Current Situation and Optimization Strategies of Lead-in in Junior High School English Reading Classes: A Case Study of Grade One in Caotang Middle School

Xuan Luo

doi:10.63313/IJED.9083

Authors

Xuan Luo China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637000, China Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63313/IJED.9083

Keywords:

Lead-in, Junior High School English, Reading Teaching, Current Situation Investigation

Abstract

Lead-in serves as the core initial link in English reading teaching, and plays a critical role in focusing students’ classroom attention, connecting prior and new knowledge, and stimulating learning motivation. To explore the application status and existing problems of lead-in in English reading classes for first-year junior high school students, this study takes 4 English teachers and 124 students from Grade One of Caotang Middle School as research subjects, and conducts an empirical investigation through classroom observation and questionnaire survey. The results show that the commonly used lead-in methods in current teaching are dialog lead-in (38.5%), review lead-in (23.1%), video lead-in (20.5%) and game lead-in (10.2%). However, widespread problems exist, including unreasonable duration control, monotonous method types, insufficient topic relevance, and low attention to students’ needs. Only about 20% of students believe that lead-in can continuously enliven the classroom and stimulate learning interest. Based on cognitive development theory and advance organizer theory, this study puts forward optimization strategies from four dimensions: duration management, interest stimulation, topic anchoring, and student-centeredness, so as to provide practical reference for the design of lead-in in junior high school English reading classes.

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