My Thesis Vegleges

Integrating Multiple Intelligences and Different Learning Styles in Teaching
English to High School Students
Everybody is a genious. But if you judge a fish

by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole
life believing that it is stupid.
Albert Einstein
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Table of contents
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………... 5
1. What is grammar? - WHAT am I teaching?......................................................... 8

1.1 Types of grammar …………………………………………………………… 9
1.2 Stages of grammar learning ……………………………………………….... 10
1.3 Teaching styles - How to teach grammar at its best?...................................... 12
1.3.1 The academic style ……………………………………………... 12
1.3.2 The audio-lingual style ………………………………………….12
1.3.3 The communicative language teaching approach ……………….13

1.3.4 The task based learning style ……………………………………13
1.3.5 The mainstream EFL style ………………………………………14
2. Teaching adolescents – WHO am I teaching? …………………………………. 15
2.1 Teaching adolescents at its best ……………………………………... 17
2.1.1 Personalisation ……………………………………………. 17
2.1.2 Responsibility ………………………………………………17
2.1.3 Learner’s autonomy …………………………………….......19
2.1.4 Learner training ………………………………………….... 20
3. Multiple Intelligences –WHAT & HOW?.............................................................. 21

3.1 Intelligence, as it used to be measured ………………………. 21
3.2 Intelligence, as Gardner measures it …………………………. 22
3.3 Intelligence, as Sir Ken Robinson envisages it ………………. 24
3.4 Gardner’s criticism on present day society ……………………25
3.4.1 Westist society …………………………………… 25

3.4.2 Testist society ……………………………………. 26
3.4.3 Bestist society ……………………………………. 26
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3.5 Gardner’s seven intelligences ………………………………… 27
3.6. Educational implementations of MI ……………………….…. 31
4.Teaching grammar under the auspices of Multiple Intelligences ………………………33
4.1 Grammar with Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence ……………………………..…. 47
4.1.1 How can we teach students to listen effectively? …………………………48
4.1.2 How can we teach our students to become better readers? ........................ 49
4.1.3 How can we teach our students to become better speakers? …………….. 50
4.1.4 How can we teach our students to become better writers in English? ........ 51
4.2 Grammar with Logical-Mathematical Intelligence ……………………………. 53
4.3 Grammar with Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence …………………………………57
4.4 Grammar with Visual-Spatial Intelligence ………………………………………61
4.5 Grammar with Musical Intelligence ……………………………………………. 65
4.6 Grammar with Interpersonal intelligence ………………………………………. 68
4.7 Grammar with Intrapersonal intelligence ………………………………………. 73
5. Finding the right learning style - HOW? ………………………………………………….76
5.1 The Visual (Spatial) Learning Style ……………………………………………...79

5.1.1 Learning techniques …………………………………………………… 80
5.2 The Aural (Auditory-Musical-Rhythmic) Learning Style ………………………..80
5.2.1 Learning techniques …………………………………………………….80

5.3 The Verbal (Linguistic) Learning Style …………………………………………. 81
5.3.1 Learning techniques ……………………………………………………. 81

5.4 The Physical (Bodily-Kinesthetic) Learning Style ……………………………….82
5.4.1 Learning techniques …………………………………………………. 83
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5.5 The Logical (Mathematical) Learning Style ………………………………… 84
5.5.1 Learning techniques ……………………………………………………. 84

5.6 The Social (Interpersonal) Learning Style ………………………………………. 85
5.6.1 Learning and techniques ………………………………………………….85
5.7 The Solitary (Intrapersonal) Learning Style………………………………………. 86
5.7.1 Learning technique………………………………………………………. 87

6. Didactic experiment ………………………………………………………………………….89
6.1 Purpose of the experiment …………………………………………………89
6.2 Objectives of the experiment ……………………………………………....90
6.2.1 Theoretic objectives …………………………………………………90
6.2.2 Methodical objectives ……………………………………………… 91
6.2.3 Practical objectives ………………………………………………… 92
6.3 Hypotheses …………………………………………………………………93
6.4 Methodology and implementation ………………………………………... 94
6.4.1 Participants …………………………………………………………...94
6.4.2 Tools …………………………………………………………………94
6.4.3 Research Design ……………………………………………………...95
6.5 Results ……………………………………………………………………...96
6.6 Conclusions ………………………………………………………………...100
6.7 Limitations and discussions …………………………………………….….102
7. Bibliograpy …………………………………………………………………………………… 105
8. Appendix ………………………………………………………………………………………106
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Introduction
Students often pose the question of why not learn English without having to study grammar at all.
These students often hide behind the misconception that L2 learning could happen exactly similarly
to L1 acquisition. Thus, language chunks and utterances should be enough without having to weave
these together with the bonds of grammar. There is no intrinsic reason, however, why learning a
second language should be the same as learning the first. Learning a first language is in British-
born Australian linguist Michael Halliday’s memorable phrase, ‘learning how to mean’ 1 that being
the only viable channel to communicate ideas and to relate to the people around us. It also has to
be acknowledged that there can be a very strong similarity between L1 acquisition and L2 learning
if we take the learning arena to be an utterly authentic one, without any intrusion of L1, for example
living in an English speaking country for a while. Nevertheless, we should not forget that ESL
classrooms - if compared to life in an authentic setting – are nothing but clinical environments
where learning processes take place twice, three times, or at best five times a week for an hour. And
this is where the mastery of the ESL teacher comes into the picture, to convey cognitive processes
(grammar learning) in a manner that turns classrooms into less and less clinical environments,
where students turn chunks of information into actual knowledge.
It has often been a topic of debate even among scholars whether we could do away with grammar
teaching at all. In one of his articles Michael Swan, writer of many English language teaching
books, asserts that grammar teaching is a must and saves it from the scaffold by bringing up exactly
the same arguments as mentioned above:
Languages have structural features that are complicated and hard to learn. For learners to
master them, adequate experience, understanding and use of these features are necessary.
Where time is limited and learners have little out-of-class exposure, this can only be
brought about with the help of pedagogic intervention.2
Successful teachers have to realise and live up to the fact that they have to build a viable bridge
between what they have to teach and what students want to be engaged about. This need becomes
1
Vivian Cook, Second Language Learning and Teaching, (Hodder Education, 2008), 13
2
Michael Swan, Teaching Grammar – Does Grammar Teaching Work, Modern English Teacher15/2,
2006, www.mikeswan.co.uk
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even more preponderant when it comes to teaching grammar, a possible candidate for the role of
the fearsome stepmother of language learning – if not handled in the upright circumstances, of
course.
An efficacious teaching milieu of our days has to concede that the leading role of the 21st century
language classroom is played by a group of digital natives fast-forwarding even a three minute
You Tube video in the hope of receiving a plethora of quick and easy to digest information. Thus,
the lock-step teaching style - with the teacher in the middle of the classroom conveying detailed
information about the different uses of the Present Perfect Tense - has obviously lost its relevance;
there is an imperative urge for a revolutionised educational system. These fresh minds are eager
to learn something new by being provoked and involved.
And this should be one of the main factors which render the teaching career in one of the most
challenging, rewarding and unquestionably the most beautiful ones. Challenging because as many
readers as many interpretations - as many students as many separate minds with individual
capacities, interests and willingness to join in this so often talked about process of learning.
Rewarding because by conditioning themselves in a constantly prepared readiness to meet the
needs of new students, good teachers are lifelong learners, and not less importantly, there are so
many things to learn from these fresh minds. And beautiful because of the enormous responsibility
by which educators become to lease these youngsters from their parents and form bonds with them
which prove to be so painful to make loose at the end of the four-year period when the lease
expires.
One can never lose sight of the colourful multiplicity of students teachers get to cooperate with.
Some students create beautiful pieces of visual art, others are gifted dancers, some play musical
instruments, some may thrill to the challenge of mathematical precision. Quite a lot of students are
extraordinarily gifted in hearing their inner voice and rendering this in their own stories as poems,
several may be natural leaders and thrive in the company of others, while there may be some who
possess penetrating personal insights into who they are and what they stand for. And among all
these students who would be the most intelligent one? And this is the exact imperfection of the
earliest and long used intelligence tests that they mainly focus on two intelligences, the linguistic
and the logical-mathematical one, and restricting educational programs to a preponderance of these
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two intelligences minimizes the importance of other - unquestionably present forms of cognition;
and as a consequence many students who fail to demonstrate the traditional academic intelligences
are held in low esteem and their strengths may remain unrealized and lost. The American
psychologist, Howard Gardner worked out a theory, the Multiple Intelligences Theory, aiming to
provide a much more comprehensive definition of intelligence than the traditional Binet model
and recognizes that intelligence is something that can be developed rather than something fixed.
As Gardner himself wittily put it in one of the interviews he gave, teachers should never generalize,
and they should never pick a “law professor mind” and assess their students in a uniform way.
Teachers have to provide the software, the materials and resources to present the knowledge to the
students in a way that they would find interesting and would be able to use their intelligences
productively. He believes that everything can be taught in more than one way, the teaching
objective is to be able to answer the question as a teacher: Have I reached out to each and every
child? If not, are there any ways in which I can do it?
In this present paper I wish to come a little bit closer to answering this question myself, by focusing
on how grammar can be taught in a highly effective way to high school students by implementing
the Theory of Multiple Intelligences and focusing on their individual strengths and inspiring them
to find the learning styles by which they can maximize their own potentials.
The moment we realise that a class is composed of individuals (rather than being some
kind of unified whole), we have to start thinking about how to respond to these students
individually.3
Henceforth, I intend to pose myself some simple questions to answer: WHAT am I teaching?
WHO am I teaching? and HOW am I doing it?
3
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, (Pearson Education Limited, 2007), 85.
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3. What is grammar? - WHAT am I teaching?
As a matter of curiosity I would start with an interesting realization made by linguists whereby
the word grammar originally comes from the same root as glamour, meaning that the person
who knew grammar was glamorous and could cast mysterious spells. 4 Taking this a bit further
once learners master grammar they are offered a limitless linguistic creativity, grammar being
seen as a ‘sentence making machine’.5 But what is grammar after all? Let’s take a look at some
possible definitions dictionaries offer:
1. the set of rules that explain how words are used in a language - Merriam &Webster
Dictionaries
2. the study or use of the rules about how words change their form and combine with other words
to make sentences - Cambridge Dictionaries Online
3. the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as
consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology
and semantics - Oxford Dictionaries
4. something that people on the internet are incapable of learning
something that's never used anymore, because nowadays people are stupid
something people should be forced to learn, even if they are stupid
something that has not been adequately defined by some other definitions; refers to the
rules used to combine words together in order to form meaning within a given language
- Urban Dictionary
The common denominating factor in all of these attempts to grasp what grammar really is, is
something that holds together all the lexis found in a sentence, it actually acts like a glue or an
invisible central spine that holds everything together; it is the central part of the language
around which other parts such as pronunciation and vocabulary revolve, or as American
4
Vivian Cook, Second Language Learning and Teaching, (Hodder Education, 2008), 18.
5
Scott Thornbury, How to Teach Grammar, (Pearson Education Limited, 1999), 15.
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linguist-philosopher, Noam Chomsky calls it ‘the computational system that relates sound and
meaning, trivial in itself but impossible to manage without’. 6
Form and meaning are inexorably linked. In a highly contextualized situation the following
dialogue would most probably be understood without posing any difficulties at all:
Coffee?
Yes, please.
Milk?
Just a drop.
However, this should not work in a telephone conversation when you want to ask somebody
to bring some milk from the shops so that you can put milk in your coffee.
Grammar is able to communicate subtleties of meaning, there always comes a point in

communication when the ‘me Tarzan, you Jane’ type of language fails to satisfy the needs of
a situation, either because intelligibility or because inappropriacy – let’s just take the example
of a job interview, a language exam, or simply the wish not to be taken as unintelligent.
1.1 Types of grammar
When pondering the problematics of grammar we should definitely come up with a clear-cut
differentiation of different types of grammar.
First of all, we have to mention the prescriptive grammar, as the name suggests it focuses on
language as it should be and neglects what it really is. Students should be taught real and living
language not an artificial form that only old grammar books use.
The traditional grammar assumes that students are aware of some basic linguistic terms, such
as plural, singular, possessive, etc. This is the type of grammar, also called ‘school grammar’
which labels sentences with different parts of speech.
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The structural grammar is concerned with how the actual words fit into phrases and how these
phrases are used one after the other where all the elements fit in order to convey a meaning. If
we just take word order for instance, it does make a difference in a sentence how we put words
one after the other, taken the English SVO for granted. Thus, in a sentence like I dreamt I was
a butterfly I and butterfly are not interchangeable.
The linguistic or grammatical competence refers to the overall knowledge of the set of
grammatical rules that is stored in a speaker’s mind and which the speaker actualizes when
he/she needs to retrieve a rule in order to produce a correct utterance.
And last but not least we can distinguish a so called EFL grammar which is basically a medley
of traditional and structural grammar, this is the kind of grammar ELT writer Jeremy Harmer
preponderantly offers in grammar books for students.
A further research mentions an interlanguage grammar, where interlanguage is taken to be a

phase between L1 and L2. This basic grammar that all L2 learners seem to share, regardless
of the language they are studying, has three simple rules: 1. A noun phrase is followed by a
verb and it can optionally be followed by another noun phrase ‘boy like girl’. 2. A noun phrase
is followed by a copula (be) and another noun phrase or an adjective ‘it’s winter’ or ‘girl is
beautiful’. 3. A verb is followed by a noun phrase ‘love grammar’.
3.2 Stages of grammar learning
All language learners move through a rather similar sequence of different stages; this sequence
being called the processability model.
The very early stage is practically a grammarless stage of the ‘me Tarzan, you Jane’ type of
language, where the language learner knows content words but cannot weave these together
with the help of grammatical structures.
At stage two learners manage to handle language in the right order of how words succeed each
other within a sentence, however they find it hard to move elements (e.g., question forms).
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In the next stages learners start to move elements within a sentence, then they discover how
prepositions can be separated from phrases, ‘the movie I talked about’ instead of ‘the movie
about which I talked’, and they also start using the –ing ending.
A successive stage is the incorporation of the 3rd person –s morpheme, ‘She reads’. And the
final stage being the one when learners acquire the order of subordinate clauses.
Coursebooks rarely reflect this process, they tend to skip certain stages, and thus they force
students into stages they have not yet arrived to. Coursebooks very often skip the practice part,
or even if they offer some kind of practice that is by far not satisfactory for the learner by not
providing enough possibility to acquire the new bit of grammar in a depth that makes it possible
for them to convert the dry rules into usable language knowledge.
Hence, it is relentlessly the teacher’s absolute liability to convey and plant the seeds of a
grammar which is apprehensible and offers the opportunity to make it personalized. Students
are willing to produce utterances that are important for them to put their thoughts through,
which are purposeful. Thus, students tend to manifest much greater interest and – as a result –
success in having to do grammar tasks that they can grasp, and that they have to solve in a way
or other. For example, instead of confronting the learners with a new grammar rule to study,
they should be thrown in at the deep end after being given ready-to-use utterances, and then
come back and elicit what structure they had just been using. Obviously, the kind of language
teaching style we choose depends on the rule of appropriacy, concerning the students’
attributes or the language item we want to teach. Let’s take an actual problematic territory that
might find students with queries, the Present Perfect Tense. This tense is so much English and
of its own kind that it offers scarce possibilities to teachers to think in terms of common
parameters with L1. Thus, instead of confronting students with the rules concerning the form
of the tense, why not engage them in an activity where they start using the new tense form
while having to solve a given task. This does not mean, nevertheless that students are not
confronted with the rule itself. After elicitation of the meaning - or let’s put it use - takes place,
11
teacher overtly presents the form as it is since ‘conscious explanation of the L2 grammar is
seen as beneficial in some circumstances, as is raising of language awareness.’7
3.3 Teaching styles - How to teach grammar at its best?
With this next chapter I intend to give a brief outline of the different teaching styles which
have changed bits and bits over the years but they actually fed from each other, each successive
style being an updated, corrected version of the previous ones.
1.3.1 The academic style
This is basically a rule-driven style where grammar is taught deductively. This traditional
academic style of teaching places heavy emphasis on grammar explanation, explicit grammar
is the main point of the lessons. It would preferably suit academically gifted students. The
earliest manifestations of this style can be found in the grammar translation method. This
method calls for an overt presentation of the new grammatical structure and it is only then that
it moves on to practice and production – if we take the PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production)
lesson structure as an example. The PPP model represents an accuracy to fluency model where
language is leant in bits and steps where fluency develops only after accuracy has been reached.
One possible flaw of this style is its exact nature of concentrating on accuracy by which it
considerably delays fluency, ‘teachers need to take account of the time lag between
understanding grammar structures and being able to produce them accurately’8.
1.3.2 The audio-lingual style
This is a direct method where students are exposed to large doses of comprehensible input
through dialogues and different kinds of drills; it gets students to ‘behave’ in appropriate
situations. Explanations of the rules are not given until students have practiced a grammar item
in a variety of contexts.
7
8
Günter Gerngross, Herbet Puchta, Scott Thornbury, Teaching Grammar Creatively, (Lelbling
Languages, 2006), 6.
12
1.3.3 The communicative language teaching approach
This meant a massive shift in the emphasis on skills moving away from reading and writing
towards the productive skills, it mainly focuses on speaking through language games, role-
plays, group and pair work. Students are given tasks to accomplish using language instead of
studying the language, however we should not forget that the syllabus of a CLT lesson is just
so much skill-based as grammar-based.
The communicative approach has brought us a greatly enriched repertoire of exercise

types, enabling learners to practice grammar while saying real and interesting things
to each other. 9
1.3.4 The task based learning style
As opposed to the PPP model preponderantly found in the overt grammar teaching, proponents
of the task-based approach proposed a fluency-first model where learners perform
communicative tasks that the teacher has set them, the teacher then uses this to identify
language features learners could have used in order to communicate their intentions more
effectively. After these have been taught and practiced, the students re-perform the original
task. This model, also called the deep-end strategy, reverses the PPP model and comes up with
a TTT model, where the succession is Task, Teach and Task again. With this style language is
acquired in lumps and leaps and accuracy develops after fluency. Unlike the traditional
teacher-led presentation, task –based learning is basically about raising awareness of the
learner. In this highly inductive style the teacher takes a scaffolding position supporting the
students by providing the framework, but it is the learners’ task to discover the grammar for
themselves; as the Gerngross-Puchta-Thornbury trio wittily draws a parallel between the well-
known proverb You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink and teaching
grammar:
9
13
The same could be said about teaching grammar: you can teach the students the
rules but you can’t make them learn them. 10
Instead, this trio comes up with a reconsideration of the PPP and TTT models, offering a third
possible solution in the form of DCU (Discovery, Consolidation, Use).
1.3.5 The mainstream EFL style
The range of styles highlights the idea that no single form of teaching suits all
students and all teachers. 11
In one of his articles appearing in Practical English Language Teaching Australian linguist,
David Nunan, provides an excellent summary of the three-fold principles of teaching grammar.
12
The first principle he comes up with is integrating both inductive and deductive methods into
teaching. As a teacher one should decide with the help of the appropriacy rule which method
to apply; at stake here being which method would best suit the actual learners and the grammar
structure dealt with.
The second norm he proposes is using tasks that make clear the relationship between
grammatical form and communicative function. One should never teach grammar in isolated
contexts – e.g., turn active sentences into passive ones by applying the rule, instead make
students understand why passive is used, raise awareness of form and meaning/function at the
same time, as Nunan puts it ‘present the grammar in a context that makes clear the relationship
between the grammatical form and the communicative function’. 13
10
Günter Gerngross, Herbet Puchta, Scott Thornbury, Teaching Grammar Creatively, (Lelbling
Languages, 2006), 6.
11
12
David Nunan, Grammar, Chapter 8 - Practical English Language Teaching,
www.slideshare.net/yannanadi/practical-english-language-teaching-nunan-david
13
14
And last but not least he puts forward an emphatic focus on the development of procedural
rather than declarative knowledge. By declarative knowledge he means knowing the language
rules, whereas procedural knowledge means being able to use the knowledge for
communication.
Students need to develop a mastery of target language items, not by memorising

