multiple Intelligence Theory, put forward by Howard Gardner in 1980s, 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 Multiple Intelligences Theory 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. Multiple Intelligences Theory 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 intelligence and provide a range of activities and experiences to facilitate learning. Among multiple intelligences, the interpersonal intelligence focuses on collaborative learning and the intra-personal intelligence focuses on developing autonomy learning ability. These all conform to the New Curriculum Standard formulated by the Education Ministry of China. 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 a foreign language teaching is very few and limited, especially in vocational business oral English class.The aim of this thesis is to explore the role and the practical teaching model of Multiple Intelligences in business oral English teaching in vocational colleges through empirical research on the basis of former research.The participants in this research project are International Trade majors of classes 0511 and 0512 in Hunan Chemical Industry Vocational College. Class 0511 is treated as the experiment class and class 0512 is the 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 plays positive roles in English teaching and learning, which changes teachers' traditional opinions towards students and traditional teaching styles. Teachers design multiform activities on the basis of Multiple Intelligences. By doing so, students' involvement rate, English learning interest and practical abilities have been raised. The statistics can be referred to for further investigation in the area. The project tentatively proposes some English instructional methods based on Multiple Intelligences Theory suitable in our country, and more research is needed in order to investigate further into these areas.