the effects of mind mapping on 11th graders’ reading comprehension at le thanh ton high school in district 7 of ho chi minh city

Therefore, the study aimed at investigating the feasibility of using mind mapping as a strategy in teaching reading comprehension to Vietnamese high school students, particularly those a

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

_

NGUYEN THI MY CHAU

GRADERS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT LE THANH TON HIGH SCHOOL IN DISTRICT 7 OF

HO CHI MINH CITY

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI MY CHAU

GRADERS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT LE THANH TON HIGH SCHOOL IN DISTRICT 7 OF

HO CHI MINH CITY

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “The Effects of Mind Mapping on 11th Graders‟ Reading Comprehension at Le Thanh Ton High School in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which

I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

NGUYEN THI MY CHAU

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This Master of Arts in TESOL thesis is the result of a fruitful collaboration of all the people who have kindly contributed with enormous commitment and enthusiasm in my research Without the help of those who supported me at all times and in all possible ways, it would not have been feasible for me to complete my M.A thesis

First of all, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thanh Tung, from Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, whose compassion, encouragement and guidance throughout the research have helped in the completion

of this thesis I have truly learned from the excellence of his skills and from his wide experience in research; no words are adequate to describe the extent of my gratitude

I am also sincerely grateful to all lecturers of the Open University in Ho Chi Minh City for providing me with invaluable sources of intellectual knowledge during my study there This knowledge was very useful when I conducted this research

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the anonymous participants who contributed data

to this thesis Without them the data collection for this study could not properly been carried out

Last but not least, I would like to express my particular gratitude to my beloved husband and my family for their unconditional love, understanding, encouragement, financial and spiritual support over time and distance

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ABSTRACT

Reading comprehension is significantly important for students at all levels as it can help them enhance their foreign language learning However, teaching reading has not been concerned appropriately at many high schools in Vietnam and this is also true to Le Thanh Ton High School, at which the teaching approach has been focused on the product rather than the process of learning and limited the students‟ involvement A mind mapping strategy is believed to exert a positive effect on improving students‟ comprehension and motivating them to read Therefore, the study aimed at investigating the feasibility of using mind mapping as a strategy in teaching reading comprehension to Vietnamese high school students, particularly those at Le Thanh Ton High School in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City

To achieve this purpose, relevant literature on mind mapping including types, benefits, time, and situations of using it was reviewed in the theory chapter to shape the theoretical framework of the study

Based on this conceptual framework, the study was conducted Le Thanh Ton High School with the participation of 80 11th graders Data were collected through the tools of a pre-test, a post-test, a questionnaire, and interviewing, and then analyzed with version 20.0 of the SPSS software

The findings of the study indicate that mind mapping technique enhanced the participants‟ reading performance and increased their positive attitudes towards reading learning

Based on the research findings, the paper concluded with some pedagogical implications and a recommendation for further study in the line of research on mind mapping

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES viii

LIST OF CHARTS ix

LIST OF TABLES x

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 2

1.3 Rationale to using mind mapping 3

1.4 Aim of the study and research questions 4

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Organization of the study 4

CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 The understanding of mind mapping 6

2.1.1 Definition 6

2.1.2 Types 8

2.2 Reading comprehension 12

2.2.1 Definition 12

2.2.2 Approaches 12

2.3 The learners of reading comprehension class with mind mapping 14

2.4 The use of mind mapping inside and outside of the classroom 15

2.5 The use of mind mapping in stages of teaching reading comprehension 15

2.6 Relationship of mind mapping to reading comprehension 17

2.6.1 Enhancing reading comprehension 17

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2.6.2 Enhancing learning motivation 18

2.7 Procedure to apply mind mapping in teaching reading comprehension class 18

2.8 Previous studies related to the research topic 19

2.9 Chapter summary 21

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 Research site 22

3.2 Research participants 22

3.3 Approach and method of investigation 24

3.3.1 Approach 24

3.3.2 Methodology 24

3.3.3 Techniques of data collection 27

3.3.3.1 Pre-test and post-test 27

3.3.3.2 Questionnaire 28

3.3.3.3 Interview 29

3.4 Analytical framework 31

3.4.1 Tests 31

3.4.1.1 Grouping individual scores 31

3.4.1.2 Comparing means 32

3.4.1.3 Checking assumptions of the Independent samples t-test 32

3.4.2 Questionnaire 33

3.4.3 Interview 33

3.5 Reliability and validity 34

3.5.1 Tests 34

3.5.2 Questionnaire 35

3.5.3 Interview 35

3.6 Summary 35

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 36

4.1 Data analysis 36

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4.1.1 Results in the tests 36

4.1.1.1 Performance of the both groups on the pre-test 36

4.1.1.2 Performance of the both groups on the post-test 39

4.1.1.3 Summary of test results 43

4.1.2 Results in the questionnaire 43

4.1.2.1 Reliability of the questionnaire 43

4.1.2.2 Students’ perceptions on the effects of mind mapping on reading comprehension 44

4.1.2.3 Students’ perceptions on the effects of mind mapping on reading motivation46 4.1.2.4 Students’ perceptions on the challenges of applying mind mapping for reading 47