the rules, but by using the target items in communicative contexts.14
Whichever type we opt for as teachers we always have the question, Will it work? Is grammar
teaching purposeful after all? Michael Swan’s answer is a massive ‘yes’ when he appositely
says:
Generations of teachers have felt that explicit syllabus-based grammar teaching

and practice can help students along the rocky road towards reasonably
spontaneous production. Planting seeds may guarantee that they will grow; but not
planting them is scarcely a superior strategy. 15
4. Teaching adolescents – WHO am I teaching?
Adolescents are in a transit zone, they are between the departures lounge of their childhood
intimacy and the arrivals lounge of their adulthood. Having a whole’ airport’ in your classroom
is definitely great fun and excitement due to their exuberant and energetic character, but at the
same time it is a very challenging endeavour.
Teenagers, if they are engaged, have a great capacity to learn, a great potential for
creativity, and a passionate commitment to things which interest them. There is
14
15
15
almost nothing more exciting than a class of involved young people at this age
pursuing a learning goal with enthusiasm.16
Adolescents have lost the safe confines of their myth that there’s nothing around the corner,
they have reached awareness that there’s a lot out there to experience. This age sees the advent
of cognitive awareness, they start thinking in abstract terms, they can talk about ideas and
concepts in a way that younger children probably cannot.
In his Input Hypothesis theory linguist Stephen Krashen felicitously marked that children at
early ages are not ready to learn language, to study grammar, to consciously work out form
and content relationship. For them acquisition-like methods work at their best by exposure to
the language and by generating opportunities to use it. The Russian educational psychologist
Lev Vygotsky in his concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) posited that children
learn at their best when they are ready for the next bit of learning, where acquisition of new
information is dependent on previous knowledge. If we want to take the airport simile further
to apply it to the different stages of the language learning process, we might say that
adolescents have come to a stage (departures lounge) when they leave acquisition-like
learning behind and they start thinking consciously about what they have heard or seen so far
– they arrived in the language learning stage (arrivals lounge).
At this age teenagers might have unresolved problems with self-esteem, so one challenge
teachers have to be aware of is making sure that we do not do anything that will make them
vulnerable or embarrassed in front of their peers, peer approval gaining immense importance
at this stage.
It is widely accepted that one of the key issues in adolescence is the search for
individual identity, and that this search provides the key challenge for this age
group. Identity has to be forged among classmates and friends; peer approval may
be considerably more important for the student than the attention of the teacher. 17
16
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching - Third Edition, (Longman, 2001), 39.
17
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching - Third Edition, (Longman, 2001), 39.
16
2.1 Teaching adolescents at its best
There are certain factors which, if taken into consideration can ease language teachers’ job
when it comes to conveying new bits of language to teenagers.
2.1.1 Personalisation
It creates an excellent opportunity for the teacher to make students use the newly acquired bit
of grammar in the production phase of the PPP procedure by asking them to talk about
something that interests them, to talk about themselves. This is why one could easily draw a
parallel between language teachers and personal psychologists; math teachers never seem to
ask students to give an exact calculus of how many steps they take a day, while language
teachers show interest in listening to detailed accounts of students’ daily routine for the sake
of Present Simple practice; biology teachers rarely ask students to feel their own pulse when
striving for something and give exact numbers concerning a comparison of the state of this
excitement and another one of complacency, however, language teachers often ask students
to word their wildest dreams and wishes with the innocent aim of practicing the wish
constructions.
This also gives ample opportunity for teachers to get to know their students better, to become
aware of the subtle differences among students which might even ease differentiated teaching
or streaming, if the case calls for it.
Good teaching is about how teachers and students relate to (and interact with) each
other – and about how teachers can help students get and remember knowledge. 18
2.1.2 Responsibility
One other major characteristic feature of this age is the striving to be given responsibility over
something. Why not of their own learning process? If they sometimes get to occupy the driving
seat, if they can gain control, they are likely to be more engaged and more passionate than just
simply having to learn something that the teacher explained to them. And this is the exact
18
Jeremy Harmer, Essential Teacher Knowledge – Core Concepts of English Language Teaching,
(Pearson Education Limited, 2012), 43.
17
prerequisite of a student-centered classroom, where the student is an active agent of his or her
own learning process and not just a passive receiver the teacher is practicing on.
All the latest methodologies show a firm move away from teacher-centered classroom, the old
lock-step teaching style no longer shows any potentials, with the increased student talking time,
language learning environments have become more like learning laboratories where there’s a
lot to experience and experiment on both for teachers and students. And with the positive
intrusion of modern technologies this language environment seems to have left the restrains of
the classroom, the learning arena has experienced a massive expansion where the teachers gain
a probably more indispensable role than ever, the role of the guide that acts like an initiative
filter.
To compensate for the limits of classroom time and to boost the chances for
successful language learning and acquisition, students need to be encouraged to
develop their own learning strategies so that as far as possible, they become
autonomous learners. 19
Obviously the laissez faire teacher is miles away from meeting the requirements of a viable
learning environment these days. There is a greater must than ever for teachers to guide these
learning processes by popping up possibilities for the students, letting them think they can
choose but of course acting like a perspicacious filter.
Successful teachers of our days should not consider modern technologies as vicious enemies
robbing away students’ time. An ingenious teacher tries to make the best of the present
situation and find a niche for himself/herself through which digital technology becomes an
enlarged language classroom. As a teacher I am aware of the fact that the students we work
with these days like to be networked and always available, are used to receiving information
instantly, they are born with a new way of thinking, able to multitask and experience many
ways of learning. I am conscious of the fact that 90% of my students learn for next day’s
chemistry test paper, while simultaneously writing an essay to hand in the oncoming history
19
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, (Pearson Education Limited, 2007), 394.
18
lesson, and all through this time they listen to their favourite band’s recently released album,
while checking their mail and chatting with at least two other classmates at the same time.
Multitasking is no problem for them, they thrive when multitasking. Setting up a Facebook
group with your students where you post things in English, where students comment on each
other’s posts in English offers excellent opportunities to students being exposed to the language
while not even being aware of it.
2.1.3 Learner’s autonomy
By being given agency, students are put into situations when they have to work something out
for themselves under the supporting observation of the teacher taking the monitoring position
these times. When students have to puzzle things out for themselves, when they formulate their
own questions about something, they run much greater chances that the newly learned bit will
be remembered and easily retrieved. As Jeremy Harmer so adequately put in his ESA coinage,
engage, study and activate:
We need to engage students so that their hearts as well as their minds are involved
– so that they are emotionally connected because they are curious, happy or
provoked. 20
After this engagement has taken place, once students’ intrinsic motivation has been activated
and the connection between student and the new chunk of language has been created, students
tend to study much easily and the teacher’s role basically comes down to facilitating
opportunities for the students to activate their knowledge on. Besides teaching your students
all the material you need to teach them under the constraints of the curriculum, encourage
students to bring something new to each lesson and teach it to their peers for instance. This
should not take longer than the first 5 minutes of the lesson, when the appointed one or two
students come up front and teach their classmates something that they found interesting and
useful to know and it was not something assigned by the teacher. It is amazing to experience
how much students take these tasks seriously, and also how smoothly they build these new
20
Jeremy Harmer, Essential Teacher Knowledge – Core Concepts of English Language Teaching,
(Pearson Education Limited, 2012), 178
19
chunks into their active knowledge and start using them in their language. As soon as students
do something out of curiosity the whole learning process can be amazingly enhanced. The 2013
Ted Prize winner Sugata Mitra called this phenomenon SOLE (Self Organised Learning
Environment). In his Hole in the Wall (1999) experiment he installed computers with internet
connection in streets of New Delphi slums and came to the astonishing realization that after
kids noticed the ATM looking installation they started using it properly without knowing any
English at all, without having any prior computer skills or without being helped by anybody.
SOLE can do miracles once students put their souls into it.
However, one misconception about how students learn at their best comes exactly from the
question of to what extent should we let students into the secret. Teachers would frequently
think that students like to be surprised all the time; however, many students very often feel that
they need to know clearly what is actually going to happen. It all gives them an illusion of safety
if they know what to expect and what should be the possible outcome of a lesson. It is again
giving them agency by discussing the content and the whole procedure with them so that they
can position where we are at and where we are heading to.
2.1.4 Learner training
Besides learner autonomy and agency, adolescents are very often intrigued by their own learner
training. Many students find it extremely useful to think about how they learn and we can easily
help them by introducing them to learner training. This means preconditioning them to come
up with the best solutions that work for them when having to learn something new.
Learner training means raise student awareness about how they are learning and, as
a result help them to find more effective ways of working, so that they can continue
working efficiently and usefully, even when away from their teacher and the
classroom. 21
21
Jim Scrivener, Learning Teaching – A guidebook for English Language Teachers, (Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2005), 77.
20
Once they know what we are trying to accomplish with a new style of lesson, they will be more
interested in their own learning styles, and they will show unexpected willingness to take
responsibility for their own learning process. In a learner-centered classroom students are
confronted with autonomous language learning and they experience the presence of the teacher as
mainly a facilitator and needs’ analyser.
In this perspective, learners are viewed to be responsible for their own learning and must
develop independence, autonomy, and responsibility. So, they must be trained to identify
their own learning strategies and try new strategies to improve their own learning without
depending on their own teachers. 22
3.Multiple Intelligences –WHAT & HOW?
When doing a research in developmental and neuropsychology, American psychologist, Howard

Gardner came across some information that contradicted the conventional and limiting definition
of intelligence, as that being measured by traditional IQ tests.
3.1 Intelligence, as it used to be measured
The intelligence quotient started out as a possibly viable response to an urgent need in the La Belle
Epoque of Paris in 1900. When families were flocking to the capital city from the provinces, the
city authorities approached the talented psychologist Alfred Binet to help them sieve out those
youngsters who would succeed in Paris schools. Binet came up with some tests mainly focusing
on logical-mathematical, spatial and linguistic strengths. Notwithstandingly, this quotient with its
uniform view is only letting those on the train who were cut out with the above mentioned
strengths, with the minds of the future law-professor, as Gardner wittily phrased it.
It surely has a lot of weaknesses, but let us not forget that this quotient came into being with the
aim of somehow making intelligence quantifiable; and also that the best ideas ever have sparked
22
Bahador Sadeghi, Mohammad Taghi Hassani, Ahmad Dashtaki Hessari, On the Relationship
Between Learners’ Needs and Their Use of Language Learning Strategies,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814038051
21
out when trying to revolutionize the already existing theories. This is what Gardner did. He came
up with an alternative vision, with a pluralistic view of mind, recognizing different cognitive
strengths and contrasting cognitive styles.
As the name indicates, I believe that human cognitive competence is better described in
terms of a set of abilities, talents or mental skills, which I call intelligences. All normal
individuals possess each of these skills to some extent; individuals differ in the degree of
skill and in the nature of their combination. I believe this theory of intelligence may be
more humane. (…) Such theory has educational implications. 23
And it is interesting to open a parenthesis here and note that Gardner started out his research in the
1970s as a purely psychological one, the main lines of the theory having appeared in The Frames
of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983; however, his Frames of Mind brought his
‘fifteen minutes of fame’ decades later when it started to be analysed and used for educational
purposes.
3.2 Intelligence, as Gardner measures it
Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong and Matthew J. Perini in their book on integrating learning
styles and multiple intelligences, provide an excellent figure of how our definition of intelligence
has changed. 24
Old view New view

● intelligence was fixed ● intelligence can be developed
● intelligence was measured by a number ● intelligence is not numerically quantifiable
and is exhibited during a performance or
problem-solving process
● intelligence was unitary ● intelligence can be exhibited in many ways
– multiple intelligences
● intelligence was measured in isolation
23
Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences – New Horizons, (Basic Books, 2006), 6.
24
Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong, Matthew J. Perini, So Each May Learn: Integrating Learning
Styles and Multiple Intelligences, (ASCD, 2000), 7.
22
● intelligence is measured in context/real –life

● intelligence was used to sort students and situations
predict their success ● intelligence is used to understand human
capacities and the many and varied ways
students can achieve
By adding an ‘s’ to intelligence Gardner broke from the traditional IQ theory which adhered to
two fundamental principles: that human cognition was unitary and that individuals can be
adequately described as having a single quantifiable intelligence. In his MI theory Gardner
campaigns for those who are gifted in other territories, not necessarily and strictly logical and
linguistic only. Isn’t a violinist, an athlete or a dancer intelligent as well? If they are, then why do
the common intelligence tests fail to identify them?
In his definition of intelligence, he revolutionizes the fixed attribute of an inborn capacity, he

maintains that the multiple intelligences are teachable and can be developed.
An intelligence entails the ability to solve problems or fashion products that are of
consequence in a particular cultural setting or community. The problem-solving skill
allows one to approach a situation in which a goal is to be obtained and to locate the
appropriate route to that goal. The problems to be solved range from creating an end for a
story to anticipating a mating move in chess to repairing a quilt. 25
These gardnerian intelligences always work in a certain correlation and cooperation, they always
‘work in a concert, and any sophisticated adult role will involve a melding of several of them.’26
25
Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences – New Horizons, (Basic Books, 2006), 6-7.
26
23
It becomes important to consider individuals as a collection of aptitudes rather than as

having a singular problem-solving faculty that can be measured directly through pencil-
and-paper tests. 27
When MI applied for educational purposes a typical classroom definitely operates on learner’s
agency, autonomy and metacognitive awareness, whereby the students act as active agents of a
learning process. Throughout these lessons students learn that a brain that is strong in more parts,
has access to more problem-solving strategies, it has more pathways to solve problems quickly,
which means a well-developed brain has several options and ways to arrive at a given destination.
3.3 Intelligence, as Sir Ken Robinson envisages it
The British born American lecturer Sir Ken Robinson also comes up with a Gardner-close 3D
definition of intelligence.
According to him intelligence is first of all diverse: we think about the world in all the ways that
we experience it, we think visually, in sounds, kinesthetically, in abstract terms. This is what
Gardner calls a mental chemistry set. 28
Secondly, intelligence is dynamic, it is highly interactive; he calls it an interaction of different

disciplinary ways of seeing things, as Gardner puts it:
An individual may not be particularly gifted in any intelligence, and yet, because of a
particular combination or blend of skills, he or she may be able to fill some niche uniquely
well.29
Additionally, intelligence is dynamic in the gardnerian vision as well when he says that one
prerequisite of each intelligence is that is should leave ground for development, ‘each intelligence
27
28
29
24
appears to have its own developmental sequence, emerging and blossoming at different times in
life’. 30
And the third pier of the robinsonian 3D intelligence definition is that intelligence is distinct. We
cannot adopt a single measure for intelligence, since we all have single profiles of intelligence, we
all have our own relative strengths.
3.4 Gardner’s criticism on present day society
Gardner poses as a critique of our society when he claims that we are suffering of three main
biases. In his coinage we tend to be Westist, Testist and Bestist. 31
3.4.1 Westist society
Westist, since we put certain Western cultural values, such as logical thinking and mathematics on
a pedestal. All educational systems tend to be built on the same hierarchy of subjects, with
mathematics and languages on the top, and arts at the bottom. This hierarchy primarily roots in the
conception that the most useful subjects for work should be at the top, and kids are benignly steered
away from other subjects that might squander their focus (arts, music).
The whole process of public education throughout the world is predicated on the idea of academic
ability, we basically got stuck at the very roots of the educational system, which came into being
with the aim to meet the needs of industrialism, mass production. However, the whole arena around
us has tremendously changed, and it is a total iniquity to leave it unobserved.
While most people possess the full spectrum of intelligences, each reveals distinctive
cognitive features. (…) Restricting educational programs to a preponderance of linguistic
and mathematical intelligences minimizes the importance of other forms of knowing.32
30
Linda Campbell, Bruce Campbell, Dee Dickinson, Teaching & Learning through Multiple Intelligences,
(Pearson Education, 2004), xxii.
31
Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences – New Horizons, (Basic Books, 2006), 23-24.
32
(Pearson Education, 2004), xx.
25
Being the teacher of a theoretical highschool I experience this discrepancy day after day. Maths
teachers weep for and force the return of the golden days of the post- Communist engineer boost
era, which provided them with eager minds for mathematics.
3.4.2 Testist society
Gardner’s next criticism towards present society is that we pose as Testists, we tend to focus on
those human abilities that are readily testable, and in this perspective academic ability obviously
takes it all again. Public education is slowly nothing but a protracted process of university entrance.
And as a result those highly-talented creative minds whose talent is not easily measured in numbers
think that they do not fit in the system, there is no place for them on the train. However, frustration
and academic failure can be reduced and students’ self-esteem can be repositioned if teachers
expand their boundaries towards intelligence-fair methods for perceiving their students.
3.4.3 Bestist society
A third denunciation from Gardner towards our present society is that we are disposed to being
Bestist. According to this view we have a belief that all the answers to a given problem lie in one
certain approach. This is what Sir Ken Robinson calls the death valley of education. He claims that
present schools do nothing but ruthlessly squander kids’ creativity, they basically educate students
out of their creativity. Present educational systems do not seem to tolerate the possibility of being
wrong, they do not tolerate mistakes, we tend to be afraid of being wrong, and thus we educate
people out of their creative capacities; educators focus on one and only possible solution to
problems, since this makes the whole system logically traceable.
26
3.5 Gardner’s seven intelligences
There have been myriads of books and articles written with the intention of honouring the Multiple
Intelligences with a definition and description as authentic and accurate as possible, and
presumably I could not come up with a better one myself, so let us just have a quick summary
based on some of the best of them – including Gardner’s own books, and Bonita de Amici’s
accounts, also heavily leaning on Herbert Puchta’s and Mario Rinvolucri’s MI Bill of Rights. 33
A person strong in musical intelligence thinks in sounds and beats, these people are sensitive to
the sounds and rhythmic patterns around them. In Gardner’s definition of intelligence, besides the
must that an intelligence has to be dynamic and formative it also has to bear an identifiable part in
the brain, just like in the case of this intelligence ‘certain parts of the brain play important roles in
the perception and production of music (…) and these areas are characteristically located in the
right hemisphere.’34
And the MI Bill of Rights concerning music says: I want to find tunes for each unit, I want to sing
the grammar, I have the right to listen to music that relaxes me, - just to name some of them.
The bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is body-think, and the control of the bodily movement is
localized in the motor cortex. People strong in this intelligence have good coordination skills and
high awareness of their own bodies and are physically expressive. As Gardner suggests body-think
people are able to use their bodies in utterly differentiated and skillful ways both for expressive
and for goal oriented purposes.
The ability to use one’s body to express an emotion (as in a dance) to play a game (as in a
sport), or to create a new product (as in devising an invention) is evidence of the cognitive
features of body usage. 35
33
Herbert Puchta, Mario Rinvolucri, Multiple Intelligences in EFL, (Helbing Languages, 2005), 45-47.
34
Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences – New Horizons, (Basic Books, 2006), 9
35
27
According to the MI Bill of Rights these learners word some clearly put body conscious needs:
Don’t keep me nailed to the chair for 50 minutes, I should have the option to move or do something
when I am learning, Please involve me in action.
The logical–mathematical intelligence by being one of the core pillars of the traditional IQ tests
is associated with scientific thinking, it is also called the archetype of ‘raw intelligence’ or the
problem –solving faculty. ‘It often comes into play in the analytical part of problem-solving –
when we make connections and establish relationships between pieces of information that may
seem separate, when we discover patterns, and when we are involved in planning, prioritizing and
systematizing.’ 36
In the gifted individual this process of problem-solving is often remarkably rapid and it is
usually characterized by the ‘aha’ factor, it is mysterious, intuitive and unpredictable by
nature. 37
In the MI Bill of Rights configuration might sound like this: Give me only real, watertight rules;
Explain words clearly and directly; Don’t try to invent logic in areas of logic where there is none
– be upfront about this; Give me the chance to formulate hypotheses and check them out; Give me
clear tables of information rather than stories and guided phantasies.
While the logical-mathematical thinking is concerned with the content of sentences, the linguistic
intelligence revels in the relationship between form and content. Gardner also offers empirical
manifestation for it when he formulates:
A specific area of the brain, called Broca’s area, is responsible for the production of
grammatical sentences. A person with damage to this area can understand words and
sentences quite well but has difficulty putting words together in anything other than the
simplest of sentences. 38
36
Herbert Puchta, Mario Rinvolucri, Multiple Intelligences in EFL, (Helbing Languages, 2005), 8.
37
38
28
A learner strong in this intelligence might formulate similar MI Bill of Rights: I have the right to
enjoy the sounds of English, Let me play in English, I have the right to love some parts of grammar
and hate others.
The spatial intelligence is the capacity to create mental pictures of something, it focuses on powers
of observation and the ability to understand space around us basically with the help of the inner
eye. Perception of space is multi-sensory, even if the visual aspect predominates in many people.
It is also interesting to emphasize that there’s a difference between spatial intelligence and visual
perception, let us just think of blind people, who by leaning on sound and their somatic awareness
can recognize things without being able to actually see it. Using similar techniques with seeing
people aims to enhance memory and retain information.
‘The visual areas of the brain, in the right hemisphere, are better able to retain and recall
information; visualizing events and information in our minds gives us a memory as if the
thing actually happened to us.’39
Visual-spatial students’ MI Bill of Rights formulate needs like: I need to know where things are, I
like exercises where I can place things in an intelligent way, I have a right to see grammar stuff in
diagrammatic form, I can’t learn just from listening.
Interpersonal intelligence incorporates group-think and it is becoming a more and more vital
capacity in the present day fragmented and isolated life-styles, where youngsters are more likely
to tackle their tablets with their earplugs in, listening to music, than talk to their mates next to
them. By confronting students with this intelligence we surely contribute to improving their
interdependence, empathy and communication skills. Central to this intelligence is the ability to
listen carefully to what the other person is saying rather giving words into our partners’ mouths
and finish their sentences to our taste. A person with high interpersonal skills can easily gain good
rapport with another person, and is a skilful negotiator and persuader.
Interpersonal intelligence builds on a core capacity to notice distinctions among others –

