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Multiple Intelligences as Strategy for Teaching EFL to high school graduates

Consequently one of the forms of human behaviour is language behaviour, i. e., speech response to different communica­tion situations. Therefore in teaching a foreign language we must bear in mind that pupils should acquire the language they study as a behaviour, as something that helps people to communicate with each other in various real situations of intercourse. Hence a foreign language should be taught through such situations.

Pavlov's theory of "dynamic stereotype" also furnishes the physiological base for many important principles of language teaching, e. g., for the topical vocabulary ar­rangement.

Methods of foreign language teaching is most closely related to linguistics, since linguistics deals with the problems which are of paramount importance to Meth­ods, with language and thinking, grammar and vocabulary, the relationship between grammar and vocabulary, and many others. Methods successfully uses, for example, the results of linguistic investigation in the selection and arrangement of language material for teaching. It is known that structur­al linguistics has had a great impact on language teach­ing. Teaching materials have 'been prepared by linguists and methodologists of the structural school. Many prom­inent linguists have not only developed the theory of lin­guistics, but tried to apply it to language teaching. The following quotation may serve as a proof of this:

"It has occurred to the linguist as well a s to the psycholo­gist that the foreign language classroom should be an excel­lent laboratory in which to test new theories of language acquisition."

Methods of foreign language teaching like any other sci­ence, has definite ways of investigating the problems which may arise. They are:

1. a critical study of the ways foreign languages were taught in our country and abroad;

2. a thorough study and summing up of the experience of the best foreign language teachers in different types of schools;

3. experimenting with the aim of confirming or refuting the working hypotheses that may arise during investigation. Experimenting becomes more and more popular with methodologists. In experimenting methodologists have to deal with different data, that is why in arranging research work they use mathematics, statistics, and probability theory to interpret experimental results.

In recent years there has been a great increase of interest in Methods since foreign language "teaching has many attrac­tions as an area for research. A great deal of useful research work has been carried out. New ideas and new data pro­duced as the result of research are usually developed into new teaching materials and teaching techniques.

It should be said that we need research activities of the following types: descriptive research which deals with "what to teach"; experimental and instrumental research dealing with "how to teach". More research is now needed which compares different combination of devices, various teaching aids.

Supplement 2. Methods of Foreign Language Teaching

At the term of the 17th century Volfgang Ratichius (1571-1635) complained about contemporary methods of LT stressed rote learning and grammar at the expense of reading and spearing. He initiated the principle of cognitive leaning of Latin translation as a basic means of semantization and emphasized on repetition as a favored technique. But it remained for his successor, the famous Czech educator Ian Comenius (1592-1670) to devise new methods of LT based on new principles. Instead of rules, I. Comenius used imitation, repetition and plently of practice in both reading and speaking.

In 1631 Ian Comenius published his book “Ianua linguarum reserata” – “The Gates of Languages Unlocked” in which he described new methods of language teaching based on his principles. The book included a limited vocabulary of a few thousand word; each used in a sentence which gave some indication of meaning.

“Orbis Pictus” (1658) is another book by Ian Comenius in which a Latin text is accompanied by illustrations and translations into the mother tongue. Great attention is paid to direct associations between the word in a FL and an object it denotes. In this way the role of the mother tongue was limited. Ian Comenius recommended the following principles:

– from easy to difficult;

– from simple to complex;

– from know to unknown.

Language teaching remained the chief concern of Ian Comenius. His “Linguarum methodus novissima” (Contemporary/modern methods revised) contains one of the first attempts to teach grammar inductively. “Didactica Magna” was a more ambitious work that went beyong language teaching and laid the foundations for modern pedagogy.

Grammar-Translation Method

This method has been with us through the centuries and is still with us. It has had different names; at one time it was called Classical Method since it was used in the teaching of the classical language, Latin and Greek. The method involves many written exercises, much translation and lengthy vocabulary lists. The teacher describes in detail the grammar of the language, focusing on the form and infection of words. This method aims at providing an understanding of the grammar of the language in question expressed in traditional terms, and at training the students to read and write the target language, rather than mastering the oral and aural skills. To do this the students need to learn the grammar rules and vocabulary of the target language. It was hoped that, by doing this students would become more familiar with the grammar of the native language and that this familiarity would help them speak and write their native language better. It was also thought that foreign language learning would help students grow intellectually; it was recognized that students would probably never use the target language, but the mental exercise of learning it would be beneficial anyway.