(SKKN 2022) Using mind mapping technique in teaching post-reaching to improve reading comprehension ability of the eleventh grade students at Nhu Xuan II high school

PRE-Author: Pham Thi Lien Occupation: Teacher Field Subject: English THANH HOA, 2018 THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NHU XUAN II HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENTAL INITIATIVE USING

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NHU XUAN II HIGH SCHOOL

THE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE

THE THESIS:

SOME METHODS FOR TEACHING VOCABULARY IN READING HELPING CLASS 11C2 AT NHU XUAN II HIGH SCHOOL BE MOTIVATED IN THE READING LESSONS.

PRE-Author: Pham Thi Lien

Occupation: Teacher

Field ( Subject): English

THANH HOA, 2018

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NHU XUAN II HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENTAL INITIATIVE

USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING

POST - READING TO IMPROVE READING

COMPREHENSION ABILITY OF THE ELEVENTH

GRADE STUDENTS AT NHU XUAN II HIGH SCHOOL.

Author: Pham Thi Lien Position: Teacher

Field (Subject): English

THANH HOA, 2022

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

1.3 Objects of the study 2

2.1 Theoretical background 3

2.3 The method: Using mind mapping technique in teaching

post-reading to help students be motivated and improve their post-reading

comprehension ability

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2.3.1 Steps to make mind mapping implementation in the classroom

easy and effective

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

As you know, English is an international language which is used by a lot

of countries all over the world It also becomes main language incommunicating among different people in different countries in the world

In Vietnam, English is one of core subjects for all children in schooleducation system from primary level Students continue to learn English atsecondary education and they learn it with four skills: reading, speaking,listening and writing along with language focus to prepare the best knowledgefor their most important examination of graduating or use the knowledge forhigher education

In today’s trend of international integration, English is considered as ameans for learners to have fastest access to the world’s cultures and knowledge.The teaching and learning of English need to be renewed in accordance withpositive learning methods to be more suitable and meet the needs of society The core content of English teaching and learning helps students build anddevelop communication skills through practicing listening, speaking, reading,writing and linguistic skills It is clear that to communicate effectively in onelanguage, English reading skill should be developed along with the other skills

so that these integrated skills will enhance communication achievement.Methodology used in teaching second language has experienced many changesfor decades; however there is no single best method, and no one method that isbest for a particular classroom

From my teaching at Nhu Xuan II high school, I see both my students’interests and difficulties in learning English, especially in reading skill.Meanwhile, reading skill has been becoming a very important part in theexamination for many years Reading skill also plays a key role of enrichingEnglish vocabulary for learners so that they can master the language easier.When teaching my students, I see that apart from organizing good activities forpre - and while - reading in order to help students be motivated and do the taskswell, teachers also need to stimulate students to improve their readingcomprehension and presentation capabilities in post – reading by giving orsuggesting suitable and interesting tasks One of those that I have alreadyapplied during my teaching in many reading lessons for my students at NhuXuan II high school with good results is using mind mapping technique

With my own thought and my own experience in teaching English at Nhu Xuan

II high school for many years, I strongly try to give my own bright experience: “

Using mind mapping technique in teaching post - reading to improve reading comprehension ability of the eleventh grade students at Nhu Xuan II high school”

With the thesis I hope that I will contribute my little experience to help

my students like and improve their reading skill in the next courses

1.2 Aims of the study.

The aim of the research is to help improve reading comprehension ability

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of the eleventh grade students at Nhu Xuan II high school by applying mindmapping technique.

