Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Xueguan Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Linfen Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
In his theory of multiple intelligences, Howard Gardner (1991) argues that people possessed seven intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. He aimed to illuminate how students’ minds worked differently and thus learned in different ways—a recognition that he viewed as vital in a school system where curricula were often created with the assumption that learners acquired information in a uniform manner. Gardner’s theory applies to English language learning classrooms, for non-language based activities can help students hone their language skills. For example, a student with high spatial intelligence may understand directions better when physically moving around a classroom; a musically inclined student may master new vocabulary better after listening to Beatles songs than drilling with flashcards. The theory of multiple intelligences is relevant to the Engage Study Activate model of lesson planning. While the study stage may be geared toward students whose linguistic intelligence allows them to benefit from drilling, gap-fill activities, and word searches, the engage and activate stages represent opportunities to open language learning up to students who possess other skills. The role plays, mock interviews, and conversational practice linked to activate stages may give students with strong interpersonal intelligence the motivation to use their language skills. The engage stage may represent not only a warm up that reacclimates students to language learning, but also a chance for bodily-kinesthetic students to get moving around the classroom during word games or other activities. Gardener’s theory arose to counter schools’ focus on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences over other intelligences, but the foreign language classroom occupies an unusual position with regard to the skills it encourages. The end result of study is stronger linguistic intelligence in an unfamiliar tongue, yet the methods of achieving this goal may be facilitated if an instructor teaches vocabulary through multiple intelligences that draw from gesture, picture, and movement. Incorporating realia into lessons may make concepts feel more accessible and relevant to students. Bringing a baseball into class or sketching a baseball field on the board may illuminate underlying concepts better than attempts to verbally explain the sport; students may better learn verbs by acting them out in charades or a role play than by looking them up into a dictionary. Language teachers have the responsibility of balancing multiple intelligences. Instructors and students alike benefit when lessons can build off information, skills, and affinities that students already possess. Just as instructors are advised not to focus on particular students to unequal extents, they should strive to create lesson plans that balance the multiple intelligences. A balance between large class discussions, pair work, and individual work, for instance, avoids skewing the class toward either interpersonal or intrapersonal intelligences. Gardner’s theory underscores a broader need in the way instructors should try to understand students. A language of “stronger” or “weaker” students may capture differences in levels of linguistic intelligence, but it fails to recognize that students arrive with strengths and weaknesses within different skill and does not emphasize the possibility of growth. Thus, multiple intelligences provide not only a valuable framework that helps teachers understand why multimodal instructional strategies are necessary, but also as a way to dodge binary labels of “intelligent” or “not.” Reference Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind: How children think and how schools should teach. New York, NY, US: Basic Books.
