An Empirical Study Of Teachers' Classroom Lead-in In Senior High Schools

Lead-in is the first and the most basic teaching step in English classroom teaching. It does not last long but should never be underestimated. If the lead-in in a class is well designed, it can quickly attract the students'attention, provoke their learning interest, make them study actively and devote themselves to the classroom teaching in a better state. It helps teachers achieve the aim of enhancing the teaching efficiency. However, up to now, in China the research into lead-in at senior high school is quite sporadic, lacking enough empirical studies. In order to get an insight into the real situation in English classroom lead-in at senior high schools, find out the existent problems and solve them by adopting effective measures, the author conducts a survey in Dalian No.1 Senior High School. The survey involves five English teachers and 264 students. The main methods used are classroom observation, questionnaires and interviews.This thesis consists of five chapters. In chapter 1, the author expounds the background purpose and significance of the present study. Chapter 2 is the part of the literature review, in where the author discusses the theoretical foundation of lead-in in English teaching and some correlative issues, such as the principles, functions, strategies of lead-in and also the basic requirements of lead-in. Besides, some previous studies at home and abroad are presented here. Chapter 3 is the research methodology. The objective, subjects, instruments and methods are presented. Chapter 4 is the results and discussion. By means of classroom observation, questionnaires and interviews, the author collects the first-hand information and then makes an analysis of it. Chapter 5 is the findings and suggestions. Based on the investigation, the author discovers the following problems. First, in senior high schools most English teachers, under the pressure of College Entrance Examination, put all their heart into the explanation of language points, ignoring the consideration and designing of classroom lead-in, so lead-in results are unsatisfactory Some teachers even omit the step of lead-in. Second, among free talk lead-in, situational lead-in, visual or multimedia lead-in and revision lead-in, the teachers tend to choose visual or multi-media lead-in. Third, in situational lead-in, the situation designed by teachers is not quite close to students'real life. Fourth, in free talk lead-in, teachers are still the center and speak much more than students. Fifth, teachers are not good at taking the appropriate lead-in time, sometimes too long, sometimes too short. According to the above findings, the author provides some suggestions and believes that the present research will surely benefit other English teachers. Lead-in helps set up a favorable and harmonious environment.