Using mind mapping techniques to develop ly thuong kiet high school 11th grade students’ reading text summary skills

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OFPOST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************** PHẠM THỊ THÚY VÂN USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUES

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************

PHẠM THỊ THÚY VÂN

USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUES TO DEVELOP LY THUONG KIET HIGH SCHOOL 11TH GRADE STUDENTS'

READING TEXT SUMMARY SKILLS

NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC ỨNG DỤNG BIỂU ĐỒ TƯ DUY ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG TÓM TẮT BÀI ĐỌC CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11

TRƯỜNG THPT LÝ THƯỜNG KIỆT

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.14.10

HANOI – 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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

PHẠM THỊ THÚY VÂN

USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUES TO DEVELOP LY THUONG KIET HIGH SCHOOL 11TH GRADE STUDENTS'

READING TEXT SUMMARY SKILLS

NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC ỨNG DỤNG BIỂU ĐỒ TƯ DUY ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG TÓM TẮT BÀI ĐỌC CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11

TRƯỜNG THPT LÝ THƯỜNG KIỆT

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: ĐỖ BÁ QUÝ, M.Ed.

HANOI – 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of abbreviations iv

List of figures and tables v

Part A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research hypothesis and questions 2

4 Method of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Scope of the study 3

7 Organization of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter I: Literature review 5

1.1 Reading and reading comprehension 5

1.1.1 Definition of Reading 5

1.1.2 Definitions of reading comprehension 5

1.1.3 The stages of a reading lesson 6

1.1.3.1 The pre- reading stage 6

1.1.3.2 The while- reading stage 7

1.1.3.3 The post- reading stage 7

1.2 Reading text Summary 9

1.2.1 Definition of a reading text summary 9

1.2.2 Steps to writing a reading text summary 9

1.2.3 Types of reading text summaries 10

1.2.3.1 Descriptive summary 10

1.2.3.2 Informative summary 10

1.2.3.3 Evaluative summary 11

1.3 Mind mapping 11

1.3.1 Definition of mind map 11

1.3.2 Steps to create a mind map 12

1.3.3 Definition of mind mapping techniques 13

1.3.4 The classification of mind mapping techniques 14

1.3.4.1 Network tree 14

1.3.4.2 Event chain 15

1.3.4.3 Cycle concept map 15

1.3.4.4 Spider concept map 16

1.3.5 Advantages and disadvantages of mind mapping techniques 17

1.3.5.1 Advantages of mind mapping techniques 17

1.3.5.2 Disadvantages of mind mapping techniques 17

1.3.6 Steps of summarizing the reading texts through mind mapping techniques 18

1.3.6.1 Skim 18

1.3.6.2 Read 18

1.3.6.3 Mind Map 18

1.3.6.4 Study 18

1.3.6.5 Personalise 18

1.4 Related studies of mind mapping 19

1.5 Summary 19

Chapter II: The study 20

2.1 The context of the study 20

2.2 Participants 21

2.3 Rationale for using quasi-experiment 22

2.4 Experiment design 23

2.5 Research Variables 24

2.5.1 Independent Variable 24

2.5.2 Dependent Variable 24

2.6 Data collection instruments and procedure 24

2.6.1 Data collection instruments 24

2.6.2 Data collection procedure 25

2.7 Data Analysis procedure 26

Chapter III: Data analysis and discussions 27

3.1 Data analysis 27

3.1.1 Tests 27

3.1.1.1 Comparison between pretest scores of experimental class and control class 27

3.1.1.2 Comparison between pretest and posttest scores of experimental class and control class 28

3.1.1.3 Comparison between posttest scores of experimental class and control class.29 3.1.2 Questionnaires 30

3.2 Discussion 33

3.2.1 The effectiveness of mind mapping technique in developing students' reading text summary skills at LTK high school 34

3.2.2 Students' attitudes towards using mind mapping techniques 34

3.3 Summary 34

PART C: Conclusion 35

1 Conclusions 35

2 Recommendations 36

3 Limitations 36

4 Suggestions for further research 37

References 39 Appendixes I Appendix 1 I

Appendix 2 II

Appendix3

VII Appendix 4

IX Appendix 5

X Appendix 6 XII

List of figures and tables

Figure 1: Pretest and posttest scores of control and experimental group

Table 1: Activities in the post - reading stage

Table 2: Background information about the participants

Table 3: The design of the study

Table 4: Results of t-test for comparison between the pretest scores of experimentalclass and control class

