Using mind mapping to help students organize ideas for their writings at tri huy center= ứng dụng thủ thuật sơ đồ tư duy giúp học sinh tổ chức ý tưởng cho bài viết tại trung tâm trí huy m a

Employing the data analysis, the writer comes to a conclusion that students at Tri Huy Learning Center can improve their writing skills through mind mapping.. In addition, there have bee

STUDENT DECLARATION

I declare that this study is original and has not been submitted for assessment elsewhere

I declare that this study is my own work and does not involve plagiarism or collusion

I give my consent for the electronic version to be examined by relevant plagiarism software programs

I have made a photocopy or electronic copy of my study, which I can produce if the original is lost for any reason

Signed: NGUYEN THI NGOC ANH Dated: January 5th, 2017

In addition, I would like to give a special thanks to all of my lecturers at Graduate Faculty, who instructed and gave us a great number of precious lessons serving as basic knowledge to carry out this research

Post-Besides, I would like to say thanks to all of my classmates at Post-Graduate Faculty, who willingly assisted me in terms of spirit and shared previous experience, which helped me avoid drawbacks and shortcomings during study process

Last but not least, this graduation paper could not be achieved without the support and encouragement of all teachers of English and my dearest students at Tri Huy Learning Center Thanks to all of them, I could conduct the research without facing

up to any severe difficulties

Although I have made my greatest efforts to finish this graduation paper, I believe that there are many shortcomings remaining Therefore, I hope there will be critiques and suggestions for the completion of this graduation paper so that it will be useful for me, the readers, and the further researchers in the years to come

Ha noi, January 5th, 2017

The Writer Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh

Abstract

This is a classroom action research aimed at identifying whether the use of Mind Mapping strategy was effective in improving the students’ writing achievement In addition, the second purpose of the research is to describe the process of teaching writing through Mind Mapping The research was conducted over six lessons at Tri Huy Learning Center (THLC) in the academic year of 2016 – 2017 and the target population consisted of 30 students in Grade 10 The paper-based questionnaires were delivered to students to explore the situation of the research problem Informal interviews with the students were then conducted to get their ideas about applying the new teaching and learning method During the lessons, it did not seem to be difficult for students to follow the teaching-learning process In particular, they showed their excitement and interest in the lesson Employing the data analysis, the writer comes

to a conclusion that students at Tri Huy Learning Center can improve their writing skills through mind mapping

Keywords: Mind Mapping, Writing, Writing Skills,…

Table of Contents

STUDENT DECLARATION ……… …i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……… … ii

ABSTRACT ……… …… iii

TABLE OF CONTENT ……… … iv

LIST OF FIGURES ……… vi

INTRODUCTION ………… ……….…… 1

1 Rationale of the study ……… ……… ….… 1

2 Aims of the study ……….…3

3 Research questions ……… 3

4 Scope of the study ……… … 4

5 The Significance of the Research ……… ……… 4

6 Methods of the study……… … 4

7 Thesis Organization……… 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW……… … 6

1.1 Writing ……… ………… ……… 6

1.1.1 Definitions of Writing ……… ……… … … 6

1.1.2 Definition of Writing skills ……… 7

1.2 Mind mapping ……… … ….9

1.2.1 Definitions of Mind mapping……… ……….…… …9

1.2.2 How to create mind mapping ……… ….11

1.2.3 The Use of Mind mapping in classroom ……… ….17

1.2.4 The difference between mindmapping and modeling for teaching writing 18

1.2.5 Theoretical background……… …… 19

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY……… ….…21

2.1 Research setting……… ……… ….21

2.1.1 General description of Tri Huy Learning Center (THLC) and the teaching and learning of English……….……… …21

2.1.2 Teachers of English and students at THLC ……… ……….… …21

2.1.3 The materials……….……… …22

2.1.4 The Setting of Time……….… 22

2.2 Research Methodology ……… ……… … 22

2.3 Participants ……… ……… ….23

2.4 Implementation of the Action Research ……….….23

2.5 Research design ……… ……… 24

2.6 Data collection instruments ……… … 27

2.6.1 Questionnaires ……… ……….…… … 27

2.6.2 Informal Interviews ……… ……….…… 28

2.6.3 Student’s writing samples……… …… 28

2.7 Data collection procedures……….………… 28

2.8 Data analysis procedures ……….………….……….… 29

CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION………… ….… 30

3.1 Results of Survey questionnaire ………… ……… …… ….30

3.1.1 Figure 1 - Interest towards mind mapping ……… …….… 30

3.1.2 Figure 2- Usage of mind mapping ……… …….… 31

3.1.3 Figure 3- Anxiety in preparing the test ……… ………… 32

3.1.4 Figure 4 - Using mind mapping to write a lot of topics……… 34

3.1.5 Figure 5 - Relating new information to the old……… … 35

3.2 Informal interviews ……….…… ……….…….36

3.2.1 The first question……… 36

3.2.2 The second question ………36

3.2.3 The third question……… 37

3.2.4 The fourth question……… …38

3.3 Findings and discussion ……… ……39

CLOSURE……… ……… 41

1 Conclusion ……… ………….….41

2 Difficulties during the study process ……… …… 42

3 Suggestion……… ……….… 43

3.1 To Teacher……… ………43

3.2 To Students ………43

3.3 To further researchers ………44

REFERENCES … ……… … ………I APPENDICE

Appendix A: Questionnaire ……….……… …III Appendix B: Questions for Informal Interview ……… IV Appendix C: Lesson plan Sample ……… ………VI

