Using mind mapping technique to improve the 12th graders’ english vocabulary at my hao high school

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Nguyễn Thị Ngừng USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO VOCABULARY AT MY HAO HIGH SCHOOL Field: English Language Cod

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VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Thị Ngừng

USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO

VOCABULARY AT MY HAO HIGH SCHOOL

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Thị Ngừng

USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO

VOCABULARY AT MY HAO HIGH SCHOOL

Field: English Language Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D

HANOI, 2018

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Using mapping Technique to Improve the 12 th Graders’ English Vocabulary at My Hao High School” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of

Mind-Arts in English Language The substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for any other degree to any other universities or institutions

Except where reference has been made in the text, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person

The study reported in this thesis was approved by Graduate Academy of Social Sciences

Author’s Signature

Nguyễn Thị Ngừng

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D

Date:………

Although only one name appears as the author of this work, writing a thesis is indeed a collaborative effort I would like to express my sincere thanks

to the many people who made it possible

First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph D, my supervisor, for his helpful and warm encouragement as well as his insightful comments on my work from the beginning to the end of the study

Next, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the cooperation from the respondents (ninety 12 th graders at My Hao High School) who have been willing to take part in the study I am very grateful to all

of them for providing detailed information for the analysis of the study

In addition, I would like to thank all of the lecturers who gave me interesting lessons, dedication and advice during my study at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences

I also offer my special thanks to my colleagues and friends whose support and encouragement help me to have this thesis accomplished

Last but not least, I must express my gratitude to my family It is their endless love and expectations that have motivated me to complete this thesis I

am immensely thankful for all the assistance they have given me

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the Study 2

1.3 Research Questions 2

1.4 Scope of the Study 3

1.5 Significance of the Study 4

1.6 Research Methods 5

1.7 Structure of the Study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Vocabulary 7

2.1.1 Vocabulary Defined 7

2.1.2 Vocabulary Classified 8

2.1.3 Aspects of Learning Vocabulary 9

2.1.4 Vocabulary Tests Defined 13

2.2 Mind-mapping Technique 15

2.2.1 Mind-mapping Technique Defined 15

2.2.2 Mind-mapping Classified 17

2.3 Mind-mapping Technique in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary 21

2.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Mind-mapping Technique 26

2.5 Previous Research 28

2.5.1 Previous Studies Carried out in Foreign Countries 28

2.5.2 Previous Studies Carried out in Vietnam 29

2.6 Chapter Summary 30

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 32

3.1 Research Setting 32

3.2 Participants 33

3.3 Data Collection Instruments 34

3.3.1 Vocabulary Tests 34

3.3.3 Interviews 36

3.4 Research Design 37

3.5 Research Procedures 40

3.5.1 Phase 1 40

3.5.2 Phase 2 40

3.5.3 Phase 3 41

3.5.4 Phase 4 42

3.6 Data Analysis 43

3.7 Chapter Summary 45

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 46

4.1 Data Analysis from Questionnaires 46

4.2 Data Analysis from Tests 54

4.3 Data Analysis from Interviews 59

4.4 Chapter Summary 63

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 65

5.1 Recapitulation 65

5.2 Concluding Remarks 66

5.3 Implications 69

5.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies 70

5.4.1 Limitations 70

5.4.2 Suggestions for Further Studies 70

REFERENCES 72 APPENDIX 1: Questionnaires I APPENDIX 2: Semi-structured interview questions III APPENDIX 3: Answers for the interviews V APPENDIX 4: The students’ opinions about the teacher’s activities VIII APPENDIX 5: Positive attitude of students toward mind mapping technique X

technique X APPENDIX 7: Pre-test XI

APPENDIX 8: Post-test 1 XIII APPENDIX 9: Post-test 2 XV APPENDIX 10: Mean Score of Tests XVII APPENDIX 11: Ranges of Scores XVIII APPENDIX 1: Key to the Tests XIX APPENDIX 13: Textbook - Unit 6 XX APPENDIX 14: Listening Tapescript XXX APPENDIX 15: Lesson Plan XXXI