4.1.2.5 Summary of students’ perceptions 49

4.1.3 Results in the interview 49

4.2 Discussion 53

4.2.1 The students‟ improvement of reading comprehension with mind mapping 53

4.2.2 The students‟ positive change in learning attitudes with mind mapping 55

4.3 Chapter summary 57

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 58

5.1 Conclusion of key findings 58

5.2 Evaluation of methodology 59

5.2.1 Strengths 59

5.2.2 Limitations 59

5.3 Recommendations 60

5.3.1 For teachers 60

5.3.2 For students 61

5.4 Suggestions for further research 61

5.5 Chapter summary 61

REFERENCES 62

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APPENDIX A 70

APPENDIX B.1 74

APPENDIX B.2 80

APPENDIX B.3 85

APPENDIX C 89

APPENDIX D 94

APPENDIX E.1 100

APPENDIX E.2 103

APPENDIX F 105

APPENDIX G 106

APPENDIX H 107

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Example of a mind map (Buzan, 2011) 8

Figure 2.2: An example of Network Tree Map 9

Figure 2.3: An example of Event Chain Map 10

Figure 2.4: An example of Cycle Concept Map 10

Figure 2.5: An example of Spider Concept Map 11

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LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1: Pre-test score distribution of the experimental and control groups……….36

Chart 4.2: Post-test score distribution of the experimental and control groups…….…… 40

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Demographic information of the participants 23

Table 3.2 The types of mind mapping of each unit 25

Table 4.1 Group statistics on the pre-test of the experimental and control groups 37

Table 4.2 Independent Samples T-test on the pre-test of the two groups 38

Table 4.3 Tests for normality of pre-test scores 39

Table 4.4 Group statistics on the post-test of the experimental and control groups 41

Table 4.5 Independent Samples T-test on the post-test of the two groups 41

Table 4.6 Tests for normality of post-test scores 42

Table 4.7 Reliability of the Questionnaire (Items 1-20) 43

Table 4.8 Students' perceptions on the effects of mind mapping on reading 44

Table 4.9 Students' perceptions on the effects of mind mapping on reading motivation 46

Table 4.10 Students' perceptions on the effects of mind mapping on challenges of applying mind mapping for reading 48

Table 4.11 Interview results 50

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1.1 Background of the study

Learning English is very important and essential in an increasingly globalized world Every year, millions of immigrants from non-English speaking countries travel around the world, showing that learning to communicate in English is one of the most important elements to enable them to survive in these English speaking countries Working with knowledge of the English language creates many opportunities in international workplaces

In order to master English, learners need to develop all four skills of reading, speaking, listening, and writing Relatively all humans learn to talk before reading; however, as soon as children reach middle school, they learn how to read first That is the reason why reading is the common instrument for students to focus on first Another reason to show reading is ranked first is that considerable printed materials are available for students This means students tend to face written text very commonly as well as read

a lot Moreover, reading may be the foundation of other skills since it offers a wide range

of interesting information and of a language structures which are vital for developing other language skills Although both reading and listening are both receptive skills, reading can easily trigger the reader‟s memory through his/her eyes while remembering through listening requires more efforts In addition, when children are all taught to read out loud, the words they vocalize are remembered together with its meaning Reading also builds concentration in young children

In fact, mastering reading skill is not easy because reading is a complex process to learn and teach (Carnine, Silbert & Kameenui, 1990) In fact, the essential component in reading process is comprehension and comprehending successfully compels readers to spend a long and difficult learning period, which means they encounter many problems According to McNamara (2009), teaching reading strategies is one of the most effective means which help students to tackle the problems; therefore, teachers need to consider

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teaching students reading strategies which help them to overcome the breakdown in reading process By this way, students can read effectively as well as enhance their comprehension competence

Actually, there are many strategies which can help the teacher use to solve their students‟ troubles in reading Mind mapping can be considered as an alternative technique in teaching reading comprehension (Rizqiya, 2013; Winanda, 2015) Suherman (2015) says that using mind mapping technique contributes to the improvement of students‟ skill and the increase in their motivation in reading a text That is students can enhance their reading skills and become more interested in reading

In Vietnam, some researchers have applied mind mapping for teaching and learning recently Le Nguyen Huong Giang (2009) and Do Nguyen Xuan Thao (2015) proved that mind mapping is a feasible strategy to enhance learners‟ vocabulary In their studies, Le Thai Hung (2008), Nguyen Thi Phuoc Binh (2011), Huynh Thi Thai Hoa (2012), and Luong Thi Bach Tuyet (2015) found that the mind mapping strategy had positive effects

on improving readers‟ comprehension as well as motivating them to read These studies showed that mind mapping is still used with limitation in teaching English in Vietnam