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

It can’t be denied that writing as well as other language skills plays an important part

in language teaching and learning process Without writing, the learners do not know how to write even informal letters to their relatives, birthday cards for their friends or Curriculum Vitae helping them apply for jobs More seriously, great works of literature, scientific reports, famous learning skill books, as well as textbooks cannot

be recorded and transmitted from generation to generation Like other skills, writing

is considered one of the most significant connecting devices which help us exchange information, communicate, and update news or events occurring throughout the world every day Only with a double click will we receive thousands of results relating to what we want to know under written form in a very short time, even less than one second Due to the importance of writing skill, people have a tendency to show more concern about this issue and make attempts to find out a lot of different new approaches and techniques to meet the learner’s need Accordingly, the questions

of which is suitable to most of the learners and how to teach writing effectively are catching a mixed variety of attention from not only linguistic professionals but also learners all over the world Nevertheless, many language learners claim that it is too difficult for them to write in another language and they regard it as the most

complicated language skills to be learned, in comparison with other language skills

Heaton (1988: 135) asserts that “Writing skills are complex and sometimes difficult

to teach, requiring mastery not only of grammatical and rhetorical device but also of conceptual and judgmental elements” Therefore, if learners want to master writing skill, they need to master both grammatical norms and have ability to use correctly at least 2000 word families

As a matter of fact, in addition to being full of grammatical mistakes and lacking vocabulary and structures, another serious problem emerging in Vietnamese learners’ writing skill is that many of them do not know how to organize or arrange ideas for their writings They often write all possible ideas in their mind using their own

experience in those given topics without outlining Occasionally, they also write what they understand about the topics in Vietnamese employing a lot of Vietnamese common words, then translate into English, and regard it as perfect version By this way, they use Vietnamese way of thinking to perceive the topics in another language without understanding anything about that of native speakers Nevertheless, it may take time to choose the most beautiful words and complicated structures, which accidentally make them forget time pressure required in writing process In addition, choosing the wrong words in translation process is unavoidable and simultaneously they have difficulty in finding English equivalent terms as well In fact, they are learning English; therefore, they need to follow British or American straightforward way of thinking Their writings will not be appreciated by foreign examiners in international standard exams like IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC and so on because of lacking control of length as well as time and using a large amount of difficult and strange vocabulary Another point is that traditional teaching methods are commonly used in English classes in Vietnam Teachers usually supply students with particular topics and some vocabulary cues and ask them to write the content From my own experiences, teachers mainly focus on spotting grammatical mistakes that students make and asking for corrections without paying attention to teaching them how to organize the content, because they believe this is the best way to improve students writing skills Accordingly, students begin to be mistaken that the greatest written assignments are those which contain the fewest grammatical mistakes instead of having good content Nevertheless, it becomes further noticeable by some teachers that the students’ results in writing assessments which rely heavily on correctness of grammar and spelling only were not a true measure of students writing abilities As a result, students begin to face up to difficulties in developing their ideas and producing meaningful text, focusing more on the mechanical structure of the written piece.

To deal with it, many new techniques and strategies have been applied, and they have soon become phenomena in learning and teaching writing process And, mind mapping strategy is one of them According to Tony Buzan, mind mapping is the

most excellent tool helping mind to think regularly (Buzan, 2006:4) He claims that not only Mind Maps show facts, but also show the overall structure of a subject and the relative importance of individual parts of it It helps students to associate ideas, think creatively, and make connections that might not otherwise make (Tony Buzan, 2010) Using color pencils, pictures, images connected by flexible lines may enable learners to become more creative and pay more attention to writing lessons Moreover, mind mapping can also help them narrow their given topics, generate and develop ideas more logically, not just listing all the things they have in mind without any certain orders To specify, it is one kind of teaching method that can be considered effective in writing activity and may raise learners’ motivation with visual illustration in order to upgrade their skills and get better achievement On account of

the case above, the writer selects to conduct a research entitled “Using mind mapping to help students organize ideas for their writings at Tri Huy Center”

with a view to finding out the improvement of this technique The author chose writing skills as a choice of doing research because of the fact that writing is the same importance as any other skills In addition, there have been a lot of researches carried out to measure the effectiveness of using mind mapping in teaching Listening skills, Vocabulary, and Reading skills; therefore, the author wanted to put more efforts into writing skills with a view to helping her own students improve these skills Last but not least, students at Tri Huy Learning Center mainly focus on grammatical rules and sometimes forget to develop other skills, which leads to their inefficiency in language skills Those are the reasons why the author made a decision to select writing skills

as a theme of the study

2 Aims of the study

This study aims at:

1 Finding out the improvement of writing skill of students at Tri Huy Learning Center (THLC) in the academic year of 2016-2017 through mind mapping

2 Describing the process of teaching writing through mind mapping to students at THLC and making some suggestions on how to apply this technique in teaching and learning writing as well

2 How is the process of teaching writing skill using mind mapping to students

at Tri Huy Learning Center (THLC) in the academic year of 2016-2017?

4 Scope of the study

First of all, due to the limitation of time and resources, the study could not cover all aspects in writing teaching and learning It only focused on the use of mind maps as one technique to teach writing Regarding the population of the study, students at Tri Huy Learning Center were the participants and respondents to trial lessons, survey questionnaires, and informal interviews In details, survey questionnaires were delivered to 30 students and 6 out of these students chosen randomly were involved

in informal interviews

5 The Significance of the Research

The writer expects that the research can prove the effectiveness of mind mapping technique in applying to teaching and learning writing process The researcher also hopes that the research of using mind-mapping strategy in teaching and learning writing skills will be beneficial for both teacher and students

- For the Researcher: The researcher will understand more about the effectiveness

of using mind mapping strategy improving students’ writing skills

- For the Teacher: This research can enable the teacher to motivate students in learning writing by using visual illustration and help them create a link between the given topics and their background knowledge

- For the Students: This result can motivate the students to take interest in learning process, know how to generate and organise ideas logically

6 Methods of the study

An action research was conducted so as to achieve the aims mentioned above The study was limited to only 30 students in grade 10, who are studying English at Tri Huy Learning Center In the first place, Mind mapping technique was applied in the existing classes, and after that, students were given questionnaires so that they can take down their ideas about the new technique they have been taught Besides, interviews with some of them were carried out to get more information in order to support the study

Chapter I of the study is Literature Review The writer presents theoretical background of the study involving some basic knowledge of writing, writing skills, mind mapping in general and mind mapping in teaching writing in particular

Chapter II gives the readers description of participants, data collection instruments, implementation of the Action Research, research design, data collection procedures and data analysis procedures

Chapter III explains about the data analysis of the interpretation that discusses the result of the study

The closure includes some key points of the study as well as some recommendations for further studies

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Writing

1.1.1 Definitions of Writing

There are many different definitions of Writing proposed According to Raimes (1983: 3), writing plays an important role in communication when the other person is not right there in front of us, listening to our words and looking at our gestures and facial expressions Al-Mutawa and Taisser (1989) also expand definition of writing that it is a complex cognitive activity which requires several following elements: Complete acquisition of the Alphabet; Understanding how letters combine to form words and the relationship between the word and its meaning; Knowledge of the mechanics of writing: speaking, capitalization, punctuation and other writing conventions; Mastery of the most frequent rules governing the structure of sentences; Ability of combining sentences to build an effective paragraph and combining them

to produce essays; Formalization with transitions to achieve coherence From this context, Bell and Burnaby (1984, cited in Nunan, 1989, p 36) provide their explanation for writing that it is known as an extremely complex cognitive activity in which the writer is required to demonstrate control of content, format, sentence structure, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and letter formation Beyond the sentence, the writer must be able to structure and integrate information into cohesive and coherent paragraphs and texts Another definition comes from Byrne (1997: 1) that writing is considered the use of graphic symbols which are arranged according

to a certain convention to form words and sentences Besides, he also states that writing is not merely the act of arranging graphic symbols; but in writing people produce a sequence of sentences arranged in a particular order and linked together in

a certain way From the statement above, it can be clearly seen that writing work follows a gradual stage from a simple use of graphic symbols to a complex arrangement of sentences based on certain rules and conventions This is also supported by Scrivener (1994: 157) who gives a statement that writing work in the classroom falls on a continuum from copying which focuses on accuracy to free

writing which concentrates on fluency From previous elaboration, it can be concluded that writing is the act of expressing ideas or thoughts in communication using graphic symbols which are arranged based on certain rules and conventions

1.1.2 Definition of Writing skills

Based on Heaton (1975: 135), writing skills are sophisticated and sometimes difficult for inexperienced teachers to teach, requiring mastery of not only grammatical and rhetorical devices but conceptual and judgmental elements as well The varied skills are divided into five main components listed as follows:

- Language use: The ability to construct correct and appropriate sentences;

- Mechanical skills: The ability to use accurately peculiar conventions to the written language such as punctuation and spelling;

- Treatment of content: The ability to think in a creative way and develop thoughts, including all relevant information;