ABSTRACT

graders’ attitudes towards mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary teaching and evaluate the effectiveness of mind-mapping technique applied to vocabulary teaching To do so, 90 students who are from two classes 12A2 and 12A8 took part in this study Pre-test, post-tests, a questionnaire and an interview are chosen as the data collection instruments to find out the effect of the intervention In this study, the writer as teacher and observer tried to apply Mind-mapping techniques to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery There are four phrases used in this study namely planning, action, observation and reflection (from phrase 1 to phrase 4 respectively) The results of pre-test and post-tests were used to know the effectiveness of Mind-mapping techniques on students’ vocabulary mastery It was indicated through improvement the mean score of each test The mean score of pre-test was 40.11, that of post-test I was

63 33 whereas the mean score of post-test II was 59.33 The findings of the study reveal that mind-mapping technique is one of the good ways to improve the students’ vocabulary in particular and English teaching and learning in general

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The students’ opinions about the teacher’s activities 47 Table 2: Positive attitudes of the students toward mind-mapping technique 48 Table 3: The students’ positive evaluation on the effectiveness of the mind-

mapping technique 50 Table 4: Mean score of tests 55 Table 5: Comparison of distribution of score range ………58

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: An example of Mind-mapping 15

Figure 2: An example of a network tree 18

Figure 3: An example of an event chain 19

Figure 4: An example of a cycle concept map 20

Figure 5: An example of hayfork 21

Figure 6: An example of thorn fish 21

Figure 7: An example of cluster 21

Figure 8: An example of variation 21

Figure 9: A Mind-mapping about City 25

Figure 10: A Mind-mapping about Animals 26

Figure 11: Procedure of the research 43

Figure 12: It is interesting to learn English vocabulary with mind-mapping technique 49

Figure 13: Students’ opinions on pleasure when learning with mind-mapping technique 49

Figure 14: Students’ opinions on the creativity when learning with mind-mapping technique 50

Figure 15: Students’ opinions on the statement “I find it easy to remember new words.” 52

Figure 16: Students’ opinions on the statement “The activities help retain vocabulary longer” 52

Figure 17: Students’ opinions on the statement “The activities help activate prior knowledge” 53

Figure 18: Mean score of the tests 57

Figure 19: Distribution in results of the three tests 58

Figure 20: Proportion of students find Mind-mapping techniques difficult 62

Figure 21: The desire to learn with mind mapping technique 63

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE THESIS

GCSE : General Certificate of Secondary Education

T : Teacher

Sts : Students

AR : Action research

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In today’s global world, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored It has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, education, aviation, etc It is the language of science and technology It is the official language in a large number of countries English language, therefore, is believed to be used to access to every field of life It is

English that is used to communicate internationally

In acquiring a foreign language, vocabulary plays a crucial part It is one element that links the four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) all together When talking about the importance of vocabulary, it was noted by Wilkins (1972) that: "without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed." Indeed, people need to use words in order

to express themselves in any language In order to communicate well in a foreign language, anyone should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately

Before 1970, little attention was paid to vocabulary teaching and learning

It means that teaching vocabulary was just considered as an addition to teaching grammar or simply a by-product of language teaching and commucative functions However, some scholars of language acquisition no longer talk about the four language skills, but nine skills These other five skills are vocabulary, spelling, grammar, pronunciation and study skills Therefore, the role of vocabulary knowledge has been recognized by theorists and researchers since

1990

Besides, in my experience as a teacher of English, I noticed that my students usually find it difficult to speak English fluently They usually consider speaking and writing activities (productive skills) exhausting because they keep

on using the same words and expressions, so very soon their conversation is abruptly interrupted due to missing words For the same reason, their receptive

skills (listening and reading) are not good either The main reason for such problems is the lack of vocabulary Other students are faced with the problem of forgetting the words right after the teacher has elicited their meaning or after having looked them in the dictionary This is also a cause of the lack of vocabulary

Recognizing the importance of vocabulary, I myself understand that the teacher has an essential role in helping students to improve their vocabulary

To the best of my knowledge, there have not been any studies concerning Mind-mapping technique in vocabulary teaching carried out at My Hao high school before Therefore, the author of the present study, a teacher of English,

has decided to conduct a study named “Using Mind-mapping Technique to Improve the 12 th Graders’ English Vocabulary at My Hao High School” The

findings of the study, if done well, would be original

1.2 Aims of the Study

My Hao high school In order to achieve the aim, the study is expected to reach the objectives as follows:

used in vocabulary teaching;

vocabulary teaching

1.3 Research Questions

The objectives of the study can be elaborated into the research questions

as follows:

- How is mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary teaching assessed

by the 12 th graders at My Hao High School?

- What is the effectiveness of mind-mapping technique on the 12 th graders’ English vocabulary outcome at My Hao High School?

1.4 Scope of the Study

The focus of the study is using mind-mapping technique to improve the

not cover all aspects in vocabulary teaching It only focused on the use of

high school

The subjects of the study are 90 male and female students coming from class 12A2 and 12A8 The age of those 90 students ranges from 17 to 18 They are going to be the participants and respondents to survey questionnaires, trial lessons and tests

The action plan was implemented in 5 months from October 2017 to February 2018, during the academic school year (2017-2018) at My Hao high school

October 2017 (week 1: from 2nd to 7th)

problems to be changed October 2017

(week 2,3 From 9th to 21st)

instructional strategy (mind-mapping techniques) which were theoretically effective to improve the situation and solve the problem

October 2017 (week 4: From 23rd to 28th)

before the treatment in order for the researcher to evaluate the student’s vocabulary knowledge

November 2017

(week 1: From 30th Oct to 4th Nov)

- The data collected from the pre-test were analyzed to form a hypothesis November 2017

(week 2,3: From 6th to 18th )

- The researcher made a detailed plan

of what she intended to implement

to December (week 1,2)

December (week 2: From 11th to 16th)

- The first post-test was given to students to determine the effectiveness

of the intervention

December (week 1,2: From 4th to 16th )

- The students were asked to fill in the questionnaire to figure out students’ attitudes towards teacher’s activities

- The interviews were conducted with

15 students

January 2018 (week 1: From 1st to 6th )

- The second post-test was given to students to determine the effectiveness

of the intervention

January 2018 (week 2,3,4: From 8th to 27th)

- The data collected from the two tests and questionnaire, interviews were analyzed to evaluate the students’ opinions about the treatment used and

improvements

effectiveness of the treatment and identified the results of the research

1.5 Significance of the Study

Theoretically, the findings of this research will reaffirm and reinforce the

effectiveness of mind-mapping technique in previous studies Besides, the teachers’ skill in using mind-mapping technique to improve the student’s

of this research will be considered as reference to other researchers who want to study mind-mapping technique more intensively in teaching vocabulary

Practically, the researcher hopes that the results of the thesis may be

practically beneficial to not only the researcher herself but also to the other teachers, the students and My Hao high school Firstly, to the researcher, after carrying out this research, the researcher will have deeper and broader understanding of the theory and techniques of vocabulary teaching, especially Mind-mapping technique Secondly, to the teachers, the findings of this research can support the teachers of English at My Hao high school to apply this strategy

graders but also the rest students may be beneficial Moreover, the teacher can put aside their traditional methods in teaching English language particularly in teaching vocabulary They can use this new strategy to make the students more interested in learning process In addition, the teachers may not confuse in choosing an appropriate technique to teach different kinds of vocabulary Thirdly, to the students, the positive results of this research are hoped to help the students enrich their vocabulary In addition, learning vocabulary through Mind-mapping technique can make the students more excited; more interested in doing their tasks and retain vocabulary in a long-term Then, they can recall many kinds of vocabulary effectively Finally, to My Hao high school, the school leaders can give the recommendation to the teachers in order to use the appropriate techniques or strategies in teaching and learning vocabulary Therefore, the teachers will master more teaching skills and will bring benefit to the school

1.6 Research Methods

The purpose of this research is to find out whether mind-mapping

retention of vocabulary and explore the students’ attitudes toward this technique Besides, I myself - the researcher - would like to improve my students' learning skill and my professional performance Therefore, it is hoped to be a practical

action research project because its purpose is to research a specific school situation with a view toward improving practice, to focus narrowly on a specific problem and to be undertaken by an individual teacher within a high school

In order to address the two research questions, both qualitative and

via survey questionnaires, interviews and tests

1.7 Structure of the Study

In addition to the references and appendices, the thesis is composed of five chapters:

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature relevant to the study including an overview of vocabulary, mind-mapping, the effectiveness as well as the benefits

of applying mind-mapping technique in teaching and learning vocabulary Besides, the researcher also points out the literature gap and explains the reason why to conduct the present study

2.1 Vocabulary

(2005) puts it, "Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world." Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime Instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up words in a dictionary and using the words in a sentence

Another significant thing to be considered for teachers when making work

of vocabulary is the difference between receptive and productive vocabulary

According to S Thornbury (2002), in general, there are several difficulties when learners access vocabulary of a foreign language, and they are:

during the process of understanding the target language; for example, separating the meaning of the words related to the topic

language

In brief, there are many different points of view about vocabulary Having mentioned these definitions, the researcher decided to use that of Webster (1994) in this study because this definition from this scholar is more appropriate and useful to use in the study

2.1.2 Vocabulary Classified

According to Scrivener (1974), vocabulary can be divided into two types, including productive (active vocabulary) and receptive (passive vocabulary) Particularly, productive vocabulary is the group of words which are often used

in spoken language, or daily conversation This type of vocabulary requires good pronunciation – saying the sounds and stress of the words correctly – so that the dialogue can be carried out smoothly Meanwhile, receptive vocabulary

is the use of words that we can identify and understand how to use; but we do not use it intentionally in conversation or other purposes

Additionally, it is raised by Hendrich (1988, p.131) that, vocabulary classification is possible to maintain from different viewpoints: formal (for example word classes); mechanical (according to the frequency); semantic, that

is according to the relationships of language marking to off-language reality or according to the relationships of meaning (synonyms, antonyms, etcetera); or from the grammatical viewpoint, mainly paradigmatic, which is grouping words together according to the same grammatical characteristics

Another classification by Judy K Montgomery (from the book: The Bridge

of Vocabulary: Evidence Based Activities for Academic Success (NCS Pearson Inc, 2007) There are 4 types of vocabulary:

ourselves

The first two constitute spoken vocabulary and the last two, written vocabulary Children begin to acquire listening and speaking vocabularies many years before they start to build reading and writing vocabularies Spoken language forms the basis for written language Each type has a different purpose and, luckily, vocabulary development in one type facilitates growth in another

2.1.3 Aspects of Learning Vocabulary

As we know, vocabulary usually refers to words which are categorized depending on their functional aspects or parts of speech, including these kinds:

 Nouns

It was defined by Harmer (1998) that noun is a word or groups of words which illustrates the name of an individual, a place, an animal or abstract thing that we cannot touch Particularly, there are seven types of noun; including countable and uncountable noun, which can be described by the appearance of the plural form Another type of noun to be mentioned is the proper noun, which, according to Frank (1972), is nouns with the first letter written in capital form and it often refers to the exact name of a person or geographical things, etc The next two types are the common nouns, which refer to a general sense of an individual place or object and physical items that we can perceive by using our senses to touch, feel, see, smell, taste or hear Another type of noun mentioned is abstract noun, according to Martinet and Thomson (1986), which describes anything that can’t be perceived through physical sense, and the last type of

nouns is collective noun, which illustrates groups or organizations of people or animal

Types of Nouns

 Verbs

According to Harmer (1998), verb is a word or group of words used to illustrate action, experience or state Similar to noun, there are several types of verbs, including all the ones mentioned as the following:

The first type is action verb, which according to Warriner (1982), is used to express physical or mental action The second one – auxiliary verb, including be (be, is, am, are, was, were with their negative form, been and being), do (do, does, did, with their negative form, doing and done) and have (have, has, had with their negative form and having) – whose definition given by Martinet and Thomson (1986) that it is a verb which accompanies another verb to express grammatical distinctions, is considered relatively important because of their function The third type is the phrasal verb, which is created by a verb and a preposition right after it to make a completely new word (Warriner, 1982) Other types of verb to be mentioned here are the transitive verb which requires a direct object after it and the intransitive verb which can stand alone in the sentence to illustrate the full meaning of it

Types of verbs

 Adjectives

According to Harmer (1998), an adjective is a word which describes the characteristics or gives more details about a noun or pronoun There are some types of adjective; including common adjective which describes color or characteristics of an object, possessive adjective (my, your, his, her, its, our and their), indefinite adjective, demonstrative adjective and interrogative adjective which are used to modify noun in the sentence

Types of adjectives

their

 Adverbs

According to Harmer (1998), adverb is a word or group of words which has the aim to illustrate the meaning of another complement of a sentence in a more detail way Furthermore, according to Warriner (1982) and Frank (1972), there are some types of adverb, including: adverb of manner, adverb of time,

adverb of place, adverb of frequency, adverb of quantity, relative adverb, adverb

of degree and interrogative adverb The examples of each kinds of adverb are given in the table below:

Types of adverbs

of a sentence The last type of pronoun is possessive pronoun, which is divided into two smaller types are possessive pronoun followed by noun and possessive pronoun can stand alone

 Prepositions

Preposition is a word which has a function of indicating the relationship between a noun, pronoun or a verb to some other words Preposition is divided into many kinds, but the most popular are preposition of place, preposition of time and preposition goes before or after a noun, verb or adjective

According to Harmer (1998), conjunction is a set of words go together to make connection among phrases and clauses in a sentence In general, three types of conjunction have been mentioned, including coordinating conjunction, correlative conjunction and subordinating conjunction

2.1.4 Vocabulary Tests Dèined

According to Brown (2005), test, in simple term is a way of examining ability of an individual, knowledge or performance in a given aspect There are many published exercises on vocabulary These include: Matching pictures to words; matching parts of words to other parts; matching words of other words (synonym, opposites, sets of related words, etc.); using prefixes and suffixes to build new words; using given words to complete a specific task; filling in crossword, girds or diagrams; memory games Each of them can be interpreted

in detail as follows:

knowledge Activities like this can also be lessons in vocabulary, for a child matching local birds this is also an opportunity for the child to demonstrate their knowledge in the names and sounds of the birds

 Matching parts of words to other parts in which the child is using their developing memory, utilizing their ability to store, organize and retrieve

information, recall information in relation to something they have seen before

related words, etc which can also provide the child the opportunity to further their knowledge and then demonstrate that knowledge in a particular/specialized area of interest

an improvement when they read literature, coming upon unknown words

It also helps them concisely say or write something They just add a prefix or suffix and eliminate the extra prepositions or sentences needed

to convey the meaning

their memory and the capability to analyze and give the most suitable choice

 Filling in crossword, girds or diagrams force the children to look at the letter sequence of a word which helps them learn new spelling Filling in crosswords relies on them spelling the word correctly and this helps them

to remember words with difficult spelling

 improve concentration;

 train visual memory;

 increase short term memory;

 increase attention to detail;

 improve the ability to find similarities and differences in objects;

 help to classify objects that are grouped by similar traits

2.2 Mind-mapping Technique

2.2.1 Mind-mapping Technique Defined

There are many different views on the definition of mind-mapping It is defined by Tony, a British psychologist that “Mind-mapping technique” or

“Mind-mapping” was created and made progress in the late 1960s in an attempt

to assist learners to do the note-taking more effectively According to Buzan (1993) in the book “The Mind-mapping Book”, “Mind-mapping is a powerful graphic technique, which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain” Additionally, it was also noted by McGriff (2000) about Mind-mapping that “Mind-mapping is an excellent way to help learners organize knowledge, to empower themselves to better comprehend the key concepts and principles in lectures, readings or other instructional materials” Mind-mapping

is also defined by Readon and Nourie (1999) that “Mind-mapping is a creative note-taking method, which eases us to remember much information Because of its visual specialty, Mind-mapping is often full of color, pictures and symbols like a small art

Figure 1: An example of Mind-mapping

(by Paul Foreman)

In the example about Mind-mapping given in the picture above, the author concentrates on the topic of “tennis” and the related aspects that help reader to understand more about this sport, for example, principles, shot, scoring, tournaments or surfaces

In general, Mind-mapping illustrates the process of forming ideas happens

in our mind By using Mind-mapping, a great amount of information can be presented by pictures, lines, colors or symbols Furthermore, other components

of a Mind-mapping such as arrows, shapes will help our brain to remember information in a better way

In the book about Mind-mapping, Buzan (2004) recommends a way to make or create a Mind-mapping, consists of these following advices:

 Taking a blank piece of paper and beginning in the center of this sheet with turning the paper sideways Starting from the middle helps the brain

to think freely due to numerous creative space, ideas from brain can spread in all direction so that they can be expressed in the most effective way

