Using mind mapping to teach vocabulary to the first year non english major students at bac giang university of agriculture and forestry

NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY LAN USING MIND MAPPING TO TEACH VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT BAC GIANG UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY Sử dụng bản đồ tư duy để dạy

NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY LAN

USING MIND MAPPING TO TEACH VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT BAC GIANG UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND

FORESTRY

(Sử dụng bản đồ tư duy để dạy từ vựng cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên tại trường Đại học Nông-Lâm

Bắc Giang)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi-2012

NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY LAN

USING MIND MAPPING TO TEACH VOCABULARY

TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT BAC GIANG UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND

FORESTRY

(Sử dụng bản đồ tư duy để dạy từ vựng cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên tại trường Đại học Nông-Lâm

Bắc Giang)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: Prof.Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi-2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations vii

Lists of tables and figures viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Organization of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 An overview of mind mapping 5

2.1.1 Definition of mind mapping 5

2.1.2 Classifications of mind mapping 6

2.1.2.1 Network tree 6

2.1.2.2 Event chain 7

2.1.2.3 Cycle concept map 8

2.1.2.4 Spider concept map 8

2.2 The applications of mind mapping to teaching a foreign language 9

2.3 The applications of mind mapping to teaching vocabulary 12

2.3.1 The overview of vocabulary 12

2.3.2 Strategies of teaching and learning vocabulary 13

2.3.3 Mind mapping in teaching vocabulary 15

2.4 The advantages of using mind mapping 16

2.5 Related studies 19

2.5.1 Review of related studies worldwide 19

2.5.2 Review of related studies in Vietnam

2.6 Concluding remarks

20 21 CHAPTER 3: USING MIND MAPPING TO TEACH VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT BUAF AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS

22 3.1 Introduction 22

3.2 Using mind mapping to teach vocabulary to the first year non-English major students at BUAF

22 3.2.1 A brief introduction to BUAF 22

3.2.1.1 The University 22

3.2.1.2 The teachers of English 23

3.2.1.3 The Students 23

3.2.1.4 The coursebook “New Cutting Edge – Elementary” 24

3.2.2 How to use MM to teach vocabulary in the coursebook “NCE – Elementary”

25 3.2.2.1 Three chosen vocabulary parts in the coursebook “NCE – Elementary”

25 3.2.2.2 Class procedures 26

3.3 How effective is mind mapping in teaching vocabulary to the first year non-English major students at BUAF?

30 3.3.1 Method of the research 30

3.3.2 Population 30

3.3.3 Data collection instruments 30

3.3.3.1 Questionnaires 30

3.3.3.2 Interviews 31

3.3.4 Data analysis procedures \ 31

3.4 Findings and discussion 32

3.4.1 Discussion 32

3.4.2 The Findings 32

3.4.2.1 The effectiveness of mind mapping technique to teaching vocabulary

32 3.4.2.2 Students’ feedbacks on the application of mind mapping in vocabulary lessons

34 3.4.2.2.1 Questionnaires 34

3.4.2.2.2 Interviews 36

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 37

4.1 Major findings of the study 37

4.2 Pedagogical implications and suggestions 38

4.3 Limitations of the study 38

4.4 Suggestions for further studies 39

References 40 Appendices I

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Page Table 1: Question 1 & 2 in questionnaires and students’ answers 34

Figure 13: Students’ interest with the application of mind mapping 35 Figure 14: Do you want to learn vocabulary with MM any longer? 35

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1 1 Rationale

Vocabulary is an important element in second language (L2) acquisition By learning new words, learners can enhance their listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as improve comprehension and production in L2

When a person’s vocabulary is limited, he may find himself incompetent in learning English as he cannot make full sense of what he hears or reads Dellar and

Hocking (cited in Thornbury, 2002: 13) states, “If you spend most of your time studying grammar, your English will not improve very much You will see most improvement if you learn more words and expressions You can say very little with grammar, but you can say almost anything with words.” Thornbury (2002: 23) also

maintains that learners need not only to learn a lot of words, but also to remember them

been recently recognized by theorists and researchers in the field Accordingly, numerous approaches, techniques, exercises and practice have been introduced into the field of vocabulary teaching (Hatch & Brown, 1995) It has been suggested that teaching vocabulary should not only consist of teaching specific words but also aim

at equipping learners with necessary strategies to expand their vocabulary knowledge (Hulstjin, 1993, cited in Morin & Goebel, 2001)