- Stylistic skills: The ability to manipulate sentences and paragraphs, and use the language in an effective way;

- Judgment skills: The ability to write in an appropriate manner for a particular purpose with a particular audience in mind, as well as the ability to select, organize and order relevant information

In addition, Matthews, et al (1985: 71) states that writing skills have several specific skills that are grouped under five headings as follows:

- Graphical or Visual Skills: including some following sub headings: Writing graphemes refer to the use of letters of the alphabet, in upper or lower case as appropriate, joined in the standard way; Spelling: As a result of the first language interferes, students may apply the phonetic conventions of their native language to spelling English words; Punctuation and capitalization: Here students need to pay more attention to the fact that conventions differ among languages, for example, in English in a numeral with at least four digits, a comma is inserted after every three digits, counting from the right, but in

Vietnamese a dot is used instead; Format refers to the layout of a letter, or memo which differs from one language to another);

- Grammatical skills refer to the students’ ability to use a diversity of sentence patterns and constructions

- Expressive or stylistic skills refer to the students’ ability to express precise meanings in a variety of styles or registers In order to do this, they will not only have to be able to select appropriate vocabulary, but appropriate sentence patterns and structures for the written medium as well

- Rhetorical skills is the students’ ability to use linguistic cohesion devices such

as connectives, reference words, ellipsis, and so on, so as to link parts of a text into logically related sequences

- Organisational skills are similar to those involved in rhetorical skills above, but here they concern with the organisation of a piece of information into paragraphs and texts This involves the sequencing of ideas as well as the students’ ability to reject irrelevant information and summarize relevant points Therefore, it can be concluded that writing is defined as the act of expressing ideas

or thoughts in communication using graphic symbols arranged based on certain rules and conventions The rules and conventions are related to the aspects of content, organization, word choice, language use, and mechanics Aspect of content is discussing the ability to think creatively and develop thoughts, excluding all irrelevant information Organization is the logical order of sentences presented in order that the arrangement of the sentences makes sense; it involves unity and coherence Vocabulary is the ability to select and use wide range of proper words, and idioms Language use is the ability to apply sentence structure and other grammatical features Mechanical aspect is related to the ability to use correctly those conventions peculiar to the written language, counting punctuation, capitalization,

and spelling

1.2 Mind mapping

1.2.1 Definitions of Mind mapping

According to Budd (2004), a mind map can be defined as a graphic organizer in which the major categories radiate from a central image and lesser categories are portrayed

as branches of larger branches

Alamsyah (2009) also gives a definition of mind mapping (or concept mapping) that

it involves creating a central idea and search new and related ideas which radiate out from the centre From the central idea that is made, and then finding connections between ideas, you are mapping knowledge in a manner that enable you to understand and remember new information Mind Mapping is one of the useful techniques helping you learn more effectively, improving the way that you record information, and supporting and enhancing creative problem solving To use Mind Maps effectively, make sure you print your words, use different colors to add visual impact, and incorporate symbols and images to further spur creative thinking

Besides, Hedge (1998: 30) states that making a mind map is a strategy for note-taking before writing; in other words, scribbling down ideas about a topic and developing those ideas as the mind makes associations As a result, it can be clearly seen that mind mapping can give students a way to deal with writing assignments at the first stage of generating and organizing ideas

Hayes (1992: 203) states that through mind mapping students turns random thoughts into patterns that can be written down and developed Students become increasingly motivated to complete a writing task when their ideas emerge in organized forms It can be seen from the next figure that in mind mapping ideas presented in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, so mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to planning and organizational tasks freely Even though the branches of a mindmap represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular

conceptual framework From the above elaboration it can be concluded that a mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing

Mind Maps were popularized by author and consultant, Tony Buzan He used a dimensional structure, rather than the list format conventionally used to take notes

two-In “The Mind Map Book”, Tony Buzan (2000:59) presents the idea of mind mapping

as “an expression of Radiant Thinking and is therefore a natural function of the human mind It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain”

Based on Tony Buzan’s point of view (2002), mind mapping is defined as a graphic representation of ideas, usually generated via a brainstorming session It presents the ideas generated around a central theme and how they are interlinked It is considered

a tool mainly used for stimulating thought He realized that the education system primarily emphasized on the left brain strength, which involves in the use of

“language, logic, numbers, sequence, looks at detail, linier, symbolic representation and judgmental characteristics” The mind map can be applied to many different aspects of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will improve human performance

In “The Ultimate book of Mind maps” Tony Buzan (2005) also mentions A Mind Map is “the whole-brain alternative to linear thinking It reaches out in all directions and catches thoughts from any angle Also, it is the easiest way to put information

into your brain and to take information out of your brain – it’s a creative and effective

means of note-taking that literally ‘maps out’ your thoughts.”

