A Study Of English Writing Teaching Based On The Theory Of Multiple Intelligences In Senior High Schools

As a reflection of learners’integrated competence in language use, English writing accounts for a large proportion in varieties of exams. However, teachers have been paying more attention to the explanation of language points and textual structure in English writing classes, totally ignoring students’individual differences. As a consequence, students’ writing proficiency is far from satisfaction. According to the theory of multiple intelligences, each person possesses at least eight intelligences and has a unique combination of intelligences, which suggests that teachers should take students’individual differences into consideration and design various activities to arouse their potentiality. As a matter of fact, results of previous studies have shown that the theory of multiple intelligences has produced a profound influence on English teaching. However, empirical studies about the integration of the theory and English writing teaching in senior high schools are still scanty, and therefore it is of great value to explore the effect of the theory on English writing teaching, which not only helps to enlarge the application of the theory but also provides a new research perspective for English writing teaching in senior high schools.This thesis focuses on the empirical research on probing into the effect of MI-based (Multiple-Intelligence) English writing teaching in senior high schools. Based on the theory of multiple intelligences and Constructivism, the current study tries to answer the following two questions:(1) What is the impact of the English writing teaching based on the theory of multiple intelligences on students’interest, motivation, attitude and confidence in writing?(2) What is the impact of the English writing teaching based on the theory of multiple intelligences on students’writing proficiency?In order to get the answers to the above mentioned questions, the researcher selected two parallel classes of Senior Two from Shaodong No.1 Middle School in Hunan Province as subjects and used various instruments, including questionnaires, tests, classroom observation and interview to collect data. By adopting the Independent-Samples T Test, the Paired-Samples T Test and Regression Analysis, the researcher conducted an analysis of the data.The findings of the study can be summarized as follows:(1) Students from the experimental class showed stronger learning interest, motivation, confidence and attitude towards English writing after the experiment, while students from the control class were almost at the same level as before in the above respects.(2) Students from the experimental class improved their scores of post-test evidently, while students’scores from the control class weren’t improved distinctly. That is to say, the MI-based English writing teaching has had a positive impact on students’writing proficiency. And therefore, it is feasible and effective to apply the theory of multiple intelligences to English writing teaching.Due to the restrictions of time and place, the study has two main limitations in terms of the experimental duration time and the sample size. The experiment only lasted 12 weeks, and only 128 subjects took part in the experiment so that the results of the study might be cautious to make generalization. For more precise results, further empirical studies should last a longer period of time and cover a larger sample size.