Vocabulary learning strategies are one part of language learning strategies which in turn are part of general learning strategies (Nation, 2001) One of the strategies in learning vocabulary is how to learn and remember vocabulary effectively Learning new vocabulary involves storing them first in short-term memory, and then in long-term memory There are some factors affecting the process of remembering new vocabulary items They may be the ways to present the words, how frequently they appear or how words are recycled

Rivers (cited in Thornbury, 2002: 144) states that “vocabulary cannot be taught, it can be presented, explained, included in all kind of activities and experienced in all manner of associations…but it is ultimately learned by the individual.” Moreover, one of the strategies to teach vocabulary is to apply images

and review well in a structured way Mind mapping is believed to be one of the techniques or activities which can be used in teaching and learning vocabulary effectively

For all the reasons mentioned above, I have decided to choose Using mind mapping (MM) to teach vocabulary to the first year non-English major students

at Bac Giang University of Agriculture and Forestry (BUAF) as the topic of my

MA thesis

1.2 Aim of the study

The study is aimed at finding the ways to use MM to teach vocabulary to the

first year non-English major students at BUAF effectively with the coursebook New

Cutting Edge (NCE) – Elementary

The answer to Question 2 involves a mini-experiment in which I will exploit the insights of MM to teach vocabulary to the first year non-English major students

at BUAF, using the coursebook the university is currently using; then in order to get

to know how effective MM is to teaching vocabulary, a small research is conducted

to obtain the opinions from the students at BUAF

1.4 Scope of the study

Given the aim set in 1.2 and the research questions raised above for exploration in 1.3, the study can not cover all aspects of vocabulary teaching and learning It only focuses on applying the insights of MM to teaching vocabulary to the first year non-English major students at BUAF

1.5 Significance of the study

The study will be useful to students, teachers and researchers in the field of English language teaching and learning: students can use MM model to learn vocabulary quickly and more effectively; teachers can understand more about the

MM model and use it to teach vocabulary more effectively in their lessons; and researchers will use the study as a reliable source of reference in their research

1.6 Organization of the study

The study consists of four chapters

Chapter 1 – Introduction – covers the rationale, the aim, the research question, the scope, the significance and the organization of the study

Chapter 2 – Literature review – provides the theoretical background of the

study which includes some basic knowledge of MM in general and MM in teaching

vocabulary in particular Besides, some advantages of using MM are also presented

Chapter 3 – Using MM to teach vocabulary to the first year non-English major students at BUAF and its effect – describes the method based on which the study is carried out with the description of participants, data collection instruments,

to BUAF, English teachers, students and the coursebook that the university is currently using Besides, in this chapter, it attempts to describe in detail three places where vocabulary is taught to the first year non-English major students at BUAF,

using the coursebook “NCE – Elementary” Then to arrive at a preliminary

confirmation about the usefulness of MM in teaching vocabulary, a questionnaire is designed to obtain students’ opinions And when there is some doubt about the results of the questionnaire, an informal interview is conducted The chapter ends with presenting the findings and a discussion of them

Chapter 4 – Conclusion – summarizes the main issues of the study, points

out the limitations of the study, presents the implications for using MM to teach

vocabulary and make some suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 An overview of mind mapping

2.1.1 Definition of mind mapping

“Mind mapping” or “Mind Map” was developed by the British psychologist Tony Buzan in the late 1960s in an attempt to help students take notes effectively

Buzan (1993: 1) states in “The mind map book” that “MM is a powerful graphic technique, which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain”

According to McGriff (2000: 9), “MMs are 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” De Porter, Readon and Nourie (1999: 175) states that “MM is a creative note-taking method, which eases us to remember much information” The best MM is colorful and used

much pictures and symbols; usually like an art

(http://www.squidoo.com/Creating-Your-First-Mind-Map)

Figure 1: Example of MM

With the use of MM in the example above, it can be seen that the learners

can better understand the key concept “holiday” with detailed supporting ideas such

as where and when to go, where to stay, who to go with and how to go They can not only organize their existing knowledge systematically but remember more information related to the key concept

In general, MM 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

2.1.2 Classifications of mind mapping

There are many different types of MM Here are four common types that we

can find They are network tree, event chain, cycle concept map and spider concept map

2.1.2.1 Network tree

A network tree is a representation, which shows the relationships among ideas or concepts that are depicted in the form of branches The terms are normally ordered from general to specific and should incorporate examples to reinforce the word meanings

