An Investigation On The Adoption Of Lead-in Strategies In The English Reading Class In Junior High Schools

Lead-in,as the beginning section in a class,plays a significant role.A well-designed lead-in can not only stimulate learners’ interest in learning,but also promote teaching efficiency.English reading ability,as one of the five basic language skills,is crucial to the development of other four language skills namely,listening,speaking,writing and viewing.Therefore,more and more scholars begin to pay their attention to the adoption of lead-in strategies in English reading class.However,according to the CNKI,there have been only 17 essays related to the study on the adoption of lead-in strategies in the English reading class in junior high school since 2012.Based on the constructivism learning theory and the affective filter hypothesis,this research takes seven English teachers and 205 students from Grade 8 in Xinxiang No.10 Middle School in Henan Province as the subjects and investigates the adoption of lead-in strategies in junior high school English reading class through classroom observation,questionnaires and interviews.This study aims to find out the answers to the following questions:(1)What lead-in strategies are adopted in the English reading class in junior high school? And what are the factors that influence the selection of these lead-in strategies?(2)What are the attitudes of the learners and teachers toward the lead-in strategies adopted in junior high school English reading class?(3)What are the existing problems in the adoption of lead-in strategies junior high school English reading class?The present study has the following findings: Seven lead-in strategies are adopted by English teacher in junior high school English reading class including revision lead-in,free-talk lead-in,asking question lead-in,picture lead-in,video lead-in,songs lead-in and audio lead-in.The factors that influence the selection of these lead-in strategies are teaching contents,teaching objectives and interest.Besides,students and these seven English teachers hold a positive attitude towards the strategies of lead-in adopted in the English reading class in junior high school.The problems existing in the adoption of lead-in strategies in English reading class come down to five aspects: First,English teachers are lack of rich theoretical basis about lead-in;secondly,the length of lead-in time is not appropriate;thirdly,the lead-in part is teacher-centered rather than students-centered;fourthly,lead-in strategies are short of diversity in English reading class;fifthly,English teachers are lack of some explanations during the playing of videos and appropriate key questions,and sometimes the teaching key points are not adequately prominent.Finally,the author analyses the limitations in this research and gives some suggestions about future research related to lead-in strategy.It is hoped that the research can help English teachers in junior high school improve their adoption of lead-in strategies and is beneficial to promote students’ interest in reading.