2。1。2 Characters of chant 

    2。1。2。1 Tempo and rhythm

    One typical character of chants is its tempo and rhythm。 When adverting to chants, songs often follow closely。 Since chants and songs, actually, have much in common。 But to some degree, they differ from each other。 Songs are impressive for the melody while chants for the tempo and rhythm。 However, due to the melody or tempo and rhythm, students will be exposed to a low anxiety environment and a pleasant manner while singing songs or performing chants (Brewster, J&G。 Ellis, 2000)。 So, whether songs or chants both facilitate language acquisition。

     2。1。2。2 Stress and repetition

    A chant generally includes little information。 When performing chants, we always tend to put stress on certain important words or sentences to deliver certain information or express certain emotion。 Besides, to make English chants easy to understand and memorize, those important words or sentences will be repeated again and again for emphasis。 Also, because of the stress and repetition, English chants usually have a clear topic, which meanwhile accelerates students’ command of the chants (Murphey, 1992)。

    2。1。2。3 Easy to implement and better with actions 

    To teach chants in English classes in primary schools, there is nearly no teaching aids that are needed。 In this way, however limited the teaching environment is, chants can all be easily implemented in English classes。 And as the famous American psychologist Bruner said, people often get to know things through three means, one of which is just through actions(Bruner, 1960)。 There are always rhymes and rhythm in chants, which happens to make doing actions while chanting quite suitable for chant teaching。 Therefore, when teaching chants, teachers’ four limbs are supposed to function as well as their mouths because chants can play a more significant role if they are combined with actions。 With actions, chant teaching in English classes will help to stimulate students’ interest in the content of the classes and also to motivate students to acquire what to learn more quickly。

    2。2 Related theories

    2。2。1 Musical domain

    Chants are impressive for the rhythm。 However, to some degree, they are also a kind of music。 And music is closely associated with language。 French musician Rousseau just held the view that music and language have the same origin。 They are both reflections of basic human emotions to meet humans’ need of emotional expressions。 But what is different is that music can facilitate the coordination between the left brain and the right brain while music can not。 Therefore, music is a more effective form to convey certain kind of emotions or connotations(Rousseau, 1764)。 In this way, music also makes a difference for humans to memorize words。 With the continuous repetition of words or phrases in the music, the effects turn out to be even better。 So, in the same way, chants can play an affirmative role in English teaching。文献综述

    2。2。2 Cognitive domain

    It is easy for primary school students who are at a young age to be distracted because their ability of self-control is weak(Zhu Xiufang, 1999)。 So most teachers are trying their best to attract students’ attention。 And chants are such kind of teaching method as can not only easily attract students’ involuntary attention but also promote students to automatically master what they are supposed to learn。 That is, using chants can help automatize the language development process。 Chants in themselves are repetitive。 And then, through repetitive exercises, students would involuntarily memorize the language and use it naturally and freely without any pause。 The repetitive style just helps to accelerate the automation of the language taught in class。 More exposure to chant learning also makes students more sensitive to the rhyming of language。 And most chants are performed together with actions or gestures, which can help students to understand the meaning of the chants better(Brewster, J&G。 Ellis, 2000)。 So, the knowledge gained from the form of chants can hardly be erased from students’ mind。 Bit by bit, students’ proficiency in language is developed little by little。