 Taking pictures, photos or big shape drawn by the author for the main topic or ideas, with the biggest for the most important and smaller for the less significant An image or picture put in the central of the Mind-mapping can be able to make the map to be more intriguing and keep the author of the map concentrated on the process and stimulate the imagination so that new ideas can be produced

 Using colors, which are helpful to the imagination, to make the mapping to be more vibrant, lively and energetic Bright and impressive colors such as red, orange or blue are highly recommended

maker, to connect the main ideas to the topic in the central position of the paper When connecting ideas by lines, it creates the structural frame to the whole map and helps the brain link ideas and support evidence

 Using as least words as possible, the best way to convey ideas in mapping is using one key word, which is proven to create the creativeness and flexibility to the Mind-mapping and help the author to spark off novel thoughts, for each big branch, and more details can be added in further branches

Mind-2.2.2 Mind-mapping Classified

In general, Mind-mapping imitates the thinking process, namely helps us to move from one topic to another topic back and forth, and presents the information through symbols, pictures, emotional meaning and colors, exactly the same as our brains process it It uses lines, colors, arrows, branches or some ways of showing connections between ideas generated on our mind map Our brains can remember things better with visual, colors and pictures and therefore remember the facts and ideas that go with them

In fact, there are many diffent types of Mind-mapping; however, four types presented below are the most popular

i) Network tree

Network tree is a way of presenting ideas, concepts or information and relationships among them in the form of branches, often vertical ones In a network tree, information, with examples incorporated to reinforce the meanings

of the word, are regularly arranged basing on its level of specification, in which the most general term will be at the top and more specific items will be under the big topic An example of a network tree is shown in Figure 2 below:

Figure 2: An example of a network tree

(by Karla Šturm)

It can be seen in the network tree example shown in Figure 2 that there are many scientific terms presented in this diagram

ii) Event Chain

In general, an event chain is a diagram which has the function of indicating the relationships among events and how they have an influence on each other In particular, it chain describes the sequence of the procedure of this event

Figure 3: An example of an event chain

(by Lori Edwards)

Take Figure 3 as an example, it can be seen that there are several stages in the Order Information Check process, and each steps in the procedure has the relationship to at least one another stage By using the event chain, steps and stages used to complete the task can be described in a clearer way to understand

iii) Cycle Concept Map

Cycle concept map could be considered a remarkable type of event chain map In this type of map, there is no final outcome produced after the event sequence Instead, the last stage in the map has a reversal effect back to the initial one

Figure 4: An example of a cycle concept map

(by Wayne Sullivan)

As can be seen in the Figure 4, which illustrates the cycle of the element of Carbon on the Earth, all of the components involving in the process of

analyzed carefully, there are up to three smaller cycles described in this map

iv) Spider Concept Map

This is the most popular and favorite type of Mind-mapping, and this type

of Mind-mapping are still used by many students all over the world to help them study more effectively It is noted by Svantesson (2004) that there are several ways of creating Mind-mapping using this method, namely hayfork, thorn fish, cluster or variation, which are given with examples below:

internalizing to the pronunciation and meaning of the words on the purpose of using them effectively In order to achieving the aim of learning vocabulary efficiently, taking the advantage of the tool of Mind-mapping, which use personal connection with a view to making the process of remembering new information to be more easily and visualizing the thinking process, a helpful method As a result, Mind-mapping is considered to be a very supportive teaching technique to use the vocabulary of a foreign language proficiently Despite the possibility of being time-consuming to apply the technique, eventually, at the time students recognize and understand the way of using Mind-mapping, the learning process will be speeded up Basing on the viewpoint of Casco (2009), there are some applications of using Mind-mapping

in teaching vocabulary, including:

When taking a look at the Mind-mapping, students can pay attention to the main topic and recognize what the subsequent piece of information is Additionally, Mind-mapping can supply necessary information to decrease the apprehension of the students when getting input data

Mind-mapping is proven to activate prior knowledge of students because the use of pictures, colors and keywords can foster the memorization process of students’ background knowledge about the topic

