The Enhancement of Multiple Intelligences through English Reading Materials for Students of Secondary Schools: A Need Analysis

Abstract

This article is a part of research and development under the issue of developing English reading materials oriented to multiple intelligence accommodation (MIA) for junior high school students. It is aimed at generating the English reading materials which accommodate the enhancement of the multiple intelligences (MI). This relies on the evidence that a great number of English textbooks―the English reading materials, in particular, have not considered the enhancement of multiple intelligences on the part of the students. This directly or indirectly affects the acquisition of deconstructing and constructing the English texts. To achieve the objective, this study voluntarily involved 65 students of a junior high school in Yogyakarta Special Province, Indonesia, as the sample of study. Four data collection techniques were employed: Observation, interview, Multiple Intelligence Scale (MIS) test and questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In reference to the data analysis, several findings were gained. First, the majority of students had low English reading ability and interest. Second, the majority of students proposed three-top types of MI: musical, spatial, and bodily-kinaesthetic types. Third, the majority of students voiced that a great number of tasks in their main English textbook were not accommodating reading materials based on their MI. They further strongly support the development of English reading materials oriented to students’ MI. Keywords— multiple intelligences; english learning needs; reading materials.