科技信息 0/…7' ̄。5论坛o SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGYINFORMATION 201 1年第9期 Multiple Intelligences and Teaching Chinese College Students Oral English in ESL Classrooms 华 瑶 (衢州学院外国语学院 浙江衢州324000) [Abstract]This paper sets out to explore the application of Gardner’s muhiple intelligences fMI)theory in the teaching of oral English to develop linguistic intelligence among college English language]earners. 。 【Key words]MI;ES1 ;Oral English;Linguistic intelligence 1 Introduction considered to be ineffective by college students.In oral English classes, teachers usually use much time to teach students background information The theory of muhiple intelligences(MI)was initially put forward by Howard Gardner in 1983.His theory has been applied to many aspects of of the text content or relevant vocabulary.Students don’t have enough time to practice oral English and find it dificult to focus their attention English as a Second Language(ESI )education,including the planning of on the content all the time. lessons,teaching ESL students,and designing their learning activities. In China,many ESI teachers deemphasize the importance of linguistic intelligence when students are at the beginning stage of learning English.Today,college ESI teachers realize its importance and begin to emphasize students’developnmnt in this aspect,but many college students don’t have enough motivation to Iearn oral English. Many students have trouble speaking English fluently even after a four— year program of study. Developing linguistic intelligence anlong English language learners is an important part of an ESL progran].Applying the MI theory in What’s more,teachers group students according to either where they are seated or alphabetically.These methods are also ineffective.Most of the time,when teachers group students by where they are seated,students are more prone to chat rather than practice oral English because they are good friends with those by whom they sit.If teachers group students alphabetically,it takes a long time to rearrange all the students.These two methods prevent students from getting much time to practice oral English. 3 Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences 3.1 Development ot the Ml Theory Howard Earl Gardner proposed the muhiple intelligences theory and his work around nmhiple intelligences has had a great impact on thinking curriculum designing,instruction methods and student assessment of oral English teaching in Chinese college ESI classrooms will help college students develop their linguistic intelligence. ce in education.His research has focused for the most part on 2 Problems in Teaching Chinese College Students Oral and practiEnglish in ESL Classrooms 2.1 Oral English Gets Slighted Generally speaking,Chinese nfiddle,high school,and college ESL programs are ineffective in teaching oral English. Oral English learning is deemphasized by nfiddle and high school the nature of human intelligence,the nature of and development of abilities in the arts and how they related to and reflect intelligence,and on educational processes.In 1983,Gardner proposed seven conlponents of intelligences—verbal/linguistic intelligence. musica】/rllvthm intelligence.1ogieal/mathenmtical intelligence,visual/spatial intelligence, bodily/kinesthetic intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence and teachers in order to help students pass the College Entrance Exam(CEE), which is the most important test to their future.The English suhtest in the CEE only includes listening,graulmar,reading and writing,and at no time are students tested on oral English.For this reason,teachers simply design curriculum according to the CEE requirements and only focus on teaching knowledge and skills related to the four parts that will be c0vered on the CEE. College ESL programs are probably no more effective than middle and high schools.First of al1.national eollege tests measure the same four academic areas as are measured by middle and high schools;Tn college. many students pay little attention to the oral English learning when they interpersonal intelligence.In 1999,he added the eighth intelligence— naturalist inte]ligence. 3.2 Application of the Theory to English Teaching Gardner advocated that the primary goal for the application of MI theory is to make curriculum and instruction learner—centered,for the purpose of helping students learn by using their intellectual strengths. Today,much researeh has been done in the area of Gardner’s MI theory. These researchers have tested the validity of a new assessment for the muhiple intelligences and applied the MI theory to English teaching. This test is called the Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment are preparing for tests.However,both English majors and non—English of communicating in English for the benefit of the future. A second reason why oral English gets slighted is that the size of classes is so 1arge that teachers generally can only use one method of Seales(MIDAS). ,The val idity of the MIDAS has been examined via a series of majors must develop oral English because they have to possess the ability investigations eva]uating its construct,concurrent,and predictive validity by many researt:hers.A reliable MI profile can be ubtained through using the MIDAS,and it can be used by both teachers and students to encourage the ose of varied learning activities and improve teaching methods as wel1 as a(:a(1emie aehieveⅡ1enI. Researchers also have applied the theory【1)different aspects of English teaching—eurrlcnlum design,instruction,and assessment.They teaching—lecture.The size of class prohibits use of active learning strategies and reduces the time teachers might use lo encourage students to express their opinions,for teachers have to spend UlOFe time managing students in th classroom eoneluded that the application of MI theory inereased students’ motivation to learn and engagement in learning activities,and,overall, academic improvement. 