1.2 Statement of the problem

According to Carrell (1984), reading is the most important skills of the four macro skills; however, teaching reading has not been concerned appropriately at many high schools in Vietnam and this is also true to Le Thanh Ton High School In fact, the process of teaching and learning reading comprehension at this school is still implemented in conventional ways in which the teacher mainly asks students to do the task in textbook without checking their achievement after reading the text The practice

of strategic reading instruction has profoundly governed by the traditional approach (i.e Grammar-Translation Method) in which teachers and tasks in the instructional materials are vital centers while students turn out passive in their reading process, and both teachers and students are strictly bound by the prescribed curricular (Le, 2010) In

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particular, these activities usually ask students to respond to a worksheet or to answer a list of comprehension questions without making sure all students can comprehend the information in the passage Sometimes teachers translate the text into Vietnamese without students‟ contribution This teaching approach focuses on the product rather than on the process of learning and limits students‟ involvement In general, teaching students reading strategies to complete these reading tasks seems to be disregarded in Vietnamese high school classes (Nguyen & Trinh, 2011) It is opposite to the purpose of reading strategy which is to develop their comprehension skills Thus, it is necessary to add an alternative reading-teaching technique in order to provide students with instructional activities in understanding texts effectively

1.3 Rationale to using mind mapping

Mind maps are visual frameworks such as figures, diagrams, or charts used to present structural knowledge spatially with the intention of empowering comprehension and learning (Siriphanich & Laohawiriyanon, 2010) Mind maps are effective in terms of helping decode information because they can clarify complex concepts into simple, meaningful displays so that learners can develop a holistic understanding of the content

to be learnt Teachers may use mind mapping technique at different stages of instruction for example during instruction to prepare students to approach new information and clarify complex ideas, or after instruction to assess and reinforce learning and instruction (Bekti, 2009) Generally speaking, teaching reading skill by using mind mapping actually

is not a new issue in language pedagogy Mind mapping technique has been applied in many studies As mentioned earlier, although mind mapping may contribute to the development of students‟ reading comprehension and motivation, this technique seems to

be scantily done in the Vietnamese context In order to investigate the feasibility of using mind mapping as a strategy in teaching reading comprehension for Vietnamese high school students, particularly those at Le Thanh Ton High School in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City, the researcher is going to conduct this study

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1.4 Aim of the study and research questions

Purposely, this study aims to examine the effects of mind mapping on students‟ reading comprehension ability and their attitudes towards learning English reading skills with it The two research questions below have been designed with the purpose to

achieve the research objectives:

1 To what extent does mind mapping improve students’ reading comprehension ability?

2 What are their attitudes towards the use of mind mapping in their reading comprehension learning?

1.5 Significance of the study

If the study is successful, it will add one more technique that can help high school students, especially those of grade 11, overcome their troubles in learning reading skill Moreover, learners might be interested in reading comprehension and improve their reading skills as well The activities of brainstorming, organizing and constructing a mind map may help to upgrade students‟ reading ability Furthermore, inferring from the students‟ feedback, the researcher will have more experience to plan the lesson with the application of mind mapping and share with other teachers

1.6 Organization of the study

Chapter 1 introduces the study by presenting its background, statement of the problem, purpose, research questions, significance, and structure Chapter 2 comprises definitions and types of mind mapping, relationship of mind mapping to reading comprehension ability, stages and procedures to applying mind mapping in reading comprehension class, as well as some previous studies Chapter 3 describes research site, participants, research design, and method of investigation, analytical framework, and validity and reliability Chapter 4 provides a presentation of data analysis and discussion

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of the findings obtained from the three tools of tests, questionnaires and interviews Finally, Chapter 5 involves the main findings of the study, the limitations, and suggestions for further research

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CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW

In order to use the mind mapping technique in teaching language effectively, it is necessary to work out its theoretical background Thus, this part is going to present definitions and types of mind mapping, relationship of mind mapping to reading comprehension ability, stages, and procedures to applying mind mapping in reading comprehension class After that, some previous studies which are relevant to the investigative topic will also be included in this part

2.1 The understanding of mind mapping

2.1.1 Definition

A mind map was firstly introduced by Buzan, T in the late 1960s There are various ways to mention a mind map from Buzan For instance, according to Buzan (1984), the feature of mind maps is an intimately linked to the operation of the mind, and these mind maps can be applied in nearly every activity including taking notes when summarizing the reading texts Buzan, T and Buzan, B (2000) draw out that a mind map

as a skeleton in which ideas and pictures are produced from a concept They depict a mind map as a visual-spatial map which consists of from five to ten main ideas bounding and relating to the central word or concept During a long time of re-perceiving, according to Buzan (2006), a mind map is a graphic method of storing, organizing information It can be inferred that the first characteristic of mind mapping is to help learners store, organize, and remember information, which is in association with note-taking or summarizing reading texts

In addition, Kaufman (2008) defines a mind map is a non-linear diagram to grasp key information and linkages between ideas It means that the idea will be started in the central point to connect the minor content Then the branches capturing more detailed information related to the key ideas scatter away from the thoughts in the center

a mind map is generally viewed as colorfully drawn by creative symbols or images

In fact, there are the connections between the ideas and concepts which mapping presents by lines, colors, arrows, images, and pictures, motivating the brain and allowing individuals to visualize related ideas It is a visual tool that can be used to generate ideas, take notes and organize thinking (Murley, 2007) In other words, it is a tool that helps learners to get an effective study technique in applying it to read the written materials (Farrand, Hussain, & Hennessy, 2002) All in all, the last attribute of a mind map is that the connections between ideas or concepts are illustrated by lines or arrows

mind-Based on what mind mapping or a mind map has been extensively defined, it can

be concluded that mind mapping is a technique in conjunction with note-taking or summarizing reading texts in many cases, and can be used to visualize a network of many related specific ideas bounding a centric concept within lines or arrows, symbols and images Figure 2.1 below is a typical example of a mind map

The first type is Network Tree Map, in which the main ideas are made in a

quadrangle and other words written in the line It is suitable for visualizing a cause and effect relation, and technical terms are used to explain the correlations

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Consist of

based on the function

Based on types of food Example

Example Example

Example

Figure 2.2: An example of Network Tree Map

Decomposer Producer

Consumer

Omnivore Herbivore

Carnivore

Tiger

Monkey Rabbit

Water, sunlight Biotic Abiotic

Ecosystem component

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Evapora-tion

water steam

tion water

Condensa-The second type is Event Chain Map Condensa-The event chain can be used for giving steps

in a procedure, which is illustrated as follows:

Figure 2.3: An example of Event Chain Map

Next, Cycle Concept Map is suitable to show a correlation how a combination accident is interacting to produce a group of result repeatedly

Figure 2.4: An example of Cycle Concept Map

Finally, the Spider Concept Map is suitable to visualize something which is not

based on hierarchy, a category which is not parallel, and result of sharing opinion, which

is illustrated as follows:

Ecosystem component Ecosystem component Ecosystem component Ecosystem component

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Figure 2.5: An example of Spider Concept Map

Generally speaking, mind mapping can help to tackle the shortage of students‟ vocabulary in memorizing some words from the reading passages Mind mapping can assist the students to grasp key information and linkages among ideas of the given texts From that, readers can reinforce their reading comprehension In order to serve the

purpose of this study, the following types of maps are going to be discussed: Network

Tree Map, Event Chain Map and Spider Concept Map They represent three different

structures and diagrams to link ideas of a reading text together Especially, these three kinds of mind map are highly suitable to the content of the units of English 11 at high school

Air

Global warming

Recycle Reforestation

Chemistry Physic Biology

Acid rain Thinning of ozone

Sound

Water

Land

Pollution

to understand a text requires a reasonable knowledge of basic grammar, an ability to identify main ideas in the text, an awareness of discourse structure, and strategic processing with more difficult texts (Grabe, 2009)

2.2.2 Approaches

It is noted that in an attempt to understand the definitions of reading skill and comprehension, several researchers have proceeded by analyzing it in terms of a set of approaches to reading process which will be presented as below Many researchers in the field of reading have classified the models of reading into three categories such as bottom-up, top-down, and interactive approaches These approaches describe what happens when readers look at the text, and also what complementary ways of processing

a text are Readers use them with unconscious way, or adopt them as conscious processes during reading a text

2.2.2.1 Bottom-up

Bottom-up processing is considered as a process which is related to language structures To put it another way, it concentrates on individual words, phrases or cohesive devices and gets understanding by associating detailed elements together to create a whole (Grabe, 2009) In the bottom-up approach, the role of word knowledge is requisite for lexical recognition which is regarded as its strength On the other hand, bottom-up processing is also hierarchical, through identifying letters and words and constructing a meaning for a written text from the smallest textual units at the “bottom” (i.e letters and

2.2.2.3 Interactive approach

From the problems emerging in bottom-up and top-down processing, many researchers found that interactive models appears to provide a better result of reading performance than heavily rely on bottom-up or top-down model The interactive model involves employing both top-down and bottom-up skills to construct the meaning of the text It highlights that reading is the interaction between readers and texts (Grabe, 2009)

In short, the interactive approach emphasizes the application to the interaction of

bottom-up and top-down processes to get successful reading, it is necessary for readers to have an appropriate balance between these approaches In other words, an inappropriate balance between bottom-up and top-down models leads to failure in reading comprehension, thereby producing unsuccessful readers

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2.3 The learners of reading comprehension class with mind mapping

According to Zaid (1995) states, “mind mapping has been shown to be a beneficial learning and teaching strategy for all grade levels” (p 109) It means that teaching with mind mapping is suitable for all learners Indeed, there are many researchers who conducted many studies around using mind mapping for students from a low to a high level In other words, students who study at secondary school, high school or university can learn English with mind map Some researchers did the studies on teaching how to read a narrative text through mind mapping with secondary school students (Kisfinata, Ariani & Sukmaantara, 2013), high school students (Ramadhan, Regina, & Salm, 2015),

or university students (Indrayani, 2014) All of these researchers had the agreement on the effectiveness of mind mapping technique As a result of their projects, they found that mind mapping was an appropriate technique that had a significant effect on students‟ reading comprehension achievement

One of the important elements of study is learners; thus, the description of learners

in reading comprehension class with mind mapping should be discussed Among students with different levels, students at a high school are focused on because of the following reasons The first one is that students at this stage do not have much self-motivation and they feel strange to work independently of teacher (Ramadhan, Regina, & Salm, 2015) Mind mapping can help them get use to collaborative group work which is important for learning at a university or a higher level Thus, this learning style is going to prepare them for a positive learning style which can raise their learning achievements later Another reason is that students at a high school are young enough to be creative in their learning and researching (Winanda, 2015) A mind mapping class contains the activities which require students to think and create while they read Through mind mapping activities, they can develop their thinking skill at the earliest stage The last reason is that students at this age are better at memory than university students at university Based on their own memory ability, they can better their background knowledge through reading activities at the early stage of learning process

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2.4 The use of mind mapping inside and outside of the classroom

As previous parts mentioned, mind mapping can be used to enhance students‟ reading comprehension As an illustration of this, Hofland (2007) urged his class to experience mind-mapping and found that its members could easily recall the content and even details of the reading text, which enabled them to be better students in reading skills The practice of mind mapping can happen both inside and outside of the classroom (Jones et al., 2012):

The first type is the individual in-class mind map For this type, students can seek help from the instructor In specific, they are given one period in class to complete the map and submit to the instructor before the class ends The second type is the group in-class mind map For this type, students work in groups to create a mind map To elaborate, the teacher places them into small groups and they are told to work together to create one map The teacher is responsible for giving them the instructions and the grading rubric The last type is the individual out-of-class mind map Students are required to complete the map outside of class time and they have to their textbook and class notes They are told to work individually on their map

In short, mind mapping should be frequently practiced both inside and outside the classroom so that students are familiar with different types of mind maps Besides, in-class mind mapping activities are not enough for students to become skillful readers

2.5 The use of mind mapping in stages of teaching reading comprehension

It is said that mind map can be used to facilitate teachers‟ work before, during and after class Mind mapping can be used in an educational context to analyze and organize what learners know or learn (Jonassen, Carr & Yueh, 1998) It serves three main purposes in language learning, including learning vocabulary, building a clear context in the pre-stage, while-stage and post-stage of a lesson, and reading comprehension

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For pre-reading, the general idea of the topic needs to be obtained by learners Thus, the requirement of activating background knowledge is the main purpose at this step Based on the suggestion of the teachers, learners are able to brainstorm the prior knowledge related to the given topic Teachers provide their students with knowledge of vocabulary and grammar to help them be willing to read the text In a pre-reading stage, students are going to do a very popular task is brainstorming (Wallace, 1992), and mind mapping has a great support for brainstorming (Al-Jarf, 2009) Furthermore, all the information will be arranged in mind mapping which is easy for long-term recall (Buzan, 2006) Murley (2007) also supports that the maps drawn on mind-maps are easy to understand

For while-reading stage, students must get more details about the topic At this stage, they construct a map through asking and answering the questions while reading the text During this step, they also use such sub-skills as skimming and scanning to read the text then they get better in understanding it In other words, the aim of while-reading stage is to develop their linguistic and schematic knowledge to decode the given texts (Al-Yousef, 2006) One of the important tasks in this stage is taking notes, which can help readers get specific information (Novak, 1990) Mind mapping can be used as a helpful tool to achieve the above task Using key words in mind mapping help students understand the structure of a reading text (Bekti, 2009) The exercises during this stage can be identifying the main ideas of paragraph, filling missing information, or answering the question by implying or inferring from the passage

Finally, in post-reading, the main purpose of this stage is to check students‟ exact comprehension degree of the reading text A summarizing technique is considered as one

of the most effective techniques because it can produce the significant information of the original texts (Hovy, 2005) Moreover, O‟Donnell and Dansereau (1992) conclude that when student are taught to summarize, their comprehension is improved and they are able

to monitor their understanding Therefore, whenever students are able to summarize what they comprehended, they have good reading skills There are a number of techniques to

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summarize a reading text such as note-taking, mind mapping, paraphrasing, and repetitive reading, in which mind mapping is viewed as one of the most successful techniques, enabling the learners to recall reading texts (Russell, 2011) Furthermore, students also integrate with other skills; for example, the information in their map will become the supporting ideas for writing the related topic, or they can retell the information to practice listening as well

In a nutshell, the use of mind-mapping in the three stages of a reading lesson is specified by Bogatikov (n.d, pp 6-10) He applies them as a pre-reading activity to activate the students‟ available knowledge, categorization and text prediction In while-reading, students read the text and fill in the mind map but mind maps are also handy in the post-reading stage after reading texts together with writing composition