To achieve the above aim, the present research attempts to set thefollowing objectives:

- To help students be motivated and more interested in post-reading stage

in reading lessons

- To help students improve their reading skill and work effectively in thereading lessons

1.3 Objects of the study.

The subjects chosen for the research include 36 students in class 11A atNhu Xuan II High School (to compare with 36 students in class 11B not appliedthe method) The research was carried out during the reading lessons of the twoterms of the academic year 2021 – 2022 at Nhu Xuan II High School

1.4 Methods of the study.

The method employed in the study is action research, in which mindmapping technique would be used directly in the classes that I am teaching sothat I can have the clearest class observation Besides, both comparison andanalysis methods are applied into this research

These methods are cooperative to each other to see students’ generalattitudes towards mind mapping technique, their perception on the effectiveness

of mind mapping technique on their reading levels as well as reading skill andthe effects of mind mapping technique on their reading scores

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2 CONTENTS 2.1 Theoretical background

Mind maps are an invention of Tony Buzan who is also known as theMaster of Memory

It is a simple system of learning which aids understanding of the subjectmatter through concepts and connections

Mind mapping is a technique that can increase one’s ability in note taking

It not only includes the key words of information or ideas but also implementsthe use of colors and drawing, thus mind mapping project become fun andenjoyable

A mind map is a diagram, a graphic organizer that helps students visualizewhat they are reading and detect connections between individual pieces ofinformation Mind mapping provides a clear overview of a topic It enablesstudents to see the bigger picture and enhances memory because mind mapsencourage the use of single keywords instead of whole sentences, students areable to review core concepts and ideas at a glance

The use of mind maps in class is useful when working on all sorts ofskills In teaching English in general and reading comprehension in particular,especially in post – reading, mind mapping can make students recall the newwords and background knowledge that they have just learned in pre- and while -reading By using mind maps, students will be stimulated to draw their summary

of the reading text by their own way with colors, images which helps themremember the new words and the main ideas of the text easily Moreover,teachers can use this technique to help students develop their presentationcapabilities for the next period: speaking lesson

2.2 Practical background

I began teaching class 11A with 36 students when they were at grade 10

in the the academic year 2020-2021 At that time I taught reading skill based onthe design of the textbook with three stages: pre-, while- and post - stage andsometimes four stages consisting warm-up I didn't change anything in thetextbook In post -reading stage, I followed the task in the textbook too and Isaw clearly that my students were not really interested in doing it They thoughtthat completing the tasks in while – reading was enough in readingcomprehension In addition, when I asked them to tell the main theme of thereading and main ideas mentioned in the text, many of them could not answer orhave the correct answer

From the fact as mentioned above, when being in charge of teaching them

in the the academic year 2021-2022, I think I need to redesign the exercise inpost-reading with a more interesting activity to promote students' readingcomprehension This activity should be moderate, not too difficult or too easy to

do in the limited time (often from 10 to 15 minutes) so that they will be excitedand eager to do it And it’s more important that through this activity, studentscan have a brief look about what they have learned and known about thereading An what is more, they can improve their reading comprehension day by

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2.3 The method: Using mind mapping technique in teaching post-reading

to help students be motivated and improve their reading comprehension ability.

2.3.1 Steps to make mind mapping implementation in the classroom easy and effective.

Before applying the use of mind mapping in teaching post - reading toencourage students to use a mind map to create an overview of the reading text,teachers should use the follow steps to make mind mapping implementation inthe classroom easy and effective:

- Teach students how to make a mind map.

+ Start with a blank sheet of paper

+ Write down the main topic or the keyword at the centre of the page.This can also be a diagram or image of the central topic that you are studying

+ From the central figure or keyword, draw branches radiating in differentdirections to signify subheadings

+ Add sub – branches radiating from these branches to show subheadings

- Give students the freedom to create their own mind maps.

By making a mind map with their own way, students can easily rememberthe information they draw

- Help students make their mind maps if they can not do by themselves.

With good students, they can create a mind map about what they havealready read easily basing on the tasks done in while – reading With students atlow and medium level who can not create a mind map by themselves, teachersshould prepare a list of questions that help them dig into the details by mappingout different arms of the map

- Have students share their mind maps with their friends and teachers

If students share their mind maps with their friends and teachers, they canprovide feedback for improvements

- Give general feedback on students’ work and provide a mind map example prepared about the reading text in the lesson if necessary.

Giving feedback to help students know how well they performed and try

to improve their work basing on the teacher’s sample

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- Encourage students to create such a mind map for each book, article or reading text they read, and collect all maps in a designed folder they can refer back to.

