2. Literature Review

Lead-in is the first part of teaching and learning activities. It is a very important part of the whole class and it determines the success of the whole teaching activities. Belonging to physiological and social factors, lead-in is one of important factors that influence the effects in junior middle school English learning. 

In teaching activities, lead-in is also called “introduction”. It refers to all of the classroom instructions and teaching activities of teachers and students at the beginning of the classes within 3-5 minutes. “Lead” refers to teachers’ guidance. It refers to teachers putting teaching content as targets and using clever ways to draw students’ attention. They want to inspire students’interests of learning and their desire for knowledge and enable students to get into the state of learning. “Into” means to bring students into the learning environment. It refers to fixing students’ attention on the upcoming teaching content. It let students catch the clues from the blurb which are related to the content and form students’ internal incentives of learning. By that, students can be clear about learning objectives. As a result, the students will accept teachers’ guidance positively and interact with them happily. Chinese scholars, like Xu Feng, Yu Libo and Zheng Jing, whose data analysis and quantitative study also have confirmed that among English study, effective lead-in will benefit students a lot.

3. The Functions of Lead-in and Its Principles

3.1The Functions of Lead-in

3.1.1 Stabilizing Students’ Emotions and Focusing Their Attention

Lead-in is a boundary between the former lessons and the new classes. Attractive topics, innovative content and wonderful language can hold the whole class. (Ma, Yemen 2013:146) By that, students will fix their attention on the new situation of learning and then improve their learning efficiency. 

3.1.2 Stimulating Students’ Interests

In the process of lead-in, students will be attracted by teachers’ humorous interpretation, emotional recitation, a beautiful painting or a wonderful melody. All of them will stimulate students’ interests of learning and let them look forward to having the new lessons.