Date of Award

5-1-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Yvonne Tixier y Vigil

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine ESL teachers' perceived multiple intelligences (MI), their choice of MI-inspired teaching strategies in the classroom, and the relationship between teachers' perceived MI preferences and their selection of strategies or activities that reflect or do not reflect their MI preference in the classroom. Two survey instruments were used to collect data for this study: the Intelligence Survey (IS), and the MI-Inspired Teaching Strategy Index (MITSI). This study was delimited to ESL teachers who had been enrolled in the ESL endorsement program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). Results indicated that the ESL teachers perceived the naturalistic and interpersonal intelligence to be their dominate intelligence while spatial, linguistic, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences were considered relatively weak. Logical-mathematical, intrapersonal, and musical intelligence were in the middle level. ESL teachers reported using linguistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal teaching strategies in their classrooms most frequently. Musical, logic-mathematical, spatial, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence teaching strategies were on next list of activities they use in the classroom and naturalistic intelligence teaching strategies were rarely used. Results also revealed that the correlation between what ESL teachers perceive and do in the classroom though significant in some domains but only a low relationship. Further research might employ larger sample, interviews and other authentic measures to study the possibly complex differential relationships between the two variables. It is also needed to find out if teachers did teach from their MI preferences, would it affect second language learning.

Comments

A Thesis Presented to the Teacher Education Department and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts University of Nebraska at Omaha. Copyright Wenmin (Mindy) Huang May, 2005

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