Using mind maps in the pre writing stage to improve high school students’ writing skills

Vinh, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRAN THI THU HIEN USING MIND MAPS IN THE PRE-WRITING STAGE TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS MASTER’S THESI

Vinh, 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

TRAN THI THU HIEN

USING MIND MAPS IN THE PRE-WRITING STAGE TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Vinh, 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

TRAN THI THU HIEN

USING MIND MAPS IN THE PRE-WRITING STAGE TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr NGÔ ĐÌNH PHƯƠNG

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the thesis entitled “Using mind maps in the pre-writing stage to improve high school students’ writing skills” is my own work, and that the thesis has not been submitted to any university or institution

Vinh, June 2017

Author’s signature:

Tran Thi Thu Hien

ABSTRACT

Writing still presents a big challenge for the majority of students at high schools

As teachers, we feel the responsibility to find new ways to improve this skill among other skills Teachers, in the process of teaching writing need strategies that can attract the students' interest and render the task of writing more enjoyable To this end, Mind Mapping, a technique developed by Tony Buzan (1960s), has proved to be a promising instrument for the teacher and the learner alike The principal objective of the research was making an effort to investigate the impact of applying Mind Mapping technique as

a pre-writing tool on enhancement of high school learners’ writing ability To do so, 30 high school learners at the same level were divided into two experimental and control groups Prior to treatment, participants of the both groups were given a pretest in order

to ensure comparability of their writing skill Having introduced the mind mapping technique to members of the experimental group and finished the treatment period, a posttest was administered to measure the effect of the intervention During the treatment period, participants were instructed how to make mind maps work in generating ideas, connecting them by the use of codes, colors and images and finally creating a well-organized piece of writing The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control one

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am fully aware that this thesis cannot be finished without other people’s help

In this opportunity, I would like to thank all of those who have supported and guided

me in the process of writing this thesis

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong, for his support, valuable criticism, guidance, and encouragement

I am also grateful to my colleagues and students of K71 A1 and K71 D3 at Phan Dinh Phung high school without whom I was not able to finish the study

My thanks go to my beloved family and friends to whom I feel indebted for their giving me strength and motivation to fulfill this thesis

Finally, I hope that this thesis will be useful for the readers although it is still far from being perfect Therefore, I greatly appreciate any criticisms, ideas, and suggestions for the improvement of this thesis

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ABSTRACT ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LISTS OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Methods of the study 3

1.6 Design of the thesis 4

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Writing 5

2.1.1 Definition 5

2.1.2 Writing skills 6

2.2 Pre-writing 9

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9 2.2.1 Definition

2.2.2 The importance of pre-writing 10

2.2.3 Pre-writing techniques 12

2.3 Mind map 18

2.3.1 Definition 18

2.3.2 Benefits of the mindmapping in writing 19

2.3.3 How to make a mind map 21

2.3.4 Common types of mind map 23

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 30

3.1 Research questions 30

3.2 Study setting 30

3.3 Participants 30

3.3.1 The Control Group 31

3.3.2 The Experimental Group 31

3.3.3 Resemblance 32

3.4 Materials 32

3.5 Procedure 34

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSISAND DISCUSSION 37

4.1 Results from the General English test 37

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38 4.2 The result from the eight topics on organization and idea

development

4.2.1 The comparison between the average score of eight sessions for both groups 39

4.2.2 The comparison between the average score of the first session and the average of the last session of the two groups 43

4.2.3 The comparison between the average score of the second half sessions and the average of the first half sessions 49

4.2.4 The patterns of progress in writing scores 54

4.3 The comparison between the average score of the pre-test and post-test of both groups 59

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 63

5.1 Conclusion 63

5.2 Limitations 64

5.3 Suggestions 64

REFERENCES 66

APPENDIX A 68

APPENDIX B 72

APPENDIX C 75

APPENDIX D 78

APPENDIX E 79

APPENDIX F 80

APPENDIX G 81

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APPENDIX H 82

APPENDIX I 83

APPENDIX J 84

APPENDIX K 85

APPENDIX L 86

APPENDIX M 87

APPENDIX N 88

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Table 3.1 The Control Group’s background information 31

Table 3.2 The Experimental Group’s background information 32

Table 3.3 The writing topics of sixteen units in Tieng Anh 10 33

Table 3.4 The lesson plan’s time division 34

Table 4.1 The experimental and control group’s Score in general English test 37

Table 4.2 The average total scores and standard deviations of general English test in the experimental group and the control group 38