It can be used to show casual relationship In science, it is often used to show

a progression of ideas such as particle to atom to iron to molecule to sub-atomic particles or any classification process such as those for animals, plants or rocks, also for hierarchical relationship such as food chains, manufacturing processes or energy transforms

With the use of network tree, in Figure 2, it can be shown that hierarchical relationship in U.S currency is illustrated clearly with two kinds of currency, which are coins and paper Moreover, in each kind, there are other sub-kinds

ml

Figure 2: Network tree of U.S currency 2.1.2.2 Event chain

An event chains is a visualization that shows the relationships between

events and tasks and how the events affect each other In science, an events chain can be used to describe a sequence of events, the steps in a procedure, or the stages

of a process

(http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/lep_science/physical_science/skill_handbook/oinfo.html)

Figure 3: Event chain

As can be seen clearly, in Figure 3, event chain presents the steps in a process from alarm ringing to leaving for school With the use of event chain diagram, we can see the relationship between each step and how they affect each other

2.1.2.3 Cycle concept map

A cycle concept map is a special type of event chain map In a cycle concept map, the series of events does not produce a final outcome Instead, the last event in the chain relates back to the initiating event It is suitable to show a correlation how

a combination accident is interacting to produce a group of result repeatedly

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/lep_science/physical_science/skill_handbook/oinfo.html

Figure 4: Cycle concept map

This cycle concept map describes the relationship between day and night It can be seen that the event starts with nighttime and ends with sunsets; however, it does not stop there It backs to the initiating event and starts a new event chain like the previous one

2.1.2.4 Spider concept map

A spider concept map has a central or unifying concept in the centre with related concepts radiating out from the main one This is a map that you can use for brainstorming Once you have a central idea, you may find you have a jumble of ideas that relate to it, but are not necessarily clearly related to each other By writing

these ideas outside the main concept, you may begin to separate and group unrelated terms so that they become more useful

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/lep_science/physical_science/skill_handbook/oinfo.html

Figure 5: Spider concept map

Figure 5 presents spider concept map of “homework” with the central concept “homework” in the centre and supporting ideas radiating out from it

2.2 The applications of mind mapping to teaching a foreign language

It is reasonable that memory has an important role in learning and acquiring

a foreign language Especially in the communicative approach, learners have to become familiar with and internalize words and sentences to use them effectively

MMs are memory tools which use personal associations to make it easier to remember new information and to visualize the thinking process Therefore, MMs have proven to be a very helpful technique to master a foreign language Although it may cost time to use the technique, it will eventually speed up the learning process when learners know and understand how to use it

According to Casco (2009), MMs have some applications in teaching a foreign language They are as follows:

 Engage the learners:

The map helps the learners knows what comes next and draws the learners’ attention to the topic Furthermore, the map provides a structure to reduce the learners’ anxiety when receiving input through listening and reading and when

speaking

 Activate prior knowledge:

The use of images and keywords foster memory of what the learners know about the topic

 Encourage the learners to ask questions:

The map displays clearly what the learners know and what they do not know about the topic Images and interrogation marks broaden the information gap and stimulate the need in the learners to find out what they do not know

 Scaffold reading and listening comprehension:

The map is a powerful tool to facilitate comprehension because it offers the learners a global view of what they are going to listen or read Furthermore, the embedded cues contained in the map prompt the learners to form inferences that in turn act as an aid to understanding

 Scaffold speaking:

The map serves as a tool for the learners to organize their thoughts and speech The different elements of the map can be easily linked and cross-referenced allowing the learners to create a different discourse each time the learners use the map

 Assess oral production:

The same map implemented at other stages of the language course can be used to get a new sample of the learners’ production By explaining the connections

on the map, the learners will show if they have acquired new structures and lexical items The production obtained with the aid of the map will reveal errors providing

an information source for the teacher to reflect upon in her future practice

 Scaffold written production:

The map originally designed by the teacher and expanded upon by the learners may become the starting point to write a paragraph or an essay on the topic explored

From all his above explanations, Casco (2009) proved that MMs can bring a lot of benefits in teaching a foreign language in many aspects consisting of reading, writing, reading skills as well as in motivating the learners and activating the prior knowledge