Table 5: Descriptive statistics for the pretest and posttest scores of the experimentaland control groups

Table 6: Results of t-test for comparison between posttest scores of experimental class and control class

Table 7: Students‟ attitudes towards teaching reading text summary through mind mapping

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Nowadays, English is a compulsory subject in the school curriculum inVietnam, and the teaching and learning of that international language has beenrecently paid great attention to Together with teachers‟ help and guidance, studentshave to try their best to master 4 language skills: reading, writing, listening andspeaking in order to communicate in English successfully Among these four skills,reading skill is an essential skill for further learning Especially, reading textsummary skills after reading is very beneficial to students to gain betterunderstanding and memorizing of the text Thus, students can consolidate or reflectupon what has been read and relate it to their own knowledge In addition, readingtext summary contributes enormously to develop writing, speaking and listeningskills However, reading text summary is not easy for students to do It needs moreuseful techniques to help students summarize texts easily Because there are still alarge number of students having poor reading comprehension not only in rural areasbut also in urban ones

As a teacher of Ly Thuong Kiet high school (LTKHS), I find that teachingand learning reading comprehension here still focus on grammar, vocabulary andstructures Hence, students always find it difficult to understand the content of thereading text, to find the main idea, synonym or antonym of the words, and generalmessage of the text and most of them lack of motivation to read Beside that, thereare still many teachers who seem not to pay enough attention to the importance ofteaching reading text summary in post reading stage due to the limited time.Consequently, Students can not remember and summarize the text after reading

From the above reasons, I decided to choose: “Using mind-mappingtechniques to develop LTK High school 11th grade students‟ reading text summaryskills” for my thesis of the MA course to help students read the text effectively andcan summarize the text easily

Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the application ofteaching reading text summary approach in the post reading stage at Vietnamesehigh schools in general and at LTK high school in Hai Phong in particular.

2 Aims of the study

The aims of this study are to find out the more useful teaching methods forimproving students‟ reading text summary skills To be more specific, the primaryobjectives of the study were set up as follows:

- To test the effectiveness of using mind-mapping techniques to develop 11thgrade students‟ reading text summary skills compared to conventional techniques

- To investigate the experimental students‟ attitudes towards teaching

reading text summary through using mind mapping technique

3 Research hypothesis and questions

To achieve the aims and objectives, the study was designed to test thehypothesis:

Teaching reading text summary in post reading stage through mind mapping techniques is more effective to the development of students’ summary skills than the traditional approach which emphasizes the memorization of words and contents of the reading passage.

In order to find out whether the research hypothesis would be accepted orrejected, the following research questions were formulated and to be answered

1 Why is using mind mapping techniques effective to improve students‟ readingtext summary skills?

2 What are the students‟ attitudes towards teaching reading text summary inpost reading stage through mind mapping techniques after the experimental period?

4 Method of the study

This study was conducted based on quasi-experimental research with pretest, posttest, and questionnaire in order to determine the causal relationship between

teaching reading text summary through mind mapping and the enhancement ofstudents‟ summary skills.

Two groups of students were not chosen randomly, they were two intactgroups of students involved in the study, one group was labeled the control groupand the other the experimental group

5 Significance of the study

Summarizing the reading text in the textbook series for high schools ispresented in a traditional way which often focuses on the sentence basedsummarization Thus, this study will give an answer to the question whether it ispractical to teach reading text summary in the post reading stage through usingmind mapping technique in the context of the high school in Vietnam

6 Scope of the study

The study was designed to test the hypothesis that it is possible to teachreading text summary presented in the textbook through mind mapping Because ofthe time constraint, the researcher could just carry out an experimental researchupon a small sample of 11th grade students who were not randomly chosen to acontrol class and an experimental class, (40 students for each class) at LTK Highschool The pretest and posttest scores were used to measure both groups‟ readingtext summary competence before and after the treatment during ten weeks of thesecond semester of the 2011-2012 academic year The post program questionnairewas designed to get more feedback from experimental students

7 Organization of the study

The study was divided into three parts which are presented as follows:

Part A is the introduction, which presents the rationale and the aim of the study,

hypothesis and questions, research method, significance, scope as well asorganization of the study

Part B is the development, which includes 3 chapters.

