A Study On The Effect Of Lead-in On Students’ Classroom Participation In Primary School English Classes

As the beginning part of classroom teaching,although lead-in part lasts no more than 3-5 minutes,the effect of it on classroom teaching can not be underestimated.Effective classroom lead-in can not only clarify teaching objectives,but also stimulate students’ interests in learning and mobilize students’ learning motivation.So they can make a better preparation for the new knowledge and actively participate in classroom teaching.However,current researches mainly focus on lead-in activities in English classrooms in middle school,there are few studies concentrating on it in primary school.This study combines classroom lead-in part with students’ classroom participation,aiming at investigating the role of lead-in part in promoting primary school students’ classroom participation.Thus,primary school English teachers can think highly of lead-in part from the perspective of implementation.They will design and implement classroom lead-in in scientific and practical ways,so as to promote students’ participation and improve students’ learning efficiency in the classroom.As a school-based research,this study takes the Primary School Attached to Xi’an Foreign Language School as an example,based on Constructivist Learning Theory,Krashen’s Input hypothesis and Affective Filtering Hypothesis.Through classroom observation,four English teachers’ design and implementation of lead-in part and students’ classroom reactions were investigated.Meanwhile,the questionnaire was conducted among all students in Grade 5 to inquire the current situation of classroom lead-in and its effect on students’ classroom participation.Besides,the study was supplemented by interviewing with teachers and students.The data was collected and analyzed to study the following two questions:(1)What is the current situation of English classroom lead-in part in primary school?(2)What is theeffect of lead-in part on students’ classroom participation in English classroom in primary school?The results of this study show that there are still some problems exist in lead-in part in Primary School Attached to Xi’an Foreign Language School.Firstly,teachers do not attach great importance to lead-in activities from the perspective of implementation.Secondly,the lead-in methods used by teachers are monotonous.At the same time,this study proves that classroom lead-in activities play an active role in promoting students’ behavior,cognitive and emotional classroom participation.There exists some differences between males and females,as well as students with different academic achievements in classroom participation.In view of the research results,this study proposes that teachers should pay more attention to classroom lead-in part from the perspective of application,the design of classroom lead-in activities should conform to students’ cognitive development and close to teaching objectives and contents.Finally,teachers should focus on the diversity of lead-in methods to promote students’ classroom participation.