A Survey Of The Application Of "arming Up" Activities In The English Classroom In Senior High Schools

As athletes make preparations for the coming competition，in English teaching，before each unit or a subject，the teacher should come up with some good ideas to“warm up”，to attract the students’ attention，to increase their interest，to stimulatethe students’ mind and to arouse enthusiasm of the students to participate．So what is the real current situation of the application of “warming up”activities in the English classroom in senior high schools? What are students’attitudes toward “warming up” activities? What are teachers’ attitudes toward“warming up” activities? What are the main reasons for influencing the design andapplication of “warming up” activities? Taking all these questions into account, theauthor conducts a survey in ten senior high schools in Changsha area. In this paper,the author takes advantage of classroom observation, questionnaires and interview,makes an analysis of the collected data, and finally finds out the current situation ofthe application of “warming up” activities are as follows:1. The current situation of “warming up” is far from satisfaction. More thanhalf of students (52.76%) express that the content of “warming up” activities is notclose to the real situation. Quite a few students (48.93%) claim that their “warmingup” activities lack for authenticity, and are not very cooperative and interesting.Only one third of students (31.91%) state that their teachers usually bring differenttypes of “warming up” activities into class.2. Most students (68%) have realized the importance of “warming up”activities, but more than half of them (57.44%) haven’t shown much interest in“warming up” activities designed by their teachers. Quite a few students (61.71%)do not participate actively in “warming up” and the classroom atmosphere is notactive enough．3. Most of senior high schools teachers (80%) have regarded doing“warming up” activities as an important or extremely important step in Englishteaching. However, according to students’ feedback, nearly half of their teachers(43.62%) haven’t utilized “warming up” activities very often. Some teachers(13.83%) have never employed “warming up” activities at the beginning of theirlessons.4. The factors influencing the implementation of “warming up” activities areteachers (teachers’ traditional ideas, teachers’ knowledge and abilities, heavy burden of teaching tasks), students (students’ inherent ideas, students’ Englishlevels, students’ emotions), evaluative system, and teaching conditions.Finally， the author puts forward some suggestions from three perspectives:changing teachers’ and students’ ideas, following three principles of designing“warming up” activities and building a good relationship between the teacher andthe students in order to perfect the application of “warming up” activities inEnglish teaching.