Chapter 1 reviews the literature relevant to the study which consists of

reading, reading comprehension, summary, and mind mapping techniques based ontheoretical and practical evidence

Chapter 2 presents information about the context of the study, the

participants, the instruments, the data collection procedure and data analysisprocedure

Chapter 3 is the main part of the study that reports and discusses the main

findings according to research matter

Part C is the conclusion that presents the author‟s reflection and the outcomes of

the study as well as indicates some limitations of the study, and finally gives somesuggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents a brief review of the literature relevant to the study Itconsists of the theory of reading and reading comprehension, reading text summary,and mind mapping techniques

1.1 Reading and reading comprehension

1.1.1 Definition of Reading

In recent decades, reading becomes one of important and essential parts inlanguage teaching and learning The meaning of “Reading” has been given avarious ways

According to Nuttall (1982) reading is considered as the process of theinteraction between language perception and the readers‟ language skill, cognitiveskill and the knowledge of the words In this regard, reading can be defined as anactive process of interaction between the reader and the information which consists

of the text

Harmer (1989:153) views reading from a different perspective In hisdefinition, “reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyesreceive the message and the brain has to work out the significance of the message”

Goodman (1971: 135) considers reading as “a psycholinguistic process bywhich the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message whichhas been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”, and the act of reconstruction isviewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming”

Based on the theories above, it can be concluded that reading can help thereader get information and knowledge from a text

1.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension

Reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learningreading a foreign language Thus, it is necessary to understand the nature of readingcomprehension Below are many different definitions of reading comprehension

Roe, Stood and Burns (1987:2) consider: “reading comprehension isreconstruction, interpretation and valuation of what author of written content means

by using knowledge gained from life and experience”

According to Grellet (1981:3): “reading comprehension or understanding awritten text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently aspossible.” The author means that reading comprehension is an activity which aims

at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way

and students can show their understanding by re-expressing the content of the text

in many ways such as summarizing the text, answering questions etc

From these theories above, it can be understood that reading forcomprehension is the primary purpose for reading; raising students' awareness ofmain ideas in a text and exploring the organization of a text are essential for goodcomprehension

In conclusion, reading comprehension is a process of understanding what isconveyed in the text It does not mean that the reader needs to understand everysingle word in the text but actively work on the text and extract the requiredinformation efficiently

1.1.3 The stages of a reading lesson

A reading lesson can be divided into three stages which are pre- readingstage, while- reading stage and post- reading stage Each of these stages carries itsown features and purposes and requires different techniques and strategies

1.1.3.1 The pre - reading stage

In a reading lesson, the pre- reading stage is an important one because itcreates motivation and positive attitude towards the reading text for students Thisstage is to prepare the learners for what they are going to read Williams (1984:37)gave three purposes of pre-reading as follows:

- To introduce and stimulate interest in the topic

- To motivate students by providing a reason for reading

- To provide language preparation for the text

Therefore, students are to do the activities such as guess the topic of the textfrom the heading, brainstorming around a topic word on the board, predict what thetext will say or write questions that may be answered by the text In addition, somepre reading techniques are applied as ordering statements or pictures, jigsawdictation, True/False statement prediction, brainstorming or skimming questions.

In general, in the pre- reading stage, it is necessary to set a good preparationfor students, provide them the sense of what they are going to do in their readinglesson

1.1.3.2 The while - reading stage

While- reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson Students have thechance to deal with the text to understand the writer‟s purpose and clarify the text‟scontent in detail Williams (1984:38) points out the aims of the while- reading stage:

- To clarify content and vocabulary of the text

- To help students understand the writer's purpose

- To help students understand the structure of the text

Beside a wide range of activities in the while- reading stage are given such asdeducing meaning, questioning, recognizing, matching, ordering, followinginstructions, comparing, note- taking, completing, and decision- making/ problem-solving

Concerning the while- reading stage‟s activities, the teacher will choosesuitable activities for students based on the nature of the reading text and the level

of the students as well as selecting suitable activities, during the while- readingstage, the teacher should bear in mind his roles of an organizer, observer, assessorand prompter as mentioned in the last part, the roles of teacher

1.1.3.3 The post- reading stage

The post- reading stage is the final but not the less important stage of areading lesson because it is time for students to apply what they have got from the

text into real life communication Williams (1984:39) pointed out the aim of the post- reading stage.