contrasts in their moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions. In more advanced
39
Bonita deAmicis, Multiple Intelligences Made Easy, (Zephyr Press, 1999), 100.
29
forms, this intelligence permits a skilled adult to read the intentions and desires of others,
even when they have been hidden.40
Interpersonal MI Bill of Rights might sound a bit far-fetched if applied in traditional classroom
settings: Students should be permitted to talk to their neighbours during tests. I have a right to get
other people help me with my homework. I love activities where there is a buzz of talk. I have a
right to speak my mother tongue when I feel the need. This is a language class, and we have a
right to spend most of the time with each other, not focused on you.
While interpersonal intelligence allows one to nurture good rapport with others, intrapersonal
intelligence allows one to be on good terms with oneself. High intrapersonal intelligence
manifests itself in persons who have exceptionally good ear for the subtle enouncements of the
self, who are in tune with their thoughts and feelings and as a result can be attuned to and intuitive
about others. In this intelligence ‘the horizon is where the boundaries of the self lie.’ 41
Intrapersonal intelligence – knowledge of the internal aspects of a person: access to one’s

own feeling life, one’s range of emotions, the capacity to make discriminations among
these emotions and eventually to label them and to draw on them as a means of
understanding and guiding one’s own behaviour. 42
Intrapersonal students could formulate similar MI Bill of Rights: Give me time to think. I feel I
should daydream. I have the right to have my own space. When you ask us for feedback, I feel like
I’m at the dentist.
After this short account of the first seven intelligences we should also mention there are two more
possible candidates to be taken up on the list of MI, these being the naturalist and the spiritual
intelligences. However, in the following I intend to refer exclusively to the main seven ones.
40
41
42
30
3.6. Educational implementations of MI
There is no greater need than ever to widen the pedagogical repertoire in a search to catch up with
cognitively and emotionally so diverse students. The task of teachers has become to create learning
environments that allow these diverse intelligences to flourish; teachers are predominantly
facilitators of opportunities that maximise students’ potential both within the confines of the
classroom and in real life.
Language teachers are in a favourable condition, there is a plethora of methodology to choose

from; and if I want to be honest I have always been teaching through MI close strategies. However,
the great difference that MI makes is my present awareness of it, and most importantly raising
students’ awareness of the existence of the different intelligences.
There are so many different students. Some like to push themselves forward, like to speak their
minds, others prefer to work silently and undisturbed on their own, others again favour the shelter
of a group where responsibility is shared, and the list of the differences is endless.
Educators’ great responsibility is to correctly decode these unique natures and help students to
discover their strengths, their intelligence profile and encourage them to find the best strategies
and learning styles that supremely fit their predispositions. A sharp-eyed educator recognises that
a constantly fidgeting student should not be stigmatised with ADHD, but rather helped to discover
that probably he/she learns the best when role-playing or just simply paddling with a pen.
If earlier I mentioned that language teachers are making great progress towards applying student-
centred approaches, the situation with other subjects taught at school might not be that promising.
Let us just concentrate on our country. It is not difficult to notice that school curricula are heavily
overloaded with great chunks of information that students are supposed to master in a relatively
short period of time. Thus, the amount of information and the lack of time allow teachers little
possibility to experiment with alternative teaching techniques, let alone interdisciplinary
approaches. In a research conducted in Bucharest, Romania in 2014 by a school counsellor Sanda
Bordei we could read the following:
31
In the Romanian public schools there is no chance to apply T.M.I. (Theory of Multiple
Intelligences) at present, due to many obstacles such as: big number of students in a
classroom (optimum would be 12 maximum 15), lack of didactic resources, overloaded
curriculum, national standard evaluations, unattractive handbooks, underpaid teachers, not
enough time for thinking of how to apply the content of the lesson in a particular way for
each student, absence of trainings on T.M.I. but instead theoretical useless trainings
organised by the County Centers for Teachers’ Training. 43
The other important segment of this same research was the implementation of MI in a private
school still in Bucharest. The findings proved to be more positive when theory applied to their
educational system, even if there are still some obstacles which hinder the results from showing
soaring perspectives.
As an English teacher in Romania I am still inclined to say that the picture is not that gloomy in
our case; there is a wide selection of highly entertaining and user-friendly course books, and even
more web platforms that offer great opportunities both for teachers and students. It only takes a
decision from the teacher’s part, whether or not they choose to take the extra effort to concentrate
on their students’ individual strengths and by taking these into consideration help them discover
the learning styles that can greatly enhance their learning process.
43
Sanda Bordei, Aspects of the Application of Theory of Multiple Intelligences in Romanian School with
Students between 10 and 14 Years Old (Science Direct,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814022460)
32
4.Teaching grammar under the auspices of Multiple Intelligences
As I have already mentioned in the introduction, grammar is often considered by students as the
mean character of language classes, something that is difficult to understand and then so frustrating
to memorise all the exceptions. And yet, what these students fail to see is that grammar can be so
much fun, certainly if served up in an adequate way. The MI Theory undoubtedly poses as a
successful candidate with its wide selection of choices, whereby students with different
inclinations, tastes, strengths and weaknesses can all have their equal share from the fun.
Before plunging into the detailed description of each intelligence let us have a look at some
possible activity types for all intelligences.
Nr. INTELLIGENCE GRAMMAR ACTIVITIES

1. Verbal-Linguistic  Language tricks, puns - by way of warmers
before learning units
 Making sentences vanish – to practice question
forms
Teacher writes a paragraph on the board and tells
students to ask specific questions about the text;
whenever a word or a chunk of language in the text
is the direct answer to a question students asked,
the teacher erases this bit from the text; this
exercise can be turned into more logically-
mathematically focused by awarding points for the
number of words deleted44
 Interactive loops for groups – to practice
irregular verbs
Teacher distributes cards to students, every
student gets a card with a verb and a question on
it; one student asks his/her question aloud and
44
33
whoever thinks they have the answer on their card,

reads out the answer on their card and asks their
own question (1. Drove 2. What’s the past form of
write? → 1. Wrote 2. What’s the base form of
went? -45
 Story circle
 Expanding on a simple sentence
 Blogs, wikis
 Jigsaw reading/listening
2. Mathematical- Logical  Fun with maths – “reading students ‘mind”
with the so called “a grey elephant in
Denmark”: think of a number from 2 to 9,
multiply the number by 9, add the two digits
together, subtract 5, convert the answer into
the corresponding letter in the alphabet,
write down the name of a European country
beginning with that letter, write down a
four-legged animal beginning with the
second letter of that country, write down a
typical colour for that animal → this
exercise perfectly works with students who
do not really fall for maths, they will find
this one interesting; for a maths whizz-kid
this exercise is rather boring since he
already knows the logic behind (if you
multiply any number between 2 and 9 by 9,
and then add the digits of the answer you
will always get 9 )46
45
Herbert Puchta, Mario Rinvolucri, Multiple Intelligences in EFL, (Helbing Languages, 2005), 94-97.
46
34
 Examining pairs of words that are often

confused or misused – practice/practise,
advice/advise, raise/rise, analyses/analysis,
etc.
 How much do you know about…? type
questionnaire – This type of activity can be
applied for any grammar structure to be
retrieved; it might be helpful with advanced
classes who are rather complacent about
their knowledge and as a result would start
forgetting the correct usage if not practised
enough. The students’ embarrassment at
their poor results will act as a spur to further
study and help them overcome their initial
complacency. Such questionnaires entail
problem-solving, and they provide an ideal
way of catering for the logical-
47 48
mathematical intelligence type.
 Mnemonic devices – these are traditional
aids to learning, these can be even more
useful if students create their own; for
example OPSHACOM to remember the
order of adjectives before nouns: opinion,
shape, age, colour, origin, material
3. Bodily-Kinesthetic  Find someone who…! – are great mingling
activities; this version being a collection of bingo
games where students walk around and find someone
47
Michael Berman, A Multiple Intelligences Road to an ELT Classroom, (Crown House Publishing
Limited, 1998), 107.
48
Appendix 8.3
35
from the class who has ever done the activities in

question, the first person to cover all six fields of the
grid is the winner49
 Find your missing half – activity to be tailored to
all kinds of grammar structures to be practised; For
example, produce cards with different fixed
expressions of the definite article on each (one half of
the expression goes on one card, the other half on
another), students get their cards and are asked to
circulate to find their missing halves. Once they have
found their partners they sit together and are
encouraged to produce the possible rule their
sentences illustrate. (E.g., The river that runs through
London is…./ ….the Thames, To sail to America from
England you have to cross …/ the Atlantic)50
 From music to sculpture – this is an engaging
group work activity, where students are asked to listen
to a piece of music and then as a group prepare a
human ‘sculpture’ that represents their feeling about
the music by including all the members of the group
in the sculpture; each group holds the position for like
10 to 15 seconds for the others to observe, then as a
homework assignment students are asked to describe
the sculpture that they liked the best51
Paper plate games – this is an energizing activity
played in groups of 5 to practise the use of the articles
49
Appendix 8.7
50
Limited, 1998), 20-21.
51
36
Teacher places paper plates on the floor about 60 cm

apart, and writes the articles ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘0’ (to
indicate the zero article) on 4 plates each, so from
each article there is one plate less than students. Each
student starts the game with 3 life tokens. Teacher
calls out a phrase for which students will have to
quickly find the corresponding plates and hop on them
(Atlantic Ocean – the, play … guitar – the, go to …
church every Sunday - 0, once … week – a, etc.).
Since there is one plate less than students playing the
game at once, the student who failed to occupy a plate
loses one life token. The game is played until all
tokens are gone.
 Kinesthetic flow charts – a great large floor game
to practise the Conditionals - with the present flow
chart, but it can be perfectly used to any grammar
structure in focus
The flow chart fields are cut out preferably from
laminated cardstock, with a fragment of a story
heavily loaded with conditional structures on each.
Students get the jumbled fields and they will have to
come up with the right sequence of the story. Once
they have found the right order of the flow chart, and
arranged it on the floor, they hop through it while
reading the story. It can be made competitive by
having two groups building their flow charts at the
same time, the first team to create the flow chart and
‘hop-read’ it, is the winner of the game.
 Running dictations
37
 Creating and/or participating in a scavenger

hunt
 Simon says games - as warmers
 Mystery box – an excellent activity to practise the
order of adjectives that tactile students adore
Teacher takes a collection of small objects in the class,
puts them out on display and asks the students to
observe them carefully. Then the objects are put in a
box and a blindfolded student will have to reach in the
box, feel for an object and describe it the class, the
others will have to guess what it is.
 Physical noughts and crosses – an invigorating
large floor game that can be perfectly used as a
warmer: teacher draws 3x3 circles on the floor, as
noughts and crosses grid; two teams of 3 students are
lined up, with each player holding the colour symbol
– a beanbag or simply a piece of cloth - of their team
in their hand; they have to run to the grid to place their
colour to a field which they strategically choose;
students will have to beat their opponent in picking
the best spot on the 'board', thinking strategically and
making quick decisions as well as being quick on their
feet
4. Visual-Spatial  How many dollars? - it proved to be a challenging
warmer for my maths profile learners
The father asked his daughter to go and buy him
some things for a trip. On his desk was an
envelope with cash in it. The girl came up to his
desk and on the envelope she read 98. She took
the money and went to a shop. There she chose
38
90 dollars’ worth of stuff. When she got to the

cash desk she was 4 dollars short.
What had happened? 52
It was inspiring to watch them indulge in
complicating calculations before the simple spatial
solution dawned on them. (What the father, form one
side of the table, had written as 86, the daughter, from
her side of the table, read as 98.)
 Human camera – an engaging outdoor activity to
help students develop their ability to visualise and to
remember what they have seen
Students work in pairs, student A is the photographer,
student B is the ‘camera’ (to ease description A is
referred to as male, B female). B with her eyes shut is
steered by A around the space available, A trying to
get his camera into the right position, then takes a
photograph by pressing B’s shoulder. B opens her
eyes for 3 seconds and takes in and remembers exactly
what she sees. A takes 3 photos, then they switch
roles. As a homework assignment students will have
to describe in details the best photo that they saw as
cameras.53
 Faraway places54 – to practise the use of fixed
expression with the zero and definite article 55
Students get a travel account and are asked to fill in
the gaps with the missing information; this exercise
52
53
54
Limited, 1998), 141.
55
Appendix 8.11
39
type can be successfully tailored to practise any

grammar structure in focus.
 Spot the difference – information-gap like
activities to describe pictures to each other, effective
way to practise the Present or Past Continuous tenses
 Mindmapping, mindscaping, clustering
5. Musical  Song maze - this activity based on Lou Reed's song
"Perfect Day" can be a perfect warm-up or filler
exercise for teens in your class
The target is to find a way out from the maze,
following the lyrics of the song. Obviously it is the
teacher’s choice which song to use, so this exercise
can be perfectly used to practise any grammatical
structure. As an additional task you can ask your
students to write a few lines to describe their own
perfect day with their beloved ones.56
Lyrics writer – to be adopted to any grammar
structure
To practise the correct use of –ed and –ing adjectives
my students had to rewrite the lyrics of a song of their
own choice where they had to include the adjectives I
game them (frustrating, frustrated, excited, exciting,
confusing, confused, thrilling, thrilled, etc.)
 How many questions? – an engaging activity to
practice question forms
Teacher brainstorms the class for all the question
words and sentence starters for questions that students
know (put them on the board). Then the students are
organised in small groups and are played a piece of
56
Appendix 8.12
40
music. They will have 10 minutes to write as many

questions as they can about the music, each question
generated by a group must have a different content.
The group with the most questions read out their
sentences, the other groups will have to challenge
content repetition or language incorrectness.57
 Karaoke sessions – extremely popular with
teenagers
 Music mime –charades-like activity to practise
question forms
Get learners to mime a song, or act out a song that
everybody knows. The others will have to guess
which song their classmate is miming by asking
Yes/No questions.
 Draw to music – an inspiring musical intelligence
activity that spatial students will adore
Teacher draws a treble clef in the middle of the board
and asks the students to join in for a brainstorm
activity. Students listen to a piece of music (I did it
with the fabulous Braveheart theme song), as they
listen they come up front and draw something on the
board that this song made them think of. By the end
of the music there are going to be separate drawings
on the board. Ask students to decide on the five
drawings which they think most truly describe the
music. Then they weave those drawings together into
a story.
57
41
 Stand up when you hear me – teacher selects a

song that is heavily loaded with the target grammar
structure
Teacher writes key words on bits of coloured paper
and hands them out to students. Students will have to
stand up when they hear their word – it was great fun!
6. Interpersonal  Collage portraits – to be adapted to the grammar
structure in target58
Students are asked to create collage portraits of
themselves at home omitting any identifying name
or picture, by using any material at their wish:
pictures from colour magazines, colour cardstock,
markers, seeds, colourful raw pasta, sand – whatever
that could be glued on the collage. Students will
have to prepare their collage featuring a certain facet
of their character: favourite pastime (for –ing verbs),
childhood (Past Tenses), daily routines (Present
Simple), wildest dreams (conditionals, wish
constructions), etc. Students will have to guess
which collage represents who, and then students
reveal themselves by presenting their collage. The
artefacts then can be hung up on the wall to serve as
personalised classroom decorations.
What’s your point of view?59 – encourage
students to share their reactions to a variety of
situations: you win a trip to Egypt, you are asked to
take a lead role in a school play, a relative suggests
58
(Pearson Education, 2004), 168.
59
42
that you study to become a doctor, etc. (since all the