Having the same opinions with Casco (2009), Hofland (2007) agreed that MMs are great tools for foreign language teaching and learning Therefore, they can

be used for all skills including reading, speaking, writing and vocabulary

Hofland (2007) confirms that “reading is a very linear process, a typical left brain skill” Furthermore, the human brain is not good at linear process but

extremely good at parallel processing tasks That is why MM might be a good tool

to improve the learners’ reading skill It is obvious that when a learner thinks of a word, all the images, associations, ideas and pictures will come into his mind In his research, Hofland also considered that MMs can help the learners understand a text like an article or a story better

Writing can be considered as the most difficult skill for the language learners They often have many difficulties in expressing their ideas into words A mind map can activate the learners’ thinking ability and creativity By using a mind map as a brainstorming activity, the learners can express what they are going to write into images, graphs, ideas, etc That would be easier for them to follow when they start

to write

MMs can be served as reminders Learners can draw a mind map to prepare a topic that they are going to speak In those MMs, they should only use key words and symbols to help them easier to remember their ideas

Lastly, Hofland asserted that mind map is a technique that is very suitable to elicit vocabulary Learners can create a mind map based on their own thinking with their own images, pictures, ideas or key words That is why a mind map is an excellent way for them to remember new vocabulary

In summary, building MMs is the way to go in learning or teaching a foreign language When creating MMs, learners often develop images that associate with words Word association and images are powerful ways of learning quickly and remember for a longer time Moreover, MMs can be used with colors; numbers, etc that bring the best result for learners in learning a foreign language

2.3 The applications of mind mapping to teaching vocabulary

There have been numerous definitions of vocabulary so far Ur (1996: 60)

defined vocabulary as “the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multi word idioms”

According to Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Online, vocabulary

is defined as all the words known and used by a particular person, and all the words which exist in a particular language or subject

“Vocabulary is the glue that holds stories, ideas and content together… making comprehension accessible for children.” (Rupley, Logan & Nichols, 1998)

Learners’ word knowledge is linked strongly to academic success because learners who have large vocabularies can understand new ideas and concepts more quickly than learners with limited vocabularies

In short, it can be concluded that vocabulary is the total number of all the words that a language possesses ranging from a single word, two or three words items expressing an idea to multi-word idioms

2.3.2 Strategies of teaching and learning vocabulary

Vocabulary learning strategies are one part of language learning strategies which in turn are part of general learning strategies (Nation, 2001) Language learning strategies encourage greater overall self-direction for learners Self-directed learners are independent learners who are capable of assuming responsibility for their own learning and gradually gaining confidence, involvement and proficiency (Oxford, 1990) Thus, students need training in vocabulary learning strategies they need most Research has shown that many learners do use more strategies to learn vocabulary especially when compared to such integrated tasks such as listening and speaking However, they are mostly inclined to use basic vocabulary learning strategies (Schmitt, 1997) This in turn makes strategy instruction an essential part

of any foreign or second language program

Learners acquire vocabulary in various ways Students are exposed to a lot of new vocabulary during lessons by the teacher, by texts or other materials they work with A lot of this vocabulary is automatically absorbed (Harmer, 1993: 159) Various techniques and activities are aimed directly at

learning vocabulary, which is usually put into sets of somehow related words, often

by topic or meaning

As McCarthy (1992: 108) suggests, before presenting new language,

pre-teaching activities might be beneficial “to activate existing knowledge to make the encounter with new words more meaningful” Pre-teaching activities often arouse

students’ attention and desire to explore a particular topic or subject in greater detail

Both McCarthy (1992: 110) and Thornbury (2004: 76) suggest two general possibilities of arranging vocabulary presentation The teacher provides the learners with the meaning of the words and then progresses to introduction of their forms or vice versa – the form is introduced first, followed up with illustration

of the meaning In the latter, forms are often presented in text or another form of context and students are encouraged to discover meanings and other properties of words themselves This type of activity is called the discovery technique (Harmer, 1993: 160)

For Nation (1990; 2001), the most important way to learn vocabulary is learners using strategies independently of a teacher In his recent publication, strategy training is suggested to be part of a vocabulary development program According to Schmitt & Schmitt (1995), the best teaching plan may be to introduce

a variety of learning strategies to students so that they can decide for themselves the ones they prefer This echoes learners' need to develop their strategy knowledge

As Harmer (1993: 161-162) suggests, sense relations, definition and direct translation of words might function as another helpful tool for clarifying the meaning Besides, Thornbury (2004: 81) listed these options as well and furthermore included an idea of clarifying the meaning by examples, such as

“providing an example situation” or” giving several example sentences”

Besides explaining the meaning in vocabulary presentation, it is also important to focus on forms, since the sound of words is one of the aspects influencing the organization of the mental lexicon (Thornbury 2004: 84; McCarthy,

