Multiple Intelligences as Strategy for Teaching EFL to high school graduates

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For example, a teacher might prompt learners to distinguish fact from

opinion in a newspaper editorial or to identify an author's position on a topic and compare it to their own. The focus is on the learner as decision maker and active interpreter in reading and writing activities.

Family and Intergenerational Literacy

Family literacy has traditionally described the use of literacy within the context of the family, often as related to early childhood development and parental support of children's school achievement. Intergenerational literacy broadens that description, recognizing that relationships between adults and children, both within and outside the traditional definition of the family unit, affect the literacy use and development of all involved. Family literacy programs for ESL populations generally use family and

family relationships as content and involve at least two generations of participants.

The goals of family and intergenerational literacy programs are varied. Some focus on the family and school, seeking to increase parental involvement, improve communication, increase schools' responsiveness to communities, and support children's academic achievement . Others pursue broader objectives, such as furthering literacy skills development and positive behaviors linked to reading for both adults and children. Still others focus on facilitating the reconnection of generations divided by different linguistic and cultural experiences.

Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles

Multiple intelligences and learning style preferences both refer to the ways that individuals approach information processing and learning. Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes that there are at least seven different abilities that individuals can develop to solve problems or create products:

 verbal/linguistic,

 musical,

 logical/mathematical,

 spatial/visual,

 bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, and

 intrapersonal .

Each intelligence is distinguished by its own competencies and skills and directly influences the way an individual will interpret and utilize information. Learning styles are the broad preferences that learners tend to exhibit when faced with new content or problems that need to be solved. These styles encompass cognitive, affective, and behavioral elements, and describe learners in terms of their preferences for group or individual learning contexts, the degree to which they separate details

from complex backgrounds (field dependent vs. field independent), or their affinity for analytic, abstract perspectives as opposed to more integrated, comprehensive ones (analytic vs. global) . Awareness of different intelligences and learning styles, and individuals' preferences for them can help teachers create positive learning experiences . By varying instructional activities to accommodate learners'

preferences (lectures, visuals, hands-on activities, songs) or by offering options for responses to instruction (write a paper, create a model, give a demonstration), teachers can support learners' access to and understanding of content.

Practitioner Inquiry, Reflective Teaching, and Action Research

Practitioner inquiry, reflective teaching, and action research refer to a teacher-centered approach to professional and staff development. Like the learner-centered approach to instruction, which focuses on the needs of the learners and respects them as partners in the learning process, these approaches to professional development put practitioners at the center of the process defining, investigating, and addressing issues

in their own teaching .

These models require practitioners to become researchers and take a questioning stance towards their work. Rather than focusing on their deficits, teachers concentrate on their strengths and interests as means for enhancing their knowledge and teaching skills . The following steps are usually part of the process: reflecting upon practice as a means of identifying a problem or question; gathering information on that problem or question; examining and reflecting on the data gathered; planning some action based on the information; implementing the action planned; monitoring and evaluating the changes that may or may not result

from the action; and collaborating or sharing with colleagues . These

terms and similar variations are often used interchangeably, their differences typically illustrating the elements emphasized, in other words, reflective teaching highlights ongoing self-assessment while action research focuses on planning, implementing, and evaluating actual changes in the classroom.

Project-based Education

Project-based education is an instructional approach that seeks to contextualize language learning by involving learners in projects, rather than in isolated activities targeting specific skills. Project-based learning activities generally integrate language and cognitive skills, connect to real-life problems, generate high learner interest, and involve some cooperative or group learning skills . Unlike instruction where content is organized by themes that relate and contextualize material to be learned, project-based learning presents learners with a problem to solve or a product to produce. They must then plan and execute activities to achieve

their objectives. Projects selected may be complex and require an investment of time and resources, or they may be more modest in scale. Examples of projects include a class cookbook, an international food bazaar, a folktale-based story hour at a local library, a neighborhood services directory, or a class web page . In the selection of projects and activities, it is important to include learners' input, as well as to consider carefully how the project will fit with overall instructional goals and objectives .

Chapter 2. Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

2.1. Gardner’s Theory.

Arguing that "reason, intelligence, logic, knowledge are not synonymous .," Howard Gardner (1983) proposed a new view of intelligence that is rapidly being incorporated in school curricula. In his Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Gardner expanded the concept of intelligence to also include such areas as music, spacial relations, and

interpersonal knowledge in addition to mathematical and linguistic ability.

This research discusses the origins of Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, his definition of intelligence, the incorporation of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences into the classroom, and its role in alternative assessment practices.

Definition

According to Howard Gardner, as presented in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, human intelligence has the following characteristics:

-A set of skills that enable a person to resolve genuine problems encountered in life.

-The Ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a culture.

-The Potential for recognizing or creating problems, thereby establishing the necessity for the new knowledge.

Howard Gardner said in his book: “it becomes necessary to say, once and for all, that there can never be, a single irrefutable and universally accepted list of human intelligences.

Though an exhaustive list of every intelligence may not be possible, identifying intelligences is important for at least two reasons:

-Classification of Human Intellectual Competencies which will allow a better understanding of humanity.

-Identification of Intellectual Strengths which will enable researchers to communicate more accurately about the concept of Intellect.

Seven Intelligences

Gardner defines intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion product that are valued in one or more cultural setting". Using biological as well as cultural research, he formulated a list of seven intelligences. This new outlook on intelligence differs greatly from the traditional view which usually recognizes only two intelligences, verbal and computational. The seven intelligences Gardner defines are: