luận văn thạc sĩ using mind maps to improve the students reading skills at dong nai technology university

Trang 1 NGUYỄN HOÀNG PHIUSING MIND-MAPS TO IMPROVE THESTUDENTS’ READING SKILLS AT DONGNAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITYMA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE Trang 2 VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

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NGUYỄN HOÀNG PHI

USING MIND-MAPS TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HANOI, 2019

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VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

NGUYỄN HOÀNG PHI

USING MIND-MAPS TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

Field: English Language Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Bùi Thị Thục Quyên, Ph.D.

HANOI, 2019

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STUDENT’S READING SKILLS AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY” is my own study All statements in this thesis which are not

my own will be shown in the list of references.

Author’s signature

Nguyễn Hoàng Phi

APPROVED BY Suppervisor

Bùi Thị Thục Quyên, Ph.D

Date: ……….

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First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Bùi Thị Thục Quyên, Ph.D who gave me precious guidance, assistance and encouragement during the time of conducting this study.

I also want to express my sincere thanks to all my students at Dong Nai Technology University for their contribution in completion this research.

Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my beloved family for supporting me during the time of my study.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Research Methods 4

1.7 Structure of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Theoretical review 6

2.1.1 Reading 6

2.1.2 Reading skills 9

2.1.3 The mind map technique 13

2.2 Previous studies 18

2.3 Chapter summary 20

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 The research settings 22

3.2 Research Design 22

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3.3 Population and Sample 23

3.4 Data collection instruments 24

3.4.1 Test 24

3.4.2 Questionnaire 25

3.5 Data analysis procedures 25

3.5.1 The analysis of test 25

3.5.2 The analysis of questionnaire 26

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 27

4.1 Data analysis of Test 27

4.1.1 Data description 27

4.1.2 Data Analysis 34

4.2 Analysis of Questionnaire 39

4.3 Discussion 59

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 62

5.1 Recapitulation 62

5.1 Concluding Remarks 62

5.3 Implications 63

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 63

REFERENCES 65

1 Pre-test V

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This is an experimental research about reading skills at Dong Nai Technology University Its objective are to find out students’ perception about reading and mind maps as well as find out whether mind maps can help students in improving their reading skills or not The data were collected through test and questionnaire The test included pre-test and post-test were delivered before and after the experimental teaching for both control class and experimental class The questionnaire was delivered only to experimental class before and after the treatment The results of this study showed that mind maps technique really helps in improving the students’ reading skills.

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1.1.1: The results of pre-test score 29

Table 4.1.1.2: The results of post-test score 31

Table 4.1.1.3: The results of gained score 34

Table 4.1.2.1: The t-test of Pre-test 345

Table 4.1.2.2: The t-test of Post-test 347

Table 4.1.2.3: The t-test of Gained scores 348

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.2.1.1: Reading habit before the experimental teaching 39

Figure 4.2.1.2: Reading habit after the experimental teaching Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 4.2.2.1: Student’s excitement before the treatment 41

Figure 4.2.2.2: Student’s excitement after the treatmentError! Bookmark not defined. Figure 4.2.3.1: Reading’s importance before the experimental teaching 42

Figure 4.2.3.2: Reading’s importance after the experimental teaching Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 4.2.4.1: Getting main idea before the treatment 44

Figure 4.2.4.2: Getting main idea after the treatment Error! Bookmark not defined.5 Figure 4.2.5.1: Comprehension ability before the treatment 45

Figure 4.2.5.2: Comprehension ability after the treatment Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 4.2.6.1: Reviewing the material habit before the treatment 47

Figure 4.2.6.2: Reviewing the material habit after the treatment 48

Figure 4.2.7.1: Before applying Mind maps 48

Figure 4.2.7.1: After applying Mind maps 49

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Figure 4.2.8.1: Color and images effectiveness before the treatment 50 Figure 4.2.8.2: Color and images effectiveness after the treatment 51 Figure 4.2.9.1: Information organizing before the experimental teaching 51

Figure 4.2.9.1: Information organizing after the experimental teaching Error!

Bookmark not defined.

Figure 4.2.10.1: Vocabulary improvement before the experimental teaching 53 Figure 4.2.10.2: Vocabulary improvement after the experimental teaching

Error! Bookmark not defined.

Figure 4.2.11.1: Saving time opinion before the treatment 54

Figure 4.2.11.2: Saving time opinion after the treatmentError! Bookmark not

defined.

Figure 4.2.12.1: Getting genaral idea ability before the treatment 56

Figure 4.2.12.2: Getting genaral idea ability after the treatment Error!

Bookmark not defined.

Figure 4.2.13.1: Confident feeling before the experimental teaching 58

Figure 4.2.13.2: Confident feeling after the experimental teaching Error!

Bookmark not defined.9

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

English is an international language and it plays an important role in our daily life nowadays In Vietnam, English is used as a foreign language and it

is taught as a compulsory subject at all levels of educational system from kindergarten to university.

As we know, there are four skills taught in English teaching and learning process They are reading, speaking, listening and writing Reading is one of the essential skills that need to be mastered when learning English as Nunan (2003, p.69) states that “Reading is an essential skill for learners of English as

a second language For most of these learners it is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success not only in learning English, but also in learning in any content class where reading in English is required With strengthened reading skills, learners will make greater progress and development in all other areas of learning”.

In addition, reading is not an easy skill to master because it cannot be separated from comprehension If the learners do not understand the text, they cannot achieve the information from the text they read The reading activity requires the learners’ knowledge in identifying the structure and the main topic of the text.

Moreover, most of the best books are written in English, to reach the useful information, students need to be good at English to comprehend Especially, they need to develop their reading skills to get the knowledge easily.

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After three years of teaching at Dong Nai Technology University, the researcher realized that the reading skills of the students here are still low Most of them supposed that the reading lessons are the most boring part in English They are not very patient with the texts, especially the long texts The first things they do when are asked to do a reading task is looking up all the new words to make sure that they understand the meaning of all words and doing the tasks then It often takes them a lot of time to do such a task So they usually feel bored with the texts or even they fear for reading texts.

Based on the facts above, the researcher would like to find a better way

to make students more interested and motivated in reading activity Thus, they can comprehend the text easily and gradually improve their skills in reading.

In this case, the researcher chooses mind maps technique because when using mind maps, the learners can speed up their think rapidly and develop their think quickly Moreover, mind maps gives easy way for the students to plan, communicate, be creative, arrange, and explain the ideas quickly It also facilitates the students to understand a complicated system or structure because mind map delivers the students to be focused on the ideas (Indrayani, 2014).

Therefore, the researcher conducts this study to mainly find out whether mind maps technique have an effect on improving the reading skills of the students at Dong Nai technology or not because their skills of reading are quite low.

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1.2 Aims of the study

In line with the purposes of this study is to find out whether mind-maps have any effectiveness on improving the reading skills on the students The main aim of this study is to find out the attitude of the students toward reading and mind maps technique as well as to explore whether the mind map technique can improve the students’ results in reading tests at Dong Nai Technology University.

1.3 Research questions

Based on the main objectives, this research is mainly answer for the following questions:

skills of students at Dong Nai Technology University?

technique?

1.4 Scope of the study

The focus of this study is on using mind maps to improve the students’ reading skills at Dong Nai Technology University After teaching at this university for more than 3 years the researcher recognized that the students usually have difficulties in learning English, especially their reading skills They are not very interested in reading lessons, they often get bored with long reading text since they do not really understand what the text about They may not have sufficient vocabularies to understand the text or reading strategy to comprehend it easily So the researcher would like to find a good way to help them overcome those problems.

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The subjects of this study are 61 second year students come from two classes that the researcher is teaching They are going to participate in doing the test and respond to the survey questionnaire.

1.5 Significance of the study

At Dong Nai Technology University, the students have to self-study a lot

to do the assignment that the lectures gave They have to read books from the library or on the internet As mentioned before, the reading skills of the students at this university are quite low so this study was expected to provide some advantages for both students and teachers in teaching and learning process.

For the students, this study is hoped that it would figure out the benefit of mind maps to help the students feel more interested and active in reading classroom activity Therefrom, they can take the most advantages of mind maps technique to motivate themselves in joining the teaching and learning process so that they can improve their reading skills to comprehend the text easier.

To the teachers, this research is expected to be helpful in improving the teachers’ teaching skills in order to create an exciting atmosphere during the class time to gain the best results of reading teaching and learning activity.

1.6 Research Methods

This study was an experimental research The data were collected by means of test (pre-test and post-test) and questionnaire The details would be presented in the Chapter 3.

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1.7 Structure of the study

The study will be divided into five chapters:

o Chapter 1: Consisted of rationales, aims, research questions, scope, the significance, the methods and the structure of the study.

mind mapping technique and the previous studies.

design, population and sample, data collection instruments and data analysis procedures.

from test, questionnaire and discussions.

summary, limitation and recommendations for further study.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical review.

