Action Research Study: Effects of Multiple Intelligences Based Instruction on Students’ Attitudes and Achievement?--Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations

Summary, Conclusions, & Recommendations

American schools have traditionally favored those students who excel in the linguistic and analytical arenas because these skills are highly valued in our culture. Unfortunately, this traditional approach leaves certain students behind to stumble blindly through an educational system that ignores their unique abilities. This action research study seeks to show that instructional activities that incorporate the multiple intelligences can improve students' attitudes toward learning and students' academic achievement in English class.

by Michele R. Acosta

Conclusions

All students should have the opportunity to not only further develop their dominant intelligences, but should also have the opportunity to develop their weaker intelligences. Since a majority of the students in this study were weak in the verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences, they will certainly be at a disadvantage in a culture which places so much emphasis on traditional intelligences. Despite their weaknesses, given the opportunity to succeed using an intelligence in which they could excel, these students demonstrated that they were capable of developing their verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences.

Because MI based instruction is designed to reach a combination of intelligences, the MI classroom is perceived by students as a place where all students can do something well, instead of as a place where some students are "smart" and others are not. MI focuses on students' strengths and uses those strengths to build up weaker areas. According to Jie-Qi Chen & Gardner (1997), MI can bridge the gap from an area of success to an area of difficulty because "the sense of success in one area may make the student more likely to engage in areas where they feel less comfortable" (p. 35). Since students are not made to feel as though they are stupid because they do not know something, a change in attitude takes place which effectively removes the "block" which once prevented learning.

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MI based instruction is effective because it allows students to think in ways that are comfortable for them. It also helps them develop thought processes that they do not normally use by providing them with a positive environment in which they can experiment without feeling that they are not "intelligent." Students who are strong in nontraditional intelligences often are made to feel that they don't measure up to the rest of their classmates. MI based instruction provides all students with the opportunities they need to succeed. Students who have been successful are better equipped to attempt more challenging work. For many high school aged students, literary analysis, which requires the verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences, is just that challenge. In a short six week period, the students in this study made that first step from literal to inferential analysis because they were given the chance to succeed in several different ways using several different intelligences; therefore, the results of this study suggest that teachers in this school and probably other similar school should incorporate more MI based instruction into their English curriculum.

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The author is a writer, a former English teacher, and the mother of three boys. She spends her time writing and teaching others to write. Visit articles.TheWritingTutor.biz for more articles or TheWritingTutor.biz for other writing and educational resources for young authors, teachers, and parents. Visit writing_editing_service.TheWritingTutor.biz for a description of writing and editing services provided by the author.

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Multiple Intelligences Action Research

Summary, Conclusions, & Recommendations

Conclusions