2.2 Ineffective Oral English Teaching Methods The teaching methods used to teach oral English are usually 2011年第9期 SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION O外语论坛0 科技信息 Incorporating the MI theory into curriculum can provide students oral English teaching.Oral English teachers have to decide what with more opportunities for creative and imaginative learningStudents academic content should be taught,how many minutes in each class .can have more chances than before to choose what they like to learn and should be used by students to practice and what learning activities should exhibit their understanding of what they have learned thror【gh their own be adopted to help them acquire new knowledge and increase their ways.No matter how smart a student is,he or she still has strengths and motivation.With the application of the MI theory.teachers should decide weaknesses and various learning needs.The incorporation of the MI content.time schedules and learning activities according to students’MI theory into curriculum design allows students to learn something they are profiles.Clearly.the eurriculum is more learner—centered and will interested in and caters to the different ways that students learn. provide students with more opportunities of active learning. Traditionally。ESL teachers use teacher—centered instnetrion Third,oral English teachers should use variblae and diferent methods to teach students.but MI instrnctiona1 method allows students to instruction methods rather than lecturing to help different students absorb use their own strengths.By using the MI theory in teaching methods, new knowledge and attract their attention rather than lecturing. teachers can adjust and match their teaching to the ways students 1earn. will be more involved and active in the learning process. Finally.oral English teachers should use variable assessments to test Students will find it easier for them to acquire new knowledge and they students according to their intellectual strengths.For instance.teachers can test a student whose strength is musical/rh ̄hmie intelligence by Gardner defines assessment as “the obtaining of information about asking him or her to sing an English song;teachers also can test a the skills and potentials of individuals,with the dual goals of providing student whose strength is verbal/linguistic intelligence by asking him or useful feedback to the individuals and useful data to the surrounding her to deliver a speech. community.”In his opinion,assessment should have a broader definition There is a Chinese saying that everyone’s potentil ias useful in compared with traditional tests.Gardner’s MI theory is applied to some way.The MI theory can help Chinese ESL teachers understand assessment by many researchers,for example,Shearer has researched on the way to discover their students’characteristics and learning needs irl derl0 help students achieVe success in learning。rl Englaish. using multiple intelligence assessments to promote teachers’development 。rand students’achievement.Teachers should use different kinds of student assessment rather than only focusing on traditional paper-and— pencil tests. 【References】 [1]Coil,C.(1997).Teaching tools for the 21st century.Ohio:Pieces of Learning. [2]Gardner,H(1983).Frames of mind:the theory of muhiple intelligences.New York:Basic Books. 4 Conclusion According to the research,one can easily notice that the MI [3]Gardner,H.(1999)Intelligence reframed:multiple intelligences for the 21st century.New York:Basic Books. teaching methods are more suitable for teaching college students oral [4]Haley,M.H.(2004,January).Learner-centered instmetion and the theory of English in China than traditional methods,but what is the eficifent way multiple intelligences with second language learners.Teachers College Record,106 of applying the MI theory into oral English teaching?First and foremost, (1):163-180. both oral English teachers and students should be aware of their [5]Kezar,A.(2001).Theory of multiple intelligences:implications for higher intellectual strengths and weaknesses.So,teachers could use MIDAS to education.Innovative Higher Education,26(n2):141. get students’MI profiles and these profiles will be very helpful for [6]Shearer,C.B(2004,January).Using a muhiple intelligences assessment to omote teacher development and student achievement.Teachers College Record teachers to group students and promote the use of strength—・based pr106:147—162. learning activities. Second,the MI theory should be印plied to the curriculum desin of g[责任编辑:王静] (上接第217页)Example 2.To further illustrate the effectiveness 0f the proposed method.consider the following system: muhip1e state and observation delays,International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and Control,2007,3(2):407-418 [2]D.S.Bemstein。W.M.Haddad,Steady—state Kalman filtering with an月*eiTor (£)=Ax( )+A (£一r(£))+Bto(t), y(t)=Cx(t), Z(t)=Ex(t), Where A: bound,Systems Control Letters,1989,12:9—16. [3]Yakun Su,Bing Chen,A new fuzzy H filtering design for nonlinear continuous— time dynamic systems with time-varying delays,Elsevier ScienceDirect on fuzzy sets and systems,2009,160:3539—3549. 羔 一 口= J'c_--o s [4]Y.C.Lin,J.C.Lo,Robust mixed H filtering for discrete—time delay fuzzy system, Intemafional Journal of Systems Science,2005,36:993-1006. Note that this system is marginally stable because one of the [5]Hua.Guang.Zang,S.X.Lun,D.R.Liu,Fuzzy H filter design for a class of nonlinear eigenvalues of matirx A is zero.The existing approaches in[3]and[7] discrete—time svstern with multiple time delays,IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy ems,2007,15:453—469. are invalid to this system.Then,by the result in this paper,solve LMI SystChong.Ljn,Qing.Guo.Wang,Tong.Heng.Lee,Yong He Fuzzy weighting—dependent (7)and get the minimum attenuation level’,=O.22,the H filter [6]印proach t0日∞矗lter design f0r time—de1d.y fu y system,IEEE Transactions on Pm eter m ces are tom :£_[ 5 Conclusion ]. Signal Pmcessi“g,2007,55:2746~2751. [7]cho“g.Lin, Qi“g.cu0.wang,Tn“g.He“g.Lee,Bing.Chen, 日 n0n1inear svstem8 with time—de1 y tr0u 1ter design f0r T—s fu zy m0del印pmach,IEEE Thnsacdons衄矗Jzzv sys£em,2O08,16f3):739—745. hiTs paper deals with the problem of H filter desin fgor linear systems.A new approach of filter desin isg proposed.The filter error 作者简介:薛红(1987一),女,辽宁灯塔人,硕士研究生,主要从事系统与控 system is asymptotically stblae by using the linear matix irnequality 制理论的研究 (LMI)approach・ [责任编辑:曹明明】 【参考文献】 [1]M.Basin,E.Sanchez,R.Martinez—Znniga,Optimal linear filtering for systems with