Table 4.3 Means, standard deviations, medians and modes of score of eightspeaking topics for all groups 39

Table 4.4 Mean scores in the 8-sessions by all participants on organization 40

Table 4.5 Mean scores in the 8-sessions by all participants on idea development 42

Table 4.6 Mean scores of all participants for both groups 42

Table 4.7 Means and standard deviations of comprehension scores on the first session and the last session of both groups 43

Table 4.8 The increase difference between the last session scores and the first session scores by all participants in both groups on organization 46

Table 4.9 The increase difference between the last session scores and the first session scores by all participants in both groups on idea development 47

Table 4.10 Summary of the increase levels of all participants for both groups 48

Table 4.11 Mean and standard deviations of comprehension scores on the first half and the second half of the course for both groups 50

Table 4.12 The differences between the four initial sessions’ score and the four final sessions’ score for both groups on organization 51 Table 4.13 The differences between the four initial sessions’ score and the

development of the pre-test and the post-test of both groups 59

LIST OF FIGURES

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Figure 4.1 The first and the last sessions mean's score for both groups on organization

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Figure 4.2 The first and the last sessions mean's score for both groups on idea development 46

Figure 4.3 Progress chart of decrease 54

Figure 4.4 Progress chart of increase 55

Figure 4.5 Progress chart of fluctuated increase 56

Figure 4.6 Progress chart of gradual increase 56

Figure 4.7 Progress chart of plateau increase 57

Figure 4.8 The pre-test and post-test mean’s score for both groups on organization 57

Figure 4.9 The pre-test and post-test mean’s score for both groups on idea development 62

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

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ESL: English as a Second Language EFL:

English as a Foreign Language CLT:

Communicative Language Teaching

ELLs: English language learners L1: First

Language L2: Second Language P:

Participant S: Session

E.G: Experimental Group

C.G: Control Group

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter is written with the purpose of giving the rationale, objectives of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, the scope of the study, an

overview of research methodology and finally introducing the outline of the thesis

However, one of its most essential and challenging components is writing which

is found a complex, boring, and devastating task by most EFL/ESL learners Writing is

a difficult skill to acquire in the writers' native languages and apparently the difficulty gets huger as far as the second or foreign languages are concerned

One of the major problems of learners is getting started while having the thoughts and ideas in their minds well-organized and developed Although in order to create a rich piece of writing, lexical, mechanical, and organizational aspects should be taken into account and work simultaneously, some EFL learners stick to the first two at the expense of the organizational part Such a thing ends in losing track of what they have in mind regarding the topic they are supposed to write about Obviously, a cluttered and poorly-organized piece of writing leads to losing the message that the

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learner intends to impart to the reader According to Byrd (2011) unfortunately most students do not take the time to form and organize their ideas in an L2 writing project, rather they simply aim for the final product, thinking that one draft is enough

The inability of EFL learners to organize their ideas and thoughts is sometimes due to lack of their knowledge about different techniques in this respect which can be applied during the pre-writing process Consequently, looking for a technique to make writing a fascinating and interesting experience for EFL learners and to improve their ability to write well, specifically with regard to the organizational aspect, is heavily required One technique which can be used in this respect is mind-mapping Mc Griff (cited in Al Naqbi, 2011) states mind maps 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 It is seen as a powerful tool to help students overcome problems with their writing skills Therefore, by mastering this technique, learners can have the ability to create and organize their ideas and thoughts, to write more smoothly with higher accuracy If you just start writing paragraphs, it is easy to forget the main idea you presented in the introduction whilst filling out details of supporting paragraphs But if you have a mind map to refer back, you can quickly and easily check the relevancy of what you are typing (Fotheringham, 2012)

For high school students, developing strong writing skills not only helps their high school grades and final examination results, but also prepares them for their academic and professional futures Whether writing essays, taking notes or applying for scholarships, high school students must learn to develop their ideas and proofread their written work before sharing it Hence, it can be assumed that writing skill is one of the most important skills in the teaching of English in high schools

As a teacher of Phan Dinh Phung high school, from my observation and my own

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teaching experience, it is true that students have many difficulties in their writing lessons And what troubles them most is how to start, how to organise and develop the ideas Consequently, writing tasks are found to be struggling and boring Therefore, one

of the challenges to the teacher is to find out the answer to the question “How to make students of English get involved actively and effectively in writing lessons?”