In a Mind-mapping, the information is displayed and arranged in a clear way and it shows the background knowledge of the students about the topic by the density of branches on the Mind-mapping Therefore, Mind-mapping can help to encourage learners to ask because visual attracts and interrogation marks widen the range of information and urge them to ask more to fulfill the need in the students to discover and answer unanswered questions

Owing to offering the students a very general view of the topic, mapping is considered a powerful method to facilitate the skills of reading and listening comprehension of students Accordingly, the embedded signals included in the Mind-mapping prompt the students to create the link between the ideas summarized on it and the full content of these ideas, and in turn help them

Mind-to understand Additionally, Mind-mapping also provides a method for the students to arrange their thoughts, because the great number of ideas and information on the Mind-mapping, which are easily connected, allowed the students to make a discourse when using the Mind-mapping

In general, the method of implementing the same Mind-mapping at different steps of the course can be taken as an example of the process of production of the students They can show their level of comprehension of the new grammatical structures and lexical items by explaining the relation among elements on the Mind-mapping The production acquired with the aid from the Mind-mapping will become an experience for teacher in their work in the future

In writing, Mind-mapping is proven to be an effective tool to form the ideas for the writing topic, because the more branches the Mind-mapping has, the more evidence and supporting ideas the students can have to put into their writing production

Because of its importance, vocabulary appears in almost every aspect of the language use, including reading, writing and speaking According to Hofland (2007), reading is considered “a very linear process, a typical left-brain skill.”

On the other hand, linear process is not the sole skill that the human brain is good at; it is also extremely strong in parallel processing skill Obviously, when

a word appears in students’ mind, it usually accompanies with related images, pictures, ideas or associations of this word, and the connection itself is also the advantage of Mind-mapping Leaners can take advantage of it to use in their learning Additionally, Mind-mapping can be very useful in learning writing,

which is considered to be the hardest skill for the students to learn because of the word limitation and the lack of ideas to express in a writing task With the use of Mind-mapping, students can have a creative way to brainstorm and forming ideas for the task Besides, students can express their viewpoint by looking at the pictures, photos or colorful words and turn this opinion into sentence in the writing Last but not least, Mind-mapping can be used like a reminder tool for the speaking exercises Students can prepare a Mind-mapping about the topic that they are going to learn in the lesson Key words and clues appear on the Mind-mapping will be suggestions to them so that they will speak more naturally, fluently and confidently

In the 1990s, Mind-mapping was first applied in the language teaching (Casco, 2009) The function of Mind-mapping at that time was a tool to activate the prior, or background knowledge from students in a particular theme and support them to memorize, recall and organize the meaning of the words and the vocabulary items themselves In particular, the process of activating prior knowledge happens when students are being asked questions by the teacher about their own knowledge without any preparation to check what students actually know about the topic Subsequently, when the vocabulary acquisition is taken place, teachers ask students to brainstorm the vocabulary related to the topic and basing on this process, instead of writing down new words to the notebook similar to the traditional approach, students create their Mind-mapping individually with words on it Another remarkable thing about Mind-mapping could be mentioned here is the presence of symbols, colorful pictures which not only assists students in memorizing, comprehending the usage and meaning of the vocabulary but also makes them more creative when both sides of the brain are activated Therefore, Mind-mapping brings interest in learning vocabulary to the students, and the model Mind-mapping presented in the figure below describes the way of assisting the vocabulary learning of Mind-mapping to the students

Figure 9: A Mind-mapping about City

(by Archie Archambault)

As is illustrated in the figure, the biggest topic for the lesson is “City” and there are three most popular things can be found in the city, including transport, buildings and places, and each word contain more than ten new words, so there are approximately 40 items of vocabulary on just only one page of paper Obviously, seeing this Mind-mapping will help students to remember these items more easily than looking at the monotonous list of words

Besides using shapes and colors in the previous figure, another way to memorize the new vocabulary is through the pictures and images, because systematically information arranged in the form of pictures and photos can help learners a lot in the process of learning new words

Figure 10: A Mind-mapping about Animals

(by Paul Foreman)

For instance, in figure, the topic about animals became very interesting, colorful and lively with the appearance of images represent for each big group

of animals Some difficult words to students such as “amphibian”, blooded” or “reptiles”, which are regularly time-consuming to remember if students learn in traditional way, now when visualized, the hard-to-remember words popped up automatically in the students’ minds every time they look at it