2.6 Relationship of mind mapping to reading comprehension

2.6.1 Enhancing reading comprehension

It is true that reading for understanding or comprehension is the essence of reading (Durkin, 1993) In other words, reading comprehension is the main component in reading process; thus this section is going to clarify the impact of mind mapping technique on

reading comprehension ability

Mind mapping impacts reading comprehension because it requires students to use all capabilities of their human brain such as creativity associations and cognitive flexibility (Siwczuk, 2005) In fact, “the mind-map picture gives the presenters the opportunities of promoting a new awareness, and various kinds of discoveries” (Ono, et al., 2014, p 780) Moreover, Kotcherlakota, Zimmerman and Berger (2013) declare that

“mind maps help students clarify their thinking and lay the foundation for in-depth understanding of the texts” (p 252)

Phongploenpis and Supangyut (2018) specify the impact of mind mapping on reading comprehension by articulating some advantages Firstly, a mind map helps

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learners to focus on key words and concepts Secondly, it helps them to store related facts and events together Thirdly, it helps in decision making because it allows them to look at all the complex and inter-related information they need to consider Therefore, it can be inferred that making mind maps helps students improve their thinking and constructing skills in reading, and reading with mind mapping can enhance reading ability

2.6.2 Enhancing learning motivation

Raising students‟ motivational level is one of the major requirements for language teachers It is commonly observed that the mind mapping technique enhances motivation

of the students of all ages and levels, helping them to retain the given information for a longer time (Reyes & Cerda, 2011) In specific, Reyes and Cerda (2011) state that mind mapping makes language learning enjoyable for the learner by increasing the attractiveness of the tasks and graphics To elaborate, the use of the imagination to include attractive, positive images is indispensable for motivating (Buzan, 2006) The use

of mind maps can engage students of all ages in creative thinking and organizing In short, along with testifying the relationship between mind mapping and reading comprehension ability, an exploration of the effect of mind mapping technique on students‟ motivation is necessary

2.7 Procedure to apply mind mapping in teaching reading comprehension class

According to Siriphanich and Laohawiriyanon (2010), teachers may use mind mapping technique at different stages of instruction to help their students develop a holistic understanding of the content to be learnt These authors present three stages of applying a mind mapping technique into a reading lesson, including pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading stages Similarly, according Oliver (2009), an advantage to mind mapping is that it can be used as a pre-reading, during reading and a post reading activity In pre-reading stage, the teacher asks students to construct mind maps to present their background knowledge about vocabulary and general ideas related to the reading topic For example, if the students are going to read about hobbies, they have to work in

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group for brain storming the vocabulary related to the hobbies, and then the students have

to construct mind maps showing the relation of each vocabulary under this topic This brainstorming phase of mind mapping gives the teacher an insight into the schemata of students (Pearson & Johnson, 1978) Typically, in this stage, ideas from one student will trigger ideas from other students (Heimlich & Pittelman, 1986) In the while-reading stage, the students construct a mind map of ideas of the current reading passage so that they can answer comprehension questions asked by the teacher In the post-reading stage, the mind mapping technique is used to review and reflect upon the total content of the passage, and consequently, they can remember it longer In this study, the researcher also designs the reading lesson with the presence of mind mapping technique via such three stages

2.8 Previous studies related to the research topic

Research on mind mapping has shown that there still appears to be strong support for the effectiveness of mind mapping in reading learning Researchers suggest that it is

an effective teaching strategy for teaching reading because of the benefits it brings to students in terms of their performance and learning attitude This section reviews research studies relating to mind-mapping They were conducted in Vietnam and in other socio-economic contexts

Ardakani and Lashkarian (2005) conducted a quantitative research study with an

experimental class and a control class to check how mind mapping strategy improved

reading comprehension ability to intermediate Iranian students The population of the research was the second year Iranian students who attended the English Institute in Tehran so as to learn English for communication and reading skills The text book of the course was main material of the study They found that the mean score of 24.60 obtained

by the experimental group is higher than that of 12.93 obtained by the control group and there was a significant difference in the scores obtained from the two groups Therefore, semantic mapping instruction was shown to exert a positive effect on the comprehension

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of expository They concluded EFL learners could improve their comprehension and enhance reading speed through integrating semantic mapping strategy This study has both similarities and differences with the current study Both use a mind mapping technique to teach reading skill

Indrayani (2014) conducted her study to find out the effectiveness of mind mapping in improving students‟ reading comprehension achievement of a narrative text

It was an experimental study which was conducted in two classes with different treatments in teaching The writer conducted the pre-test and post-test to gather the data only Later, the data was analyzed through a t-test The observed t value of 3.47 was higher than the critical value of 1.66 (3.47 > 1.66) The result shows that using mind mapping in teaching reading comprehension gives positive influence on the second-grade students‟ achievement in Bogor

