The Application Of MI Theory To The Teaching Of British And American Literature

As a new educational concept, multiple intelligence theory (MIT) is increasinglybecoming the focus in the education field. It has not only been applied widely abroad, but alsobeen studied in China. However, the applied research of MIT in subject teaching is limited,which is the reason why the author selects the application of MIT to the teaching of British&American literature (B-A literature) as the research purpose. Since the essence of MIT is inaccord with the requirement of cultivating students’ comprehensive abilities, this study hasimportant practical significance for developing students’ communicative ability, conductiveability, cooperative ability, creative ability and provides reference for exploring new methodsin the teaching of B-A literature.The thesis is composed of six parts. The first part deals with the introduction to the study,including the background information, research objectives and innovations, researchsignificance of the study and the organization of the thesis. The research backgrounddiscusses the status of the B-A literature in the English subjects, the teaching situation of theB-A literature and the students’ abilities development situation in the course of B-A literature.The second part introduces the theoretical basis of the study and explains the literature review.It mainly has three aspects: the introduction of the basic principles and viewpoints of MIT, theillustration of research situations of MIT both at home and abroad and a brief description ofMIT in college English teaching research in China. The introduction of the basic principlesand viewpoints of MIT provides the definitions of multiple intelligences and fundamentalideas of MIT. The research situation of MIT abroad illustrates the exploration of the numberof intelligences and the application and influence of MIT to the schools while the researchsituation of MIT in China introduces the researches on the application of MIT to the teachingof B-A literature. The description of MIT in college English teaching research in Chinadiscusses the relationship between MIT and English language teaching theory, the relationshipbetween MIT and B-A literature teaching reform. In the third part, the central point will be on the research design employed in this study, consisting of the research focuses, the researchsubjects, research methods as well as research tools. The research focuses concern with thestrategies for developing the students’ communicative ability, conductive ability, cooperativeability, creative ability. The research subject part describes the choice of the students, MIintroduction to the students and the students’ learning objectives. The research methodsemployed in this thesis include investigation, classroom observation and experimentationwhile the research tools have questionnaires, interview and VCR and Excel. The fourth partintroduces the empirical study of MIT in the teaching of B-A literature. It discusses the designof MI-based B-A literature teaching mode which includes the detailed principles and thespecific modules of the design, the application of MI-based mode in B-A literature teaching atHandan College which contains the MI-based mode in classroom teaching, on online teaching,in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and the MI-based tests of B-A literature. The fifth partfirst deals with the analysis of the MI investigation of the students in experimental class, theanalysis of the questionnaires, the analysis of the interviewing results and the analysis of thestudents’ multiple scores, which all intends to test the effectiveness of this experiment. Then itdiscusses the necessity and feasibility and the effects of the integration of MI-based modewith B-A literature teaching. The necessity of the integration of MI-based mode with B-Aliterature teaching consists of the description of the teaching situation of B-A literature andthe students’ abilities development in the course of B-A literature. The feasibility of theintegration embodies in the four modules of MI-based B-A literature teaching mode and theMI-based mode on online teaching. As for the effects of the integration, the MI-based mode inB-A literature teaching has exerted a positive impact on students’ training of skills andcultivation of comprehensive qualities. The sixth part concentrates on conclusion about thisstudy, which points out the main findings of the study, the limitations of the research andsuggestions for further research.By means of3-month experimental study, the results of the research indicate that theapplication of MIT in the teaching of B-A literature is beneficial to improving students’communicative ability, conductive ability, creative ability and cooperative ability. Theapplication of MI-based mode in B-A literature teaching embodies in three aspects, i.e. the MI-based mode in classroom teaching, on online teaching and the MI-based tests of B-Aliterature.“Students’ preview before class” and “Teacher’s instruction in the class” inMI-based classroom teaching, seven MI-based functions on online teaching and the MI-basedtests of B-A literature, which all provide opportunities for the development of the students’communicative ability, conductive ability, creative ability and cooperative ability. Thesefindings will be helpful for teachers to get a deeper understanding on the application of MITto English class and to design activities more flexibly with students’ unique intelligences tomeet the different needs of the students. Furthermore, this research hopes to supply preciousreference for further researches.