A Research On Students’ Attention In Junior Middle School English Class

Over the past two decades,research on learners’ attention has become a hot spot in the field of cognitive psychology and second language acquisition.Attention,as the beginning of all learning activities,is the basis of effective classroom activities.However,among the existing domestic researches,there are still relatively few researches shedding light on junior middle school students,and the application of attention theory in classroom teaching is also scanty.Therefore,to improve students’ attention and adopt efficient attention management strategies is not only the target requirements of the junior middle school compulsory curriculum standard（2022edition）,but also a guarantee for improving classroom teaching efficiency.The purpose of this study is to investigate the current situation of junior middle school students’ attention in English classes and the factors that affect students’ attention,and analyze the differences in affecting factors of high and low-level English students,so as to provide some constructive suggestions for junior middle school English teaching.This study uses questionnaire and interview as the research methods.The author used two questionnaires to do the research.The first one is about attention status and the second one is with regard to general situation of attention affecting factors.For the questionnaire of attention-affecting factors,it is mainly based on the classification of Anderson（1985）and is compiled with reference to “Study on English Class Attention of Vocational School Students and Its Influencing Factors”.The dimensions of the first questionnaire include: the duration of attention,the situation of voluntary attention,the situation of involuntary attention,the situation of post voluntary attention,and the behavior of attention.The second questionnaire covers four dimensions: teachers,students,the curriculum and the environment.The subjects of this study are 210 junior middle school students from Zhanjiang No.6 Middle School,Zhanjiang No.14 Middle School and Nong Chang Middle School.Based on the students’ scores in the second semester,two groups of different language proficiency are divided correspondingly according to the extreme grouping method,with the first27% being the high score group and the last 27% being the low score group.Three questions are predominantly explored in this study:（1）What is the overall situation of students’ attention in junior middle school English classroom?（2）What are the factors affecting student’s attention in junior middle school English classroom?（3）What’s the distinction in the factors affecting students’ attention at different English levels?The results of the research state that:（1）The overall situation of junior middle school students’ attention features sometimes attention-distracted and often attention-distracted.In general,the situation of attention is not promising.The concentration time of students’ attention is mostly in the middle of the class.And the situation of involuntary attention,voluntary attention and post voluntary attention depends much on teachers’ teaching and management.Most students have experienced inattention behavior;（2）The influence of four factors on the attention of junior middle school students in English class is at a relatively high level.Among them,teacher factors and environmental factors have the greatest impact on students’ attention.In the teacher dimension,the teacher’s attitude is the main factor,while in the environmental dimension,the quietness inside and outside the classroom is the key;（3）Among the affecting factors of students’ attention,significant differences can be seen in terms of factors of teacher and environment.Students with lower English level are more affected by environmental factors,while students with higher English level value the teaching competency and their internal factors more.Based on the survey results,several suggestions were raised in this article from the perspectives of teachers and students in order to better improve students’ attention in junior middle school English class.As far as teachers are concerned,teachers should design the teaching course according to the attention distribution of the student in class time period,conduct grading evaluations of attention for students at different levels and use appropriate gestures to attract attention.For students,they can set up mutual monitoring groups and adopt methods which can help perceive the importance of learning contents to raise attention.