Buzan (2007:103) also states that “Mind Mapping is a creative thinking instrument which reflects natural work brain Mind map enables the brain to use all pictures and its association in radial design.” From this point of view, we can come to a conclusion that when we use mind mapping by making a keyword or main topic we can also

produce the relationship with other ideas related to Furthermore, we can free our mind to generate everything in our brain in order that a lot of ideas will be automatically more and more improved Consequently, it would make us easier in constructing a text from those related ideas

From these above definitions, it can be easily understood that mind mapping can enable learners to think creatively, generate ideas, and make connections between them, take notes, develop concepts and ideas, and enhance memory (Buzan, 2000) It

is considered a powerful tool that can help teachers to improve students’ visual thinking ability by assisting with managing thought, directing learning, and making connections (Stephens & Hermus, 2007) With visual illustration, it is a great way to introduce an overall topic, generate and group certain ideas and make it clearer to see the relationship between them, increase students’ involvement with lively images, and get thoughts down quickly Using the mind mapping technique gives instructors the freedom to express ideas and show interrelationships between concepts and content in a very visual and nonlinear structure that benefits their students (Ruffini, 2008) Deep, surface and nonlearning are tangible measures of learning that can be observed directly as a consequence of concept mapping (Hay, 2007) The mind mapping strategy can be used to explore not only almost any topics in writing but also used in every kind of writing such as narrative, descriptive, recount, persuasive, argumentative, essay and the like Besides, mind mapping can help leaners avoid dull, linear thinking, jog their creativity and making note taking fun Having an organized display of information from the outset of the writing process may help some students,

as it is more easily converted into a draft, whereas in brainstorming, the random recording of ideas might lead to problems with the structure of students' texts

1.2.2 How to create mind mapping

a Steps to create mind mapping

There are a number of ways to create Mind mapping, both by hand and by computer The following steps are based on Tony Buzan’s structure

Step 1: The Central Idea – the subject of attention

The central idea is the starting point of the Mind Map and represents the given topic The central idea should be in the centre of the page and should include an image representing the Mind Map’s topic This draws attention and triggers associations, because our brains respond better to visual stimuli

Step 2: Basic ordering ideas (main branches)

Surrounding the subject of attention are the basic ordering ideas (main branches) They are the key concepts or terms within which a large number of other concepts can be organized The basic ordering ideas should extend far enough from your central image in order to avoid over-crowding the page and confusing information

An important principle of Mind Mapping is using one word per branch, which can spark off a greater number of associations compared to using multiple words or phrases One word per branch also works well for chunking information into core topics and themes, triggers connections in your brain and allows you to remember a larger quantity of information Also, pictures or images can be used to help recall information better More importantly, the branches should be bold, bright, colorful and labelled memorably and clearly

Step 3: The branches (sub-branches)

The branches are categories within the basic ordering ideas and they contain subordinate sub-categories Keywords, images or pictures and different colors should

be used to represent the concepts and to make sense of your Mind Map Your completed Mind Map should be bright, visually bold, aesthetically pleasing, ordered, meaningful to you and inclusive of interrelationships between topics

b The Mind Map laws

The Mind map laws are intended to increase, rather than restrict, your mental freedom In this context, it is very necessary to avoid confusing order with rigidity or freedom with chaos In fact, true mental freedom is the ability to create order from chaos The Mind map laws will help you to do exactly this They are divided into the laws of technique and the law of layout

 The laws of the technique

The laws of technique consist of using emphasis, using association, being clear and developing a person style

Use emphasis

Emphasis is one of the major elements in enhancing memory and creativity All the techniques used for emphasis can also be used for association and vice versa The laws below can enable you to achieve maximum and appropriate emphasis in your Mind Maps

- Always use a central image: An image can trigger numerous associations in your brain and is effective as a memory aid Besides, it is attractive on my levels It attracts you, pleases you and draws your attention to itself If a

particular word is used as the central of your Mind Map, you can make it into

an image by using dimension, multiple colors and attractive form

- Use images throughout your Mind Map: Using images whenever possible can enable you to create balance between your visual and linguistic cortical skills and enhance your visual perception

- Use three or more colors per central image: Colors stimulate your memory and creativity, which helps you avoid the danger of monochrome monotony They add liveliness to your images and make them become more attractive

- Use dimension in images: Dimension makes things “stand out” and whatever stands out is more easily remembered and communicated

- Use synaesthesia (the blending of the physical senses): Wherever possible, words or images referring to senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and kinaesthesia (physical sensation) should be included in your Mind Map

- Use variations of size of printing, line and image: Variation in size is one of the best ways of indicating the relative importance of items in a hierarchy Expanded size adds emphasis, thereby increasing the probability of recall

- Use organized spacing: Organized spacing increases the clarity of the image, helps in the use of hierarchy and categorization, leaves the Mind Map “open”

to additions, and is aesthetically pleasing

- Use appropriate spacing: Leaving the right amount of space around each item gives your Mind Map order and structure