For the above-mentioned reasons, the author aims at conducting the study entitled “Using mind maps in the pre-writing stage to improve high school students’ writing skills”

1.2 Aims of the study

The purpose of this research is to investigate if using mind maps in the

pre-writing phase helps to improve high school students' pre-writing ability

1.4 Scope of the study

Among many strategies to improve writing skill for EFL learners, mindmapping

is considered to be one of the most important ones This study is concerned with the effectiveness of mind maps in pre-writing phase on enhancing high school students’ writing skills Only two aspects were examined: organization and idea development

1.5 Methods of the study

The main method used in the study was experimental method Two groups of high students in Phan Dinh Phung high school involved in experimental process All

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comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion were based on the data analysis The combination of different instruments used in this study helped to gain reliable data, from which the researcher could have a closer look on how mind maps affect high school learners’writing skills

1.6 Design of the thesis

The thesis consists of the following parts:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This part introduce the issues leading to the study, including rationale, aims, methods, scope, and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review

This chapter provides theoretical background relevant to the topic such as the definition of mind mapping and pre-writing, stages in a writing lesson, the importance

of pre-writing, common types of mind maps and its roles in improving writing skills

Chapter 3: Research methodology

This part presents the study and these include, research questions, participants, material, procedures and results

Chapter 4: Data analysis and discussion

This chapter presents their analysis and interpretation

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Main points and contents of the study are summarized based on the results of the study The implication of the study and the recommendation for further research will be presented

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses the review of related theories underlying this research The discussion covers the basic concept of pre-writing, the importance of prewriting, and pre-writing strategies The next part of the chapter includes a brief description of mindmapping, some common types of mind maps, how to make a mind map and its roles in improving the writing skills

2.1 Writing

2.1.1 Definition

Writing is an activity of exploring opinions and ideas into words It includes the organization of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences into coherent and cohesive paragraphs and texts There is no doubt that writing is the most difficult skill for all language users: foreign, second, and even for first language Writing needs a well preparation and a lot of practices According to Richards (2002: 309), written language

is complex at the level of the clause Writing consists of many constituent parts: content, organization, originality, style, fluency, accuracy, or using appropriate rhetorical forms

of discourse

In relation to writing, Brown (2001: 335) states that writing makes the product through thinking, drafting, and revising It means that in producing written language, the writer should follow those steps to produce a final product

Writing is a skill that needs a process so that ideas that have been possessed can

be expressed through writing It needs in teaching-learning process to made the teaching-learning process can be done well Certainly, writing in English is not easy Expressing ideas is not enough, because the ideas still have to be told in English For that reason, a technique that can support the learning process is needed

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2.1.2 Writing Skills

Heaton (1975: 135) states a view that the writing skills are complex and sometimes difficult to teach, requiring mastery not only of grammatical and rhetorical devices but also of conceptual and judgmental elements The varied skills are grouped into five general components or main areas They are:

1) Language use: the ability to write correct and appropriate sentences

2) Mechanical skills: the ability to use correctly those conventions peculiar to the written language - e.g punctuation, spelling

3) Treatment of content: the ability to think creatively and develop thoughts, excluding all irrelevant information

4) Stylistic skills: the ability to manipulate sentences and paragraphs, and use language effectively

5) Judgment skills: the ability to write in an appropriate manner for a particular purpose with a particular audience in mind, together with an ability to select, organize and order relevant information

Matthews, et al (1985: 71) states that writing skills have several specific skills which are grouped under five headings; they are graphical or visual skills, grammatical skills, expressive or stylistic skills, rhetoric skills, and organisational skills Details of each heading are as follows:

1) Graphical or Visual Skills Under this first heading, graphical or visual skills, there are sub-headings, i.e writing graphemes, spelling, punctuation and capitalization, and format

* Writing graphemes is the use of letters of the alphabet, in upper or lower case

5) Organisational skills are similar to those involved in rhetorical skills above, but here they concern with the organisation of a piece of information into paragraphs and texts This involves the sequencing of ideas as well as the students’ ability to reject irrelevant information and summarize relevant points

Another classification is suggested by Brown (2001: 343) which identifies and enumerates micro skills of writing as follows: (1) producing graphemes and

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orthographic patterns of English; (2) producing writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose; (3) producing an acceptable core of words and using appropriate word order patterns; (4) using acceptable grammatical systems (e.g., tense, agreement, pluralisation), patterns, and rules; (5) expressing a particular meaning in different grammatical forms; (6) using cohesive devices in written discourse; (7) using the rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse; (8) appropriately accomplishing the communicative functions of written texts according to form and purpose; (9) conveying links and connections between events and communicate such relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification; distinguish between literal and implied meaning when writing; (10) correctly conveying culturally specific references in the context of the written text; develop and use a battery of writing strategies, such as accurately assessing the audience’s interpretation, using prewriting devices, writing with fluency in the first drafts, using paraphrases and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor feedback, and using feedback for revising and editing