- To consolidate or reflect upon what has been read

- To relate the text to the students‟ own knowledge interest or views

- To provide a stimulus for other language activities

After students finish tasks in while-reading part, a wide range of activities in the post - reading stage are suggested as follows:

1 Summarize the text - Gap fill

- Write a summary paragraph

- Rewrite the text from jumbled sentences/words/ visual cues…

- Summarize the text either orally or in writing

- Make a spider map/ diagram or mind map

2 Role play, Interview - Integrated skills from reading to speaking

- Students take the role of the interviewer andinterviewee about the topic of the readingcomprehension

3 Give comments, opinion - Teacher can ask students to present their points

on the characters/ matters in of view, their thought of characters or issues

4 Personalized tasks - This skill is to help the learners to connect what

they have read with their own ideas andexperience in life

5 Discussion - Students are required to discuss about issues in

life relating to the reading text

Table 1: Activities in the post - reading stage

It can be concluded that each of the reading stage carries its own aims andactivities It is very effective if these three stages are combined flexibly and

appropriately for an efficient reading lesson in general In the post- reading stage, it

is necessary to help students improve and develop their reading text summary skills

1.2 Reading text summary

1.2.1 Definition of a reading text summary

One strategy for improving reading comprehension is to write summaries It

is a way to measure reading comprehension, but can also help a reader to come to anew understanding of a text There are many definitions of summary mentioned asfollows:

A summary, as Troyka (1995) defines, is a condensation of an originalwriting A summary relays the main points of a passage and reports what the author

is really saying A summary is not an explanation of, or a substitute for, the original

It adds no interpretation of evaluation and retains the approach and tone of theoriginal author It omits minor details, illustrations, quotations, anecdotes, and otherinessential material

In addition, Byrne (1987:76) states that summarizing - producing a shortenedversion of a text which has been read or heard - is best viewed as a skill which isrealized through different kinds of writing, rather than as a special form of writing

In short, summaries are made to reduce the amount of information to beremembered and to organize the information in a way that aids understanding andremembering

1.2.2 Steps to writing a reading text summary

In teaching a reading text summary, some preliminary steps are presentedbelow by Swales, John M and Christine B Feat (1994:105-130)

Step 1: Skim the text, noting in your mind the subheadings If there are nosubheadings, try to divide the text into sections Consider why you have beenassigned the text Try to determine what type of text you are dealing with This canhelp you identify important information

Step 2: Read the text, highlighting important information and taking notes.Step 3: In your own words, write down the main points of each section

Step 4: Write down the key support points for the main topic, but do not include minor detail.

Step 5: Go through the process again, making changes as appropriate

To write a good summary, they also recommended three main requirements

as follows:

- The summary should cover the original as a whole

- The material should be presented in a neutral fashion

- The summary should be a condensed version of the material, presented in your own words

1.2.3 Types of reading text summaries

Summarizing is the most effective way of understanding a text andexpressing the same in your own words briefly and clearly In other words, it savestime of the intended readers According to Sarada (2008:99), summary is dividedinto three types below:

1.2.3.1 Descriptive summary

Descriptive summary gives an overview of what the source is about but doesnot give specifics of the content This summary describes that basic informationabout the program It does not give specific information on the actual programsdescribed It also uses descriptive language like “excellence”, “internationallyrenowned” and “leading-edge” In brief, it tells what the initial content is aboutwithout getting into the specifics

type is the most common summary because it gets into the specifics and covers all the main concepts in a very shortened form and similar to an outline.

1.2.3.3 Evaluative summary

Evaluative summary is one that gives not only the gift of a book or article butalso evaluates it concisely and effectively, giving critical remarks on the original.The writer who summarizes the original may comment on any one aspect or allaspects of it Besides, the evaluative summary includes the writer‟s thoughts,feelings and reactions, unlike the other two kinds of summaries However, manypeople except writers and critics may not have experience of preparing thissummary

1.3 Mind mapping

1.3.1 Definition of mind map

Mind map, according to Buzan (2006), is a technique of making outlinewhich used the represent words, ideas, tasks, or another linked to an arrangedradically around a central key word or idea by lines and typically it contains words,ideas, short phrase or pictures