1992: 110) This is arranged by various drilling activities From experience, songs and chants are very suitable for drills, providing rhythm, catchy rhymes and an element of fun

All these techniques are more or less useful for a particular situation, level and vocabulary, the best way would be in many cases to combine them and use several together

2.3.3 Mind mapping in teaching vocabulary

Casco (2009) states that MM (MMs) was first applied to foreign language teaching in the 1990s as an aid to activate prior knowledge on a certain topic and help learners to organize and recall items of vocabulary When being used to activate prior knowledge, the teacher asks learners what they know about a certain topic and the learners brainstorm associations which the teacher writes on the board creating a collective map When being used for vocabulary acquisition, teachers first ask learners to brainstorm items of vocabulary associated with a certain topic and then learners are asked to create their own maps instead of the more traditional approach of creating glossaries with new vocabulary

A mind map consists of picture, symbol and color that will not only help the students to understand the vocabulary knowledge but also makes the students feel good, enjoyable and attract their brain which at last leads them to have interest in mastery vocabulary knowledge

The examples below will describe clearly how MM can help students learn vocabulary easily (See Figure 6 in the next page)

It can be seen clearly in the example in Figure 6 that students not only learn

the meaning of the word “transport” but also know different types of transport

through this MM By using MM, teachers can enhance students’ imagination; moreover, students can learn and remember the words more easily and effectively

http://www.tuoitrenews.vn/cmlink/tuoitrenews/education/studying-english-with-tuoi-tre-Figure 6: Mind map on “Transport”

By using colors and images that can be illustrated in Figure 7, MM can help students a lot in learning the word and organizing the ideas systematically In fact, it usually takes a lot of effort to remember words and sentences; whereas when we visualize them, they automatically pop up in our mind when we try to remember them Of course, it is possible to learn by hearing or remembering but it is much easier to learn when we visualize and associate because these techniques suit the way our mind works

(http://www.imindmap.com/personal/)

Figure 7: Mind map on “Family week ahead”

2.4 The advantages of using mind mapping

As presented before, MM was first used to help students take note effectively

by Tony Buzan In fact, information has been recorded with letters, lines and numbers for a long time However, many disadvantages can be found while noting

down information First of all, it takes a lot of energy and time to write down redundant words Another disadvantage is that information may be missed while noting down one idea Moreover, it takes longer to read and review

Comparing with the traditional linear notes, we can see many advantages of using MM technique According to Russell (1995), MMs have many applications First, MMs help organize information into a form that is easily assimilated by the brain and easily remembered Thus, they can be used for noting books, lectures, meetings, interviews, telephone conversations Next, MMs allow ideas to be quickly noted as they occur, in an organized manner, obviating the relatively laborious process of forming neat sentences and writing out in full They, therefore, serve as a quick and efficient means of review, and so keep recall at a high level Russell also emphasizes that MMs are very valuable in any planning and organizing, whether it

is of books, reports, lectures, meetings, study, daily tasks, or future activities

De Porter and Hernacki (2008: 172, cited in Dang, 2011) put out that using

MM technique has some advantages They are as follows

1) Flexible

Explaining something can be easy without confusing in adding the material based on MM We can put the label and category of something based on our own opinions anywhere in MM

2) Concentrate on the Topic

Getting the subtopics what we talk about with focus on the main ideas easily Keep focus on the keyword can help us to make it simple and it does not waste the time

3) Increasing Comprehension

Using MM can make easy in understanding the material MM is a simple think pattern so it does not make us confuse to understand what we have learned and easy to remember the material

4) Enjoyable

Imagination and creativity are unlimited in using MM, so it can be funny to learn By using pictures and colors, it makes the brain enjoy and excited in thinking something what we want about the material

From the all explanations, it can be seen that MM can bring a lot of benefits

to the learners for the ability of memorizing and brain development That’s why it is chosen to apply for teaching language more and more popularly nowadays

(http://www.illumine.co.uk/learn-absorb-understand/mind-mapping-training.html)

Figure 8: Why to use mind maps?

