Valery V. Mykhaylenko, D.Sc.

Chernivtsi, Ukraine

ELSP CLASS: MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE THEORY

Abstract: Teaching ELSP is a challenge for the instructor and the student. They must support each other in the learning and cognition process, in the process of comprehending Economics will actualizes using English as an instrument and expand their English competence.The use of the MIT theory will actualize students’ economics competence. .An algorithm of developing students’ knowledge of economics and English competence.

Key words: ELSP, Economics majors, creative approach, economics, double degree.

Resume: Преподавание английского языка для специальных целей – вызов для преподавателя и студента. Они должны поддерживать друг друга для познания в данном случае экономики посредством английского языка. Использование теории множества способностей студента активирует вербализацию экономических знаний. Предлагается алгоритм работы по углублению и расширению знаний английского для студентов-экономистов.

Ключевые слова: английский для экономистов, творческий подход, теория множества способностей, познание, коммуникация, компетенция, владение.

Teaching is changing and, in many ways, becoming a more difficult job because of increasingly numerous contradictory expectations. Students and teachers have unclear, and often inconsistent, expectations of technology use. Any ELSP instructor happens to meet the following challenges: tools for thinking teachers; educating university instructors; the innovative ELSP methodology; intercultural awareness and competence; cultural differences and challenges; discursive analysis and checking action projects; using a hands-on approach strategy to improve the language learning environment for undergraduates; learning problem solving with digital media; using a universal course design to help students succeed in the host university; encouraging collaborative learning in an American/British/Canadian cultural studies module; looking for factors influencing the use of e-learning training between students; applying the effects of communication studies on the use of learning styles by freshman students; individual student learning differences. At the beginning of the millennium the society understood that lopsided education of school children and university sudents may lead the country to a blind ally. So the challenge to bring up all-round educated young generation was verbalized. Howard Gardner first published Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983, educators have been applying his theory in their classrooms since [1; 2]. Howard Gardner's TMI developed as he worked with brain injured adults and autistic children.. He specified eight distinct abilities that he referred to as "intelligences": verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and the naturalist.

In addition to the biological basis for these intelligences, H.Gardner also placed great emphasis on cultural influences that may impact the development of each intelligence. Just as Howard Gardner maintained that each person has a unique cognitive profile, so too have educators shown that there is no single preferred multiple intelligences model. Individual teachers and entire schools implemented the theory, making it the basis of their mission statements and curriculums.

To overcome the instructors’ perplexity we would like to share some experience in applying the Theory of Multiple Intelligences in the University freshmen’s ELSP class for economics majors within the first semester.

As an experimental class it calls for unusual flexibility, independence, dedication, and creativity. It is expected that every student will complete several major projects along with regular class particiption (blogs, presentations, short analysis papers, etc.) [see also: 4]. After introductions, we can talk about the experimental nature of the class, possibilities for presentations, projects, and a possibility to make a better carrier with their high competence of English inside and outside the country.

Each person has a different intellectual composition. We can improve education by addressing the multiple intelligences of our students. These intelligences are located in different areas of the brain and can either work independently or together. Multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened. Each individual has nine intelligences (and maybe more to be discovered) If a studen's intelligence can be identified, then insructors can accommodate different students successfully according to their orientation to learning. Instructors in traditional classrooms primarily teach the verbal/linguistic and mathematical/logical intelligences mainly. The nine intelligences are:

1.VISUAL/SPATIAL – students who learn best visually and organizing things spatially. They like to see what you are talking about in order to understand. They enjoy charts, graphs, maps, tables, illustrations, art, puzzles, costumes - anything eye catching. The conveying of language and literature has always involved technology, as far back in time as the music, masks, and performance materials that supplimented oral story telling and early drama. In this frame the students can be good ‘word players’. The instructor may, for instance, ask students to play the role of David Ricard, a British political economist and give systematized, classical form to the rising science of economics in the 19th century or ask them to play the role of Margaret Thatcher, the only British prime minister in the 20th century to win three consecutive terms who accelerated the evolution of the British economy from statism to liberalism, present her innovations in economy.

2. VERBAL/LINGUISTIC – students who demonstrate strength in the language arts: speaking, writing, reading, listening. These students have always been successful in traditional classrooms because their intelligence lends itself to traditional teaching. The students can be good ‘questioners’. The trainer may organize the question hour at the Parliament or debates on some innovations in the economy system, ‘spelling be’ competitions, or word building competitions, or paraphrasing new words.

3. MATHEMATICAL/LOGICAL - students who display an aptitude for numbers, reasoning and problem solving. This is the other half of the students who typically do well in traditional classrooms where teaching is logically sequenced and students are asked to conform. Such students can be good ‘visualisers.’ The trainer may ask them to formalize (encode) some economic laws, definitions or decode their formulae.

4. BODILY/KINESTHETIC - students who experience learning best through activity: games, movement, hands-on tasks, building. These students were often labeled "overly active" in traditional classrooms where they were told to sit and be still! Such students can be good ‘movers’ and they are the best at pantomime. The trainer may ask one group to pantomime some text, for instance, banking transaction, trading, etc. and the other group to verbalize it.