Furthermore, Marton & Booth (1997) state that Mind map is a tool forenhancing learning and thinking It provides a structure to reveal various aspects of

a story such as the sequence of events, the key points, the cause and effect, therelation of ideas and so on Students can use mind maps for revising and clarifyingthoughts so as to get the deep meaning of a story Additionally, Murley (2007)affirms that mind maps are a non linear visual outline of complex information thatcan aid creativity, organization, productivity, and memory With the same opinion,

Paul Emmerson (cited in the article “Using Mind Map in BE”, 2010) affirmed that

“a mind map is a way of making notes that is intuitive and highly personal You put

„your world‟ down on paper as a visual diagram and then use it as the basis for aspeaking activity There is a central topic in the middle, surrounded by sub-topicslinked to it with lines The sub-topics have further branches, according to the

ideas/imagination of the person who draws the mind map (or the instructions of theteacher)”.

In brief, mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information It isoften created around a single word or text, placed in the center, to which associatedideas, words and concepts are added

1.3.2 Steps to create a mind map

There are many approaches in teaching reading One of the techniques is byusing mind mapping According to Buzan (2010), some steps to create a mind mapare presented as follows:

1 Start in the centre of a blank page turned sideways - Because starting in the

centre gives your brain freedom to spread out in all directions and to express itself morefreely and naturally

2 Use an image or picture for your central idea - Because an image is worth a

thousand words and helps you use your Imagination A central image is more interesting,keeps you focussed, helps you concentrate, and gives your Brain more of a buzz

3 Use colors throughout - Because colors are as exciting to your brain as are

images Color adds extra vibrancy and life to your mind map, adds tremendous energy to your creative thinking, and is fun

4. Connect your main branches to the central image and connect your and third-level branches to the first and second levels, etc - Because your brain works by

second-association It likes to link two (or three, or four) things together If you connect the

branches, you will understand and remember a lot more easily

5 Make your branches curved rather than straight-lined - Because having

nothing but straight lines are boring to your brain

6 Use one key word per line - Because single key words give your mind map

more power and flexibility

14

7 Use images throughout - Because each image, like the central image, is also

worth a thousand words.

(See the example of mind map guidelines)

1.3.3 Definition of mind mapping techniques

Buzan (cited in Yusuf Effendi 2004) states that a mind mapping is apowerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential

of the brain It is visual map of ideas, laid out in a radial format around a centralthought and it involves a unique combination of imagery, colour and visual-spatialarrangement which is proven to significantly improve recall when compared toconventional methods of note-taking and learning by rote It needs imagination andassociation to activate our brain in remembering something

Based on DePotter and Hernacki as translated into English (2008) mindmapping is the use of whole brains technique by using the visualization and othergraphic infrastructure to make an impression

Antonacci (1991) advocates that mind mapping as an effective post readingstrategies as well because it provides students with a tool to recall, organize, andrepresent visually the new information in conjunction with the old information

In summary, Mind mapping can help poor readers to read more effectivelybecause the format can show the relative importance of individual points and theway in which facts relate to one another

(see the example of mind mapping Buzan‟s principles below)

1.3.4 The Classification of mind mapping techniques

Trianto (2009:160) mind mapping can be divided into four kinds:

1.3.4.1 Network tree

The main ideas made in a quadrangle and other words written in the

connection line It is suitable for visualization

- a cause and effect relation

- technical terms which can be used to explain some correlations

The great pyramid of

Giza

one of the famous wonders in

the world?

16

1.3.4.2 Event chain

The event chain can be used for giving an accident order, steps in aprocedure, or steps in a process and connecting words are not necessary in an eventschain It is suitable for visualization An events chain map describing the stepsmight look like the one on unit 15: Space Conquest

April 12 th ,1961, Yuri Gagarin lifted off into

A view on Earth

Uncertainties to human being in space

Congratulations for the success of Gagarin’ s

flight

March 1968, a tragic accident happened He

died in a plane crash

1.3.4.3 Cycle concept map

As in the events chain map, you first decide on an initiating event and thenlist each event in order Because there is no outcome and the last event relates back

to the initiating event, the cycle repeats itself Look at the cycle map forphotosynthesis and respiration shown above

In this concept map, the accident combination has no final result It issuitable to show a correlation how a combination accident is interacting to produce

a group of result repeatedly At the post reading stage of Unit 12: The Asian Games,the teacher should give the year when the first games happened then continue withother years and give students some questions to help students revise the events