According to McGriff (2000: 9), “MMs are 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” Buzan

(1993) describes mind maps as a representation of cognition and comprehension in the learner, and as an excellent way to help learners to express themselves both verbally and visually Indeed, in their mind map, learners may use graphic representation which may help in the brainstorming process McGriff (2000) found that relating images to concepts is a creative task which requires thinking instead of memorizing

From the advantages MM can bring to the learners as presented above, I would like to affirm once more time that MM can be an amazing tool to help students improve their vocabulary as it is a tool to take note effectively During the

lessons, learners can use MM to take note with key words, colors, images to understand the lessons and learn vocabulary more thoroughly Besides, because of the ability of activating existing knowledge, MM makes learners brainstorm the topic from a central idea to many other related ideas With this activity, learners can learn not only one word but many other words related

With the benefits of MM to learning and teaching vocabulary, I would like to apply this model to teaching vocabulary in my lessons to my students – the first

year non-English major students at BUAF - with the coursebook “NCE – Elementary” to see how it is used to bring more positive effects to my students’

vocabulary improvement

2.5 Related studies

2.5.1 Review of related studies worldwide

There are several studies related to using MM technique in teaching

languages in the world The study Teaching vocabulary through MM technique to the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palembang was written by Effendi

(2004) Based on the analysis of the data gathered during the study, it can be concluded that there was a significant difference between the students’ progress in the experimental group (using MM technique) and the control group (using traditional method) From the data analysis, it can be concluded that it was effective

to teach vocabulary through MM to the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palembang

Beside the above study, I cannot find the study related to using MMs to teach vocabulary However, there are some studies about using MMs in teaching language

The study Introducing mind map in comprehension by Moi and Lian (2007)

concluded that pupils are able to understand and remember the comprehension passage better in establishing meaningful links, pattern, relationship among concepts and information Visual mapping also helps pupils to develop their thinking skills, sorting of information and ideas, thus developing better

understanding in a topic area Pupils gain confidence in attempting comprehension questions

Another study entitled MM in the EFL classroom conducted by Hofland

(2007) affirms that MMs are memory tools which use personal associations to make

it easy to remember new information and to visualize the thinking process That is why MMs have proven to be a very useful technique to master a foreign language

He also states that using MMs can bring a lot of benefits in teaching reading skills, writing skills, speaking skills as well as vocabulary

The study The Use of MM to Develop Writing Skills in UAE Schools by

Naqbi presented that MM may impact on students’ abilities to plan and organize their ideas for writing tasks under exam conditions Moreover, using the MM technique can help in developing students’ cognition skills and aid in information recovery in an assessment situation Eventually, he stressed that MM technique would seem to be particularly suited to help students in planning their writing as the approach encourages students to reach for and adapt a deeper level of understanding

of the writing topics

2.5.2 Review of related studies in Vietnam

It is quite hard to look for the studies related to the topic of this study in Vietnam After a long time searching, I only found one related study – the

graduation paper – which named Using MMs and diagrams to teach vocabulary for first year mainstream students, Faculty of English Language Teacher Education by Dang (2011) Her findings were that there was a different

achievement on the Experimental Group and Control Group, which means, using MMs and diagrams to teach vocabulary can help students have better and longer memory of word items taught Furthermore, students after attending a lesson with MMs and diagrams really wanted to have chance to learn with those techniques

Beside this study, there are various studies on the matter of teaching and

learning vocabulary For example, Using movies and videos to teach English

vocabulary to the tenth form students by Do (2010), Some techniques to teach vocabulary effectively in coursebook “Powerbase elementary” for first-year, non- major students at Vietnam national economics university by Nguyen (2006), Improving learning English vocabulary through games: an action research by Vu

(2011), etc Although these studies are not really related to the topic “using MM to teach vocabulary”, all of them help me a lot in providing general knowledge on

vocabulary and vocabulary teaching and learning

2.6 Concluding Remarks

In this chapter, I have been concerned with an over review of MM as a teaching model At the first stage, an overview of MM was presented with various definitions of MM and its classification Next, the applications of MM to teaching a foreign language in general and to teaching vocabulary in particular were made clear with a brief introduction of vocabulary and strategies of teaching and learning vocabulary And then the advantages of using MM was also exposed such as flexible, concentrating on the topic, increasing comprehension, etc Lastly, some related studies worldwide and in Vietnam were presented with a clear description of the studies and the gained findings

CHAPTER 3 USING MIND MAPPING TO TEACH VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT BUAF AND ITS

EFFECTIVENESS 3.1 Introduction

This chapter is concerned with the question of how to use MM to teach vocabulary to the first year non-English major students at BUAF The chapter will start with a brief introduction to BUAF, BUAF’s English teachers, the first year students, and the English coursebook that the university is currently using Then it will present data collection and data analysis procedures This is followed by a detailed description of three places where vocabulary is taught, using MM model