Use association

Association is the other major element in enhancing memory and creativity It is the integrating device that our brains use to make sense of our physical experience, the key to human memory and understanding Having established your central image and your Basic Ordering Ideas, the power of association can take your brain

into the depths of any subject

- Use arrows when you want to make connections within and across the branch pattern: Arrows automatically guide your eye to connect one part of a Mind

Map with another They can be uni-directional, multi-headed, and varied in size, form and dimension They give spatial direction to your thoughts

- Use colors: Selecting specific colors for coding purposes or for specific areas

of your Mind Map will give you faster access to the information, will improve your memory of the information, and will increase the number and range of your creative ideas

- Use codes: Color codes and symbols can be used to enable brain to access information more frankly and clearly, by making instant connections between different parts of the Mind Map Codes could consist of ticks and crosses, circles, dots, underlinings or triangles

- Print all words: Printed letters have a more defined shape; therefore, it is easier for your mind to create better association Printing also encourages brevity, both upper and lower case letters can be used to show the relative importance

of words on your Mind Map

- Print key words on lines: The line not only provides organization and neatness improving clarity and aid recall but also encourages further connections and additions

- Make line length equal to word length: This law makes it easier to put words near each other, which can help facilitate association and include more information in your Mind Map

- Connect lines to other lines: Connecting the lines on your Mind Map enables you to connect the thoughts in your mind

- Make the central lines thicker and organic: Through emphasis, thicker lines immediately signal to your brain the importance of your central ideas Also, the organic, curved lines add more visual interest

- Make your boundaries “embrace” your branch outline: When a boundary line

“hugs” the outline of a completed Mind Map branch, it defines the unique shape of that branch This unique shape can then assist the memory of the information containing in that branch In addition, these shapes can become pictures and have obvious mnemonic advantages

- Make your images as clear as possible: External clarity encourages internal clarity of thought A clear Mind map will also be more elegant, graceful and attractive

- Keep your paper placed horizontally in front of you: The horizontal (landscape) format gives you more freedom and space to draw your Mind map and is also easier to read than the vertical (portrait) position

- Keep your printing as upright as possible: Upright printing gives your brain easier access to the thoughts expressed

Develop a personal style:

The more unique our Mind Maps reflect the unique networks and patterns of thought in our individual brains, the more our brains will be able to identify with them So as to create a truly personal style, every Mind map you do should be slightly more colorful, slightly more three-dimensional, slightly more imaginative, slightly more associatively logical and slightly more beautiful than the last

 The law of layout

Use hierarchy: The use of hierarchy and categorization in the form of Basic

Ordering Ideas enormously enhances the power of your brain

Use numerical order: If your Mind Map is the basis for a specific task, such as

a speech, an essay or an examination answer, you will want to communicate your thoughts in a specific order, whether chronological or in order of importance To

do this, you can simply number the branches in the desired order, even allotting

the appropriate time and emphasis to each branch if necessary

1.2.3 The Use of Mind mapping in classroom

It has been stated that mind map can give learners assistance to begin writing assignments In fact, many students have difficulties in dealing with writing, and most

of them find getting started the most difficult part of writing Hayes (1992: 203) gives

a statement that mind mapping can reduce difficulties in starting writing assignments

by giving students an organizing strategy to get them started He also explains that ideas are freely associated and written out without any pressure, thereby reducing tension and resistance often associated with writing The product of the prewriting activity is an organized cluster of thoughts, which enables students to stay on task when they write Sufficient preparation must be made before teacher requires the students to apply the mindmapping Buzan states that teacher must do specific preparation including try to map the material to uncover any potential problems The teacher’s diagram can also serve as a model against which to assess group work Complete procedure of the employment of mindmapping in the classroom by Buzan

is as follow:

- Describe or demonstrate the process to the students;

- Divide the students into groups which consist of four students;

- Present the central concept/material that the students must graph;

- Ask the groups to brainstorm, writing a list of terms and phrases that express core concepts and supporting details;

- Ask the students to start sketching out the diagram;

- Deliver any necessary suggestions to the groups while they are working;

- Ask them to developed the main concept by adding some new ideas and relationships as they construct the map

The following is procedure of the employment of mind mapping in the classroom by Hedge (1998: 30)

- Students are given a main topic at the centre of the board They note down all the things associated with the main topic which come into their minds and share with each other about what they have done

- And, teacher gives some explanations as well as suggestions if necessary Ideas are elicited from the students when they suggest things, and a mind map

is made collectively on the board as the ideas suggested in order that students can see how to draw out aspects of the topic and subgroup items This step is based on the reasoning behind mind map that is not to think in a linear way, but explore the topic by moving between its various aspects

- Branches are then drawn and added as the students suggest new ideas or add ideas to already established aspects The end result is a map with a number of subtopics or aspects radiating from the central topic (main topic) and with further points added to these

