A Research On Effectiveness Of Warm-up Activities In The English Classes Of Primary Schools

Compulsory Education English Curriculum Standards(2011 version)stipulate that each class begins with the appropriate classroom activities to stimulate students' interest in learning,clarifying the purpose of teaching and paving the way for the new class.As school-based research,this study takes Xi'an Foreign Language School as an example to focus on the warm-up activities in its English classes.Guided by the Second Language Acquisition Theory,Affective Filter Hypothesis and Effective Teaching Theory,the author collects data through questionnaires,classroom observations,and interviews,exploring the effectiveness of warm-up activities in primary school English classes and proposing appropriate improvements.This study first conducts a three-month observation of six teachers' warm-up activities in the English classroom.In addition,a questionnaire is conducted on 300 students of the school to provide feedback on the implementation and effects of warm-up activities from the perspective of students.More are learnt about warm-up activities by interviewing five English teachers.The data obtained from three research instruments are used to answer the two research questions: the implementation and the effects of warm-up activities in primary schools.Through the study,the author finds that the effects of warm-up activities in Xi'an Foreign Language Primary School are not very satisfactory.The reasons are identified as follows: teachers in lack of comprehensive theoretical knowledge,insufficientawareness of communicating with students,and inadequate lesson preparation because of the busy work.These problems can be resolved from the following aspects:First,teachers should learn theoretical knowledge related with effective teaching.Second,the school provides teachers with relevant theoretical and classroom management training.Third,teachers should prepare the lessons carefully.Fourth,teachers should communicate with students in time in order to know students' needs.