Ramadhan, Regina and Salm (2015) conducted their study to find out the effectiveness of using mind mapping in improving students‟ skill in teaching reading for narrative text It was a pre-experimental study Data was collected only through the test The result indicates that mind mapping strategy improved the student‟s achievement in reading comprehension of narrative text Besides, they had good enthusiasm and understanding in reading comprehension through this technique

In Vietnam, there are some studies related to this topic One of them is from Huynh Thi Thai Hoa (2012) She conducted a quasi-experimental research study during the second semester The participants were non-English major freshmen studying Primary Education at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education The data to find the answers to the research questions were collected from two sources: two tests, namely a pre-test and a post-test, to measure the change in the students‟ reading ability before and after the treatment, and a questionnaire to examine their attitudes towards the use of semantic mapping in learning reading comprehension in a reading classroom The study found that the semantic mapping strategy had positive effects on improving the students‟

To sum up, some previous studies show that mind mapping strategy has been applied to some research sites in the Vietnamese context but Le Thanh Ton high school; thus, the current study is conducted at Le Thanh Ton high school on purpose Moreover, the main instruments used in most of the studies are tests and a questionnaire whereas an interview is very necessary In fact, interviewing representatives of the participants directly helps the researcher gain deeper information Last but not least, some studies focused only on effectiveness of mind mapping towards reading comprehension without discussing about learners‟ attitude whereas this current study explores both aspects

2.9 Chapter summary

The literature review helped the researcher overarch theoretical background in terms of mind mapping in conjunction with reading comprehension In specific, a general picture of types of mind mapping, stage and procedure to use mind mapping was depicted

in a detailed way In addition, this chapter offered the researcher with previous studies The next chapter is for the research design, research site and participants, methods of data collection and analysis

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the methodology used in the research, including the research site and participants, approach and methods of investigation is discussed Besides, analytical framework and issues of reliability and validity are also described in this chapter

3.1 Research site

The study was carried out at Le Thanh Ton High School in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, in the second semester of the school year 2017-2018 from January to April around 17 weeks There are around 80 teachers who are responsible for teaching many subjects, such as mathematics, literature, physics, chemistry, and English All teachers with well-trained qualification were friendly, enthusiastic, and responsible Until the academic year 2017-2018, there are nearly 1,500 students with 38 classes ranging from grade 10 to 12, equivalent to 16 to 18 years old

Students study the English subject with four 45-minute periods each week Generally speaking, the traditional Grammar-Translation Method is mostly used in the reading classes, in which students are exposed to L1 much rather than L2 Meanwhile, the other skills, that is, listening, speaking and even writing seem to be ignored in the teachers‟ practice Due to the exam-driven approach, students find it difficult and tedious

to comprehend English texts effectively and comfortably

3.2 Research participants

The convenience sampling technique was used to recruit the participants for the study By reason, at the beginning of the school year of 2017-2018, the researcher was assigned two classes Due to this availability and accessibility of the sample this study, 80 students consisting of females and males from these two intact classes were recruited In particular, there were 40 students from class 11A10 and 40 students from 11A11 participating in the study as the experimental group and the control group, respectively

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The control group received the traditional teaching method, and the other group was under mind-mapping intervention Their demographic information regarding gender, age, and educational background is depicted as following:

Table 3.1: Demographic information of the participants

of the participants learnt English for six years (e.g since Grade 6) Interestingly, a small portion of the participants had more than 6-year experience of English learning; in other words, their parents had invested them for their English exposure at the very first stage

3.3.2 Methodology

As mentioned earlier, there exist some main types of the quantitative research paradigm, including descriptive design with a survey, correlational design, and experimental design (Creswell, 2012) By the reason of exploring how mind mapping (i.e an independent variable) affects the students‟ reading comprehension (i.e dependent variable), an experimental design was deliberately employed In definition of an experimental design, Creswell (2012) states “in an experiment, you test an idea (or practice or procedure) to determine whether it influences an outcome or dependent variable” (p 295)

In other words, this type is to examine the cause-effect relationship between

independent variables and dependent variables (Pham Vu Phi Ho, 2015) Once again, in the current research, the mind mapping technique serves as independent variable and students‟ reading comprehension and their attitudes are dependent variables

Although a true experiment research is considered as a good design which requires the researcher has a right to choose a suitable sample randomly, the current researcher used a quasi-experimental design because the researcher had no authority to select the population randomly (Creswell, 2012) Instead of that, this choice was made as she took responsibility for teaching two classes at the beginning of the school year In this quasi-

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experimental research, there are two kinds of group, the first one is the experimental class which will be taught with mind mapping strategy; the second one is the control class taught in a conventional way