“cold-2.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Mind-mapping Technique

It is presented in previous parts that the first reason for the advent of mapping was to make the note-taking action of learners, or regularly the action

Mind-of writing words down with lots Mind-of words, which has three following disadvantages: writing down redundant words is time-consuming and labor-consuming, missing information during the process of writing and taking more time to read and review, to be more effective (Tony, 2004)

On the other hand, applying Mind-mapping technique has a variety of strong points According to De Porter and Hernacki (2008), there are four main advantages and three disadvantages when Mind-mapping technique is applied in the class, as mention below

There are a number of advantages that Mind-mapping brings about They can be described as follows:

 Flexibility

The Mind-mapping can help students express their ideas in a very flexible way, because details or information can be added easily to the Mind-mapping, basing on our viewpoints, anywhere in the Mind-mapping

Because of the special position in the Mind-mapping, the topic, which is often written in biggest and most colorful letters or pictures, can be seen by the students easily and it helps students focus on what he or she is mentioning or talking about Furthermore, keeping seeing on the keywords or phrases, which are very outstanding on the Mind-mapping, can also help students to simplify their outcome

It is proven that using Mind-mapping can make the process of understanding the materials more easily, because Mind-mapping is a simple pattern with branches in different directions and obviously it does not create the confusion when students learn the materials

Nevertheless, Mind-mapping also comes with their set of drawbacks, and here are some of the most prominent ones

can be extremely useful in a brainstorming session, as it inspires creativity and novelty Nonetheless, logical people might find it hard to confide in their imagination or intuition because logic is the principal side of their thinking pattern

precious time Unfortunately, time is an asset which most of us are lacking in

 Might be difficult for others to understand: once a person have created and personalized your map, it might be difficult for those around you to understand all your thoughts and ideas

2.5 Previous Research

2.5.1 Previous Studies Carried out in Foreign Countries

Undeniably, Mind-mapping is a very popular teaching technique not just only in Vietnam but also all over the world Accordingly, there are many studies chose mind-mapping techniques as the topic for their research In broad

perspective, it can be found that the study The Use of Mind-mapping to Develop Writing Skills in UAE Schools by Naqbi showed the fact that Mind-mapping can

be able to have an effect on students’ abilities to organize and arrange their arguments for writing tasks Moreover, applying the technique of Mind-mapping

in teaching can assist the improvement of the cognition skills of students and help the process of information recovery of learners in a situation of evaluation Finally, the author of the research noted that the technique is appropriate to help learners in making a plan for their writing since it stimulates learners to find out and adapt a deeper level of comprehension about the writing topics

Additionally, the study by Lian (2007) with the title of Introducing mapping in Comprehension, after conducting a thesis about Mind-mapping, also

Mind-jumped to a conclusion that learners of a foreign language like English can recognize and remember a reading passage in a better way by a meaningful connection, pattern, relationship established among information and concepts of the topic Furthermore, it is also noted in the study that visual mapping also helps students to enhance their critical thinking skills, sorting out ideas As a result, it will improve the ability of understanding a topic area and gain confidence in attempting comprehension questions

The popularity of Mind-mapping is also shown by the two following

studies, entitled Mind-mapping in the EFL classroom carried out by Hofland

(2007), which describes that Mind-mapping are an effective tool - because using Mind-mapping can bring a lot of benefits in teaching reading skills, writing skills, speaking skills as well as vocabulary - in which the use of personal associations of Mind-mapping can become easier to memorize new information

and visualize the thinking process and The study of Teaching vocabulary through Mind-mapping technique to the tenth grade students of SMA Nigeria

15 which was carried out by Effendi (2004), which had the same viewpoint to

the previously mentioned ones

2.5.2 Previous Studies Carried out in Vietnam

The researcher also did make an effort to review the literature of the research problem from the resources in the university libraries There are a variety of studies on the matter of teaching and learning vocabulary, including

“Using movies and videos to teach English vocabulary to the tenth form students” by Đỗ Thị Lan Anh (2010) This study focused mainly on the act of using movies and video, another way to teach the students to learn vocabulary more effectively Because of the characteristics of visualization of movies and videos, they can help student to memorize new words more easily and students can remember and use them in longer time