- When the map is reasonably full, teacher leads a class discussion on the best order in which points could be presented in a composition Alternative writing tasks are then can be proposed: ask students to prepare a piece of writing using the mind map on the board, elaborate it in their own ways or ask students to choose other topics and draw up their personal mind maps for their own topics

1.2.4 The difference between mindmapping and modeling for teaching writing

Writing is a complex work of language It involves some aspects like grammar, spelling, punctuation, and organization To be able to produce a good work of writing, students need to be given chances to learn how to write well They also have to be given more opportunity to explore their creativity in arranging their ideas, the organization of their writing works In mind mapping, ideas are presented in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner; mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to planning and organizational tasks Though the branches of a mind map represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework Consequently, it gives students broad chances to brainstorm and develop their ideas Furthermore, mind mapping uses not only verbal feature but also pictures and symbols, which is inline with human brain’s attitude in perceiving and retrieving

information Human brain perceives and retrieves information nonlinearly and it also processes information not only in the form of verbal but also in the form pictures and symbols Therefore, it can be assumed that mindmapping is very effective to increase students’ writing achievement

1.2.5 Theoretical background

a Review of related studies worldwide

In this research, the writer takes several previous researches The first research to be considered my reference is the one carried out by Susiani with her research paper entitled “The Use of Mind Mapping To Improve English Achievement on Reading

of The Second Year Students of MTS Al-Ittihad Pabelan in The Academic Year Of 2008/2009” In her research, she found the psychological factors affecting students

in learning process such as motivation and interest To improve motivation and interest of the students, she utilizes mind mapping to deal with the problem and improve students’ achievement Although this thesis and the writer’s study effectiveness of using mind mapping on two different aspects of language, they both give the first priority on the point of improving students’ motivation It can be easily seen that students’ learning motivation is one of the most important elements deciding how effective the technique is when applied to teaching and learning process No matter how good a method is, it cannot be successful without students’ attention and interest

The second study the writer would like to mention is the action research done by Ita Kurniawati entitled “Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery through Mind Mapping Strategy” (Classroom Action Research at the Second Year Of SMP Negeri

2 Polanharjo, Klaten in the Academic Year of 2010/2011) The purpose of her research project is to find out students English achievement on vocabulary using mind mapping method in the classroom Although this thesis focuses on improving student’s vocabulary, the writer finds some similarities between this one and the writer’s study First of all, these two both use action research as the method of study Besides, this thesis also presents the procedure of mind-mapping strategy on teaching vocabulary, which can be a reference for the writerto answer the second question in research question section

The third one is another classroom action research conducted by Adi Purnomo,

entitled “Improving descriptive writing skill through Mind mapping technique” It aims at finding out the improvement of descriptive students’ writing skill of 8th grade students of MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan in the academic year of 2013/2014 through mind mapping Besides that, the research is also to describe the process of teaching writing using mind mapping to 8th grade students of MTs Muh 1 Cekelan The most important similar features between this thesis and the writer’s are that they have the same research questions with the same aims and choose action research as tools of research; however, they use different data collection instruments The writer uses survey questionnaires and informal interviews while this thesis the results of pre-posttests

b Review of related studies in Vietnam

In Viet nam, the writer is lucky enough to find out three previous researches at B3 library of University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University The first one is the research entitled “Using mind mapping to help students at Thanh Hoa college of Agriculture and Forestry recycle vocabulary” by Luu Van Hau aiming at reviewing the notion of mind mapping and its applications to teaching a foreign language in teaching English vocabulary and finding out how effective Mind mapping is to recycle vocabulary The second one is the research by

B P P Linh, entitled "Mind Mapping and Visualization Applications in Learning Consecutive Interpreting” aiming at discussing the advantages of mind mapping and visualization skills over conventional methods used by a large number of students in consecutive interpreting The last one is the research by Dang Thanh Diem, entitled

“Using Mind Maps and Diagrams to teach vocabulary for first year mainstream students, Faculty of English language teacher education” The study aimed at finding out the current application of the techniques to teach vocabulary for first year mainstream English majors and figuring out whether the techniques work to teach vocabulary at Division I Although these above theses focus on different aspects of language teaching, they can also serve as references for the writer to carry out the study

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the question of how to use mind mapping (MM) technique to help students at Tri Huy Learning Center (THLC) improve their writing skills and the process of teaching writing through mind mapping to students at THLC will be concerned It will begin with a brief introduction to THLC, the teaching and learning

of English, teachers of English and students at THLC, teaching and learning materials currently used as well as setting of time

so on At THLC, several major subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Literature and English are taught to students with a view to helping them improve their marks in class, review previous lessons, gain new knowledge to support their university entrance examinations in the near future Particularly, in English classes at THLC, both four important skills and grammar rules are focused in order to serve learners’ purposes, and writing skill is one of them Students are mainly taught how

to write a paragraph about various topics related to what they have learned in their textbooks at school