1954 1951

The Asian Games

1998 

… 1958

1.3.4.4 Spider concept map

The spider concept can be used for sharing opinion from a central idea until

get more various big ideas It is suitable to visualization

- something which is not based on hierarchy

- a category which is not parallel

- the result of sharing opinion

In conclusion, Mind mapping is similar to a road makes study, work and think

enjoyable, it can help to solve the lack of stock of students‟ vocabulary in

memorizing some words which are related from universal word as a key word and

help to memorize and consolidate the reading lesson See the sample at the

post-reading lesson of unit 13

playing the guitar collecting stamps

playing chess

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1.3.5 Advantages and disadvantages of mind mapping techniques

1.3.5.1 Advantages of mind mapping techniques

Buzan (2007) proposes to use mind mapping technique because it makesstudents to be imaginative, to find new idea, to save time, to be creative, to keepnote, to develop a concept, and to perform a presentation

Similarly, Hofland (2007) argues that mind mapping can contribute tolearner‟s motivation because of its creative aspects This statement is supported byBono (1969 cited in Hofland) who states that “creativity is a great motivatorbecause it makes people interested in what they are doing Creativity gives hope thatthere can be a worthwhile idea Creativity gives the possibility of some sort ofachievement everyone Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting”

Additionally, Stanley (2004) affirmed that mind mapping techniques canhelp students generate their ideas more easily

Based on theories above, it can be concluded that the use of mind mappingtechnique in classroom is effective because it could increase student‟s motivationand make the teachers easier to explain the learning material

1.3.5.2 Disadvantages of mind mapping techniques

Although using mind mapping technique in teaching reading text summary has many advantages, there are some disadvantages when using them for both teachers and students Firstly, using MM in summarizing the text is time consumingfor teachers, they have to spend a lot of time preparing MM by either hand made or software on computer in advance Besides, using MM is only effective and easy when the classrooms have a computer and projector However, not every classroom has these teaching aids Furthermore, making MM costs the teachers a lot of money

if they draw mind maps by hand For instance, teachers have to print, or buy

pictures or posters from the bookshops to stick on mind maps Moreover, the

students also have difficulties in constructing MM, and the way they solve it Most

of students were still confused with new words, finding the key words and making

branches in making MM Last but not least, students have less collaboration withfriends because each student was busy with her/ his work.

1.3.6 Steps of summarizing the reading texts through mind mapping techniques

As we begin to explore in more detail issues and approaches in development,

MM can help us understand, remember and classify important issues we comeacross in written texts It is suggested that there is 5 steps in creating mind maps whichsummarize texts

1.3.6.1 Skim

Firstly, read the abstract, introduction, conclusion, key headings or chapterheadings When skimming through the text observe any diagrams, pictures orgraphs This gives us an overview of what we are about to read, puts it in contextand may already give us some clues as to where the most relevant parts are located

The mind map we have just done is very valuable as it will show both areas

we have understood and also areas you are not sure of Study our mind map todiscover the gaps in our knowledge and refer back to the source material to fill inany of these gaps

1.3.6.5 Personalise

Using different colors or symbols, add our own comments and questions tothe mind map Questions relating to relationships, implications, alternativeapproaches, usefulness, clarity, personal experience could all be considered at thisstage It is in this personalizing stage where our mind map really starts to help us

with our learning The trick now is to address all those questions we have raised and

to keep returning to our mind map with the answers

1.4 Related studies of mind mapping

Since Mind mapping was introduced more research and theory building onevery field has been done because many researchers are interested in exploring thistechnique Although mind mapping plays an important part in consolidating andmemorizing, the studies conducted this technique in teaching English remainlimited In Vietnam, English language teachers have been introduced this approach

to language teaching in many workshops However, it is not sure of how manyteachers, especially teachers at high schools, have ever tried this approach.Although there are many approaches to the teaching of summarizing reading text,mind mapping technique is still one of the challenging areas for teachers andstudents at high schools

1.5 Summary

In this chapter, all the concerning theoretical background has been presented.First, some definitions of reading, summarizing, and mind mapping basing on somelinguistic scholars‟ works have been presented Then classification and significance

of these parts have also been mentioned

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY

As introduced in part A, this chapter was to test the effectiveness of teachingreading text summary through mind mapping In order to meet the aim of the study,

a quasi-experimental research was conducted in two intact 11th grade groups ofstudents This chapter starts with the context of the study This will be followed by adiscussion of the research methods, procedures and outcomes