questions start with ‘What would you do if…’ this is
an excellent activity to practise the 2nd conditionals)
First, students say out loud their reactions to
different situations, then they only think of an
answer and write it in their copybooks. After several
situations have been read, teacher starts reading
them out again, stops after each one of them and asks
one student what he/she thinks an other student has
answered, then the answers are compared with the
original one.
 Multiple interviewers – great practice for
question forms
Teacher asks for a student to volunteer to be
interviewed about a topic of his/her choice, and
another student for a volunteer interviewer. Any
time anyone wants to take over as interviewer, they
just go up front and touch the current interviewer on
the shoulder, and take over as interviewer. Students
can also replace the interviewee in the same way.
The idea is to do it in a harmonious way, so that the
interview proceeds smoothly.60
 Dynamic questions61 – to practise question forms
again
Students are asked to think of 3 Wh-questions they
would like to be asked in front of the whole class,
and then they write each of their questions on
separate slips of paper in block letters, so that others
60
61
43
will not be able to guess who the writer is. All the
slips are then put in a box, and then students will
have to draw one question each. The students will
have to decide who in the group might have written
the question (by speculating who might like to be
asked this question), and ask the person the question.
Whether the person has really written the question
or not, he/she has to answer it in a way that the truth
is not yet revealed to the others. After the question
was answered there is a silent time of about a minute,
when students speculate who really wrote the
question.
 Role plays
 Information gap activities
 Questionnaires
7. Intrapersonal  Ask me questions nobody asked me before –
can be used as ice-breakers with new groups, or
simply as exciting opportunities to find out more
about ourselves by a ‘simple’ interviewing exercise
The exercise is very simple: students have to
interview each other. However, the questions are not
‘talk about your hobbies’ – like at all: ‘What would
your life motto be?’, ‘What values guide your
behaviour?’, ‘If you could change anything about
yourself, what would it be?’, etc.62
 Who I think you think I am – exciting speaking
activity
62
44
Students work in pairs to explore personal

perceptions of one another. Topics that can guide
such conversations might include: ‘Who I think I
am’, ‘Who you think I am’, ‘Who I think you think
I am’, ‘Who you think you are’, ‘Who I think you
are’, ‘Who you think I think you are’63
 My object – great practise for describing objects,
order of adjectives
Students select an object that has special meaning in
their lives. They bring their objects to class and
describe what they mean to them, and tell a story of
the role such items represent in their lives.64
Character sketches – exciting writing activity to
think about ourselves
Students have to write anonymous character
sketches of themselves. In their descriptions
students include a variety of details about
themselves, their behaviours, and the reasons for
such actions, their desires and goals, and their
perceived impact upon others. As a follow-up
activity everybody gets somebody else’s character
sketch, and they will be asked to determine whose
descriptions they were reading.65
 Intrapersonal questionnaire – an excellent tool
to handle possible conflicts for which an open
discussion would be inappropriate and futile
63
64
65
45
Teacher explains to students that there is not going

to be any further discussion of this activity, nobody
will read it, thus they should be open and sincere in
their answers. (Examples for a questionnaire on
noisy versus shy students: ‘Should I try and speak
more?’, ‘Do some people feel I talk too much?’, ‘If
I spoke less would others speak more?’, ‘Doesn’t the
teacher talk too much?’, etc)66
 A correspondence with oneself – excellent
opportunity for students to write freely, without
having to worry about the teacher’s correction, or
others’ opinion
I intend this to be a longer project ongoing for four
years. During this four-year period at the end of each
school year students get an envelope with their
names and they are asked to write a letter for
themselves by starting: Dear + their own name, and
then seal the envelope and collect all the letters in a
bigger envelope. We have already sealed our first
big envelope, and the plan is we are going to open
them at of the end of the four-year period. Students
were encouraged to openly write about the past
year’s achievements, failures, ups and downs. An
excellent opportunity for students to experience an
inner growth.67
66
67
46
4.1 Grammar with Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence – How can I incorporate words, writing,
discussion?
Poetry is when an emotion has found its
thought and the thought has found words.
– Robert Frost
This can mistakenly be regarded as the core intelligence of language teaching, where students are
taught to read, write, speak in English and listen to English utterances with success. If we
consider that language is the preeminent human intelligence, then no mistake can be detected so
far; however, it should be made clear that this is just one intelligence out of the seven which should
be addressed when dealing with language teaching.
Students with well–developed verbal-linguistic skills show a fascination for words, they enjoy
expressing themselves orally and in writing, display disposition to listen to and narrate stories.
Verbal students read effectively, comprehend, summarise, interpret, and remember what they have
just read; they speak effectively to a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes, they know how
to speak simply, eloquently, persuasively, or passionately at appropriate times. These learners
write effectively, they understand and apply grammar rules, spelling, punctuation and they also
tend to use a broad vocabulary. They exhibit ability to learn languages easily and they strive to
enhance their own language usage. 68
68
47
4.1.1 How can we teach our students to listen effectively to English utterances with success?
A listening activity which basically focuses on grammar is the sentence or text completion
exercise so often used in language exams, where the students listen to a recording and are asked
to fill in a summary of that recording with some missing information. It is important to note that
students are only reading a summary, so instead of the actual words that they can read, they should
be expecting the corresponding synonyms. This exercise works on the students’ holistic knowledge
of English on the sentence level. In a pre-listening activity students read the summary and try to
guess what grammatical category has been left out from the sentence. Is it an adjective (superlative
or comparative)? Is it an adjective ending in –ed or –ing? Is it a noun that is missing? Is that a
singular or plural noun or is that a proper name? In the while-listening part they try to fill in the
gaps, in the post-listening section they discuss how right they guesses were.
An exigent prerequisite when teaching our students to become better listeners is to use authentic
and up-to-date material.
Authentic, since we want to teach our students practical and pragmatic language knowledge that
they will be able to understand outside the classroom confines as well. Teachers should aim to
choose materials that have been recorded in authentic settings, with all the background noise that
may impair listening. It should be made clear to students that besides the well-fragmented, literary
utterances that language teachers use, there can be other manifestations of English, and those are
still English. Adolescents love to watch films. So why not choose some excerpts from films
students may have seen, having as a basic aim to make them familiar with some of the most
frequently met English accents (Colin Firth in The King’s Speech – British, Tommy Lee Jones in
the No Country for Old Men – strong southern accent, Daniel Day Lewis’s In the Name of the
Father monologue – Irish, Sean Connery’s James Bond – Scottish, Kate Winslet in Holy Smoke!
- Australian).
Up-to-date, since in our fast paced, flashy modern world students will not be bothered to listen to
some outdated information coming through some crackling tape recorders. So language teachers
should strive to keep up with the latest technology and bring students crispy, current news. By
48
opting for some new technology we will not only seem more well-paced for our students, but we
will greatly minimize the extra bother that listening classes used to mean. A tablet with the
uploaded piece and a bluetooth speaker takes up so little space in a bag and is always at hand. By
choosing up-to-date, authentic materials language teachers should greatly contribute to students’
awareness of the current affairs going on in the world.
4.1. 2 How can we teach our students to become better readers in English?
Literature can serve as a foundation for developing students’ reading skills. Stories, novels,
biographies, essays, plays and poems can be springboards for discussion, and can be successfully
used for in-depth analyses of the text on grammar level as well. Grammar is the way words are put
together to express ideas, it is how we create order out of chaos in language. Literature is the
sharing of thoughts and stories in writing, which would make no sense without grammar; it offers
food for thought, models the effective use of language, and stimulates intellectual development. 69
However, teachers should be sensible on not turning students’ off from being ardent readers by
dissecting pieces of literature for grammar purposes. In order to avoid this, from time to time
students should be engaged in silent reading with self-selected materials. These could be the DEAR
moments, drop everything and read.
Another means by which teachers will definitely find their students reading is by setting up a
ReadMe announcement board in the classroom where both students and their teachers can attach
some quotations, some interesting news that they have encountered and brought for the others to
display. A similar manifestation of this could be the Facebook group, where students are eager to
read each other’s new posts. The teacher has a great modelling role in the beginning by posting
games on words, puns, pieces of news, reports, etc. A great representation of how effective this
can be, came from one of my highly verbal-linguistic students who posted a picture in the group
69
49
and wrote the following caption: Isn't a bit funny, guys, that we tamed the biggest beast of
languages, but still cannot handle one of the most learner-friendliest?.70
Other important reading resources in the classroom can be the worksheets that students use. It
would be highly advisable for teachers to prepare their own worksheets based on classroom
experience. These worksheets are always welcomed by my students, since instead of the dry
impersonal sentences to translate – having a grammar structure in focus -, I write some sentences
with a personal touch for them.
4.1.3 How can we teach our students to become better speakers in English?
If so far we have had a closer view at the two receptive skills, let us focus in the following on the
productive skills, starting with speaking. Speaking usually divides language students in two camps.
There are those who easily speak without concentrating too much on accuracy, they just go with
the flow, they make themselves understood usually heavily leaning on body language as well, no
matter if their accuracy leaves a lot to be desired. And there are the others, who intensely focus on
producing correct utterances, even if this takes heavy tolls on their fluency. And if we consider
that a significant percent of what we communicate has to do with the tone of our voice and our
facial expressions and body language, we could easily realise that the tolls could be too heavy.
Teachers should provide students supportive environments by making students aware that practice
makes perfect, and that the learning environment of a classroom is the place to practice, to speak
in order to become better and better. In this respect during the lessons teachers should provide a
strong model by communicating in the target language, using colourful and sophisticated
vocabulary, vivid language, descriptive adjective, idiomatic language, play with puns, jokes and
riddles.
Memorising poems, lyrics with a grammatical target structure (e.g., if I were a boy), or
substitutional dialogues (to practice the difference between ‘would you like some orange juice’
and ‘do you like orange juice’) could all be of great help.
70
Appendix 8.1
50
Setting up buzz groups could also be a good idea for carrying out class discussions with any
grammatical structure in mind. For example, to practice Present Simple to describe facts there
should be two groups, one group is supposed to think of utterances such as Men never…., Men
always…. while the other group collects sentences like Women rarely…, Women often…. In order
to involve everybody in the discussion ‘talking tokens’ could be distributed, whereby a token must
be relinquished whenever a student makes a contribution. When all of a student’s tokens are gone,
he/she must refrain from speaking, which encourages others with tokens remaining to enter the
conversation.71
Storytelling or reconstructing a story can also be good ideas to practice the past tenses. Teacher
starts a story then students - either individually or as a group – should have their share in continuing
a story. In the meantime, students can be given prompt cards with a time phrase strongly calling
for a particular tense (while – past continuous, by the time – past perfect, etc.), which they will
have to incorporate in the story.
4.1.4 How can we teach our students to become better writers in English?
The second productive skill, writing, cannot be segregated from the other language acts, since it
fully incorporates all of them. As in speech, writing carries ideas from one person to another with
distinct purposes and meanings. 72
Teachers can suggest a plethora of alternatives to students to choose from for writing assignments.
By this students can make their own decisions on which writing form to opt for (Write a friendly
letter describing your plans for the summer – use of future time, Write a newspaper report - Passive
Voice etc.).
Writing groups can also be a great idea for many reasons. In such writing groups students work
on a project together. They either prepare their individual writings and correct each other’s work,
71
72
51
or write a paper as a group and then the teacher corrects one paper per group. Most teachers often
feel the biting constraint of correcting all the written work their students produce. Delegating
responsibility to a group has double advantages: it saves the teacher from having to correct dozens
of writings again, and it shifts responsibility over their work to students which can be highly
motivating and challenging.
Writing groups shift the role of the teacher to that of a ‘guide on the side’. As students
shoulder more responsibility for their academic work, they must organize, manage, and
refine their learning as well as provide assistance to their peers. When given such
responsibility, students usually rise to the occasion, much to their personal benefit and their
teacher’s delight. 73
Writing a cinquain worked perfectly with my group. This exercise successfully comprises
practicing both vocabulary and grammar and by having to adhere to the standards of the poem they
totally lose themselves in the exercise.
73
52
4.2 Grammar with Logical-Mathematical Intelligence – How can I incorporate reasoning,

problem-solving, logic?
The vast book which stands forever open before our eyes,
the universe, cannot be read until we have learned the
language and become familiar with the character in
which it is written. It is written in mathematical
language, without which means it is humanly impossible
to comprehend a single word. – Galileo, 1663
Similarly to verbal-linguistic intelligence, mathematical-logical intelligence is the other core

intelligence which is always present in all kinds of school curricula. The gardnerian twist comes,
when we start to use this intelligence in subjects other than maths and sciences. By employing this
intelligence we are likely to easily engage problem-solvers, those students who are capable of both
deductive and inductive reasoning, are appreciative of precision, like logical thinking and
arranging information by sequencing and prioritising it. Moreover, we might also stand a good
chance of working on the logic of those students who would otherwise be intimidated by Maths.
Also, by applying some strategies of this intelligence we might strengthen students’ mathematical-
logical skills by igniting the organization-processing centers of the brain through exercises in
patterning, predicting, and charting.74
There are several kinds of logic, the two most common ones are deductive and inductive logic.
Deductive logic begins with a general rule and attempts to prove that data are consistent with a
74
53
75
generalization. The various tense forms often strike fear into the hearts and minds of most
students. If one aims to memorize the form of Future Perfect Continuous without following any
kind of logical reasoning, then yes, it can possibly cause problems to come up with the right form.
However, if we work on students’ deductive logic, it is quite easy to explain how to build up a
tense which is Future (will+Vinf), Perfect (have+V3) and Continuous (be+Ving): we start with the
Future particle (will), then comes the Perfect part (since ‘will’ asks for the infinitive form, have),
after this comes the Continuous form (since have from the Perfect asks for the third form of the
verb, been, and last comes the actual verb in the –ing form.)
Syllogisms are very carefully worded logical arguments that employ the deductive logic of
problem-solving. Their structure is always consistent, the first two lines present some premises
and then the third line is a conclusion. Since the first statement always begins with ‘all’, ‘’none’,
or ‘some’, syllogisms might provide fertile ground for practising determiners (all, none, some,
both, neither). Once learners have become familiar with the structure, they will surely find it
challenging to come up with their own syllogisms formulating some grammar rules. (e.g., All verbs
take the –ing form after prepositions. / In the structure ‘to be keen on singing’, ‘sing’ is a verb. /
Therefore, ‘sing’ takes the –ing form.)
Logical students with well-developed spatial intelligence might favour visual syllogisms, the Venn
diagrams, using overlapping circles to compare or contrast sets of information. For example, when
teaching verbs which either take the gerund or infinitive forms, or some both, the visual
manifestation of the rule in a Venn diagram could be great help for students. Students will have to
draw two intersecting circles, in the first circle come the most commonly used verbs which take
verbs in the infinitive form (agree, dare, hope, promise, refuse, etc.), the second circle comprises
verbs which ask for the –ing form (admit, deny, enjoy, suggest, etc.), and the third segment of the
diagram, the intersecting part includes the verbs which can take both –ing and infinitive
(remember, forget, stop, try, etc.). As a warmer before lessons students might enjoy occasional
challenges like ‘What’s my Rule?’: teacher draws two intersecting circles on the classroom floor
75
54
and sorts students out into secret categories (such as long-sleeves tops, tennis shoes, and both).
76
They will surely find it challenging to induce what your logic may have been.
Besides deductive reasoning, aiming at students’ inductive logic could be highly beneficial when
familiarizing them with a new grammatical structure. In inductive logic, the conclusion is
developed step-by-step from the particular to the general. One explicit manifestation of inductive
teaching could be the guided discovery activities, whereby teacher elicits the rules instead of
providing them by counting on students’ inductive reasoning. One example of this could work well
when eliciting spelling rules from students in connection with how different verbs take the -ing
ending in the continuous form. Students are given a list of continuous forms (adding, dyeing,
dying, worrying, sitting, writing, studying, hoping, etc.) and a set of rules to fill in according to
what they could induce from the given examples (The infinitive remains unchanged when…, The
final consonant of the infinitive is doubled when…, When the infinitive ends in –e…., etc.).77
One type of inductive reasoning is the analogy revealing proportional relationships, such as A is
to B as C is to D. This can perfectly work with determiners for instance: ‘None’ is to ‘all’ as
‘neither’ is to ‘both’.
Patterning is another useful strategy that can be successfully used in logical-mathematical

intelligence.
By observing and solving problems that involve patterns, students begin to notice
underlying relationships that pervade logic, nature, and the universe. Patterns exist in
everything from floor tiles to the shapes of galaxies, from beehives to modern paintings,
from the cross-section of a tree to the layout of the orchard, and from the eggs in a carton
to atoms in a molecule. Mathematics is founded on patterns. The skill of recognizing and
using patterns is a valuable problem-solving tool. 78
76
77
Limited, 1998), 96.
78
(Pearson Education, 2004), 44-46.
55
Patterning could be of great help when drilling word order with elementary students in connection
with Wh-questions. In this activity different parts of the sentence are labelled with different colours
(all question words are red – where, why; auxiliary verbs blue – does, is; subjects are orange – the
students, Carol; verbs green – live, crying; etc.) This exercise could perfectly work both with
coloured chalk and coloured slips of carton; however, hand-on students would probably prefer the
slips of carton since that is more realistic, it can be actually taken and bluetacked to its right place.
And this activity takes us on to sequencing/ ordering activities which greatly involve the use of
logic. Putting thigs in logical order is a skill relevant to almost any undertaking.79 Students can get
so deeply immersed in finding the right order (e.g., different lines in a dialogue) that they remain
unaware that a grammatical structure is being practiced for instance (dialogue heavily loaded with
the grammatical structure to be practiced).
Working with codes usually really thrills logically strong students. Codes can liven up learning in
the classroom and involve students in active pattern-seeking. Students enjoy breaking codes and
decoding messages that contain content information.80 Alphabetic codes and numerical codes are
the two easiest types to prepare for classroom use. We can prepare codes that provide information
about some grammar rules or we can just simply use them to set the mood at the beginning of the
lessons (YY UR, / YY UB. / I C U R / YY 4 Me! - Too wise you are, / too wise you be. / I see
you are / too wise for me!). 81
Exposing students to errors can be highly effective for revision purposes. Asking the learners to
find the deliberate mistakes requires both the ability to be analytical and also the use of logic, 82as
an added incentive the worksheet can be prepared in the form of a betting game.83
79
80
81
Herbert Puchta, Mario Rinvolucri, Multiple Intelligences in EFL, (Helbing Languages, 2005),99.
82 82
Limited, 1998), 101.
83
Appendix 8.2
56
4.3 Grammar with Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence – How can I incorporate hands-on

learning, use of the body?
‘Ah, if you could only dance all that you've
just said, then I would understand’.
- Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek
In recent cultural traditions there seems to be a separation between body and mind, and
unfortunately this perfectly manifests itself in our educational system as well. School
curricula heavily focus on academic subjects; this becomes extremely evident is the
Romanian educational system with one physical education lesson per week, and one music
and arts lesson every second week each, in the case of theoretical high schools for instance.
84
As Sir Ken Robinson in his famous Do Schools Kill Creativity? TED Talk appositely
remarked, as children grow up schools start to educate them progressively from the waist
up, heavily focusing on their heads; we should probably not wait until their bodies only
become a kind of means of transport for their heads.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence means the ability to unite body and mind in order to a perfect
performance. So, by applying the strategies of this intelligence we not only reach out to
those students who most successfully learn through movement, and without having the
opportunity to move around in the class at some point of a lesson would not get much out
84
Sir Ken Robinson, Do School Kill Creativity TED Talks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
57
of the learning experience except a sense of frustration, but we might also successfully
enhance the learning potential of all students.
Physical activities focus student attention in the classroom and aid memory by
encoding learning throughout the body’s neuromusculature. We all possess “muscle
memory”, which can be effectively applied to the learning of academic subjects.85
Learners with a well-developed kinesthetic intelligence are likely to explore the

