The Effects Of Mind-Mapping On The 6Th Graders’ Vocabulary Retention - An Action Research Project At Thanh My Junior High School.pdf

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TRẦN THỊ VÂN NGA THE EFECTS OF MIND MAPPING ON 6TH GRADERS’ VOCA[.]

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

TRẦN THỊ VÂN NGA

THE EFECTS OF MIND-MAPPING ON 6THGRADERS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT THANH MY

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

( Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của việc sử dụng bản đồ tư duy đến khả năng nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 6, trường THCS Thanh Mỹ )

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching MethodologyCode: 60140111

HANOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

TRẦN THỊ VÂN NGA

THE EFECTS OF MIND-MAPPING ON 6THGRADERS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT THANH MY

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

( Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của việc sử dụng bản đồ tư duy đến khả năng nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 6, trường THCS Thanh Mỹ )

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching MethodologyCode: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr NGUYỄN VĂN TRÀO

HANOI - 2016

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare this thesis is the result of my own research and that the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or part, been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution

Hanoi, October 2016

Trần Thị vân Nga

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my special gratitude to my advisor, Mr.Nguyen Van Trao, Assoc.Prof.Dr for his patience in guiding and supervising

me during the process of this thesis writing

My special thanks go to my colleagues from Thanh My Junior high school for their cooperation and support during this study

The writer would also like to express appreciation to the staff menbers and the teachers of post-graduate department of University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National University for giving me favourable to completing the thesis

Finally I would like to dedicate my big appreciations to my family who have support me a lot during my study

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ABSTRACT

The aims of this research are to find out the effects of mind-mapping on

6th graders‟ vocabulary retention at Thanh My junior high school To limit the aspects to be analyzed in this study, I formulate two research questions: (1) To what extends does the use of mind-mapping affect the students‟ vocabulary retention? (2) What are the students‟ attitudes toward vocabulary learning?

In the study, I carried out an action research with the 6A1 students of Thanh My junior high school Data of this study were obtained from the results

of questionnaires and from pre-test and post-test results Two instruments for collecting the data were (1) questionnaires toward vocabulary learning before and after applying the mind -mapping in teaching vocabulary and (2) the pre-test and post- test

The findings of the data analysis showed that (1) Mind-mapping can help the students to improve their abilities in memorizing English vocabulary items; (2) the students had positive attitudes toward the mind-mapping Mind-mapping is hoped to be a promising technique to teach and learn vocabulary

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I.LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

1.Table 1: Research schedule

2.Table 2: Result of questionnaire 1

3 Table 3: The causes of the problems encountered by the 6A1 class students 4.Table 4: The activities applied in the study

5.Table 5: Relationship between causes of the problems and the activities

6 Result of questionnaire 2

II LIST OF FIGURES

Figure I: First step in creating mind-mapping: „drawing a central image‟

Figure II: Second step in creating mind mapping: „drawing main branches‟

Figure III:Third step in creating mind mapping: „drawing second branch‟ Figure IV: Environment diagram

Figure V: Sports and games diagram

Figure VI: Completing the mind-mapping diagram

II LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Result of the pre-test

Chart 2: Result of the post-test

Chart 3: Comparison between the pre-test anhd the post-test

Chapter III Research findings 30

3.1.1.Data from questionnaire 1 30 3.1.2.Result of the pre-test 32 3.1.3.Identification of causes of the problems 33

3.2.1 Determining the actions 33 3.2.2.Relationship between the causes of the problems and the action 34 3.2.3.The implememtation of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning 37

3.3.1 Result of questionnaire 2 39 3.3.Result of the post-test 40

2 Limitations of the study 48

3 Suggestions for further study 48

Vocabulary is one of the language components that play a significant part in the development of the language skills In the sixth grade, building up a useful vocabulary

is important to the teaching of a foreign language (Cameron, 2001: 72) It shows that English materials for sixth grade students focus on enriching the students‟ vocabulary

To have a good memorization on vocabulary, the students are expected to be able to use the language successfully and efficiently including using it to develop their language skills in class activities

Nevertheless, learning English vocabulary is challenging for the sixth grade students at Thanh My Junior High School (TMJHS) After observing and conducting

an interview at the school, the teacher found that there were two problems that involved the learning English vocabulary of the TMJHS Firstly, the students felt difficult to memorize and recall English vocabulary items including their pronunciation, their spelling and especially their meaning The students usually cannot remember the words for long and recall them when needed Secondly, the teaching technique was not very interesting and motivating The students got bored with the way of teaching the teacher used The teacher often asked the students to find the new words then he or she explained the meaning of the words After that the students had

to write the list of the new words in their notebook and learn them by heart

To learn English vocabulary, memorization is very important In mastering English vocabulary, the students do not only need to learn a lot of English words but also to remember them (Thornbury, 2002: 23) Accordingly, low proficiency makes students find an obstacle in acquiring the language knowledge and taking part in class activities It is clear that they could not communicate well because they lack words they need

One of the causes of the students‟ low vocabulary retention is likely their learning habits The ways they learn new words are various: such as writing down

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words on a piece of paper, learning words by heart, heavily depending on wordlists in textbook, passively waiting for teacher‟s explanation for new words These ways do not seem to be effective and make them bored with learning vocabulary So as to memorize new items, students often use rote memorization techniques As some of the students said, they used to write down the words for several times, to speak aloud the words and to make sentences with words They admitted that they could not recall most of the words they had learnt before because there were no clues It can be seen that the students‟ bad memory is due to the lack of appropriate vocabulary learning technique They are not given different ways of learning vocabulary and are not encouraged to use them as a strategy of learning vocabulary Therefore, learning new words is not very enjoyable for the learners

This study aims to help the students to be more successful in English

vocabulary retention and to motivate them in learning words For this purpose,

mind-mapping is used as a technique to improve the students’ vocabulary retention and motivate them in learning vocabulary

2 Aims of the study

The aims of this study are to find the way to improve vocabulary retention of the 6A1 students of TMJHS and to motivate them in learning English vocabulary

3 Research questions

To obtain the stated aims, the following research questions are formulated:

(1) To what extent does the use of mind-mapping affect the students‟ vocabulary retention?

(2) What are the students‟ attitudes toward vocabulary learning?

4 Scope of the Study

In this study, the researcher uses one class and the research is done at the sixth grade of Thanh My junior high school The researcher hopes that the findings of this study will give benefits and contribution for some parties Firstly, for the English teachers, the results of the study can be applied for the betterment of the English teaching and learning process especially in presenting English vocabulary to the students The study will be considered as the first step to improve the effectiveness of the teaching learning process by using mind-mapping to introduce lesson materials at TMJHS Secondly, for the sixth grade of TMJHS students, they are expected to enjoy learning vocabulary with mind-mapping The use of mind-mapping as the technique in learning English vocabulary can be considered as an effective way of note-taking to

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memorize English words easily The last is for other researchers The study can give general knowledge of materials that can be done for research studies in relation to vocabulary learning in the secondary level of education

5 Design of the study

The thesis consists of three main parts:

Part A: Introduction introduces the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the

scope and the design of the study

Part B: Development is divided into 3 chapters

Chapter 1: Literature Review presents theories related to vocabulary, mind-mapping

Previous studies on mind-mapping are also reviewed

Chapter 2: Methodology presents the research methods, the setting of the study, the

participants, the research data and the research procedures

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion presents the analysis of initial collected data to

determine the problems, then the action plan The analysis of post-treatment data was then presented along with which the discussions were given

Part C: Conclusion provides the pedagogical implications, some limitations of the

study and suggestions for future study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHARPER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Vocabulary

1.1.1 Vocabulary definition

McCarthy (1990: 32) defined vocabulary as words in a specific language or freestanding items of language that have meaning According to Penny Ur (1996: 122) vocabulary is defined roughly as “the words we teach in the foreign language” She also stated that “a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of two or three words (e.g., bus stop, father -in-law), and multi-word idioms (e.g., call it a day)”

As can be seen, vocabulary is defined in many different ways It refers to words or

a group of words in a language and knowledge of words regarding its meanings, forms, and how to use it correctly in the context In this study, vocabulary refers to the words, compounds and phases in a language that could be use to exchange information in oral and written communication

1.1.2 The importance of vocabulary

Vocabulary plays a significant role in language learning activities It consists of all the words that we usually used when the other language skills are studied Learning vocabulary does not mean learning word isolation We should learn words in context because a word may have different meanings in different contexts According to French (1983: 1), the meaning of the word will be dependent on the context itself and word in isolation usually does not associate with the intended meaning The English words and their meaning should not be useful unless we know how to organize the words meaningfully in a sentence However, vocabulary growth depends on the students‟ experiences Words must match with the meaning so as to be useful for communication Vocabulary has an important role in mastering a language Whoever wants to master well

a language needs to have good vocabulary retention Memorizing vocabulary is the first step to master English well Therefore the students will have problems in mastering English when lacking the vocabulary They find it hard to express their idea clearly and also they could not understand the teacher‟s explanation because they do not know the meaning of words used by the teacher Moreover, they have difficulties in understanding books, newspapers, magazines written in English, or even in understanding the radio

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broadcast or television programs So the retention of a great number of vocabularies is necessary to use English In other words, vocabulary as an important tool helps the students to understand when they listen or read something in English Harmer (1991: 23) said that we should ensure that our students memorize the vocabulary they need for their level and that they can recall them when needed The vocabulary is one of the language aspects along with grammar and pronunciation which is considered a tool to support the ability to communicate in English

1.1.3 Kinds of vocabulary

In vocabulary learning, the words to be learned can be classified into two categories which are content words and function words Content words carry a lexical meaning, and function words cover grammatical meaning In language, to understand functions of words students can arrange words in a correct sentence and analyze the sentence (Cameron 2001: 82) Based on the meaning of words, content words are the word classes

of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs In teaching content words, the teacher can explain the words and their meanings in a direct and explicit way (Cameron 2001: 82) On the other hand, function words are the classes of articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and pronouns In teaching function words, the teacher teaches words incidentally and uses them continuously in a range of different discourse contexts (Cameron, 2001)

However, according to Nation (2001: 78), groups of English vocabulary have been categorized by frequency of overall occurrence in order to determine which words are most necessary for students to learn There are two common divisions: high-frequency words and low-frequency words High-frequency words which, include function words and content words, account for a very large proportion of the running words in spoken and written texts and occur in all kinds of uses of the language Low-frequency words cover over 5 percent of the words in an academic text In fact, English students try their best to master a large amount of vocabulary Based on the learners‟ English level and the discussed issue, vocabulary and its compounds and idioms focused in the present study will be chosen basing on frequency and usefulness to the need of the learners

1.1.4 Vocabulary teaching

According to Thornbury (2004), vocabulary is usually a problem of memorizing

In order to teach it effectively, it is important for the teacher to know how to make students remember words and store them in students‟ mind for long-term

Therefore, the language teacher plays an important role in helping their students determine the easiest way to convey new words into the already existing web of the mental lexicon (Thornbury, 2004) In addition, it is necessary for the students to acquire the capacity to store the information for long-term

Research into memory of Thornbury (2004) suggests principles to support the process of permanent remembering In this research, he listed some techniques to make vocabulary teaching effective

The first technique is repetition for example in reading Moreover, he also focuses

on the importance of use and retrieval of the new words: eg, use the new words to complete the sentences

Furthermore, Thornburry thinks that the presentation of new words should be divided into separated sequences that are followed by repeated revision later in the next sections or periods

Motivation, which is another helpful element, is closely linked with attention Thornburry states that an arousal (a very high degree of attention) seems to relate with improved recall

Finally, according to Thornburry (2004), visualization of a picture for a new vocabulary item or link an abstract word with several metal images should be done by the teacher Images can help students draw themselves the best outcomes Thornburry claims one more time that the students‟ own images give the best influence on memorizing

To concern this problem, Gairns and Redman (1986) emphasized the significance

of activities in the classroom They thought that the activities need to be presented in detail so information is more likely to be remembered in long-term memory Moreover, they together Thornburry presented the positive influence of imaging, repetition…They also suggest a good technique “word diagram” to support retention which might be useful for “storage of lexis”

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Traditionally, students have not been taught vocabulary in a particular lesson but along with lessons of listening, speaking, reading or writing Some learners make a list then put into it the meaning of new words in their mother tongue without any real context Learners often look up the meaning of the words in the dictionary or ask the teacher to

translate the words and try to learn them by heart There are some other traditional

techniques such as illustration, mime…For those techniques, the learners are usually passive and the lessons center on the teachers Consequently, the students usually have difficulties in memorizing and recalling the words

The current trends in teaching vocabulary stress on helping learners memorizing the words that they have learn and relate words with others or in different contexts Learners should not learn words in isolation (Harmer, 1991)

Mind-mapping is considered as an example of current trends in teaching vocabulary Mind-mapping is a visual organizer that promotes vocabulary development Mind-mapping is a creative note-taking strategy which makes us easy to memorize the information Buzan (2009) thinks that mind-mapping is a powerful technique graphic, which provides universal key to unlock the potential of brain Mind-mapping technique imitates the thinking process, makes it possible for us to move from one topic to another topic back and forth A pattern with pictures, color, symbol not only makes the learners understand the vocabulary knowledge but also makes them feel good and enjoyable and it can attract them to pay attention to the vocabulary knowledge then retain the words In contrast with the traditional technique, the current ones are considered the positive change for a new teaching and learning process The teachers are now not only the knowledge provider but also the initiator, the guider and the controller The students also get engaged with the learning process They could discuss and interact with their teachers, exchange information with their classmates

Despite the advantages it can bring, mind-mapping exhibits some limitations Mind-mapping can give the danger of introducing closely related new vocabulary items at the same time Learners find troubles in relation with too many vocabulary items This makes learners‟ task more difficult

1.1.5 Vocabulary retention

1.1.5.1 Vocabulary retention

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The Longman dictionary defines retention in some way It is also the condition of being retained or the act of retaining It is the power and capacity of retaining and ability

to recognize or recall what has been experienced or learned

According to Oxford dictionary, vocabulary retention is the fact of keeping information in one‟s memory or is the power or capacity of holding and absorbing a certain number of words in their memory Vocabulary retention can refer to short-term memory and long-term memory retention

1.1.5.2 Short-term and long-term memory

Memory is divided into short-term and long-term memory base on duration of memory retention and capacity of recalling information after the original input Long-term memory is used to retain information in anything but the immediate future Short-term memory is to store or keep information while it is being processed The object of vocabulary learning is to transfer the lexical information from the short-term memory to the more permanent long-term memory (Schmitt, 2000) However, we can not distinguish clearly short-term retention and long-term retention Information entering short-term memory may pass quite effortlessly into long-term memory, and some learners may find repetition a very effective way of transferring information into long-term memory

a long time They do not usually succeed in putting the words into long-term memory In the present study, short-term memory is referred as the initial memory of the word meaning at the end of the lessons whereas the number of words can be recalled at the next lessons or at the end of the study is considered as one form long -term memory because the participants in the study have only three forty-five-minute lessons per week

1.5.3 Major factors affecting word retention

There are many reasons why students remember words better than others For example, nature of the words themselves, situations under which the words are learnt, how the words are taught to students and so on affect word retention Gairns and Redman (1986) pointed out that learning new items involves storing them first in the short-term memory and afterwards in the long-term memory, and the long-term memory can hold any amount of information They showed that our “mental lexicon” is highly organized and efficient, and that semantic related items are stored together Another factor affecting

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storage is word frequency because the most frequently used items are easier to retrieve

We can facilitate the leaning process by classifying items of vocabulary in semantic fields such as topics

Besides, retrieval is another difficulty faced by the learners when learning vocabulary According to Nunan (1990) learners can be motivated to develop their own personal learning styles for vocabulary, in such areas as memorizing and retaining new words However, Cater et al (1989) showed that the storage of information does not guarantee its retrieval Learners need to increase the effectiveness of retrieval probability because they need techniques to recall appropriate words for particular occasion Cater also pointed out that the meanings of words are focused rather than on their forms to enhance production, as most of our production has to do with searching for an appropriate meaning to fit the specific situation The most effective is to associate bonds for production, therefore, connect the words with their meanings

1.5.4 Indicators of students’ vocabulary retention

In vocabulary teaching learning, both teacher and student will happy if teaching learning process gains good result Teacher can be said to be successful in his teaching language if the students can mastery four skills in language, they are listening, reading, speaking, and writing, of course vocabulary retention become a basic aspect to support that skills

These are some indicators of vocabulary retention suitable with the school curriculum especially for Junior High School They are:

* Students can identify, understand, grasp and remember the meaning of words in the text

* Students can pronounce the words correctly

* Students can use and write the words correctly, so they can write a composition well

* Students have high score in the vocabulary test

According to (Nation, 2001), vocabulary learning strategies are one part of language learning strategies which in turn are part of general learning strategies Gu, Y (2000, p.85-86) cites some vocabulary learning strategies such as cognitive, metacognitive memory and activation strategies

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Metacognitive strategies entail selective attention and self-initiation strategies Cognitive strategies consist of guessing strategies, skillful use of dictionaries and note-taking strategies Memory strategies are grouped into rehearsal and encoding categories Word lists and repetition are instances of rehearsal strategies Encoding strategies include such strategies as association, imagery, visual, auditory, semantic, and contextual encoding as well as word-structure Activation strategies encompass those strategies through which the learners actually use new words in different contexts

With regard to word meaning and retrieval, many researchers (Hague, 1987; Cater, 1989; Amer, 2002) agreed that mind-mapping is effective for long-term memory and support the recall Therefore, in this study, the mind-mapping technique will be presented

in the next section

1.2 Mind-mapping

1.2.1 Definition of mind-mapping

Mind-mapping is a creative note taking technique in a visualization and graphic form that is used to make people feel easy in entering information into their brains, keeping information in a long term memory and taking it out from their brains easily by engaging imagination and association (Buzan 2006: 6; Buzan 2009: 10) In this definition, there are five important concepts of mind-mapping Firstly, mind-mapping is one of creative note taking techniques used by people to represent ideas into visualization and graphic forms where one idea is connected to another idea by using branches Secondly,

by using mind mapping, it is easy for people to enter the information into their brains Also, mind-mapping supports to put information into their memory Thirdly, mind mapping helps people to keep information in the long term memory Fourthly, information can be easily taken out from their brain when using mind-mapping Finally, mind-mapping involves the use of imagination and association in its application This means that in presenting ideas into mind-mapping diagrams, people enclose imagination stimulators such as pictures, symbols, and colors to present ideas clearly and use association techniques to help them build their senses to the new concepts These new concepts are connected to the known concepts having a tight relationship with the new concepts

According to Buzan (1993: 1) mind-mapping is a great graphic technique, which gives a general key to unlock the potential of brain Mind-mapping technique copies the thinking process, which enable us to move from one topic to another topic back and forth

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Recording the information through symbols, pictures, emotional meaning and colors, exactly the same like our brains process it A pattern which at least consists of symbol, picture, and color will not only help the students to understand the vocabulary knowledge but also makes the students feel interesting, enjoyable In addition, it can encourage the students‟ brain and leads them to have interest in retain vocabulary knowledge

1.2.2 Functions of mind-mapping

According to Buzan (2009:6), mind-mapping have the following functions:

* To make active all parts of brain

* To make people (learners) be focus in the main topic

* To help show the relation among parts of information

* To give a certain illustration in the whole and detail

* To help group the concept and compare it

1.2.3 Characteristics of mind-mapping

The mind map has four essential characteristics:

* The subject of attention is crystallized in a central image

* The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image on branches

* Branches hold a key image word printed on the associated line-details radiate out

1.2.4 Procedures in making a mind-mapping

The procedure in making a mind map consists of seven steps:

* Start from the centre of paper that put horizontally

* Use images for the central ideas

* Use color By coloring, it can improve the energy toward creative thinking

* Connect the main branches to the central image; connect the second and third branches to the first and second branches and so on

* Make a curve line as connected line among branches It will be more interesting Use a key word in each line It useful to give the mind map more energy and flexibility

* Use image is like on central image (Buzan, 2009: 15-16)

1.2.5 Steps to read a mind-mapping

The steps to read a mind map, as follows:

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* Start in the centre that is the focus of the mind map

* Words/images closest to the central image show the main themes of the map This is the start of the radiant hierarchical structure

mind-* Select one main theme and read out from the centre along the branch This provides greater levels of associated detail

* Notice links between the branches

1.2.6 The application of mind-mapping to teaching a foreign language

It is obvious that memory plays an important role in learning and mastering a foreign language In the communicative approach, learners need to retain words and use them effectively

Mind-mapping is a helpful memory technique which makes it easier to remember new materials and to visualize the thinking process, so mind-mapping proves to be a very helpful tool to master a foreign language Although it may cost time to use the technique,

it will eventually speed up the learning process when learners know and understand how

to use it

Casco (2009) suggests some applications of mind-mapping in teaching a foreign language which can be presented as follows:

Engage the learners:

Thanks to the map, the learners know easily what comes next and focus the learners‟ attention on the topic Moreover, the map supports a structure to reduce the learners‟ anxiety when they receive input through listening and reading when they speak

Active prior knowledge

The use of keywords stimulates memory of what the student know about the topic

Encourage the learner to ask questions:

The map shows clearly what the students know and what they do not know about the topic Image and interrogation marks widen the information gap and encourage the learners to find out what they do not know

Scaffold reading and listening comprehension:

The map is an efficient tool to facilitate comprehension because it offers the students a globe view of listening or reading contents Furthermore, the cues showing in the map helps the learner to form inferences as an aid to understanding

Scaffold speaking

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The map helps the learner to organize their thought and speech Thanks to the different linked and cross-referenced elements of the map allow the learner to create a various discourse each time he/she use the map

Assess oral production

The map can assess the students‟ oral production by explaining the link of the maps The learner has to use new structure and lexical items to introduce the content of the map

Scaffold written production

The map can be considered the starting point or the outline to write a paragraph or

an essay on the topic explored

Casco (2009) showed that mind-mapping has a lot of benefits in teaching a foreign language in many aspects consisting of reading, writing, reading skill as well as in motivating the learners and activating the prior knowledge

1.2.7 The Use of Mind Mapping in Vocabulary Learning

In vocabulary learning, mind-mapping can be used in some activities: presenting and reviewing English vocabulary In this study, for example, the English teacher can use mind-mapping diagrams to help the students to understand English words and their meaning, and make the words easier to be memorized (Buzan, 2006: 201)

Mind-mapping is a creative note-taking form which applies visualization and graphic forms To create mind-mapping diagrams, the teacher or students need to follow some steps Below, Tony Buzan presented four steps in creating the mind-mapping diagram as examples of the use of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning (Buzan, 2006: 21-23) However, the teacher can use the software to create the mind-mapping diagram The software which is quite convenient and easy to operate, also help the teacher to save the time

A frame of mind-mapping diagram is made by using color pencils, a piece of plain paper in a landscape position, pictures, key words, and association A frame of the mind-mapping diagram can be made by doing the steps below

To make a frame of mind-mapping, we should use color pencils, paper, pictures, keys words and association in traditional way but in this study I will introduce another

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way to create mind-mapping diagram by using the software iMinMap7 A mind-mapping

can be easily made thanks to the support of this software by doing the following steps Firstly, the teacher draws or chooses a picture as a central image in the middle part

of the paper (Buzan, 2006: 21) The page should be placed in a landscape position Here, the central image is used to describe the main idea or to be more understandable, we should write key words along with the image It is to activate the learners‟ right brains, strengthen the learners‟ memory, and make the learning enjoyable The steps in creating

of “Sports and Games” diagram are presented as an example The first step is shown in Figure I below

Figure I: First step in creating mind-mapping: ‘drawing a central image’

Secondly, the teacher draws curve lines and boxes around the central image to build main branches or basic ordering ideas (Buzan, 2006: 24-25) The main branches have tight relationship with the topic idea Then, a picture or symbol and keyword in every main branch tip is made to strengthen the writing of keywords and make it easy to

be understood (Buzan, 2006: 26).The pictures in the mind-mapping diagram (Figure II) below show the kind of sports as branch keywords

branches are radiated from the main branches The second branches are created to present ideas related to ideas in the main branches At the tips of second branches, the teacher adds pictures or symbols and keyword Figure III below is an example

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Figure II: Second step in creating mind mapping: ‘drawing main branches’

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Figure III: Third step in creating mind mapping: ‘drawing second branch’

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The teacher presents the vocabulary items by using the frame of the mind-mapping diagram which has been prepared and places it on the blackboard or screen of projector The teacher can do some steps before when vocabulary items are introduced The teacher presents materials in mind-mapping based on the sequences of the steps in creating mind-mapping These steps are described below:

First, a frame of the mind-mapping diagram should be placed on the middle of the blackboard or screen to make sure that all students could see the content of the mind-mapping diagram Second, the teacher introduces the lesson topic by using the central image of the mind-mapping diagram (Buzan, 2006: 21) Then, the teacher starts to present English words in the main branches one by one based on the pictures in the branches (Buzan, 2006: 24-25) Then, she asks students to guess a word from each picture Then, she writes the word in the available branch (Ellis, 1993:88) In presenting the words in the second branches, the teacher does the same way as the step in presenting the ones in the main branches After the teacher finishes in completing the mind -mapping diagram, she asks the students to pronounce all or some important words presented in the mind-mapping diagram to check whether or not the students pronounce correctly the words

With the support of color and images illustrated in Figure III, mind-mapping could help students a lot in learning words and organizing the ideas systematically In fact, the students have to usually take a lot of effort to retain words and sentences; whereas by visualizing them, it makes us much easier to memorize and recall the words

