In 1983, Howard Gardner, the creator of the Multiple Intelligences (MI) Theory, suggested that all individuals have personal intelligence profiles that consist of combinations of seven different intelligence types. These intelligences were verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal (Gardner 1983, 1993). Gardner later added an eighth intelligence type to the list, that of naturalist intelligence, and at the same time suggested that there might also exist a ninth intelligence type, that of existentialist intelligence (Gardner 1999).
The purpose of this paper is to outline a lesson plan that caters for these intelligence types and at the same time optimises learners’ talking time. The lesson is aimed at secondary school-level learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and focuses on a recurring festival: Christmas. Its main goal is to enable learners to discuss this religious event with English-speaking friends. In order to maintain maximal learner activity and interest throughout the lesson, it comprises a variety of language activities and teaching techniques. Special attention has been paid to co-operative learning and peer teaching because, as pointed out by e.g. Anita Woolfolk, the best teacher for a student is another student (Woolfolk 2001).
The sample lesson:
Phase One
The teacher introduces the teaching goals of the lesson.
Phase Two
The teacher hands out a worksheet containing two columns of Christmas-related vocabulary items (homework from the previous lesson). One column lists English words and the second words in the learners’ mother tongue. The learners’ task is to match the English words with their mother-tongue equivalents.
Phase Three
The teacher displays the correct answers on an OH transparency and divides the class into five groups. S/he next provides each learner with an individual worksheet and invites the groups to work at five independent learning stations (one group per station), i.e. pre-designated places in the classroom where each place has been allocated to a specific type of language task. The learners are told that although they have to work as a group, each learner is responsible for filling in all answers in his or her worksheet. They are also told that they have no correct answers at their disposal. At five-minute intervals (timed and announced by the teacher) the groups move on to the next learning station.
At Station A learners have to study a detailed picture of a living-room decorated for Christmas (suitable pictures can be found in course books and on the internet or they can be created or modified by the teacher for the present purposes). There are various kinds of mistakes in the picture, both misspellings (e.g. in Christmas greetings) and logical inconsistencies (e.g. a wall calendar displaying July the 31st or an object placed upside down). The learners’ task is to spot as many mistakes as possible.
At Station B learners have to categorise given objects (e.g. a reindeer, a sleigh, and a snowman) according to what one can do with them. Which of the objects can be found in a forest, bought in a department store, eaten, wrapped up in a parcel, or put into somebody’s pocket?
At Station C there is a computer preset to show a video clip selected from the Video Nation website. In the video clip, entitled “Christmas List”, a little girl called Sheri is writing her Christmas list to Father Christmas. The learners’ task is to watch the video clip and answer the following questions: What presents does Sheri want? Where does she send the letter? How will she get her presents? What will she do when she wakes up at Christmas?
At Station D learners have to match the halves of about twenty words that have been chopped in half. One of the words, however, is not a Christmas word. Which word is it?
At Station E there is a computer preset to play “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, selected from the Christmas carol collection presented on the Twelve Days of Christmas website. The learners’ task is to listen to the song while reading the song text displayed on the computer screen. When the learners have listened to the song they have to turn away from the screen and fill in the missing words in their individual worksheets (indicated by gaps in the song text).
Phase Four
When all learning stations have been visited by all groups, the teacher divides the learners into new groups. In groups of three or four, the learners compare the notes in their worksheets and agree upon the correct answer for each task.
Phase Five
The teacher introduces a communicative task requesting learners to move around in the classroom and interview their classmates about their Christmas habits (this is a modified version of a task entitled “On Christmas Eve”; Christison 2005). More specifically, the learners have to find out at what time their friends normally get up, go to bed, have breakfast, have lunch, have dinner, exchange presents, and watch television. They also have to make notes in the individual worksheets provided by the teacher.
Phase Six
After ten minutes the teacher invites the learners to compare their notes in order to specify the range of times that people prefer to perform the various activities. What is the biggest time difference between the earliest time and the latest time at which someone prefers to perform a certain activity?
Phase Seven
Next, the teacher organises the learners into new groups consisting of four to six people. The task is to decide which activity has the biggest time difference (it will most probably be either exchanging presents or watching television) and to discuss the possible reason/s for this.
Phase Eight
The teacher asks the learners to start working on individual essays entitled “What Christmas means to me” based on the group discussions and to finish them at home for the next EFL lesson. He or she also challenges the learners to incorporate as many different Christmas words as possible into their essays.
Characteristics of learners representing different intelligence types
According to Gardner (1983, 1993, 1999), Berman (2002) and Christison (2005), verbal-linguistic learners enjoy expressing themselves orally and in writing and love wordplay, riddles and listening to stories. Logical-mathematical learners display an aptitude for numbers, reasoning and problem solving, whereas visual-spatial learners tend to think in pictures and mental images and enjoy illustrations, charts, tables and maps. Bodily-kinaesthetic learners experience learning best through various kinds of movement, while musical-rhythmic learners learn best through songs, patterns, rhythms and musical expression. Intrapersonal learners are reflective and intuitive about how and what they learn, whereas interpersonal learners like to interact with others and learn best in groups or with a partner. Naturalist learners love the outdoors and enjoy classifying and categorising activities. Existentialist learners, finally, are concerned with philosophical issues such as the status of mankind in relation to universal existence.
Catering for the various intelligence types
The various intelligence types are catered for (especially) during the following phases of the EFL lesson outlined above:
verbal-linguistic learners: all phases;
logical-mathematical learners: phase 3 (stations A & D) & phase 6;
visual-spatial learners: phase 3 (stations A, C & E);
bodily-kinaesthetic learners: phase 3 (moving between stations) & phase 5;
musical-rhythmic learners: phase 3 (station E);
interpersonal learners: phases 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7;
intrapersonal learners: phases 1, 2 & 8;
naturalist learners: phase 3 (station B);
existentialist learners: phases 1 & 8.
Conclusion
As early as 1976, Earl Stevick pointed out that memory works at its best when the new subject matter appeals to the learners and they can organise what they are learning into familiar patterns (Stevick 1976). The ability to remember new vocabulary items is further increased when learners are allowed to use their imagination during the learning process. Conscious effort (referred to by Stevick as ‘depth’) is required from learners in order to enable the target vocabulary to be properly processed and transferred from the short-term memory into the long-term memory.
From a teaching point of view, therefore, the important thing is not whether teachers elect to base their teaching on specific course books or whether they reserve the right to interpret, select and use the types of classroom activities that can cater for the intelligence profiles of their particular learner group. It is far more important for teachers to realise that learners are in fact different and therefore require different types of classroom activities and techniques in order to code the new information successfully and store it in their long-term memory. Only in doing so can teachers fully encourage their learners to try harder and at the same time make the learning environment as meaningful and enjoyable as possible for the parties involved.
References
Berman, Michael (2002). A Multiple Intelligences Road to an ELT Classroom. Carmarthen: Crown House Publishing. Second edition.
Christison, Mary Ann (2005). Multiple Intelligences and Language Learning. San Francisco: Alta Books.
Gardner, Howard (1983). Frames of mind. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
Gardner, Howard (1993). Multiple Intelligences. The Theory in Practice. New York: Basic Books.
Gardner, Howard (1999). Intelligence Reframed. Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic Books.
Stevick, Earl (1976). Memory, Meaning and Method. Rowley: Newbury House.
The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Video Nation.
Woolfolk, Anita (2001). Educational Psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Eighth edition.
No comments:
Post a Comment