5. INTRAPERSONAL - students who are especially in touch with their own feelings, values, and ideas. They may tend to be more reserved, but they are actually quite intuitive about what they learn and how it relates to themselves. Such students can be called ‘loners’ and they are good at making speeches. The trainer may ask them to present one the same speech in different modes: happy, sad, proud, shy, moderate, etc.

6. INTERPERSONAL - students who are noticeably people oriented and outgoing, and do their learning cooperatively in groups or with a partner. These students may have typically been identified as "talkative" or " too concerned about being social" in a traditional setting. Such students can be called ‘socializers’ and they are good at organizing discussions. The trainer may ask them to organize discussions of the company’s annual plan in small groups (departments) first and then at the in the large group (shareholders’ meeting).

7. NATURALIST - students who love the outdoors, animals, field trips. More than this, though, these students love to pick up on subtle differences in meanings. The traditional classroom has not been accommodating to these children. Such students are called “nature lover”, they can share their nature loving with others. The trainer can ask them to initiate some environmentalists’ campaigns or survey the influence of new legislature on the nature.

8. EXISTENTIALIST - students who learn in the context of where humankind stands in the "big picture" of existence. They ask "Why are we here?" and "What is our role in the world?" Such students are called ‘cognitivists’, they can fully investigate the object and find its place in the world view. The trainer may ask them to map the ‘economy’ fragment of the world view and then to verbalize it.

9. MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC - students who learn well through songs, patterns, rhythms, instruments and musical expression. It is easy to overlook students with this intelligence in traditional education. These students can be called ‘music lovers’ and they enjoy putting any text into music. The students would love, for instance, to match advertizing of various goods and services with various pieces of music to make them more attractive.In the process of advertizing students can reveal all the types of intelligence. Everyone has some of each of all the intelligences, but in different students one (or more) is more pronounced.

During the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2013-2014 academic years an action research project was undertaken in my class to assess the effects of this multimodal learning format. A daily trainer’s journal was kept with specific entries recording the following:

general weekly comments

a weekly evaluation of how focused or "on-task" students were

an evaluation of the transitions between types of intelligence

a self-assessment – how the teacher’s time was used.

The students were also asked to present their weekly essay commenting or initiating their activities on the topic [see also: 3].

Dr. Gardner says that modern schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We esteem the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, he says that we should also place equal attention on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers, therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many students who have these gifts do not receive much reinforcement for them in the classroom. Their unique ways of thinking and learning were not addressed by a heavily linguistic or logical-mathematical classroom.

The present challenge is to disseminate one’s experience and enthusiasm among many more instructors, administrators, and others who work with students, primarily through workshops and publications, so that each student has the opportunity to learn in ways harmonious with their unique minds [cf.: 5, 9-50].

The research data revealed the following:

1. The students develop increased responsibility, self-direction and independence over the course of the year. Although no attempt was made to compare this group of students with those in other third grade classes, the self-direction and motivation of these students was apparent to numerous classroom visitors. The students became skilled at developing their own projects, gathering the necessary resources and materials, and making well-planned presentations of all kinds.

2. Students previously identified as not participating in the class work showed rapid improvement during the first three weeks of the semester. By mid-year, they were making important contributions to their groups.

3. All students developed and applied new skills. In the fall, most students described only one center as their "favorite" and as the one where they felt confident. (The distribution among the nine centers was relatively even.) By mid-year, most identified three to four favorite centers. Moreover, they were all making multimodal presentations of independent projects including group participation activities.

4. Cooperative learning skills improved in all students. Since so much of the work was collaborative, students became highly skilled at listening, helping each other, sharing leadership in different activities, accommodating group changes. They learned not only to respect each other, but also to appreciate and call upon the unique gifts and abilities of their classmates.

5. Academic achievement improved. Standardized test scores were above university averages in all areas. Retention was high on a classroom year-end test of all areas studied during the year.. Students, who had previously been unsuccessful in learning English have become high achievers.

Investigating my methodology and receiving a feedback from graduates I consider that a double major in English and Economics will be valuable in the students’ future career in /Banking /Marketing /Management /Taxation /

Taxation /Finance /Advertizing. The MIT and an elaborated teaching algorithm help them think critically about the businesses as well as in Communication/Creative Writing/Pr. Their English degree will give them the education to pursue a broad range of opportunities, and a pass to the top-tier organizations." In Ukraine there is a strong desire on the students’ part as well as EFL/ELSP instructors’ to transform the ESL syllabus into the English degree as a part of their double degree.

References

1. Gardner Howard. Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice / Howard Gardner - New York: Basic Books, 1993. –304 p.

2. Gardner Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences .3-rd Edition / Howard Gardner. -New York: Basic Books, 2011. –528 p.

3. Glennan Thomas K., Jr., Melmed Arthur .Fostering the Use of Educational Technology / Thomas K. Glennan, Jr., Arthur Melmed. - Santa Monica, CA.: Rand Publishing, 1996. –151 p.

4. Harmer Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching / Jeremy Harmer. -Edinburgh Gate, Harlow: Longman, 2001.—384 p.

5. Spirovska Elena. Integrating Multiple Intelligences in Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Seeu Experiences and Practices / Elena Spirovska // South East European University Review. – 2013. – Vol. 9. - Issue 1. – Pp. 9–20.