Why it is important to keep communication with students in order to improve their knowledge?

Mexican education has a new challenge, to become a formative education, this means that students must learn not just about historical dates, facts and concepts, but they also must develop abilities and good attitudes for become an positive and important element of society.

Traditional education used to teach students to memorize concepts, students must be able to know a lot of dates, mathematical concepts, parts of the sentence and parts of the body, but it didn´t matter if they were not able to apply that knowledge to the real life (Monereo, 2007).

Actual education concerns about students being able to apply knowledge to the real world, but also they must develop abilities and attitudes such as responsibility, respect, team work and others in order to become a competent element for society (Monereo, 2007).

So, nowadays education must be communicative. This means teachers and students must feedback each other, and talk about their objectives, their goals, their desires, their problems and their interests. This way teacher will help students to get ready for live in a society.

When people communicate each other they can know about each other and they can help each other to reach common goals. I traditional education, teacher must talk and students must be quiet, but with this way of education teachers couldn´t really know if the students had personal problems that limited their learning or they didn´t understand the topic.

However, actual education promotes communication, specially from students to teachers. Students need to ask questions, to give their ideas, to make discussion, to defend their point of view. In first place because with communication abilities they will have a better development in their future job and relationships with society; in second place because secondary school students are teenagers, and is our duty as teacher to guide them when they feel insecure, Mexico has a lot of problems such as addiction to drugs, familiar issues, violence etc., and if a teenager is in the middle of a problematic situation, that can affect not just their academic development, but their entire life too.

Because of the importance of communication in education I made a research about the opinion of the students around the topic.

55 students answered a small interview with the following questions:

Do your teachers talk to you about your personal life or the school?

Would you like they talk to you? Why?

What would you like to talk to your teachers about?

Do you think communication between students and teachers will help you to improve your learning process? Why?

Most of the students answered their teachers didn´t talk to them about anything. This shows how Mexican communication between teachers and students must get better.

When students were asked if they would like to talk a little bit more with their teachers they answered:

	Number of students	Percent
Yes, I would like to talk more to my teachers.	27	49%
I don´t know, maybe.	14	25%
No, I would like to talk more to my teachers.	14	25%

Those students who answered they would like to talk more with their teachers, said that teachers don´t talk to them a lot, but they would like to talk to them about their learning process, about hobbies and other stuff, in first place because maybe that would help them to reach a better understanding of the subject, but also because if students and teachers can talk, they will get more confidence with each other.

The students who didn´t know said that maybe they would like to try this idea, that could be interesting and help them in school.

The students who said they would not like to talk to teachers said that they had friends for talking about their problems, they have no confidence with the teachers and the students´ life is not business of the teacher.

As we can notice must of the students would like to have a better communication with their teacher; there are also students who are not pretty sure about the idea, but they are considering that possibility; and finally those students who are not interested say that there is no confidence with teacher.

With the results of the research I conclude that we teachers must improve communication with students and show them how they can count on us when they have any kind of problem, show interest in their life and in their learning process. Even if they seem not interested, we must show them support and maybe they will come to us if they need help.

Finally there are some advices to improve communication with students:

1) “Begin on the first day of school”

2) “Be proactive”

3) “Become an active listener”
4) “Make sure you say, “I heard you.”

5) “Do unto others”

6) “Use non-judgmental and non-accusatory communication”

7) “Communicate clearly and briefly."

8) “Serve as a model of honesty and dignity."
9) “Accept repetition”

10) “Make humor an integral part of your communication.”
 (USC TA Wiki, n.d.)

Information sources

-      Monereo Carlos Conference (2007). Available on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbugPz0nMyk

-      USC TA Wiki. Communicating Effectively with your students. Available on: http://uscta.wikidot.com/conduct-effective-communication-with-your-students

Students surveys

Research*

How do students learn? *Based on the studies about The theory of multiple intelligencies*

The studies about the learning process are pretty important in order to help our students to get a better comprehension, understanding and application about what we try to teach them in the classroom.

“I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place. Knowledge is not the same as morality, but we need to understand if we are to avoid past mistakes and move in productive directions. An important part of that understanding is knowing who we are and what we can do... Ultimately, we must synthesize our understandings for ourselves. The performance of understanding that try matters are the ones we carry out as human beings in an imperfect world which we can affect for good or for ill.”  (Gardner, 1999.) 