environment and objects through touch and movement, they prefer to touch, handle, or
manipulate what is to be learned. They tend to learn best by direct involvement and
participation, they remember most clearly what was done, rather than what was said or
observed, ‘Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn’. 86, they
want to be the active participants in their learning, not passive recipients of information. 87
Using any kind of manifestations of drama through the learning processes - may that be in the
form of formal theatre, role playing or simulations - might serve as a boost to our learning
processes right through their live and energetic character. They provide students with the
opportunity to almost become what they are studying.
Formal theatre productions involve all the intelligences. Reading the play, interpreting the lines,
assuming roles, thinking of possible costumes, taking care of the setting, selecting appropriate
pieces of music that would add to the atmosphere, working out a choreography, learning the lines
on your own then rehearsing the play in the group, these all require manifestations of the different
intelligences, and by going through these stages students can gain life-long riches, such as sense
of achievement, self-confidence and poise.
Students learn far more than the script, stage presence, and integrated academic content.
The mental, physical, and technical discipline required to succeed on stage is also needed
to succeed in life. Additionally, important cognitive skills are developed through rehearsing
85
86
Appendix 8.4
87
58
and performing, including the ability to organize thought, to perceive and analyze, to
evaluate and reason, to discern the whole as well as the parts, to address complexity and
ambiguity, and to collaborate with others to achieve a common goal. 88
Setting up a formal theatre production is definitely a longer process, but it surely deserves the time
and energy, since it enables students to effortlessly interact in the target language, and by this
provide students with ready to use utterances that might become handy in real-life situations.
Exactly for this reason ESL teachers should either carefully select already existing plays which
elaborate real life like situations, operating with language within the capacity of students, or have
students put up a play of their own – obviously carefully monitoring the script writing phase as
well, so that totally correct utterances would be memorized. Similar projects could obviously not
be restricted to the practice of one particular grammar structure in mind, but since it operates on
the language level the gains can be tremendous.
Role-play activities and simulations might also have a lot to add to language learning. Role-plays
exactly through their character of giving a role for a student to perform can create just that tiny
distance from themselves that students sometimes need in order to start talking. Some students
tend to talk through the lenses of a different character with more ease than having to talk about
themselves. I often make my students blind pick a picture – I cut out pictures of different people
from colour magazines and stuck them on cardstock for easier use – and start talking about ‘their’
past weekend (to practice past tenses), or ‘their’ plans for the next weekend (future forms). A twist
to the exercise could be to make it a dialogue, with two students picking a picture each and then
introducing themselves to each other by talking and asking questions about each other’s likes and
routines (to practice present simple).
Simulations are also powerful learning tools by placing students in an environment or situation
where they will have to imitate a real life scenario. For example students will have to simulate a
cookery show where they will have to ‘create’ a meal by having to use the passive form of the
88
59
verbs they get (chop, drain, grate, slice –the onion was chopped beforehand, make sure the lettuce
is thoroughly drained, cheese has already been grated, beef will have to be sliced, etc.).
Creative movement activities like charades would definitely appeal to kinesthetic students. My
students loved charades when we were practicing adjectives ending in –ed, -ing, they loved making
different faces (frustrated) and they also found it challenging to mime a situation (frustrating) for
their group to guess. An interesting variation of these miming activities could be effectively used
to practise the so often misused verbs – make, do, have – and their corresponding collocations.
Students look at a list of phrases and then try to match up the three verbs with the phrases so that
they get correct collocations, then they check as a class. Students look at the list again and try to
memorize as many collocations as possible and then pick a collocation that they would like to
mime for the others to guess. With the lists covered students come up front one by one, mime their
collocations, and the student who first guesses and also gives the correct usage continues by
miming all those students’ collocations who were before them, and then also adding their own.
Students are so eagerly engaged in memorizing and guessing their peers’ collocations that by the
end of the session they successfully master the correct usages, without even being aware of it.89
Task cards like passive dominoes90 would definitely charm tactile students who best learn by
externalizing their mental processes in any kind of physical object that they can touch, and the
memory of which could retrieve the learned content much more easily, just like Proust’s memory-
laden madeleine cakes. These easy-to prepare tools can be used to introduce, reinforce or review
any kind of grammatical structure. A variation of the task card is the task card puzzle, which
requires a sheet of a large cardstock and it can be prepared either by the teacher or most preferably
by the visual-spatial intelligence group of the class. The topic is written in the center with
supporting details arranged around the central theme. The puzzle is cut into jigsaw pieces and
scrambled. As a student fits the puzzle together, he or she has time to learn and reflect on the
information at hand.91 I prepared one for my students on the different uses of the Present
89
Appendix 8.10
90
Appendix 8.5
91
60
Continuous tense, it was delightful to watch my high school students all hustling to have a go and
put the pieces to their place. 92
Total Physical Response games are movement-based approaches which involve students in
kinesthetic activities. A large hopscotch drawn on the classroom floor with the different numbers
standing for direct speech sentences waiting to be turned into their indirect version is a great fun
example of the TPR games (to practice Reported Speech). Students proceed through the hopscotch,
taking another turn only if they offer the correct indirect version of the sentence in the field.
4.4 Grammar with Visual-Spatial Intelligence – How can I incorporate art, video, graphic
organisers, colour?
I found that I could say things with colour
and shapes that I had no words for.
- Georgia O’Keeffe
Our eyes can register 36,000 visual messages per hour. Jensen, 1996.
40% of all nerve fibers connected to the brain are linked to the retina. Jensen, 1996.
Approximately 65% of the population are visual learners. Mind tools, 1998.93
Just a few facts that internet flashes about visual learners, just a few facts teachers cannot, or rather
must not turn a blind eye on. Learners cognitively understand or learn something once they are
able to create their own personal model, visualization of it. By aiming at students’ visual
92
Appendix 8.6
93
http://visualteachingalliance.com
61
intelligence, teachers run very good chances of helping their students to enhance their memory and
successfully retain information. Learners with a well-developed visual-spatial intelligence are
likely to learn by seeing and observing, they easily perceive and produce mental imagery, they
think in pictures, and tend to visualize detail; they often use visual images as an aid in recalling
information. They enjoy decoding graphs, charts, maps, diagrams, they best learn with graphic
representation or through visual media. They are keen on doodling, drawing, painting, or
reproducing objects in any kind of visual representation. 94
Establishing a visual learning environment for our students might definitely be a good start.
However, Romanian schools are rarely equipped with language labs furnished and shaped up in a
way that might greatly support language teaching. Desks pinned to the floor - which make group
work, and kinesthetic activities rather difficult to manage, no computers for students to use, no
projectors readily installed in the classrooms, etc. – these are all deficiencies language teachers
have to be able to cope with. However, using visual tools – like colour chalk and pencil, making
good use of intentional display areas, like walls, bulletin boards – where posters, charts,
photographs to reinforce the topics taught could be displayed, changing the perspective of students
through rotating seating, might all effectively influence language learning. “One picture is worth
a thousand words” certainly has application in classrooms since visuals can clarify concepts and
give students another sensory means to understand and communicate what they have learned. 95
Flow charts can be effectively used as pictorial representations of grammatical structures that
students tend to have problems with. When my students had difficulties with the use of modal
perfects these flow charts I prepared them proved to be of great help. Once they understood the
meaning, and difference between the present and past utterances, coming up with the right form
was real piece of cake with these flow charts.96
Unit charts might also be good ideas especially with the more conscious, autonomous students,
who like to know where exactly they are in a learning process, and with a learning tool like this
94
95
96
Appendix 8.8.
62
they can tell at a glance where their studies are going, what has been covered, and what remains
to be learned.
Trying to conceptualize all the different tenses of the English language often leads to a great deal
of frustration for learners. Until they manage to internalize the concept there is usually a great
mismatch in their heads. Since tenses practically constitute the backbone of the English verb
phrase, a thorough understanding of it is essential. Timelines where tenses are compared to each
other can serve as helpful visual tools. Another effective visual-spatial tool that I always use to
help students conceptualize the Present Perfect tense, is the visualization of the different tenses as
the different rooms in a house. Students will have to imagine that there are two rooms next to
each other, one is the past room, and the other one- the one we are standing in- is the present room.
Present Perfect means that some bricks have been removed from the wall separating the two rooms,
which means there is kind of flow between the two rooms, as opposed to the Past Tense, when
there is a massive solid wall between past and present. (Robin Williams won one Oscar. –
unfortunately he already died, so he is in the past room, and there is a solid wall between his room
and our room; Tom Hanks has won 2 Oscars. – the 2 Oscars are past happenings, but since Tom
Hanks is still alive he can still win some more, so there is a state of flux between the two rooms.)
Lifelines can also be used to provide an enjoyable and personal way of practicing the Past
Simple.97
Visually– and spatially intelligent learners love the visual memory techniques. The already
mentioned mnemonics are great techniques to facilitate retention and recall of information.
Association is another great technique for linking an image or idea to something we would like to
remember. Another fun activity is the vanishing story activity, I used it with my students to
practice the Past Simple tense. Students get a set of pictures describing an event, and are asked to
put the pictures in the correct order and try to reconstruct the story, as a class. As they reconstruct
the story, the teacher writes the story on the board. Students get 1-2 minutes to read through and
try to memorize as much as they can from the story; teacher starts wiping off the story by one or
97
Limited, 1998), 140.
63
two words. The class keeps reading the story trying to reconstruct the missing parts. By the end of
the activity the whole story is wiped off the board but students are still able to “read” it.
Board games or card games can also be effective tools of language classes, since students are all
aware of the simple Monopoly-like board game rules, and teachers can easily tailor games to
practice the grammatical structure in focus. The present board game is to practice the wish
construction and the conditional sentences. Depending on the square they land on, students have
to say what conditional it is and then finish the sentence. If the answer is correct, they can stay on
the square. If not, they have to go back to the square they were before. The winner is the student
who has earned the most points (1st conditional = 1 point, 2nd conditional = 2 points, 3rd conditional
= 3 points, wish = 4 points, any or 0 conditional = 5 points, add extra (2) points for the student
who is first to reach Finish).98
As it was mentioned earlier, when learning a foreign language it is very important to be exposed
to as much authentic input as possible. Working with films in English for instance can be
particularly effective to cater for spatial intelligence. Short videos or film experts can be applied
in all sorts of different ways for classroom usage: silent viewing can be used to focus on the visual
information, followed by group work to reconstruct the dialogue; sound only is also a possibility,
with students sitting with their backs to the screen, to stimulate discussion on what they think they
will see (using Modals for speculation, may/might/could); jigsaw viewing, when the class is
divided into two groups, first group A watches the video with silent viewing, group B with sound
only then students in group A pair with students in group B to piece together the whole.99
Although visual-spatial tools are not essential for the language process, they do offer
exciting and motivating ways to engage the learner through exciting visual-spatial
intelligence and make any subject more accessible to a variety of students. 100
98
Appendix 8.9
99
Limited, 1998), 141.
100
Linda Campbell, Bruce Campbell, Dee Dickinson, Teaching & Learning through Multiple
Intelligences, (Pearson Education, 2004), 124.
64
4.5 Grammar with Musical Intelligence – How can I incorporate music, beat, lyrics, sound?
Music is the manifestation of the human spirit,
similar to language. Its greatest practitioners have
conveyed to mankind things not possible to say
in any other language. If we do not want these
things to remain dead treasures, we must do our
utmost to make the greatest possible number of
people understand their idiom. - Zoltán Kodály
Rhythm is all around us. Music has rhythm, poetry has rhythm, dancing has rhythm, our breathing
and heartbeat has rhythm, the cycle of the day and night follows a precise rhythm, but what about
education? There is not much teachers can do against the fixed school year agenda determined by
the state; however what teachers can definitely do, is follow the rhythm, pace, beat dictated by
each and every learning process, and instead of ramming our students into rigid schedules and
deadlines that we feel forced to meet - even by the cost of very poor marks since our students have
not yet arrived into the mastering phase -, let us focus on the optimal rhythm of learning processes,
where mastery and deep understanding should count a lot more than quantity and fully covered
curricula. Our students will definitely appreciate you for bringing this rhythm into your classes.
Another rhythm which can be effectively used in creating optimal learning environments during
our English lessons is music itself, either if we bring it into our classrooms as a background ally
or we actively integrate it into the process as a learning tool.
65
Music can create perfect learning environments. In addition to creating a pleasant classroom
ambiance, music can be used for all sorts of different purposes. When our students seem to be
overstimulated after PE lessons for instance we can use it for relaxation purposes (Water Music –
Handel); when gloomy weather sets in and our students vegetate in lethargy music can serve with
invigorating purposes (Divertimento – Mozart); when well-focused attention is needed some well-
chosen compositions may successfully enhance concentration (Piano Concerto in C Major -
Mozart); or we can use music simply to ease transitions (Music for the Royal Fireworks -
Handel).101
On the other hand, music can be efficaciously employed as a primary teaching tool, since it
integrates the emotional, physical, and cognitive dimensions of the learner, and it also accelerates
the quantity of information learned and retained.102 Most students find it easy to memorize lyrics,
and by using songs for instructional purposes we can easily achieve that the content in focus simply
sticks with the learners.
Songs and lyrics can be used in all sorts of different ways during learning processes. The
following activities can be easily tailored to any grammar structure in focus, so teachers should
preferably choose song lyrics which are heavily loaded with the grammar structure to be
introduced, practised, etc. With these activities conscious attention is deflected from the goal, but
since the grammar structure is heavily represented in the text students are asked to work with,
incidental learning occurs. Lyrics can be used as a simple gap-fill exercise103, whereby the teacher
removes words from the text and students will have to provide the missing words/phrases while
listening to the song – an easier version of this exercise is when the words are given in a jumbled
order and students will have to put them back to their right place as they listen. Lyrics can also be
used as a sequencing, reordering activity, where students get the jumbled lyrics and will have to
come up with the correct order after having listened to the song – an easier version is when the
verses are jumbled, for advanced learners the lines of the song can be jumbled. A kinesthetic
101
102
103
Appendix 8.13
66
version of this same activity is when everyone gets one line of the lyrics and students will have to
arrange themselves in the correct order; another version could be to cut up the lines, place them in
envelopes and ask the students to order them in groups. Another possibility is to type out the words
of one verse and a chorus from a popular song students surely know, and invite them to rewrite
the lyrics on a particular theme. Students might also find it challenging to spot the mistakes in
songs – for this activity teacher hands out copies of the lyrics with deliberate mistakes and then
asks the students to listen to the song and try to correct the mistakes.
Music can also be used as a springboard for inspiring visualizations. Animated film soundtracks
can be perfectly used for these kinds of activities. One version of this activity is when the teacher
brings in 3 different pieces of music, students listen to them and try to visualize a setting for each
piece then answer the same questions in connection with each piece: Where are we? Who are the
characters? What are they doing? Another version can be played as a group work activity and the
task is to develop short stories (one/group) for some recordings played in a sequence. First the
teacher plays a recording and asks the students to mindmap or write the description of the setting.
Next, the teacher plays a recording to suggest the first character – students will have to come up
with a description of this character on the basis of what they can ‘see’ in the music. Next, teacher
plays a sharply contrasting piece of music and goes through the same procedure for the second
character. This can be carried on until we have all the number of characters we would like to have
in the story. Then, students are asked to think of a plot. 104
104
67
4.6 Grammar with Interpersonal intelligence – How can I incorporate collaborative learning,
role-playing?
If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate
the science of human relationships – the
ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live
together, in the same world, at peace.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
However pathetic it may sound, school - with all its participants - is present in every students’
lives as their second family, and for a very determining period it serves as a second home for them.
In our rapidly changing society the utterly fastened lifestyles often send quite a considerable
number of disillusioned students to school, each of them bearing the weight of some unmet needs.
However fast the tempo is, however strained the curricula may be, educational institutions should always
feel as their number one priority to compensate for these needs by evolving into supportive and caring
communities and nourishing their students with skills that may lead them to live successful and fulfilling
adult lives. If we map this down to multiple intelligences, we can say that strengths in this intelligence will
definitely serve as an indispensable fellow-traveller in each of our students’ lives. Classrooms should be
similar to Mihály Csikszentmihályi’s ‘complex’ environments of families which provide the youth with
clear rules, high expectations but at the same time warm, positive and nurturing environments offering
many opportunities for choice. 105
It is the interpersonal intelligence that enables us to understand each other, to coexist with each other by
acknowledging each other’s differences in moods, temperaments and motivations.
105
68
A person with well-developed interpersonal intelligence bonds with parents and interacts with others; forms
and maintains social relationships; recognizes and uses a variety of ways to relate to others; acknowledges
the feelings, thoughts, motivations, behaviour, and lifestyles of others; participates in efforts and assumes
various roles; influences the opinions or actions of others; understands and communicates effectively in
both verbal and nonverbal ways; and adapts behavior to different environments or groups.106
By creating collaborative learning environments teachers may foster students’ individual accountability
and a positive interdependence between the peers at the same time. Group work has always proved to be
highly effective mostly for my low-achieving students, for those who have not yet achieved a mastery state
and have not plucked up enough courage to push themselves forward, often starting from the very bottom
of ‘I am not good at languages’, ‘language learning has never been my strength’, etc. One of my greatest
achievements throughout this research has been brought by one of these students exactly. He has started
out as the guy who should not be bothered during English lessons, since he is a total antitalentum at
languages, who yields to his fate of being good at sciences and underachieving in English. However, this
same student is the master copy of social relationships, he is funny, humorous, helpful and accepting help
at the same time, caring, attentive and yes, brilliant at maths. Needless to say, after covering the MI test, he
came out interpersonal and logical-mathematical, and after completing the learning styles test, he found
that he best learns through social and logical strategies. Once he began working in his group, he started to
understand that since at the end of a project the group is going to be assessed equally with an average grade
– calculated from all the group members’ different marks – he has a responsibility towards the group to
perform well, and to learn the required material. At the same time, the group also realized that if they do
not support him in performing well, their mark may not be up to their expectations. Thus, everybody gained
from the situation: his groupmates perfected their understanding of the material by having had to explain
certain grammar points to him – peer teaching at its best -, at the end of the research in the post-test he
doubled the results he obtained in the pre-test, and I remained with the delight of the teachers who feel
extremely proud of their learners.
The jigsaw technique107 proved to be highly effective to nurture a positive interdependence among group
members when introducing the right article usage, heavily counting on the group’s inductive reasoning. I
distributed a set of materials to each group, each member within the group got different parts of the set
106
107
69
material – we worked in groups of 3, one member got the rules concerning the use of the definite articles,
the other member the rules of the indefinite article, and the third those of the zero article. Students had to
meet with someone else in the class who was the member of another learning group and who had the same
set of materials. They had to learn their material together and plan how to teach their bit to their group
members. Then students went back to their original groups and took turns teaching each other their areas
of expertise. Group members might also quiz each other until everybody knows the information.
Collective dialogue-writing is another excellent group work opportunity to cater for interpersonal
intelligence and further practise the use of the articles by focusing on fixed expressions (to eat between
meals, to have dinner by candlelight, to have breakfast in bed, to book a table for two, to be as sober as a
judge, to try a mouthful, to split the bill, to lay the table, to keep the change, etc.). Teacher first goes through
the fixed expressions with the class to make sure they are understood. Students select five of the expressions
per group and incorporate them into a dialogue, which they will have to act out for the rest of the class. 108
Games requiring teamwork are also an ideal vehicle to gratify the interpersonal students. The greatest assets
of these games is that by students concentrating on the rules and objectives of the game more than on the
grammar structure to be practiced, grammar just ‘sticks’ with them. With this version of the well-known
Noughts and Crosses (or Tic-Tac-Toe)109 learning becomes more effective, exactly by this transit
from mechanical practice to more engagement with the target grammar. For the game, students
will need coordinate grids with each square defined by the horizontal axis (Simple, Continuous,
Perfect and Perfect Continuous) and the vertical axis (Present, Past and Future). You can either
play it with a 3×4 grid – for tenses in active voice, or a 6×4 grid for tenses in active and passive
voice.110 Students play this game in two even numbered groups by following the rules of the typical
noughts and crosses. In order to place an X or an O, the players should make a sentence about
themselves or somebody they know in the corresponding tense form. They may choose any square
they wish to place their marks (X or O) in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row. The players are
not allowed to put their marks in the same square so they have no option but to use different tense
forms (for the 3x4 grid the group which succeeds in placing three of their marks in a row wins the
game, for the 6x4 grid the group which succeeds in placing four of their marks in a row wins the
108
Limited, 1998), 36.
109
ELT-CATION. https://eltcation.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/noughts-and-crosses-verb-tense-review/
110
Appendix 8.14
70
game). An optional step before the game could be rather helpful, especially with a multi-level
class: students fill in the grid with the correct verb forms to use as an extra scaffold when they play
the game. If focus is entirely on the form, a new ‘verb’ may be introduced – for example, ‘to
chocolate’. Teacher can also coin a ‘verb’ using some culture-specific concepts or realia of the
students’ culture. This stirs up much laughter in the classroom, boosting retention – students
remember these forms way better (e.g., I mici every day – I’ve just miced – I’ll mici tomorrow –
I’m micing right now, etc. – ‘mici’ being a culture- specific Romanian food: grilled minced meat
rolls).
Another interpersonal game that students will surely love, is played with dices, preferably at the
end of the year, after having studied several grammar structures. Students will have to come up
with sentences according to what they throw. They throw as many times as many elements teacher
wants to include to practice: to practice different grammar structures, students throw for the
structure first (1 – articles, 2 – Reported Speech, 3 – Conditionals, 4 – Passives, 5 – Modal, 6 –
comparatives and superlatives), and then for the exact number of the words their sentence will
have to consist of (the number they throw multiplied by 6, i.e. 1 – 6 words, 6 – 36 words). If extra
elements want to be included (e.g., vocabulary topics), students throw for that element again.
The question challenge is a highly effective and exciting question formulating activity. Teacher
gives each group of students a hotel reception bell (raising their hands is less exciting), and starts
reading out sentences that the students will have to formulate direct questions for (e.g., I went to
Spain in July. →When did you go to Spain?). The first group to ring the bell formulates the
question; if the sentence is correct (special attention is paid to word order and the correct tense
usage), they get one point, if the sentence is wrong, they lose one point – this will motivate students
to first think, and ring the bell only after they think they have a correct question.
71
The interruption game111 is a fast, fun, and exciting speaking activity which engages all the class
against one student for 5 minute-sessions. Teacher appoints a student to tell us their typical day
from the moment they wake up till the moment they turn off the light to sleep. The aim of the
speaking student is to get to the end of the day by giving a very detailed account and also filling
all the 5-minute session, not more, not less. The aim of the rest of the class is to stop the speaking
student by bombarding him/her with pertinent details regarding what he/she is saying (“Do you
get out of bed on the left side or the right side?”, “Do you share your room with a brother or a
sister?”, “What colour are the curtains in your bedroom?”, etc.). The student obviously has to
answer the questions before continuing. 112
Gossiping about the teacher113 is a highly motivating activity that students love playing to
practise the Reported Speech. Students think about 10 things they want to know about their teacher
and ask the questions, which are then written on the board. The class is divided into 2 groups. The
first group leaves the class and waits outside. The second group members take turns in asking the
teacher the questions and write down the answers. Now, they leave and the first group does the
same thing. However, what they do not know is that the teacher is honest and gives correct answers
to only one group, but lies to the other. It is a good idea not to tell them beforehand. Then, students
pair off as 1st and 2nd group partners. Students tell their partners “I asked the teacher how old she
was and she told me she was 16.”, then the other partner goes “I asked the same question, but she
told me she was 37.” etc…until all the questions are reported. Here they have to pay attention to
the usage of the reporting verbs and have fun in finding which group the teacher lied to.
111
Speak languages and travel the world. http://bilingual-communications.weebly.com/bilingual-
communications-a-blog-about-languages/-the-interruption-game-bombarding-a-classmate-with-questions-
a-fast-and-engaging-speaking-activity
112
Appendix 8.15
113
Blog de Cristina, A new language means another vision to life. http://www.cristinacabal.com/?p=3060
72
4.7 Grammar with Intrapersonal intelligence – How can I incorporate emotion, reflection,
self-assessment?
What lies behind us and what lies before us are
tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
The intrapersonal intelligence is the passport to ourselves, it is the recipe for self-awareness, it
means the strength to understand and work on our own motivations, interests and willpower.
It primarily focuses on our thoughts and feelings, and the more we can bring these into
consciousness, the better we can relate our inner world to the outer world of experience, and
as Gardner also suggests, our sense of self on the whole results from the fusion of our
interpersonal and intrapersonal knowledge, the optimal state of being the mirror for ourselves
and also being able to spot ourselves in the mirror held up by our surroundings. However, this
process of growing up to ourselves is a lengthy period that experiences its most remarkable
ups and downs in adolescence. Young adults often find themselves tiptoeing between the
sharply contrasting realms of ‘I’m not good at anything’ and ‘I could save the world’ attitudes,
and they surely need clear-sighted external guidance through these times. Educators’ sensible
presence may successfully manifest itself by creating supportive environments for these ups
and downs, and also by confronting students with some learning strategies for processing their
feelings, setting and achieving goals, gaining self-knowledge and self-esteem.
73
Students with well-developed intrapersonal intelligence are aware of a range of emotions, and
they also find approaches and outlets to express their feelings and thoughts. These learners
develop an accurate sense of self, they are motivated to identify and pursue goals, they establish
and live by an ethical value system, they work independently, they manage ongoing learning
and personal growth, they strive for self-actualization but they also empower others, are
curious about the ‘big questions’ in life, they attempt to seek out and understand inner
experiences, and they gain insights into the complexities of self and the human condition.114
Teachers may efficiently contribute to strengthening students’ intrapersonal intelligence by