And then class procedure is made clear from the beginning to the end of each trial vocabulary parts

Next, in order to answer the question "How effective is MM in teaching

the study, population, data collection instruments and data analysis procedures are presented clearly and then a small research is conducted with a questionnaire delivered to 90 students And when there is some doubt about the result of the questionnaire, an informal interview is conducted The chapter ends with presenting the findings and a discussion of them

3.2 Using MM to teach vocabulary to the first year non-English major students at BUAF

3.2.1 A brief introduction to BUAF

3.2.1.1 The University

BUAF is located in Bich Son, Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province It is a public university in Vietnam It is a training institution under Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development established under Decision No 133/QD - TTg

by the Prime Minister on 20th May, 2011, on the basis of upgrading Bac Giang College of Agriculture and Forestry

Its functions and tasks are to train technical staff who have university – college degrees, high school technicians and craft workers on economic and technical field of agriculture and forestry in order to meet the applications in the agricultural and rural development contributing to the industrialization and modernization of the country Besides, the university is also responsible for research and application of scientific and technical advance and development to meet the requirements of the industry

quality assurance providing technical staff for the country The university has constantly been growing in size, training types, and teaching staffs

3.2.1.2 The Teachers of English

In fact, at BUAF, there are only 7 English teachers aged from 28 to 41, but none of them have ever been to an English speaking country 5 out of them were trained at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi while two others finished an in-service course of English Only 30% are M.A of English Most of the teachers have been teaching English for over

5 years and have acquired certain pedagogical competence However, the method of teaching, which is applied by most of the teachers at BUAF, is a very traditional one – the Grammar Translation Method Other methods are not popularly used

3.2.1.3 The students

Like students of other colleges and universities in Vietnam, the students of BUAF come from many different parts of the country; however, most of them are from provinces and mountainous areas Their age ranges from 18 to over 20 Students of BUAF do not have the same level of English language proficiency Some of them have learned English for 7 years at secondary and high schools, some have only learned English for 3 years and some have never learned English before

Most of them are only good at grammar, not at speaking, writing and listening Moreover, their vocabulary is very poor That is why they do not have enough vocabulary to express their ideas in writing and speaking, and they do not understand what they hear As a result, the way to present vocabulary is very important to make sure that they understand their meanings and remember them for

a long time

3.2.1.4 The coursebook “NCE – Elementary”

The coursebook the university is using is NCE – Elementary It is written by

Sarah Cunningham, Peter Moor and Jane Comyns-Carr and was published by

Pearson Longman in 2005 NCE presents the basic structure of English and

develops them through a variety of different contexts It is a topic-based textbook which includes language components and language skills such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and skills of reading, speaking and writing Emphasis is also placed on enlarging the students’ knowledge of vocabulary, and on developing their ability to communicate effectively There is a comprehensive treatment of reading, writing, speaking and listening skills The coursebook is most appropriate for students who have limited precious experience of learning English, and who need to practise and consolidate basic structures and vocabulary from the beginning

Each unit is based around a theme and has the main structure focus, which is recycled and developed through the unit Each module contains different sections such as Language focus, Vocabulary, Reading, Speaking, Listening and Writing (mostly in the Workbook) After every five modules, there is a Consolidation module section This section provides controlled and free revision of the previous material and can be used by the teachers and the students to evaluate their progress

At BUAF, the coursebook “NCE – Elementary” has been used since 2010 as

the official material to learn general English After 5 semesters of learning general English, students will learn English with Specific Purposes (ESP) which is relevant

to their majors The coursebook includes 15 modules In each module, vocabulary

part is often presented at the beginning after one small part of language focus (For more detail about this, please see Appendices 11, 12 & 13)

3.2.2 How to use MM to teach vocabulary in the coursebook “NCE – Elementary”

3.2.2.1 Three chosen vocabulary parts in the coursebook “NCE – Elementary”

In this section, I will describe in some detail three chosen vocabulary parts in

the coursebook “NCE – Elementary” where vocabulary is taught, using MM model

Each part is taught in 20’ at the beginning of the lessons After teaching vocabulary, other teaching parts such as language focus, reading, listening, speaking and writing will be taught as usual The three chosen vocabulary parts are as follows

Vocabulary Part 1: Transport (Module 5: Getting from A to B – Page 42)

