Multiple intelligences in teaching English learners to the senior forms of secondary school

Multiple intelligences in teaching English learners to the senior forms of secondary school. Accepting Gardner s Theory of Multiple Intelligences has several implications for teachers in terms of classroom instruction.

The theory states that all seven intelligences are needed to productively function in society. Teachers, therefore, should think of all intelligences as equally important. This is in great contrast to traditional education systems which typically place a strong emphasis on the development and use of verbal and mathematical intelligences. Thus, the Theory of Multiple Intelligences implies that educators should recognize and teach to a broader range of talents and skills.

Another implication is that teachers should structure the presentation of material in a style which engages most or all of the intelligences. For example, when teaching about the revolutionary war, a teacher can show students battle maps, play revolutionary war songs, organize a role play of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and have the students read a novel about life during that period. This kind of presentation not only excites students about learning, but it also allows a teacher to reinforce the same material in a variety of ways. By activating a wide assortment of intelligences, teaching in this manner can facilitate a deeper understanding of the subject material. Everyone is born possessing the seven intelligences.

Nevertheless, all students will come into the classroom with different sets of developed intelligences. This means that each child will have his own unique set of intellectual strengths and weaknesses.

These sets determine how easy or difficult it is for a student to learn information when it is presented in a particular manner. This is commonly referred to as a learning style. Many learning styles can be found within one classroom. Therefore, it is impossible, as well as impractical, for a teacher to accommodate every lesson to all of the learning styles found within the classroom. Nevertheless the teacher can show students how to use their more developed intelligences to assist in the understanding of a subject which normally employs their weaker intelligences. For example, the teacher can suggest that an especially musically intelligent child learn about the revolutionary war by making up a song about what happened.

As the education system has stressed the importance of developing mathematical and linguistic intelligences, it often bases student success only on the measured skills in those two intelligences. Supporters of Gardner s Theory of Multiple Intelligences believe that this emphasis is unfair. Children whose musical intelligences are highly developed, for example, may be overlooked for gifted programs or may be placed in a special education class because they do not have the required math or language scores.

Teachers must seek to assess their students learning in ways which will give an accurate overview of the their strengths and weaknesses. As children do not learn in the same way, they cannot be assessed in a uniform fashion.

Therefore, it is important that a teacher create an intelligence profiles for each student. Knowing how each student learns will allow the teacher to properly assess the child s progress. This individualized evaluation practice will allow a teacher to make more informed decisions on what to teach and how to present information. Traditional tests e.g multiple choice, short answer, essay require students to show their knowledge in a predetermined manner. Supporters of Gardner s theory claim that a better approach to assessment is to allow students to explain the material in their own ways using the different intelligences.

Preferred assessment methods include student portfolios, independent projects, student journals, and assigning creative tasks. 3.1.1