Whole language

Whole languageIntroductionBook/Chapter Title: Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (2nd ed.)/Multiple IntelligencesAuthor: Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. RodgersPlace and date of Publication: United Kingdom, 2001Publisher: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge

Theory of languageWas created in the 1980s by the group of educators in U.S.Is not a teaching method but an approachLanguage is a vehicle for human communicationTheory of learningWhole language approach emphasized on the authenticity

Objectives Teacher collaborate with students to create knowledge and understanding in their mutual social contextFocuses on learners experience, needs, interest, and aspirationTeacher & Learners rolesTeacher is a facilitator and an active participants in the learning community rather than expert passing on knowledge.

Learners are collaborators and evaluatorsRoles of materialsStudents own learning experiences & Other real world materials are used as recources for learningActivity typesIndividual and small group reading and writingWriting portofoliosWriting conferencesStudent-made booksStory writingDiscussion Learners are supposed to make their own text which is related to their experiences, needs, interests, and aspirations. This kind of approach makes learners easier to understand what they are going to learn.

But, since the authenticity of the materials is important, teacher has to be very creative.

Just relying on the use of authentic materials is not enough.discussionsOverall, the whole language is not a teaching method, but an approach to learning that sees language as a whole entity. There are some advantages of the whole language approach, such as: 1) it focuses on experiences and activities that are relevant to learners lives and needs; 2) it uses authentic materials; 3) it can be used to facilitate the development of all aspects of a second language. But, there are also some critics who see it as a rejection of a whole ESL approach in language teaching and one that seeks to apply native-language principle to ESL. According to them, whole language proposals are seen as anti-direct teaching, anti-skills, and anti-materials, assuming that authentic texts are sufficient in second language learning and that skill development will follow without special attention (Aaron, 1991).Multiple intelligences Multiple Intelligences (MI) is an approach of which characterize human intelligences. MI is based on the work of Howard Gardner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Gardner, 1993). Gardner argues that all humans have different types of intelligences but people differ in the strengths and combination of intelligences. Gardner divides eight native intelligences, which are: Linguistic, the ability to use language in special and creative ways. Logical/mathematical, the ability to think rationally. Spatial, the ability to form mental models of the world. Musical, the ability to sense music. Bodily/kinesthetic, the ability to control of one's bodily motion and capacity to handle objects skillfully. Interpersonal, the ability to cooperate with others. Intrapersonal, the ability to understand oneself. Naturalist, the ability to understanding natural surroundings. Theory of languageThe Innatism theory underly the Multiple intelligence approach. It is explained how learning in different areas is fasilitated by innate individual differences. People with high verbal-linguistic intelligence display a facility with words and languages.Language is held to be integrated with music, bodily activity, interpersonal relationship, and so on. Language is not seen as limited to s linguistics perspectives but encompasses all aspects of communication.

Theory of learningLanguage learning is based on students intelligences. Armstrong (2009) suggested that MI possesses potential to be used in the teaching and learning of languages, as it provides multiple routes to learning. Richards and Rodgers (2001) affirmed that the MI Theory enhances the teaching and learning of ESL by providing teachers with a variety of teaching strategies and approaches. MIs instruction motivates learners by spurring multiple ways of ascribing meaning to vocabulary being acquired.

objectivesMI pedagogy focuses on the language class as the setting for a series of educational support system aimed at making the language learners desginer of their learning experiences.

Activity typesThere are eight self-access activity corners, each corner built arounf one of the eight intellegences. Students work alone or in pairs on intellegences focus on their own choosing.learners rolesLearners are encouraged to see their goals and are expected to take an MI inventory to develop their own MI profiles based on the inventory.Teachers rolesFacilitate the students to improve second language abilities also cobtributor to overall development of studentsintellegences.Roles of materialsrealia, printed words, sound, motion, color.discussionStudents will be able to demonstrate and share their strengths. Building strengths gives a student the motivation to be a "specialist." This can in turn lead to increased self-esteem.Characterizing learners personal MI profiles may enhance language learning process, on the other hand, can be facilitated through the use of language learning strategies, particularly if the strategies have been developed by teachers who have knowledge about individuals learning styles.Teachers will provide opportunities for authentic learning based on students' needs, interests and talents. The multiple intelligence classroom acts like the "real" world: the author and the illustrator of a book are equally valuable creators. Students become more active, involved learners.weaknessesLanguage learning and use are closely related to Linguistic Intelligence. However, MI believes that language is more than only linguistic. Language has aspects such as rhythm, tone, volume and pitch that are related to music. And other intelligences would enhance the linguistic intelligence development.The lack of theory related to language learning.In language learning, the teacher have to design by themselves because there is no guidance in designing a lesson plan or syllabus applying MI.Students works alone or in pairs based on the same intelligences.Teachers have to analyze the students intelligences well.Teachers need to consider the possible application of MI theory in individual teaching situations.Teachers also improve multiple intelligences, not only improve language learning.conclusionsThis chapter explains MI in general, the eight intelligences. There's only limited explanation on language learning through MI approach. Applying this approach in the classroom needs a further research on how teacher differentiate students' intelligences in teaching English as a foreign language.