establishing learning environments to nurture the sense of self, and enhance student self-
esteem. Students with healthy self-esteem perceive themselves as worthwhile, lovable,
competent, they believe in themselves and their abilities, but at the same time they are aware
of their imperfections and are willing to learn from their mistakes.
Compliment circles may surely act as effective self-esteem enhancers, by ‘pushing’ each and
every student in the center of care and positive acknowledgement. Before starting the sessions,
chairs are arranged in a circle with the compliment receiver sitting in the middle. Students will
have to say something honest and sincere about the student in focus, no ‘passes’ or duplications
are allowed; it is advisable to remind students beforehand who the next compliment receiver
student is, by this enabling students to focus their attention on their mate. A written record of
these circles, for example in the form of a big colourful collage, might become lifelong,
cherished items for students. A modern version of these compliment circles could be the short
video messages, that students can easily record with their phone even at home, anytime they
feel ready to have collected their thoughts of appreciation. Then these videos should be all
uploaded to an online closed group of the class. Compliment circles can serve as true morale
boosters and self-image transformers.115
114
115
74
Encouraging students to take control of their learning by setting up goals for themselves might
also successfully contribute to working on intrapersonal intelligence. By igniting students’
desire to creative discovery and invention on their own, teachers run good chances of finding
their students passionately working to achieve the envisioned goals. Once students have found
their intrinsic motivation they are likely to pursue their interests with enthusiasm and an inner
powerful urge; as George Bernard Shaw rightly put it “What we want is to see the child in
pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.”116
By setting up writing tasks teachers can indulge students in a kind of exploration that may lead
students to further self-discovery. Learner –diaries can be extremely useful in this respect.
Students are encouraged to keep an ongoing journal throughout the course which becomes a
written record of students’ feedback concerning their feelings, concerns, queries, difficulties
that they might have during the learning process. These diaries can serve the teacher with
excellent feedback for adapting the course content to cater more for the learners’ individual
needs and interests. 117 Thought journals can also serve as excellent opportunities for students
to reflect on their own leaning processes. My students particularly enjoyed when periodically
they had to write a thought journal as an alternative to conventional homework. Once we had
an American exchange student visiting our lesson. At the end of the session, I asked my
students to write a thought journal as a homework assignment by concentrating their ideas
around three basic issues: 1. What I already knew about the U.S., 2. What I found out about
the U.S., 3. What really struck me as surprising about the U.S. Nota bene, since we were
learning the correct usage of –ing/-ed adjectives, they were asked to focus on incorporating
some of these into their writing.
Whichever intelligence profile our students may manifest, our utmost goal as educators
probably is never to relinquish in loving and supporting them with all their diversities.
116
117
Limited, 1998), 145.
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A well-nourished mind, well grounded in the precursors of wisdom as well as of

knowledge, will continue to grow, learn, and develop – as long as it responds to the pricking
of curiosity. Perhaps this quality, above all, is the one we should strive to preserve in all
our children. – Jane Healy 118
5. Finding the right learning style - HOW?
Integrating multiple learning styles and multiple intelligences for educational purposes is a
relatively new approach. By using a limited range of learning and teaching techniques, relying on
book-based teaching, drilling, and pressured exams for reinforcement and assessment, traditional
teaching mainly focuses on linguistic and logical methods. However, by being able to choose the
learning style that best fits you, you might greatly enhance your quality of learning.
Through the fusion of learning styles, multiple intelligences, and effective lesson planning
and implementation, teachers can promote the highest levels of active, in-depth learning in
the classroom, while also making success a reality for every student. 119
Learning styles offer the most common ways that people tend to exploit during learning processes
or while digesting information that find them. Besides the so often talked about primary learning
styles, the visual, aural/ auditory and kinaesthetic (also referred to as VAK), I intend to include
four more and thus come up with a perfect match to the discussed seven intelligences, these being:
verbal, physical, logical, social and solitary.
Everyone seems to have a mix of learning styles; some people might best grasp data if that arrives
in a well-definable logical content, others might easily process information if that can be linked to
118
119
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a musical pattern, yet others again most successfully learn if they are let loose to involve movement
in the learning process, and others again may find that they use different styles in different
circumstances. And it is also vital to note that one can develop ability in less dominant styles, as
well as further develop styles that they already use well.
Every person develops and uses a mixture of learning styles throughout life, usually flexing
and adapting styles to fit various contexts and to meet a variety learning demands. Yet,
most people favour one or two styles over the others. In this regard styles can be compared
to muscles: the more they are used and stretched, the more developed and powerful they
become, whereas those that are used only minimally will not develop fully. Also, like
muscles, styles can always be strengthened through practice. 120
Similarly, to Gardner’s insistence on evidence of localization of each intelligence in the brain,