Vocabulary Part 1 is extracted from “Module 5: Getting from A to B – page 42” (See Appendix 11) The topic of the lesson is about transport Therefore, the

main purpose of the lesson is to help students get to know words (their form,

meaning, and use) which are related to the concept “transport” Besides, students

can learn and remember words indicating different types of transport

Vocabulary Part 2: Food and drink (countable and uncountable nouns) (Module 6: Eating and drinking – Page 52)

Vocabulary Part 2 is extracted from “Module 6: Eating and drinking – page 52” (See appendix 12) This topic is quite common to students Therefore, it seems

that students will be eager to learn this vocabulary part However, the final purpose

of the lesson is to help students learn and remember words indicating different kinds

of food and drink Besides, they can identify which one is a countable noun or an uncountable noun

Vocabulary Part 3: Describing films (Module 8: Fact or Fiction – Page 68)

Vocabulary Part 3 is extracted from “Module 8: Fact or fiction – page 68” (See Appendix 13) In this vocabulary lesson, students will learn how to describe

the films they have seen Therefore, students need to know the names of different kind of films and the adjectives that can be used to describe those films

3.2.2.2 Class procedures

Vocabulary Part 1:

Before starting the lesson, students were asked to close the book and give the

answers to some questions such as “How do (does) you/ your mother/ your father often go to school?” to lead the lesson After students knew the topic of the lesson,

a map was drawn on the board with “transport” – the central idea and then I asked students some questions to help them complete the map such as “How many types

of transport do you know?”, “What are their subtypes?” etc (See Figure 9 in the

To make sure students know the meaning of these words, I asked students to match them with the pictures given in Page 42 and elicit them to give their Vietnamese meaning Knowing the meaning of the words is not enough; students would be helped to practice pronouncing them correctly

Moving to task 2, students were told to work in groups to put the types of transport in order from fast to slow Students found it very eager to do this task because they could share their own opinions and discussed with each other I reminded them to put the number 1, 2, 3 under types of transport in the mind map

Students were elicited to give the answers and finally I would give the correct one if necessary (See Appendix 4)

Figure 9: Mind map on “Transport”

The purpose of task 3 is to help students know the prepositions that go with these types of transport and people who often use them With this kind of task, I could elicit the answers from students because they had learnt it before If they did not remember, I would give the correct answer by writing down the preposition near the types of transport on the board And then, I would help students match people with types of transport they often use (See Appendix 4)

Vocabulary Part 2: Food and drink

At the beginning of the lesson, students were elicited to give the name of the

meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and then they were asked to look at the picture

given in page 52 and gave the answer

In task 2, I made students work in pairs to find food and drink in the picture given The answer was checked with the whole class In order to help students pronoun these words correctly, I drilled word by word with students

Transport

Moving to task 3, the class was divided into 2 big groups One group put the words in task 2 into countable nouns box, one group put them into uncountable nouns box The answer was checked by calling 2 students to write down it on the board and then I would correct it if necessary

Before ending the lesson, I would draw two maps on the board and asked students to close the book to complete it (See Appendices 5 & 6)

Figure 10: Mind mapping on “Drink”

Figure 11: Mind mapping on “Food”

Vocabulary Part 3: Describing films

At first, I introduced the topic of the new lesson to students Next, I would draw a map on the board and reminded students that during the lesson, they had to complete the map with their own ways They could add, remove or change branches

if they wanted (See Figure 12 in the next page)

I started the lesson by checking students’ understanding about the meaning

of the given words and focused them on the photographs of the films (page 68-69)

Figure 12: Mind map on “Film”

Next, I asked students to work in pairs to match the films with the vocabulary given To make sure that students understood the words thoroughly, I could ask them to give the meanings of these words in Vietnamese After that, students were helped to practice pronouncing the types of film Finishing task 1, I gave students 3’ to fill the types of film in the map

In task 2, students were elicited to give the meanings of the given adjectives

I could give their meanings if they did not know Students were asked to work in pairs to choose the adjectives that are suitable to describe the types of film At this stage, I also reminded students to complete the map with the new information

The purpose of task 3 is to help students practice speaking with some new vocabulary that they have just learnt In this task, students were made to work in

pairs (one says the name of the film; one speaks out the adjectives to describe this film) I could check students’ practicing by calling some pairs to speak aloud in

front of the class

At the end of the lesson, I asked students to compare their maps with their friends before calling 2 students to draw their maps on the board Students were elicited to add more ideas and then I would give the suggested answer if necessary (See Appendix 7)

Film