2.1.1 Reading

2.1.1.1 Definition

As Nunan (2003) stated that reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning The goal of reading is comprehension He also defined two vital elements of reading activity: Strategy and fluency.

According to him, strategic reading is defined as the ability of the reader to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading Good readers would know what to do when they faced difficulties in reading Fluent reading is the ability to read at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension Meaning does not rest in the reader nor does it rest

in the text The reader’s background knowledge integrates with the text to create the meaning.

He emphasized “the text, the reader, fluency, and strategies combined together define the act of reading.” Nunan (2003, p.68).

According to Grabe and Stoller (2011, p.3), “Reading is the ability to

draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately.” It means that reading activity is the interaction between the

readers and the printed papers The readers try to understand what the printed papers mean.

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In another book of Grabe (2009, p.14) “Reading in a second

language-moving from theory to practice” he cited some definitions of reading as the

following:

“Reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information

encoded in language form via the medium of print” or “Comprehension occurs when the reader extracts and integrates various information from the text and combines it with what is already known”.

Rubin (1982) supposed that reading is the bringing of meaning to and getting of meaning from the printed page It means that reading is an active activity, the readers have to do something to get the meaning of the text.

Nuttall (2005) also agreed with the role of the reader in reading activity when he stated about the meaning of the text According to him, it is not lying

in the text waiting to be passively absorbed On the contrary, the reader is actively involved and often has to work to get the meaning out.

Harmer (2007) as cited by Indrayani (2014, p.16) stated that reading is useful for language acquisition; the more the students read, the better they get

at it In addition, reading also has positive effect on students’ vocabulary knowledge, on their spelling, and on their writing Reading is the skill or activity of getting information from books It is an important skill for learners Hence, who is not engaged in reading activity, they will miss new information.

Although there are various definitions of reading, the researcher

follows the definition of Grabe & Stoller “Reading is the ability to draw

meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately.”

After reading, the learners must comprehend what the paper mean.

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2.1.1.2 Types of classroom reading performance

It is stated by Brown (2001, p 312): “Variety of reading performance

in the language classroom is derived more from variety of the texts to which you can expose to students than from the variety from overt types of

performance There are two types of reading performance: oral reading and

certain short segment of a reading passage.

However, this oral reading still has some disadvantages as stated by Brown (2001, p.132)

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 Oral reading is not a very authentic language activity

silently rehearsing the next paragraph!)

mere recitation.

2) Silent reading

According to Brown (2001, p.312), silent reading may be categorized into intensive and extensive reading “Intensive reading the students mainly focus on the linguistic or the semantic details of a passage Intensive reading calls students’ attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationship, and the like.”

While “extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding of a usually somewhat longer text (book, long article, or essay, etc.) Most extensive reading is performed outside of the class time.” Brown (2001, p.313)

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a) Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes and orthographic patterns of English

their significance

(e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.

grammatical forms

g Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in signaling the relationship between and among clauses.

The list of macro skills are presented below:

a Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their significance for interpretation.

b Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according to form and purpose.

c Infer context that is not explicit by using background knowledge.

d Infer links and connections between events, ideas, etc., deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as main idea, supporting

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idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification.

e Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.

f Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context

of the appropriate cultural schemata.

g Develop and use a battery of reading strategies such as scanning and skimming, detecting discourse makers, guessing the meaning of words from context, and activating schemata for the interpretation of text There are also another expert proposes reading skills That is Mikulecky (1990) as cited by Suriyani (2014, p.12) The details can be seen in the following table:

glance.

about by looking at the text a quick once over.

context of the text will be.

read.

Students are able to find out the specific

very rapidly.

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and can show the evidence that supports their evidence

inference.

Guessing the meaning of

Students are able to guess the meaning of unknown words from the

unknown word from the context.

context

Students are able to process a text rapidly at

it.

Students are able to paraphrase the text to help

words.

Students are able to shorten the text by

leaving out details.

Students are able to put together the

and induce new or additional ideas.

Students are able to judge the accuracy of the

knows and distinguish facts or opinions.

the brain to process the input.

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Tiêu đề	Using Mind Maps to Improve Students' Reading Skills at Dong Nai Technology University
Tác giả	Nguyễn Hoàng Phi
Người hướng dẫn	Bùi Thị Thục Quyễn, Ph.D.
Trường học	Dong Nai Technology University
Chuyên ngành	English Language
Thể loại	thesis
Năm xuất bản	2019
Thành phố	Hanoi

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Số trang	225
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