research on learning styles shows us that each learning style uses different parts of the brain. By
involving more of the brain during learning, we remember more of what we learn. Researchers
using brain-imaging technologies have been able to find out the key areas of the brain responsible
for each learning style.
 Visual: The occipital lobes at the back of the brain manage the visual sense. Both the occipital
and parietal lobes manage spatial orientation.
 Aural: The temporal lobes handle aural content. The right temporal lobe is especially important
for music.
 Verbal: The temporal and frontal lobes, especially two specialized areas called Broca and
Wernicke areas (in the left hemisphere of these two lobes).
 Physical: The cerebellum and the motor cortex (at the back of the frontal lobe) handle much of
our physical movement.
 Logical: The parietal lobes, especially the left side, drive our logical thinking.
120
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 Social: The frontal and temporal lobes handle much of our social activities. The limbic system
(not shown apart from the hippocampus) also influences both the social and solitary styles. The
limbic system has a lot to do with emotions, moods and aggression.
 Solitary: The frontal and parietal lobes, and the limbic system, are also active with this style. 121
The localizations of the different intelligences offered by Gardner could not provide a better match
for this.
• Spatial intelligence: The posterior regions of the right cerebral cortex prove most crucial for
spatial processing.122
• Musical Intelligence: These are characteristically located in the right hemisphere. 123
• Linguistic Intelligence: A specific area of the brain, called Broca’s area, is responsible for the
production of grammatical sentences. 124
• Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Control of bodily movement is localized in the motor cortex,
with each hemisphere dominant or controlling bodily movements in the contralateral side.125
• Logical – Mathematical Intelligence: Certain areas of the brain are more prominent in
mathematical calculation than others; indeed, recent evidence suggests that the linguistic areas in
the frontotemporal lobes are more important for logical deduction, and the visuospatial areas in
the parietofrontal lobes for numerical calculation.126
• Interpersonal Intelligence: All indices in brain research suggests that the frontal lobes play a
prominent role in interpersonal knowledge.127
• Intrapersonal Intelligence: As with the interpersonal intelligence, the frontal lobes play a central
role in personality change. 128
121
learning-styles-online.com
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
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As we have already reflected on earlier, all students manifest strengths in various intelligences and
they all show inclination towards learning best once they have found their comfort zone. Teachers’
task here is to raise students’ awareness of the possible learning styles that would best fit their
predispositions, create an environment where all learners feel that their ideas, contributions, and
work are valued and thus turn sensitivity or inclination into a full-fledged ability.
We all have a sensitivity to certain types of behaviour. As a person practices a sensitivity,
the individual develops an inclination or comfort in using these types of behaviour. As an
inclination becomes more refined or sophisticated, the individual develops an ability and
is able to apply the behaviour to a variety of contents.129
While multiple intelligences mainly focus on the content or the ‘what’ of learning; learning styles
are primarily concerned with the process of learning, or the ‘how’. In the following let me just
shed some light on the description of the discussed seven learning styles, heavily leaning on an
online inventory. 130
5.1 The Visual (Spatial) Learning Style
If one manifests a preponderant use of the visual style, he/she prefers using images, pictures,
colours, and maps to organize information and communicate with others. They can easily
visualize objects, plans and outcomes in their mind's eye. They also have a good spatial sense,
which gives them a good sense of direction.
A whiteboard at home would be definitely the best friend of visual learners, where they could
create visual manifestations with colours, arrows, emoticons, etc. of what they have to learn. They
love drawing, scribbling and doodling, especially with colours.
129
130
learning-styles-online.com
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5.1.1 Learning techniques
Visual learners learn best if they use mind maps, colour and pictures in place of text, wherever
possible.
Systems diagrams can help them visualize the links between parts of a system. They might also
try to replace words with pictures, and use colour to highlight major and minor links.
The visual journey or story technique helps them memorize content that is difficult to 'see.' The
visual story approach for memorizing procedures is a good example of this, in case of a grammar
structure visual learners would be asked to imagine a ‘deaf granny’ scene to practice Reported
Speech for up-to-date reporting: Lucy, “I’m going out for a minute.”, Granny, “What does she
say?”, Tracy, “Lucy says she is going out for a minute.”.
Peg words and events come easily to them, however they need to spend some time learning at
least the first ten peg words. Afterwards, their ability to visualize helps them peg content quickly.
In case of grammar structures, I often encourage students to memorize structures in focus as that
being part of a lyrics they all know: let it be, and not let it to be; I wish you were here; if I were
a boy; it must have been love, etc.
The swish technique for changing behaviors also works well for them, as it relies on visualization.
5.2 The Aural (Auditory-Musical-Rhythmic) Learning Style
Students who use the aural style like to work with sound and music. They have a good sense of
pitch and rhythm. They typically can sing, play a musical instrument, or identify the sounds of
different instruments. They notice the music playing in the background of movies, TV shows and
other media. They often find themselves humming or tapping a song or jingle, or a theme or jingle
pops into their head without prompting.
They should use sound recordings to provide a background and help them get into visualizations.
Many of my aural learners also create recordings of structures that they have problems with and
listen to it on the way to school (it best works with grammar that really needs drilling: irregular
verbs, list of gerund and infinitive verbs, uses of the different articles, etc.).
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When creating mnemonics or acrostics, they usually make the most of rhythm and rhyme. Set them
to provide a new jingle or new lyrics for a well-known song with some given structure in target.
Reporting a song is an utterly popular activity with aural students, whereby learners are asked to
provide the reported version of a song (Reported Speech) – it best works with songs that convey a
story (Pink: Family portrait; Fool’s Garden: Lemon Tree; Suzanne Vega: Luka, etc.).
They successfully use the anchoring technique to recall various states that music invokes in them.
If they have some particular music or song that makes them want to 'take on the world,' encourage
them to listen to it repeatedly and anchor their emotions and state. When they need the boost, they
can easily recall the state without needing the music.
5.3 The Verbal (Linguistic) Learning Style
The verbal style involves both the written and spoken word. Students using this style find it easy
to express themselves both in writing and verbally. They love reading and writing. They like
playing on the meaning or sound of words, such as in tongue twisters, rhymes, limericks. They
know the meaning of many words, and regularly make an effort to find the meaning of new words.
They successfully use these words, as well as phrases they have picked up recently, when talking
to others.
Verbal learners should make the most of the word-based techniques such as assertions and
scripting. They should be advised to use rhyme and rhythm in their assertions where they can, and
be sure to read important ones aloud. It might also help to set some key points to a familiar song,
jingle or theme.
Mnemonics are their friends for recalling lists of information. Acronym mnemonics use words,
focusing on the first letter of the word to make up another word or memorable sequence. They can
also make up phrases using the items they want to memorize.
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Recording scripts and then listening to it over and over again on their headphones found my
students with maximum enthusiasm. Verbs taking the gerund or infinitive usually provide students
with some frustrating hours to drill and memorize, not with this activity. I set my students to
provide new lyrics for a well-known song by simply listing the words one after the other within a
category adhering to the tune and rhythm of the song, and then record it, possibly make a video
for it. It works perfectly!
Verbal students usually read content aloud; inspire them to make it dramatic and varied and instead
of using a monotone voice to go over a procedure, boost them to experiment with turning it into a
lively and energetic speech worthy of the theatre.
Encourage learners to try working with others and using role-playing to learn verbal exchanges
such as negotiations, sales or radio calls.
5.4 The Physical (Bodily-Kinesthetic) Learning Style
Students who favour the physical style are likely to use their body and sense of touch to learn
about the world around them. They usually like sports and exercise, and other physical activities.
They often tend to think out issues, ideas and problems while doing some kind of physical
exercise. They would rather go for a run or walk if something is bothering them, rather than sitting
at home.
They notice and appreciate textures, for example in clothes or furniture. They like ‘getting their
hands dirty’ or making models.
They typically use large hand gestures and other body language to communicate. When they are
learning a new skill or topic, they would prefer to 'jump in' and play with the physical parts as
soon as possible, they prefer to try things out how they work, rather than read the instructions.
The thought of sitting in a lecture listening to someone else talk is repulsive. In those
circumstances, they tend to fidget or show difficulty in having to sit still for long, they want to
get up and move around.
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Students with physical style should be encouraged to use touch, action, movement and hands-on
work in their learning activities.
Physical students learn best with realia. Teachers should use physical objects as much as possible
and ask students to touch objects as they learn about it.
Flashcards can help them memorize information better because they can touch and move them
around.
Writing and drawing diagrams are not only spatial activities but physical as well, so these
techniques should not be neglected either. Perhaps they should use big sheets of paper and large
colour markers for their diagrams, they then get more action from the drawing.
They should be made aware of the possibility of using breathing and relaxation techniques to
focus their state while they learn and perform; this might help them focus on staying calm,
centered, relaxed and aware.
They should use role-playing, either singularly or with someone else, to practice skills and
behaviours, and also find ways to act out or simulate what they are learning.
Most importantly, teachers should agnize physical learners and instead of stigmatizing them with
ADHD and forcing them to sit still, they should find them some activity that would make them
stand up and walk around from time to time. As it happened with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s
number one choreographer, Gillian Lynne, whose talent was discovered by a doctor. She had
been underperforming at school, so her mother took her to a doctor and explained about her
fidgeting and lack of focus. After hearing everything her mother said, the doctor told Lynne that
he needed to talk to her mother privately for a moment. He turned on the radio and walked out.
He then encouraged her mother to look at Lynne, who was dancing to the radio. The doctor noted
that she was a dancer, and encouraged Lynne's mother to take her to dance school. 131 So instead
of calming her down with some medicine, a talent was discovered and a dancer was born.
131
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Lynne
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5.5 The Logical (Mathematical) Learning Style
Students with logical style like using their brain for logical and mathematical reasoning. They can
recognize patterns easily, as well as connections between seemingly meaningless content. This
also leads them to classify and group information to help them learn or understand it.
They work well with numbers and they can perform complex calculations.
They typically work through problems and issues in a systematic way, and they like to create
procedures for future use. They like creating agendas, itineraries, and to-do lists, and they
typically number and rank them before putting them into action.
Their scientific approach to thinking means they often support their points with logical examples
or statistics.
They like working out strategies and using simulation.
Logical learners aim to understand the reasons behind the content. Their reasoning makes it
impossible for them to learn by rote. Understanding more detail behind the compulsory content
helps them memorize and learn the material that they need to know. They always aim to explore
the links between various systems, and note them down.
While they study it is advisable for them to create and use lists by extracting key points from their
material. They may also want to use statistics and other analysis to help them identify areas they
may want to concentrate on.
Teachers should draw their attention that association often works well when it is illogical and
irrational, they may have a better chance of recalling them later if they have made the association
illogical.
In their scripting though, they tend to highlight logical thought.
They make use of 'systems thinking' to help understand the links between various parts of a system.
An important point here is that systems thinking helps them understand the bigger picture.
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They may sometimes overanalyze certain parts of their learning, this can lead to analysis paralysis.
They may be busy, but not moving towards their goal. Teachers should encourage them to create
themselves some clear agendas of their learning process that they can stick to.
5.6 The Social (Interpersonal) Learning Style
Learners who have a strong social style can communicate well with people, both verbally and non-
verbally. People listen to them or come to them for advice, and they are sensitive to others’
motivations, feelings or moods.
They typically prefer learning in groups or classes, or they like to spend much one-on-one time
with a teacher or an instructor. They tend to heighten their learning by bouncing their thoughts off
other people and listening to how they respond. They prefer to work through issues, ideas and
problems with a group.
They prefer social activities, rather than doing things on their own.
5.6.1 Learning and techniques
Social learners aim to work with others as much as possible. They strive for feedback from others.
Role-playing is a technique that works well with them, whether it is one-on-one or with a group of
people.
Peer-teaching works perfectly with them, they like to work on some of their associations and
visualizations with other people, they get to understand and learn new material by talking it over
with a peer.
Teachers should strengthen social learners’ capacity to stimulate each other in order to come up with
genuine ideas. Students often have different perspectives and creative styles, and so the group may
come up with more varied and imaginative associations compared to the ones they might create on
their own.
By listening to how others solve their issues, they may get further ideas on how to solve their own
tasks.
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Teachers should provide these social learners with some opportunities of sharing the work. This
perfectly works with project work, when students as a group are assigned a task. Each person
contributes with the areas of their strength, and then the group brings all the work together. I
personally mark these assignments equally, which means all members get a mark, we add them up
and then come up with an average. Experience shows that this marking system further boosts
students to work on their cooperation skills, more able students spend time with weaker students to
help them catch up and perform well.
Mind maps and systems diagrams are great to work on in class. One person should be the appointed
drawer, while the rest of the class works through material and suggests ideas. The group may have
varied views on how to represent some ideas, and this is a highly positive part of learning in groups.
Working in groups to practice behaviours or procedures helps students understand how to deal with
variations. Seeing the mistakes or errors that others make can help learners avoid them later; as well,
the errors they make are helpful to others.
Role-playing or debates work perfectly with this type of learners as well.
It should be made clear to students that the classroom is a risk-free environment, where everybody
is going through a learning process, and that it is safer to experiment, try out new techniques and
make mistakes in the classroom than in the real activity.
5.7 The Solitary (Intrapersonal) Learning Style
Students who have a solitary style tend to be more private, introspective and independent. They can
concentrate well by focusing their thoughts and feelings on the current topic.
They spend time on self-analysis, and often reflect on past events and the way they approached
them. Solitary learners like to take time to ponder and assess their own accomplishments or
challenges. They may keep a journal, diary or personal log to record their personal thoughts and
events.
They like to spend time alone, they think independently, and they know their mind.
They prefer to work on problems by retreating to somewhere quiet and working through possible
solutions.
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They like to make plans and set goals, if they do not know their current direction in their learning
process, they feel a deep sense of dissatisfaction.
They prefer to learn alone using self-study. When they spend time with an instructor or a teacher,
they often only clarify information they were unable to clarify themselves. They often dislike
learning in groups; having to accommodate to other students’ pace, different notions might
frequently disturb solitary learners.
It often needs to be made clear to them where their benefit from the task comes from. By making
them aware of their inner thoughts and feeling towards various topics, teachers can have a huge
impact on their motivation and ability to learn.
They need much more than others to set goals, objectives and plans for themselves.
Solitary learners need to create a personal interest in the topics. Teachers may encourage them to
look at the people behind the books or material. What was their motivation to create it? Why did
they organize the material in the way they did? I often assign my students the task of exercise
makers, whereby they have to create some exercises to practice a grammatical structure in target;
this helps them approach the topic from a different perspective, and thus making it more of their
own.
Teachers should also encourage solitary learners to keep a log or journal, where they include
extra information about their thoughts and feelings. On these platforms they can outline their
challenges, ideas on how to overcome them, and also keep a track of what worked. While they
are studying, they should be aware of thoughts or concerns that arise, write them down, come
back to them and discuss with others later if needed.
They also tend to favour role-playing, but in a totally different way. They do not need other
people to role-play with, they can create plenty of people using visualization. For example, they
can visualize you’re their instructor beside them, or a colleague and thus they practice a task on
their own.
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By exploiting the right learning style, learners might successfully minimize their weaknesses and
maximize their strengths, while stimulating their motivation. Teachers can have a tremendously
important role in helping students recognize the learning style that best works for them.
By identifying a person’s preferred learning style and mirroring it, it then becomes possible
to influence that person without his or her being aware of the process.132
However, we should bear in mind that students being unaware of the process mainly refers to the
learning period that takes place at school, where students learn, get to meet new structures without
explicitly being informed about it; in ideal situations they learn through discovering the structures
for themselves. And then the learning process that takes place at home should already find learners
being totally aware of the learning style that best works for them, and thus enhance the success of
the learning process, by for example preparing graphics for themselves, walking up and down
while learning, discussing it with somebody else, reading it out loud, etc.
Students who understand the models are better able to understand their own learning
profiles, to develop flexibility and adaptability in their thinking, and to set realistic goals
about minimizing learning weaknesses and maximizing strengths. In fact, research on the
importance of metacognitive thinking supports the notion that instructional approaches that
help students reflect on their own learning processes are highly beneficial to their overall
learning and tend to stimulate motivation to improve as learners. 133
132
Limited, 1998), 1.
133
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6. Didactic experiment
The successful implementation of the theory of Multiple Intelligences in education has already
shown striking results. There are numerous schools in the US where the MI theory is already
strictly observed when setting up their curricula, a promising number of schools all over the world
undertake to implement the theory for large-scale projects, and the number of those teachers who
start experimenting with the gardnerian intelligences in their everyday teaching is probably rising
with every school day.
When I decided to write the present thesis about exploiting Multiple Intelligences in teaching
English to high school students, I knew that the theory had already been put into practice, tested
and also that it proved to be effective. I have always been fascinated with grammar teaching, so it
soon became clear that by focusing on the implementation of the theory in grammar teaching I
would also find a niche where I could contribute - taking into consideration that much has been
written in general about the educational MI adaptations so far, but little concentration has been
manifested on specific fields. Thus, I found myself facing the challenge to find and adapt teaching
strategies to optimize the student- teacher interaction, to use a great variety of didactic influence
and a diversity of curricular resources – singing, debates, journals, puzzle solving, role-playing,
drawing, etc. in aiming to create the most favourable teaching- learning environments for
everyone. Needless to say, I had a marvelous time doing it.
6.1 Purpose of the experiment
The present study focuses on showing the impact of applying the theory of Multiple Intelligences
with respect to grammar teaching on a group of high school students. To illustrate the effect of the
intervention program, I used the classical research design in my didactic research project, i.e.
applying the method of pre-testing and post-testing to two groups of students: an experimental and
a control group. The experimental group was taught grammar by teaching strategies tailored to
Multiple Intelligences and the other was taught grammar with traditional teaching strategies. Thus
the independent variable of the research was the teaching strategy which differentiated the two
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groups. The dependent variable was the grammatical competence, the level of which was traced
by a pre-test and a post-test.
6.2 Objectives of the experiment
6.2.1 Theoretic objectives
Teachers often face the problematics of having to deal with students who manifest distinct learner
characteristics, different strengths and weaknesses with diverse grammatical competence level
within the same class. The optimal teaching environments are those where every student has equal
chances of being exposed to manageable chunks in a pace that they can keep up with, and as a
result they all stand fair chances of making full use of their potentials and experiencing a sense of
achievement at the same time. Having to adhere to the constraints of the curriculum, teachers
often fail to provide these favourable conditions. By the richness of the teaching strategies that the
theory of Multiple Intelligences offers this dilemma of how to teach and at the cost of what seems
to have arrived within manageable grounds. Thus, the main theoretic objective of the present
experiment is to see the positive impacts that MI theory- based grammar teaching strategies might
have on the grammatical competence of students with different strengths and weaknesses.
A second theoretic objective is to help students recognize their Multiple Intelligences profile and
support them in identifying the learning styles that best fit them. Adolescent students love to be
actively involved in their learnning process, they thrive when they are given responsibility and
autonomy over their learning. By making them aware of the different learning styles, and by
helping them to detect those that perfectly fit them, we not only provide friendly and fruitful
learning processes for the present but we might also reach never even dreamt of benefits – that the
learn how they learn best.
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By integrating MI theory into my teaching processes my third theoretic objective is to provide my

students with authentic, up-to-date and engaging strategies that they enjoy doing and at the same
time help them identify how they would benefit from the knowledge that they gain now later on in
their lives. Once students become intrinsically motivated, the success of the learning process
multiplies.
6.2.2 Methodical objectives
There are three methodical objectives in the present study I have focused on.
The first methodical objective was to create a grammar test to be used in the present experiment
in order to adequately measure the impact of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
It was used to pre-test and post-test both the experimental and control groups.
The second methodical objective was to adapt different grammar teaching activities to the theory
of Multiple Intelligences. There were two aspects of this objective to consider. First, a lot of MI
activities that I encountered were designed for more general purposes and they needed to be
adapted or restricted to grammar teaching. Second, there is an endless source of grammar teaching
activities; adapting some of them to MI theory and putting them to practice was the greatest
methodical objective (examples of adapted activities to be seen in the Appendix section of the
paper).
The third methodical objective was to engage students into creating their own portfolios for two
main reasons. Many activities adapted to the theory of Multiple Intelligences were built upon one
another and storing them, recycling them was indispensable. For example, after having done the
Multiple Intelligence Test to determine their intelligence profiles, and the learning styles test to
find the best ways they learn, students needed the result chart to analyze it, find strategies that best
match their intelligences, to take part in group discussions, etc. The other reason for creating a
portfolio was to keep record of all the grammar work that they had done. The portfolio method is
very efficient as students learn how to become more organized, systematic and methodical. At
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times they need the surveillance of the teacher to keep it going but it all pays off (examples of
students’ portfolios to be seen in the Appendix section of the paper).
6.2.3 Practical objectives
Practical objectives are methodical objectives put into practice. Accordingly, there are three main
practical objectives of the present experiment.
The grammatical competence test project started with creating the test which students from both
the experimental and control group completed. Since the test aimed to meet the estimated level of
two 9th grade classes, the difficulty of the test ranges between A2 and B2 levels corresponding to
the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Our school is a theoretical high school
where we encourage students to obtain a high-level language certificate by the time they finish
school, serving as ample proof of their language knowledge. Given the fact that our students
almost unanimously take the Cambridge Exam, the test consists of some typical exam type
questions, and also some less complex ones that students coming from different backgrounds, with
different profile schools and different competence levels might also find manageable. In the first
task students’ competence in the different verb tenses is tested through a simple ‘underline the
suitable word’ type of exercise. The second exercise is a multiple choice exercise, while the third
is a gap-fill activity where students had to fill in the gaps with the right form of the given verb.
The fourth exercise is a sentence transformation type of exercise, whereas the last one is an error
correction task. These tests were assessed, analyzed and thus the dependent variable of the
experiment was ensured.
The second practical objective was confronting the experimental group with as many grammar
teaching activities adapted to the theory of MI as possible after the pre-test and before the post-
test (examples to be seen in the Appendix section of the paper). All these activities contributed to
creating a more efficient teaching-learning environment and had very positive impact upon
grammar competence building in the six- month period.
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The third practical objective was to make a portfolio, which would keep track of all the work that
students have accumulated during this short period of time which elapsed between the two testings
(19th January 2016 and 16th of June the same year). Students’ MI portfolios contain their MI tests
which they have completed to identify their Multiple Intelligence profile, the results of the online
learning styles tests that they completed, worksheets to deepen the addressed grammar structures.
Furthermore, the portfolio contains mind maps, thought journals, drawings, visual aids, their
grammar tests, cinquains, lyrics and advertisements written by them.
6.3 Hypotheses
1. The main hypothesis of the present study is that grammar teaching strategies based on the
theory of Multiple Intelligences are more efficient than traditional teaching strategies. If
we apply grammar teaching strategies tailored to MI theory instead of traditional ones, it
has positive impact upon the grammatical competence of students. Learners benefit more
from the teaching-learning environment if their intelligence profile is taken into
consideration, when the teaching strategies meet their learning styles and thus
differentiated teaching becomes possible.
2. The second hypothesis is that grammatical competence of boys in the experimental group
where MI based grammar teaching strategies are applied instead of traditional grammar
teaching strategies will be higher than the girls’ grammatical competence in the
experimental group.
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6.4 Methodology and implementation
6.4.1 Participants
The students undergoing the experiment were two groups that learn English two classes
per week, both of them were of similar class profile, i.e. IT and Mathematics and Sciences.
The two groups were initially equal in number but due to transfers and school leaving in
the course of the year, the division remained the following: 28 in the experimental group
and 25 in the control group.
The female-male ratio in the experimental group was 11 girls and 17 boys and in the control
group it was 17 girls and 8 boys.
Both the experimental group and control group are heterogeneous as far as the students’
provenience is concerned, half of the group in both classes comes from rural area and the
other half from Odorheiu Secuiesc.
The age range in both of the experimental group and the control group was from 14 to 15.
Participants of the experiment were introduced into the design, goals and strategies of the
research action before it was launched. They were told what the experimental group meant
and how it would differ from the control group but they were all assured that the teaching-
learning process would not be jeopardized at all. They were communicated what was
happening at the different stages of the project and what was going to come next. Most of
the tasks tailored to MI were carried out in the classroom and all the materials, tools used
were provided.
6.4.2 Tools
The three tools in the implementation of the experiment were the grammatical competence
test (the one created for the pre- and post-test) and the data derived from their results, the
94
many activities tailored to the MI theory and the students’ portfolios. What these three tools
contain in detail are described in the previous chapters and respectively in the Appendices.
All the data transferred to tables was processed by the IBM SPSS Statistics Data Editor.
Paired Sample T- test was used within SPSS when the dependent variable has two
measurements, such as the pre-test and the post-test of the experimental group. With the
Paired Sample T-test we can show if there is significant difference between the two
measurements, thus we can conclude that the correlations do not arise from mere
coincidence. Independent Sample T-test was used to analyse data from two different
groups, such as the post- test of the experimental group and the control group
6.4.3 Research Design
In the present experiment the classical research design was applied. The students were
divided into two groups: an experimental and a control group. All of them completed the
pre-test in January, 2016. The time allocated for the test was one hour. For an optimal
measurement the same test was completed six months later in June, 2016. It is scientifically
proven that the brain forgets a considerable amount of the processed data after a period of
six months. The tests were assessed and the results were analyzed, processed and turned
into chart forms for a better and faster overview.
The present empirical experiment focuses on how much grammar teaching strategies
adapted to the theory of MI would affect grammatical competence as compared to
traditional teaching strategies. The independent variable of the research is the series of
grammar teaching strategies tailored to MI. The dependent variable is the data resulting
from the measurement obtained by the pre-test and the post-test, showing how much impact
MI grammar teaching strategies have. If there is significant difference between the
grammatical competence measured with the pre-test and the grammatical competence
measured with the post-test, we can talk about positive reinforcement to sustain our
95
hypothesis. The impacts and the significant differences we are looking at must be relevant
to both experimental and control groups. Furthermore, the significant difference must be
true when the post-test results of the experimental and the control groups are compared to
each other.
In order to obtain the above detailed results an intervention program was designed for the
experimental group thus ensuring the independent variable. Grammar teaching was tailored
to MI theory and students performed a lot of MI theory- based tasks, projects and activities.
Since the members of the experimental group have different intelligence profiles, the
teaching strategies that were used covered all the seven intelligences with special focus on
mathematical- logical, interpersonal and intrapersonal, the three ones most developed on
average.
6.5 Results
As already described in chapter 6.4.2., the IBM SPSS Statistics Data Editor was used to
analyze data from the experiment and point out differences relevant to our experiment.
First, we look at the Paired Sample T-test to see the difference between the post- tests for
both the experimental and control groups. Table number 1 indicates that there was a
significant difference in the scores of the post-tests.
1. Paired Samples Statistics
Group N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
control
25 20,7600 6,74246 1,34849
post
exper.
28 33,1429 9,87126 1,86549
post
96
The following table contains the values related to the Paired T-test. Here we enter the
degrees of freedom (df), the t-value (t), and the Sig. (2-tailed) value (often referred to as
the p value), which has to be below 0.05 to declare significant difference between the
measured variables; as is the case with the experimental group shown in table number 2.
2. Paired Samples Test
Levene's Test for t-test for Equality of Means