1.3 Previous studies

1.3.1 Review of related studies worldwide

Looking for studies related to using mind-mapping technique in teaching language

in the world, the researcher found several ones The study Teaching vocabulary through

MM technique to the ten grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palembang was written by Effendi (2004) Through the analysis of the data collected during the study, the researcher

concluded that it existed a significant difference between the students‟ process in the experimental group (using mind-mapping technique) and the control group (using traditional method) and it can be concluded that mind-mapping is an effective technique

to teach vocabulary to ten grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palebang

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A research on semantic mapping was conducted by DeCarrico (2001) She stated that semantic mapping helps to make conscious about relationship among words in a text and helps to understand deeply by making an associative networks for words The teacher asked the students to draw a diagram of the relationship between particular words from the text chosen She said in her conclusion: “especially at the beginning levels, the teaching of wordlists through word association techniques has proven to be successful way to learn a large number of words in a short period and retain them over time”.(DeCarrico (2001; 288-289)

Beside the above studies, the researcher can find the study related to using

mind-mapping in teaching language The finding of the study Introducing mind map in

comprehension by Moi and Lian (2007) was that students are able to understand and

remember the comprehension passage better in establishing meaningful links, pattern, relationship among concepts and information Visual mapping also help them to develop their thinking skills, sorting of information and ideas, thus developing better understanding in a topic area Students gain confidence in attempting comprehension questions

1.3.2 Review of related studies in Vietnam

It was quiet difficult to look for the studies related to the topic of this study in Vietnam After a long time searching, several related studies–the graduation paper-which

were found, names Using MMs and diagrams to teach vocabulary for the first year

mainstream students, faculty of English language teacher Education by Dang (2011)

She concluded that there was a different achievement on the experimental group and control group, which means, using mind-mappings and diagrams to teach vocabulary can help students have better and longer memory of word items taught Moreover, students after attending a lesson with mind-mapping and diagrams really wanted to have chance to learn with those techniques

Besides, the study The Effects of Semantic Mapping on Vocabulary Memorizing by

Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, Viet Nam pointed that the semantic-mapping was an effective way

of enabling the students to achieve greater progress in vocabulary learning As a result, the students had positive attitudes towards this method The findings were not only consistent with the literature review but also supportive of the research on using the semantic-mapping made before This leads to the implication that the semantic mapping

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can improve high school students‟ vocabulary retention and is promising to vocabulary teaching and learning

Another study Using mind mapping to teach vocabulary to the first year non-

English major students at Bac Giang university of Agriculture and Forestry by Nguyen

Thi Thuy Lan found out the many advantages and effectiveness of using mind-mapping

to teaching vocabulary to language learner First, min-mapping can help students to brainstorm a new topic and activate the prior knowledge Besides, it can be a tool to facilitate students to summarize lesson effectively Last, students can apply mind-mapping to take note during the lessons

In this chapter, the researcher has been concerned with a review of mind-mapping

as a technique model At the first stage, an overview of vocabulary was presented with various aspects of vocabulary: definitions, vocabulary learning and teaching, strategies for vocabulary retention Next, an overview of mind-mapping was exposed with the definition of mind-mapping, the parts and the criteria and the classification of mind-mapping Besides, the implication of mind-mapping in teaching foreign language and vocabulary was also introduced Lastly, some related studies worldwide and in Vietnam were presented with clear description of their findings

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CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY

2.1 Action research

Harmer (2002:334-345) stated that action research is the name given to a series of procedures teachers can engage in their classroom either because they wish to improve aspect of their teaching or because they wish to evaluate the success and or appropriateness of certain activities and procedures

Action research is a form of collective self-reflective inquiry undertaken by participants in a social situation in order to improve the rational and justice of their own social or educational practices, as well as understanding of this practices and the situation

in which the practices are carried out The researcher used classroom action research because of some reasons, firstly: this research is to find out the causes of poor English

Secondly: to find out the extent of using the mind-mapping toward the improvement of students‟ vocabulary retention and thirdly: to describe the process of teaching vocabulary using mind-mapping

This action research study aims to show the effects of mind-mapping on the students‟ vocabulary retention In this process, the researcher worked together with the students to identify and investigate the problem which occurs in the vocabulary learning Then, the researcher applied the suitable solution to solve the problem, carried out the action in the class, and finally, analyzed the effects of mind-mapping on the students‟ vocabulary retention The steps taken in this action research include: identifying the problem, planning the solution, doing the action in the class, and reflecting the use of action done (Burns, 1999: 30)