Through practicing mind mapping frequently, students habitually provide

an overview for any article or text they meet so that they can collect new wordsand information about the topic From this habit, their vocabulary andknowledge will be improved quickly

- Encourage students to use their mind maps to give a brief presentation about the reading text they learned.

Using a mind map to present the main content of a reading text is a goodway to help students retell the new words and main ideas about what theyremember from their lesson Teachers should encourage students to do this iftime is allowed or for checking old lesson in the next period

2.3.2 Some examples about using mind mapping in post-reading grade 11 + Unit 1: FRIENDSHIP

Suggested questions for helping students make their mind maps to summarize the main ideas of the reading text:

- What is the passage mainly about?

- How many qualities for a friendship to be close and lasting? What arethey?

- Why is each quality necessary and important to true friendship?

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Suggested mind map:

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+ Unit 4: VOLUNTEER WORK

Suggested questions for teaching post -reading by using mind mapping technique:

- What is the passage mainly about?

- Who mentioned in the reading take part in volunteer work in the USA?

- Where do they often do volunteer work?

- Whom do volunteers often help?

- What activities do they often do as volunteer work?

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Suggested mind map:

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+ Unit 7: WORLD POPULATION

Suggested questions that teachers can use to teach post – reading with mind mapping technique:

- What is the passage mainly about?

- How is the population of the world changing?

- What about the resources to support this population?

- What are the reasons for this rapid growth of the world population?

- What is the responsibility of governments and international

organizations?

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Suggested mind map:

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+ Unit 8: CELEBRATIONS

Suggested questions that teachers can use to teach post – reading with mind mapping technique:

- What is the passage mainly about? - When is Tet?

- How long is Tet nowadays compared with it in the past? - What are the main activities before and during Tet?

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+ Unit 11: SOURCES OF ENERGY

Suggested questions that teachers can use to teach post – reading with mind mapping technique:

- What is the reading text mainly about?

- How many sources of energy are mentioned in the text? What are they?

- What is our major source of energy?

- What are alternative sources of energy?

- What are the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative source of energy?

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Suggested mind map:

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2.4 Results after applying the method

After the school year 2021 - 2022 applying the method with 36 students inclass 11A in reading lessons with the reading texts given in English 11 textbook,

I saw my students’ positive attitude and results They seemed to be moreinterested in learning the lesson They were also more active and eager to do thetask because they had chances to create their thoughts and understanding aboutthe reading text By making a mind map, students also reviewed the new wordsthey met in the text and had a brief note about the text We had a good lesson -for both students and the teacher

In order to assess the effectiveness of this method in teaching readingskill, I carried out a survey to test 36 students’ attitude and results in class 11Abefore and after I applied the method To make a comparison, I also did a survey

to 38 students (at the same level) in class 11B without applying the method.Their attitude and results towards the implementation of mind mappingtechnique in post-reading of reading lessons were shown as follows:

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Table 1: The results of students’ interests towards the application of mind mapping technique in post-reading stage:

Class The use of

mind mapping technique

How much they like post-reading stage

Very much Not very

Class The use of

mind mapping technique

Students’ abilities in remembering the new words and main ideas of the reading text

Number (%) Number (%) Number (%)11B

Before 3 8,3 16 44,

4

17 47,

3After 10 27,

As can be seen from the two tables above, the implementation of mind

mapping technique in teaching reading skill has brought positive impact onstudents’ learning attitude Before using this method, most of my students couldtraditionally complete all the tasks in the textbook with the instruction or helpfrom their teacher However, they easily forgot the vocabulary, the topic as well

as the main ideas of the lesson To a certain extent, after each lesson, studentsseemed to know the floating part in an “ice berg”, not really understand thedeeply sinked part in the lesson, in other word, it is the core value of the lesson.Moreover, the implementation of mind mapping technique also helped mystudents enhance their reading comprehension ability day by day After eachlesson, they seemed to be more and more interested and confident in makingtheir own mind map for the reading text Moreover, their ability of rememberingthe vocabulary as well as the main content of the reading was improved andbecame beter and better

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