2.1 The context of the study

The study took place at LTK high school, which is located in Thuy Nguyendistrict of Hai Phong city There are some factors that affect the process of teachingand learning English in the school as follows:

Concerning the students, most of them come from farmer families and poorworkers in the region They have little time for further English learning They seemnot to pay much attention to reading text summary after reading because theyconcentrate on grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading comprehension, andwriting skills which are needed for written examinations That is the reason why thestudents at LTK high school, for many years, have not paid much attention toreading texts in general and reading text summary in particular Consequently, afterlearning a reading lesson, students can not remember and revise what they havelearned Therefore, it can be concluded that their English comprehending abilitiesare still limited and their attitude towards using mind mapping techniques tosummarize the texts is also a matter to be considered

In terms of the English materials, the textbook used in the school is the basicstandard one compiled by Vietnamese teachers Tieng Anh 11 includes 16 unitsabout all the topics which are relevant to many aspects of daily life: friendship,personal experience, party, volunteer work, competitions, world population,celebrations, the post office, nature in danger, sources of energy, Asian Games,hobbies, space conquest, and the wonders of the world Each unit is divided intofive lessons: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus The problemhere is that among 16 units the requirement for the summary of the reading passage

is only focused on units 11 and 15, and the time for teaching reading comprehension

is 45 minutes, so time for a reading text summary is about 10-12 minutes, whichrequires students to be very active and eager to finish this task Besides, each unit

was divided into 3 parts They are Before you read, While you read and after you

read The aim of Before you read is to help students get used to the content of the

topic, brainstorming, pre-teaching new vocabulary to help student read the text

easily While you read consists of two or three tasks which require the students to

guess meaning in context, identify main idea, passage comprehension, scan forspecific information, multiple choice questions, gap-fill, decide on the True or False

statements After you read committed of discussing the question, answering the

questions, completing the summary, summarizing and retelling the reading text helpstudents to consolidate the language skills

Concerning the teaching staff and their teaching methods, in the EnglishDepartment of LTKHS, there are eleven teachers of different ages from 30 to 50.Most teachers of English, not only at LTKHS, but also in other high schools, tend tofocus on teaching grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading and writing skills tohelp their students get good scores in examinations Besides, they tend to applyconventional methods, for example, only use given tasks in the textbooks and do notdesign more tasks that helps students understand the reading text more thoroughly,giving questions for students to answer Consequently, the students have littleinterest in English lessons and their learning is passive and unsuccessful Moreover,their reading ability is not practiced and improved

2.2 Participants

The study was carried out to two existing groups of 11 grade students, 11B10 and 11B11 who were from 16 to 17 years old Total number of students in bothgroups was 80, 40 for each and included 32 males and 48 females Students in thetwo classes are equal in terms of English proficiency and are roughly fromelementary to pre-intermediate level of English, basing on not only the result of the

English final test in the first semester but also their pretest scores These two intact classes are taught by the same Vietnamese teacher of English.

Control class Experimental class Total number of subject

Table 2: Background information about the participants

This study was carried out during ten weeks for both groups according to theEnglish major curriculum for English teachers‟ training set by the MOET Teachingreading text summary in the two classes is different Students in the experimentalclass were taught by using mind mapping technique to develop students‟ readingtext summary In contrast, students in control class were required to do some tasks

in after you read without using mind mapping.

2.3 Rationale for using quasi-experiment

Campbell and Stanley (1966) provide a rationale for using experimental design in natural social setting to answer practical questions inevaluating learning assistance centers They propose that the overall purpose ofevaluation is to answer important questions concerning program improvement,accountability, finding and knowledge Besides, in comparison with trueexperimental designs, it is easier to take and compare subjects or groups of subjectsthat are not chosen randomly than that are randomly chosen in true experimentaldesigns so that its result is not generalized

quasi-Additionally, a quasi-experiment is not really time-consuming It does notnecessarily mean that it can be done shortly This method was often designed togather data in such a way that threats to the reliability and validity of the researchmight be minimized as this study was carried out in 10 weeks The results of thequasi-experiment are often demonstrated in numerical expression such as scores of