The Application Of Multiple Intelligences Theory In English Reading Teaching Of Senior Middle School

Reading is an important way of language input. In traditional English teaching of senior middle school, teachers always put more emphasis on grammar teaching and vocabulary teaching. Thus, students’ learning interest and their English reading ability are ignored. Reading comprehension accounts for a large proportion in the English test, so the key to getting a high mark in English test is to stimulate students’ English learning interest as well as to improve English reading competence. This research is mainly based on multiple intelligences theory to study how to develop effective English reading teaching.In 1983, the Multiple Intelligences Theory was put forward by Howard Gardner, an American psychologist. MIT emphasizes that teachers are supposed to design more diversified teaching activities in the light of students’ intelligent features, so as to arouse students’ English learning interest and improve their English reading ability.The thesis focuses on the following two research questions: 1. In what way will the application of MIT in English reading teaching stimulate students’ English learning interest? 2. To what extent will the application of MIT in English reading teaching improve students’ English reading grade? The researcher carried out the empirical research from multiple intelligence perspective. The subject of the study is the two senior classes in Xinxiang NO.2 senior middle school. The two classes were divided into the control class and experimental class. The control class adopted the traditional English reading teaching method, while the experimental class applied MIT to English reading teaching. The teaching experiment was kept for one term. Before and after the experiment, pretest and posttest papers were used to check students’ performance on English proficiency. At the same time, a questionnaire on students’ English learning interest was also used in the experimental class to investigate students’ learning situation before and after the experiment. In addition, the researcher conducted multiple intelligences questionnaire in the experimental class at the beginning of the experimental teaching so as to find out students’ multiple intelligences distributions. In this way, English teachers can organize effective English reading teaching according to students’ intelligences conditions.The researcher analyzed the data collected in the tests and questionnaires by software SPSS19.0. The results of the research showed that, in the first place, under the guidance of MIT, students’ test scores in the EC are apparently higher than those in the CC. In the second place, the application of MIT to English reading teaching is effective in stimulating students’ English learning interest; students’ interest of the experimental class in learning English has been greatly aroused. The experiment confirmed the validity of MI-based experimental teaching in English reading teaching of senior middle school.MI-based experimental teaching is helpful to inspire students’ English learning interest and improve their English reading ability. As a result, students would gain a strong foundation in English learning in the future. The most important significance is that MIT provides English teachers with a new perception of English reading teaching strategies.