Lead-in Art And Cultivation Of Pupils' Interest In English Learning

From the fall of 2001, elementary schools in most cities and countiesbegan to offer English courses. New Primary English CurriculumStandard mentions that the ultimate objective of primary English teachingis cultivating pupils' interest in English learning. Krashen's AffectiveFilter Hypothesis views learners' affective factors as the key to learningsuccess. The learners with interest, high motivation, low anxiety will getmore input in language learning. Indeed, "Interest is the best teacher."Interest, especially for children, is the first step of English learning. Itplays an important role in cultivating pupils' cognitive ability, formingtheir intrinsic motivation and language input and output.As is known to all, English classroom is the main place ofcultivating pupils' interest. As an old saying goes: "Well-begun ishalf-done." If a teacher is good at attracting pupils' attention anddeveloping their interest in English learning at the very beginning of alesson, pupils will learn English very well in the whole class and enjoyEnglish learning. Liu Xianguo once wrote in his book "The Art ofArousing Students' Interest", "Students' interest in learning activitiesdepends on a teacher's super teaching art. A teacher should try to attractstudents from the very beginning of every lesson." Ma Junming alsostated (1996) that a teacher's lead-in is just like a magnet, his teachingshould trigger his students' interest from the beginning of a new lesson.Guided by these views, the writer thinks that a teacher's lead-in skillis very important for cultivating pupils' learning interest in English learning. In classroom instructions, a successful lead-in, to a great extent,means a successful lesson. Lead-in, as the first step of presenting a newlesson, is an art. It demands that a teacher should use his or her languageart (including body language art) and management art skillfully to createa pleasant situation and make his or her students enjoy English learning.In this stage, a teacher should make full use of different teachingresources, such as multi-media technology, pictures, to introduce his newlesson. His teaching should be student-centered and develop his students'creativity. He may use his students' vivid and humorous performance tolead in a new lesson. The teacher, just like a guide, leads his or herstudents to take an active part in learning activities.This thesis, from the angles of Krashen's Second LanguageAcquisition Theory, Gardner's Motivation Theory and Feuerstein'sTheory of Mediation, mainly discusses the important role of interest inEnglish learning and the significance of lead-in in cultivating pupils'interest in English learning. Through an experiment, carried out amongseventy pupils from two classes of Grade 3, Heping Primary School ofthe city of Xiangtan from October, 2005 to January, 2006, the writerfirmly believes that a successful lead-in art can stimulate and developpupils' interest in English learning by analyzing questionnaire, interviewand final-term examination achievements. Pupils' active participation inlead-in activities can further motivate them to learn English well.In short, this thesis aims to help primary English teachers to realizethe important role of lead-in in classroom instructions, explore the newmethods of primary English teaching and enhance the efficiency ofclassroom instructions.