Equality of
Variances
F Sig. t df Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval

tailed) Difference Difference of the Difference
Lower Upper
Equal variances assumed 2,763 ,103 -5,268 51 ,000 -12,38286 2,35067 -17,10202 -7,66369
Equal variances not assumed -5,380 47,881 ,000 -12,38286 2,30185 -17,01133 -7,75439
The following tables show the differences between the pre-tests and post-tests of the
experimental group. The second table is more detailed, it is the above explained
Independent Sample T-tests to show the differences within the group. As we can see, there
is a 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference shown in table number 4, which means the
differences are significant and we can conclude that the MI-based grammar teaching
strategies had a positive impact upon the experimental group which leads to the null
hypothesis that “there is no significant difference in students’ grammar development when
MI- based grammar teaching strategies are used instead of traditional grammar teaching
ones.”
97
3. Paired Sample Statistics
Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
pre_exper. 24,4464 28 10,53507 1,99094
post_exper. 33,1429 28 9,87126 1,86549
The same as table number 3 in detail:
4. Paired Sample Test
Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-
Mean Std. Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval tailed)
Deviation Mean of the Difference
Lower Upper
pre
exp.
-8,69643 7,78810 1,47181 -11,71634 -5,67652 -5,909 27 ,000
post.
exp.
The following table shows the measurements of both pre-and post- tests of the control group.
5. Paired Sample Statistics
Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
pre_control 21,0400 25 5,33838 1,06768
post_control 20,7600 25 6,74246 1,34849
98
In the following table we can see that the differences between the two tests are not as
significant as in the case of the experimental group, thus we can conclude that the
intervention programme had positive impact upon the experimental group.
6. Paired Sample Test
Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-
Mean Std. Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval tailed)
Deviation Mean of the Difference
Lower Upper
pre_control
,28000 3,51509 ,70302 -1,17096 1,73096 ,398 24 ,694
post_control
The same Paired Sample T-test and Independent Sample T-test was used to demonstrate
the impact of the intervention upon boys’ grammatical competence, the second hypothesis
of the present research.
7. Group Statistics
Sex N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
female 28 24,2500 8,91783 1,68531
male 25 30,7200 11,26765 2,25353
99
The same as table number 7 in detail:
8. Independent Sample Test
Levene's Test for t-test for Equality of Means

Equality of Variances
F Sig. t df Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence

tailed) Difference Difference Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Equal
variances 1,641 ,206 -2,330 51 ,024 -6,47000 2,77694 -12,04495 -,89505
assumed
Equal
variances
-2,299 45,658 ,026 -6,47000 2,81401 -12,13546 -,80454
not
assumed
Tables 7 and 8 indicate that the mean difference in the development of the boys’
grammatical competence is 6.5 % higher than the girls’ mean development, which means
that the boys manifested a quicker response to the intervention programme.
6.6 Conclusions
The results of the experiment clearly show that the intervention programme based on
integrating grammar teaching strategies derived from the theory of Multiple Intelligences
has led to significant improvement in students’ grammatical competence. The Multiple
Intelligence theory- based teaching favours a lot of aspects of grammar teaching, such as
contextualizing grammar in many different ways, using activities that enhance
100
understanding meaning and reinforcement of form as efficiently as possible, finding

learning strategies to best suit students’ needs, introducing activities to maximize both
input and output and many others.
In the present research another segment in focus were the learning styles. All students in
the experimental group underwent an online test to define their learning styles. The
obtained data showed that the majority of students possessed the same learning style as
their MI profile. My third hypothesis would have been to exemplify that matching learning
styles and MI profiles indicate significant improvement in students’ grammatical
competence. However, this hypothesis could not be formulated as part of the scientific
research since the number of those students whose learning styles and MI profiles do not
match is too low to be successfully measured in this measuring programme. However, the
results of the pre- and post- test of those 6 students whose MI profile and learning style do
not match clearly show that there is little or no development at all if compared to the results
of those students where an obvious match of the MI profile and learning styles could be
noticed.134
The results are very positive, however, the present research concerning the dimensions of
the selected groups and the subjects covered is too small to generalize the results. Still the
amount of the independent variable used was enough to show statistically significant
differences in the acquisition of the grammatical competence when the MI tailored
intervention programme was carried out.
134
Appendix 8.18
101
6.7 Limitations and discussions
One of the indisputable limitations that the implementation of the MI theory into our
educational system might meet is the unbelievably high number of students that in some
class profiles language learning operates with. According to our present curriculum in our
school both the IT and Intensive Mathematics classes and the Science classes manage their
language learning as a whole class, which means with 28-30 students in a class. These
numbers make almost impossible to have language classes where all students are given the
same chances to develop their knowledge, where each and every learner is provided with
the right amount of information, graded practice until their knowledge becomes well-
grounded to be able to solve problems and interact with the newly obtained techniques on
their own. MI focus language teaching strategies offer great solutions for student streaming
and differentiated learning, however we should not forget that most of these strategies have
been worked out concentrating on language learning in small groups, with 10-15 students
at most. A way to overcome these impediments might be to use strategies that enhance
learner autonomy. By engaging students actively into their learning process, by raising
their awareness of their intelligence profiles and learning styles that can maximize their
learning effectiveness, by encouraging them to familiarize themselves with the benefits of
peer-teaching, by assigning them homework and English-based extracurricular activities
that they find challenging and motivating, this present obstacle in the way of language
acquisition might take care of itself.
Another limitation of the strategy promoted by my research is very closely linked with the
above discussed limitation of the IT and Intensive Mathematics- and the Science classes.
Besides having 28-30 students in a language class, these classes only have two English
lessons per week. So if we just put this down to numbers we get quite astonishing results.
The school year of the research, 2015/2016, had 36 weeks, so that would mean 72 English
lessons a year at best – we all know that these ideal situations never exist, since those 72
102
usually come down to somewhere between 66-68 (first week, last week, class trips, 1st
May, Pentecost, etc.) Since my research mainly focused on the second semester, the
allocated time for MI based grammar teaching could not be more than 36 lessons all
together. Most of these lessons are rather time-consuming, since this is the exact character
of the strategy: approaching material from the perspective of the 7 different intelligences,
so that learners are not simply exposed to the new grammar structure but they are also
offered opportunities to experience it in a way that would best help them to retrieve it later
on. Possible solutions to this adverse condition could be more learner encouragement to
work on their own language learning and approaching the curriculum by working in
intelligence groups. This would definitely mean a constant legging behind with the
curriculum, but it would surely mean that the covered material is successfully mastered.
And this has led us to the next possible obstacle in the way of the MI strategies, the
overloaded curricula that schools have to work with. The amount of material to cover in a
school year is for many students very hard. Fortunately, language teaching curriculum works
on a modular basis, which means teachers have considerable freedom in skipping, coming
back to, dilating upon the material, according to their students’ needs.
All in all, the strongest disclaimer to the above listed limitations was formulated by my
experimental group who made me promise at the end of the year that we would proceed with
the implementation of the MI strategies further on in our English lessons. It goes without
saying, they did not have a hard time reaching their goal, since my goal has already been
reached: they produced unquestionably promising results at the end of the research and they
are highly motivated to learn more.
Gardner’s work on intelligence can profoundly affect the way we view our pupils.
People are people and they have the same basic needs and potential talent regardless
of their race, ethnic background or economic circumstances. The concept of Multiple
Intelligences gives us the possibility of identifying and adapting both the classroom
environment and the activities we make use of to cater for these needs and talents.
103
The end result can be that people fall in love with learning instead of regarding the
time they spent at school as nothing more than a black cloud that hung over their
heads until they came to the end of their prison sentence. 135
135
Limited, 1998), 195.
104
7. Bibliograpy
1. Bellanca, James.200+Active Learning Strategies and Projects for Engaging Students’ Multiple
Intelligences. Corwin Press, 2009.
2. Berman, Michael. A Multiple Intelligences Road to an ELT Classroom. Crown House
Publishing Limited, 1998.
3. Bordei, Sanda. Aspects of the Application of Theory of Multiple Intelligences in Romanian
School with Students between 10 and 14 Years Old. Science Direct,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814022460)
4. Campbell, Linda, and Campbell, Bruce, and Dickinson, Dee. Teaching & Learning through
Multiple Intelligences. Pearson Education, 2004.
5. Cook, Vivian. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Hodder Education, 2008.
6. DeAmicis, Bonita. Multiple Intelligences Made Easy. Zephyr Press, 1999.
7. F. Silver, Harvey, and W. Strong, Richard, and J. Perini, Matthew. So Each May Learn:
Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences. ASCD, 2000.
8. Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books, 1993.
9. Gardner, Howard. Multiple Intelligences – New Horizons. Basic Books, 2006.
10. Gerngross, Günter, and Puchta, Herbet, and Thornbury, Scott. Teaching Grammar Creatively.
Lelbling Languages, 2006.
11. Harmer, Jeremy. Essential Teacher Knowledge – Core Concepts of English Language
Teaching. Pearson Education Limited, 2012.
12. Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching - Third Edition. Longman, 2001.
13. Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Education Limited,
2007.
14. Nunan, David. Grammar, Chapter 8 - Practical English Language Teaching.
15. Puchta, Herbert, and Rinvolucri, Mario. Multiple Intelligences in EFL. Helbing Languages,
2005.
105
16. Robinson, Sir Ken. Do School Kill Creativity TED Talks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
17. Sadeghi, Bahador, and Taghi Hassani, Mohammad, and Dashtaki Hessari, Ahmad. On the
Relationship Between Learners’ Needs and Their Use of Language Learning Strategies.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814038051
18. Scrivener, Jim. Learning Teaching – A guidebook for English Language Teachers. Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2005.
19. Swan,Michael. Teaching Grammar – Does Grammar Teaching Work. Modern English
Teacher15/2, 2006, www.mikeswan.co.uk
20. Thornbury, Scott. How to Teach Grammar. Pearson Education Limited, 1999.
21. learning-styles-online.com
22. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Lynne
23. http://visualteachingalliance.com/
24. http://bilingual-communications.weebly.com/bilingual-communications-a-blog-about-
languages/-the-interruption-game-bombarding-a-classmate-with-questions-a-fast-and-
engaging-speaking-activity
25. https://eltcation.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/noughts-and-crosses-verb-tense-review/
26. http://www.cristinacabal.com/?p=3060
106
8. Appendix
Appendix 8.1
107
Appendix 8.2
RIGHT OR WRONG?
MAKE A BET BETWEEN 10 AND 100
Statements Right Wrong Bet Gain Loss
1. He didn’t answered the question.

2. They call us often at the wrong time.
3. How fast you can swim?
4. My boss borrowed my car this morning.
5. I’d like orange juice, so that’s what I want.
6. How many brothers have he got?
7. We usually don’t write tests.
8. Lady King works in prison.
9. This isn’t my coat, it is yours.
10. Have you any change?
11. I think I seed George yesterday.
12. I didn’t meet he all last week.
13. The milk you bought yesterday went off.
14. Who did give you this book?
15. How old he is?
16. Sally work too much.
17. How many money have you got?
18. We have a lot of time, so don’t hurry.
19. How much money do you earn?
20. My colleagues not like my style.
108
Appendix 8.3
How much do you know about the tenses?
Decide whether the following statements are true or false and give reasons for the choices you
make:
1. The Past Simple tense can be used for present time.

2. WILL can be used to express past time.
3. The Present Simple tense can be used for past time.
4. English only has two tense forms.
5. The imperative can be used for invitations.
6. The Present Simple can be used for future time.
7. The following sentences are interchangeable as they have exactly the same meaning:
He lives in London.
He's living in London.
8. The following sentences are interchangeable as they have exactly the same meaning:
I've written a letter this morning.
I've been writing a letter this morning.
9. The adverb of frequency ‘always’ is never used with Present Continuous.
10. The least frequently used tense in English is the Pluperfect.
Solution:
All the statements are true except for numbers seven, eight, nine and ten. To find out the reasons
why, take a look at the explanations below:
1. True - “It's time we left."
2. True - “They will be there by now."
3. True - “In he comes and hits me."
4. True - present simple and past simple.
5. True - “Come in and make yourself at home."
6. True - for timetabled future action. “The train leaves at 8.30pm tonight."
7. False - the Present Simple suggests that it is the person's permanent rather than temporary
home.
8. False - the Present Perfect Simple indicates that the letter is finished.
9. False - “She's always contradicting me." The use of ‘always’ with the Present Continuous
indicates that the action takes place more frequently than is acceptable.
10. False - the name used for the tense is usually the Past Perfect. The least frequently used tenses
are probably the Past Perfect Continuous and the Future Perfect Continuous - because they
are both such a mouthful we tend to avoid them.
109
Appendix 8.4
110
Appendix 8.5
Passive dominoes: bank robbery
been treated for shock. A security guard was shot in the legs. The police arrived
some documents and a

within minutes of the A large area of the
The car contained small bag of bank
robbers leaving. center
notes.
was sealed off. Over a million dollars were stolen in the raid. A car was later
found abandoned in a It is believed the A description of the

have escaped to Macau.
side street. robbers men has
been released to the released a description

Police have Two of the men were
press. of the men.
later seen running from questioned at the

A man is being The guard was
the bank. police station.
taken to the Queen Members of the public to keep away from the
Doctors have said
Mary Hospital. were told crime scene.
the guard is in a stable taken into a back room Staff and customers
Customers were
condition. and tied up. have
111
Appendix8.6
112
Appendix 8.7 (Credit to Jon Hird)
113
Appendix 8.8
Certainly You
MUST+ Vinf
YES kidding!
Present
Certainly CAN'T You
NO +Vinf serious!
It
Certainly MUST+ love, but it's over
YES HAVE+ V3 now.
Past
She
Certainly CAN'T+HAV
serious when
NO E+V3 she said that.
114
Probably MAY/MIGHT/COULD+ It might rain later, so take an

YES Vinf umbrella.
Present
Probably MAY/MIGHT/COULD+ I'm afraid she may not believe
NO NOT+Vinf me.
MAY/MIGHT/COUL She might have

Probably YES D+ misunderstood
HAVE+V3 me.
Past
MAY/MIGHT/COUL She may not have
Probably NO D+NOT+HAVE+V3 heard the news.
115
Appendix8.9 (busyteacher.org)
116
Appendix 8.10. (Credit to Jon Hird)
117
Appendix 8.11
Last year I/we sailed to ……… (a continent) across the ………. (an ocean)
on the ……… (the name of the ship). While I was/ we were there I/we crossed
the ……(river) and went on a tour to the ………………. (a range of
mountains) because I/we wanted to climb Mount ……………. (the name of
a single mountain). I/we then visited ……………. (the name of a city) where
I/we stayed at the ………… (the name of a hotel). I/we spent the afternoon
in the …………… (the name of a gallery or a museum) and in the evening
I/we went to the ………………(the name of a concert hall or a theatre).
118
Appendix 8.12 (busyteacher.org)
119
Appendix 8.13 (to introduce the Present Perfect Tense)
Brighton in the rain

I've never ………... to Athens and I've never …………… to Rome
I've only ………... the Pyramids in picture books at home
I've never ………… across the sea or …………… inside a plane
I've always …………... my holidays in Brighton in the rain.
I've never …………... foreign food or …………...in a foreign bar

I've never ……………... a foreign girl or …………... a foreign car
I've never …………... to find my way in a country I don't know
I've always …………... just where I am and where I'll never go.
I've …………… travel books by writers who have …………. to Pakistan

I've …………… people telling stories of adventures in Iran
I've ……………. TV documentaries about China and Brazil
But I've never …………… abroad myself; it's making me feel ill.
I've …………… several languages like Hindi and Malay

I've ……………... lots of useful sentences I've never …………… able to say
The furthest place I've ever …………... was to the Isle of Man
And that was full of tourists from Jamaica and Japan.
I've never …………… to Athens and I've never …………... to Rome

I've only …………… the Pyramids in picture books at home
I've never …………... across the sea or …………... inside a plane
I've always …………... my holidays in Brighton in the rain.
120
Appendix 8.14 (Credit to Svetlana Kandybovich)
3×4 grid – for tenses in active voice
6x4 grid – for active and passive
121
Appendix 8.15 (Credit to Susan Brodar)
122
Appendix 8.16 -Grammar Test + Key
123
124
125
Appendix 8.17 – Multiple Intelligences Test
126
127
128
129
Appendix 8.18 - Results of the experimental group
130
Appendix 8.19 – Students’ MI Portfolios
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
Highschool
pleasant,useful,
learning,teaching,talking,
the coolest passtime forever,
Gimi
rainfall
wet beautiful
lighten blowing twister
spooky depress cold and heated
weather
144
City life
noisy, fancy
running, working, partying
only if you like the hurry
Bustle
Lightbulb
Bright, Colorful
Lighting, Flashing, Heating
A dark room becomes bright with it
Lantern
Hairstyle
Curly, wavy,
Combing, washing, styling
It’s very- very tear-jerking
Headdress
145
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The scores are out of 20 for each style. A score of 20 indicates the style is used often.
Style Scores Learning Styles Graph

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you.
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Integrating Multiple Intelligences and Different Learning Styles in Teaching

English to High School Students

Everybody is a genious. But if you judge a fish

1. What is grammar? - WHAT am I teaching?......................................................... 8

1.3.3 The communicative language teaching approach ……………….13

2.1.1 Personalisation ……………………………………………. 17

2.1.2 Responsibility ………………………………………………17

2.1.3 Learner’s autonomy …………………………………….......19

2.1.4 Learner training ………………………………………….... 20

3. Multiple Intelligences –WHAT & HOW?.............................................................. 21

3.3 Intelligence, as Sir Ken Robinson envisages it ………………. 24

3.4 Gardner’s criticism on present day society ……………………25

3.4.1 Westist society …………………………………… 25

3.5 Gardner’s seven intelligences ………………………………… 27

3.6. Educational implementations of MI ……………………….…. 31

4.Teaching grammar under the auspices of Multiple Intelligences ………………………33

4.1 Grammar with Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence ……………………………..…. 47

4.1.1 How can we teach students to listen effectively? …………………………48

4.2 Grammar with Logical-Mathematical Intelligence ……………………………. 53

4.3 Grammar with Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence …………………………………57

4.4 Grammar with Visual-Spatial Intelligence ………………………………………61

4.5 Grammar with Musical Intelligence ……………………………………………. 65

4.6 Grammar with Interpersonal intelligence ………………………………………. 68

4.7 Grammar with Intrapersonal intelligence ………………………………………. 73

5. Finding the right learning style - HOW? ………………………………………………….76

5.1 The Visual (Spatial) Learning Style ……………………………………………...79

5.2.1 Learning techniques …………………………………………………….80

5.3.1 Learning techniques ……………………………………………………. 81

5.4.1 Learning techniques …………………………………………………. 83

5.5 The Logical (Mathematical) Learning Style ………………………………… 84

5.5.1 Learning techniques ……………………………………………………. 84

5.7.1 Learning technique………………………………………………………. 87

6.4.3 Research Design ……………………………………………………...95

6.5 Results ……………………………………………………………………...96

6.6 Conclusions ………………………………………………………………...100

6.7 Limitations and discussions …………………………………………….….102

7. Bibliograpy …………………………………………………………………………………… 105

3. What is grammar? - WHAT am I teaching?

Grammar is able to communicate subtleties of meaning, there always comes a point in

1.1 Types of grammar

A further research mentions an interlanguage grammar, where interlanguage is taken to be a

3.2 Stages of grammar learning

3.3 Teaching styles - How to teach grammar at its best?

1.3.1 The academic style

1.3.2 The audio-lingual style

1.3.3 The communicative language teaching approach

The communicative approach has brought us a greatly enriched repertoire of exercise

1.3.4 The task based learning style

1.3.5 The mainstream EFL style

Students need to develop a mastery of target language items, not by memorising

Generations of teachers have felt that explicit syllabus-based grammar teaching

4. Teaching adolescents – WHO am I teaching?

2.1 Teaching adolescents at its best

2.1.3 Learner’s autonomy

2.1.4 Learner training

3.Multiple Intelligences –WHAT & HOW?

When doing a research in developmental and neuropsychology, American psychologist, Howard

3.1 Intelligence, as it used to be measured

3.2 Intelligence, as Gardner measures it

Old view New view

● intelligence is measured in context/real –life

In his definition of intelligence, he revolutionizes the fixed attribute of an inborn capacity, he

It becomes important to consider individuals as a collection of aptitudes rather than as

3.3 Intelligence, as Sir Ken Robinson envisages it