2.1.2 Teachers of English and students at THLC

Teachers of English at THLC are those who have at least over three years’ teaching experience and graduated from several renowned universities in Vietnam such as Ha noi National University, Ha noi University and Ha noi National University of Education

Students learning at THLC are from many different high schools in Ha noi such as Thang Long high school, Truong Dinh high school, Doan Ket – Hai Ba Trung high school, Viet Duc high school and so on They come to THLC with many different levels and purposes Some of them want to be fluent in English to communicate with

foreigners; some want to improve their English grades at schools; some want to prepare for university entrance exam Students are divided into many classes with different levels and purposes

2.1.3 The materials

There are many kinds of material chosen to teach English at THLC and those selected for writing skill are English 10, English 11 and English 12, which are edited by Professor Hoang Van Van The teachers usually choose the writing topics related to the topics mentioned in the textbooks The main aim of teaching English in these textbooks is to provide students with background knowledge of general English for daily communication and social text comprehension Each textbook includes sixteen topic-based units presenting and practicing grammar rules as well as pronunciation and developing four main skills After every three units, there is a “Test yourself” to check what students have learnt At the end of the book, there is a list of new words divided based on each unit which can enable students to identify the focused vocabulary they need to acquire As for writing, there are some main ideas as cues for students to follow Five topics selected to be the topics to apply mind mapping technique are “describing a person you admire most”, “describing your idol”,

“writing about difficulties in learning English you have to face up to”, “talking about your most memorable experience”, and giving your opinion about the question

“Parents should or should not use violence to educate their children?”

2.1.4 The Setting of Time

The research was carried out at THLC in academic year 2016/2017 This research has been done from November 2016 to December 2016 The researcher acted as the teacher and the learning process was observed by the English teachers of THLC The classroom action research was applied to 30 students from two classes at THLC

2.2 Research Methodology

In this research, the writer wants to apply classroom action research (CAR) According to Kemmis and MC Tegart (1991) in Suwandi (2009:9), action research is study which is used in self-improvement, work experience, but it is done by systematic and it is planned

2.3 Participants

The subjects of this research are 30 grade tenth students in the academic year of 2016/2017 coming from many different schools in Ha noi at mixed levels Some students have very limited or no understanding of English and hardly write long or compound sentences in English They can only produce simple sentences with limited vocabulary and often make grammar mistakes Some other students can use basic vocabulary and common language structures They can understand the content of related topics and make complex sentences using connectors However, the problem they have to face up to is that they do not know how to generate ideas, arrange them logically and develop them into a paragraph The others are those with extensive vocabulary and good English grammar They can generate main ideas and supporting ideas and develop them into short or even long paragraph or compositions However, they cannot present their thoughts in an organized manner Sometimes, their writings become a mess of ideas because they do not know how to order them after brainstorming process

2.4 Implementation of the Action Research

When problems come up in the class, it is essential for the teachers to identify the solutions to the problems In these circumstances, action research should be selected because the researcher is simultaneously the teacher who directly encounters the problems As a teacher, the writer chose action research as a tool of research to find out solutions to her own problems because of two below reasons:

First of all, one of the most significant features of an action research is that it is very

“situational”, which means that specific problems can be solved by specific solutions

in certain context This research was conducted within the context of the teacher’s working place with her students and colleague’s support Therefore, action research

is considered the best choice for the researcher in this situation

Secondly, from the teacher’s own teaching experience, she found out that her students had difficulties in generating, organizing and developing ideas in writing process, hence she really wanted to seek out the most suitable solutions to the situation And, action research could be a good choice

There are a great number of ways to define action research Kemmis & McTaggart (1982)claimed that “Action research is deliberate, solution-oriented investigation that

is grouped or personally owned and conducted It is characterized by spiraling cycles

of problem identification, systematic data collection, reflection, analysis, data-driven action taken, and, finally, problem redefinition The linking of the terms "action" and

"research" highlights the essential features of this method: trying out ideas in practice

as a means of increasing knowledge about and/or improving curriculum, teaching, and learning.” Cohen and Manion (1985) also gave a statement of action research that

“Action research is first and foremost situational, being concerned with the identification and solution of problems in a specific context The aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within the educational context in which the research is being carried out”

Besides, there are a lot of models presenting steps included in an action research In this study, the researcher followed the model proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) consisting of four steps in the action research cycle as follows:

- Step 1: Identifying the problem

- Step 2: Planning the action

- Step 3: Implementing the action

- Step 4: Reflecting the action

2.5 Research design

The action research was conducted in the first semester of the academic year

2016-2017 Based on the action research model of Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) as stated above, this action research was implemented in the four following steps:

Step 1: Identifying the problem

With the researcher and the teacher’s own teaching experience, she found that the students encountered several problems in learning writing process The first and foremost problem was that they did not know how to organize ideas for their writings after listing as many ideas as possible, which led to their writings becoming a mess

of ideas without coherence The second one was that many of them lacked vocabulary and grammatical structures, which could obstruct them from building up their