The main material of the study was taken from the currently textbook, entitled

“Tiếng Anh 11”, which is compiled and mandated by the Vietnamese MOET It consists

of 7 units from Unit 9 to Unit 16 which were taught during second term of the school year of 2017-2018 However, Unit 14 was not instructed, and this exception was permitted and followed with the syllabus proposed by the Education and Training Department of Ho Chi Minh City The themes of “Tiếng Anh 11” taught in the second semester are post office, source of energy, nature in danger, Asian games, hobbies, space

conquest, and wonders of the world Each unit consists of five lessons, namely reading,

speaking, listening, writing, and language focus Following the set purposes, the researcher designed the lesson plan with mind mapping for the reading lesson in each unit The following table shows the type of mind mapping of each unit

Table 3.2: The types of mind mapping of each unit

Pre-treatment

1 26February–04

March Distributing the pre-test to the two groups

During-treatment

2 05 March–11 March Teaching Reading section of Unit 9 Spider concept map

3 12 March–18 March Teaching Reading section of Unit 10 Spider concept map

4 19 March–25 March Teaching Reading section of Unit 11 Spider concept map

5 26 March–01 April Teaching Reading section of Unit 12 Event chain map

6 02 April–08 April Teaching Reading section of Unit 13 Network tree map

7 09 April–15 April Teaching Reading section of Unit 15 Event chain map

8 16 April–22 April Teaching Reading section of Unit 16 Network tree map

Post-treatment

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9 23 April–29 April Distributing the post-test to the two groups

9 23 April–29 April Sending the questionnaire to the

10 30 April–06 May Conducting the interviews on 6 students of

As can be seen from Table 3.2, in the first week from February, 26th 2018 to March, 04th 2018 the researcher distributed the pre-test to the two groups to take before the treatment was conducted In the next seven weeks, she taught the seven selected reading passages exposed in the textbook, from March, 5th 2018 to April, 22nd 2018 After the treatment, from April, 23rd 2018 to May, 5th 2018 the researcher required the students from both groups to do the post-test; afterwards, the questionnaire copies were distributed

to the respondents of the experimental group (n=40), and finally six interview sessions in which three highest scored students, and three lowest scored students were conducted with the students belonging to the experimental group (n=6)

During the phase of treatment, the experimental group was instructed how to make mind mapping to explore meanings of the reading texts while the control group was taught in a conventional way (i.e Grammar-Translation Method) Below is a comparison

of the two varying ways:

Meanwhile, the researcher applied the conventional method to teach the control group reading classes In specific, she began the lesson by presenting new vocabulary in the passages by making a list of new words in English and their Vietnamese equivalents, and then asked the students to quickly write down in their notebooks prior to reading tasks Later on, the students read the texts to find out the answers to the posed questions The researcher, ultimately, corrected their answers in the post-reading phase The teaching process followed the bottom-up approach In common, their reading

to discuss the answers which were then categorized in branches of a mind map After that, she modeled and explained the mind map She guided them by asking them to write the reading topic in the center of the paper, and then take notes of some key words and ideas during their reading of the texts They were advised to use arrows, or curves to link the key words or ideas together until the process was fully completed After they had finished the reading and mind mapping phase, the researcher helped them to check their mind map in terms of levels of information, the number of key concepts or words by some comprehension questions The teaching process for this group followed the interactive approach

3.3.3 Techniques of data collection

3.3.3.1 Pre-test and post-test

Foremost, the researcher used a pre-test since “it basically measures whether the experimental and control groups are starting out equal” (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle,

2006, p 185) The reason behind is that any differences among the two groups can affect the results of treatment Wherein, the reading comprehension pre-test was delivered to the experimental and control groups in the beginning of the intervention The control group took the test on morning February, 26th 2018, while the experimental group received the

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test on the afternoon of February, 28th 2018 The forty-five minute pre-test consisted of four reading passages within 25 multiple choice items to probe the participants‟ reading comprehension abilities (see Appendix C) The topics and vocabulary of these texts were familiar with what they had learnt in the first semester of 2017-2018, and their difficulty level was equivalent to the respondents‟ language proficiency of a pre-intermediate level

To check the effects of mind mapping on reading comprehension abilities of the students from the experimental group, a post-test was administered after the treatment The students from the control and experimental groups were required to take the test The post-test was sent to the control group on May, 2nd 2018 and the experimental group on May, 4th 2018 The forty-five minute post-test consisted of four reading passages within

25 multiple choice items to assess the participants‟ reading comprehension abilities (see

Appendix D) Topics and lexical items of this test were extracted from whatever they had

been exposed to in units from 9 to 16, except 14 Like the pre-test, the post-test was of a pre-intermediate level The results of the reading comprehension post-test were used to compare and contrast the two groups In regards the administration of these tests above, the researcher followed guidelines carefully like keeping eyes strictly during their taking the tests well for them not to copy the answer from others The grading score was prepared beforehand and entirely consistent in which one correct response scored 0.4 point, and the highest score of the test was 10.0 In the high school context, grades are

classified to assess the students‟ reading ability, specially: 0-4.9: Poor; 5.0-6.4: Fair;

6.5-7.9: Good; 8.0-10.0: Very good