Because of that, this essay is based on the research made by Howard Gardner about multiple intelligences and education, so we teachers can discover which are the most effective ways our students learn English.

Let me start by talking a little more about this important Psychologist.

ﭪ    Howard Gardner´s Life

Howard Gardner was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1943. Howard Gardner's interest in psychology and the social sciences grew (his senior thesis was on a new California retirement community) and he graduated summa cum laude in 1965 (Smith, 2008).

Howard Gardner then went to work for a brief period with Jerome Bruneron the famous MACOS Project ('Man: A course of study'). Bruner's work, especially in The Process of Education (1960) made  a profound impact on Gardner .     (Smith, 2008).

Howard Gardner beg  in  to get  interested  in human cognition. He proceeded in a very different direction to the dominant discourses associated with Piaget and with psychometric testing. (Smith, 2008).

ﭪ    About his theory

ﺱ    The Intelligence

Howard Gardner defines intelligence as “the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting”    (Smith, 2008).

He develops the existence of the following 7 intelligences:

©      Linguistic intelligence involves the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically; and language as a means to remember information    (Smith, 2008).

©      Logical-mathematical intelligence is the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically     (Smith, 2008).

©      Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms      (Smith, 2008).

©      Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements       (Smith, 2008).

©      Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas     (Smith, 2008).

©      Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others     (Smith, 2008).

©      Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations    (Smith, 2008).

ﭪ    The application of the Theory to education

According to the approach and methodology of Mexican basic education, nowadays Howard Gardner´s theory can be completely useful. In first place because nowadays education is about develop in students the capacity to be successful, independent and competitive in their lives, not just their academic lives, but also their social and personal lives. This means that today intelligence is not just about a wide and deep knowledge of science, is about the ability of searching the right information for achieving our own purposes.

Besides, if we talk about our specific subject: English, the Multiple Intelligences theory of Howard Gardner is pretty useful and maybe some of the intelligences he talks about s even more useful for our purpose as English teachers.

In first place we must notice that English students develop Linguistic Intelligence, because it is used when people are learning a new language. And according to our methodology, students will develop this intelligence when they practice the foreign language, when they read original and authentic texts and listen to authentic conversations. Every time they can be practicing the new language into the right context they will be developing the linguistic intelligence.

In second place students develop the interpersonal intelligence too, because we teachers must apply the constructivist methodology. And according to Piaget and Vygotsky theories, the child can develop real knowledge and learning just by interacting with the world around him (“Desarrollo Cognoscitivo,” n.d.). Vygotsky is the one who refers to the construction of knowledge by interacting with classmates and adults, but also he refers to the interaction between the child and the elements of culture, such as society, values, family, history, traditions, etc. (“Desarrollo Cognoscitivo,” n.d.). So, if we connect the principles of the methodology we teachers must apply with Howard Garner´s theory, we conclude that students develop their interpersonal intelligence too.

ﭪ    The Research

According to the survey applied to the students and the observations made during the lessons, the results are:

Intelligences	Bodily-kinesthetic	Linguistic	Interpersonal	Logical-mathematical	Intrapersonal	Musical	Naturalist	Spatial
Percent	70%	41%	41%	40%	35%	31%	31%	27%

*These are the percents that most of the students obtained in each one of the intelligence tests.

So according to the results we can notice that the most developed intelligence is the kinesthetic one, with 70%; then is located the linguistic and interpersonal ones, both of them with 41%. But on the other side, we notice that the less developed intelligences are the spatial, the naturalist and the musical ones.

This research is pretty important because it can help us to take advantage of the most developed intelligences in students and to help them to develop the ones with a lower level of development. For example, in English it is very useful that they have a linguistic and interpersonal intelligence highly developed, because they will help with the construction of knowledge and the acquisition of a second language. But also, when we know about their kinesthetic intelligence we can take advantage of it too, we teachers can create more activities in which students use their body and their movements, and that will help them and us to reach a better learning.

At the end of the day is pretty important that teachers make this kind of research with their students, because that will help them to create new strategies in order to improve their English learning.

ﭪ    Information Sources

- Lane Carla. Multiple Intelligences. Available on: http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html

-Multiple Intelligences. Available on: http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.php

-Smith, Mark. (2002). Howard Gardner, multiple intelligences and education. Available on: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm.

- Teoría del Desarrollo Cognoscitivo de Piaget y Vygotsky.

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