Investigation On English Homework In Junior High School From The Perspective Of Multiple Intelligences Theory

According to the American psychologist Gardner,man has many kinds of intelligences and they can be embodied in different aspects.His view of intelligence can be seen in the New English Curriculum Standards which requires that besides linguistic intelligence,English teaching should also pay attention to students' other intelligences.Homework,as one of the essential parts of English teaching,also needs to pay attention to students' development of various intelligences.There are a large number of researches on homework in and out of China.However,most of studies focus on the purposes,amount,types,and evaluations of homework and few studies are carried out from the perspective of developing multiple intelligences.Therefore,based on multiple intelligences theory(MI theory),this study aims at providing suggestions for increasing the effectiveness of English homework and promoting students' development of multiple intelligences by analyzing junior high school English teachers' and students' attitudes towards homework,teachers' designing of homework,and checks and feedbacks of homework in Xuzhou.This study tries to investigate the present situation of English homework in junior high school by carrying out questionnaires,interviews,and observations among 12 English teachers and 296 students from Grade One and Grade Two of No.31 Middle School in Xuzhou.By analyzing the data collected,the following findings are found:(1)Most of the junior high school English teachers agree that English homework is important.It can help students master the knowledge and the skills learned.But for students,though they know the importance of English homework,they have a comparatively negative attitude.(2)When designing English homework,teachers focus more on students' linguistic intelligence and less on other intelligences.Also,assigning the same English homework to the whole class rather than giving multi-level homework is the main form.(3)Most of the English teachers give evaluations and feedbacks in time.But they usually choose to give evaluations and feedbacks to the whole class together and focus more on the accuracy and submission rate rather than on finding and encouraging students other talents.Thus,the writer suggests:(1)Teachers need to help and cultivate students to develop a positive attitude towards English homework.(2)Teachers should try to design various and multi-level English homework.(3)Give multiple evaluations and feedbacks based on encouragement.Though this study has some limitations,it can help to attract teachers' and students' attention to the functions of English homework,and to accelerate the development of English homework and students' multiple intelligences.