So, it can be concluded that writing is the act of expressing ideas or thoughts in communication using graphic symbols which are arranged based on certain rules and conventions The rules and conventions are concerning with the aspects of content, organization, word choice, language use, and mechanics Aspect of content is talking about the ability to think creatively and develop thoughts, excluding all irrelevant information Organization is the logical order of sentences presented so that the arrangement of the sentences makes sense; it involves unity and coherence Vocabulary

is the ability to choose and use wide range of proper words, and idioms Language use is the ability to apply sentence structure and other grammatical features

Mechanical aspect is related with the ability to use correctly those conventions peculiar

to the written language, counting punctuation, capitalization, and spelling

(Gail Tompkins, Rod Campbell, and David Green, Literacy for the 21st Century

Pearson Australia, 2010)

In composition, the term prewriting refers to any activity that helps a writer

think about a topic, determine a purpose, analyze an audience, and prepare to write

Prewriting is closely related to the art of invention in classical rhetoric

"The objective of prewriting," according to Roger Caswell and Brenda Mahler,

"is to prepare students for writing by allowing them to discover what they know and what else they need to know

Prewriting invites exploration and promotes the motivation to write" (Strategies

for Teaching Writing, 2004)

"Prewriting involves anything you do to help yourself decide what your central idea is or what details, examples, reasons, or content you will include Freewriting, brainstorming, and clustering/ mindmapping are types of prewriting Thinking, talking to other people, reading related material, outlining or organizing ideas-all are forms of prewriting Obviously, you can prewrite at any time in the writing process Whenever you want to think up new material, simply stop what you are doing and start using one of these techniques "

is a misnomer; they return to their plans over and over during all stages of the writing process, often revising and adjusting the plans as they go."

( Lori Jamison Rog, Marvelous Mini-essons for Teaching Intermediate Writing

International Reading Association, 2011)

2.2.2 The importance of pre-writing

Pre-writing consists of four main steps: choosing a topic, considering a purpose, identifying the audience, and gathering and organizing ideas (Elbow, 1998) Effective prewriting makes the rest of the writing process easier and less stressful

The more time and effort you put into prewriting, the less time you will have to spend on the rest of the writing process If you develop a plan before you start writing, your writing will start with a purpose and a structure You won't slog your way through

an agonizing complete draft and then realize that your topic isn't fleshed out, you have

no purpose, and you dislike your stance When you prewrite, you can create a projection

of your final project before you even start "At a glance, you can see where you're heading, and if you don't like it, you can change it in the prewriting stage, before you've invested a lot of time and effort" (Raimes, 1983)

The benefits of prewriting are not limited to the English classroom, or even to writing Prewriting teaches organizational skills It teaches students how to apply thinking, planning, and organizing skills to other learning tasks Acquiring these skills reduces anxiety, not only from writing, but from all testing in general Getting in the

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habit of using prewriting activities changes the way people approach a project of any sort, whether it be a research paper, an engineering project, or even an art project (you brainstorm ideas, select an appropriate form, research technique, and create an outline,

or visual plan, before you start on the final product)

Prewriting is one of the most important parts of submitting a successful piece of writing However, there are so many high school students who do not take the proper amount of time to pre-write their essays As a result, many students become disappointed when their grades are not what they are expecting for Whether many students are lazy or just do not know how to pre-write, it is always important to prewrite your work

When students take time to prewrite their essays, it helps them to form more coherent and well-developed thoughts When you are writing an essay, many professors will look for thought fluency and development of paragraphs The prewriting will allow students to take time and think about what they want to write and say about the topic It also allows them to plan out how many sentences each paragraph should approximately

be

There are many students who have trouble starting their essays and developing a fully articulated thesis statement Well, any type of prewriting exercise will help students brainstorm their introductions and thesis statement The thesis statement is perhaps one of the most important parts of the essay because it tells the reader exactly what the essay will explain, show, and prove Therefore, it is important to take time and think about the thesis statement Prewriting will allow students time to do so

Another important aspect of pre-writing is the notion of organization When students prewrite, it gives them the opportunity to organize all of their paragraphs Furthermore, it gives them the opportunity to decide how they want to lay out their

Prewriting can also prevent errors When students do prewriting, it can prevent grammatical and mechanical errors in their final drafts It is important that all essay are free of these errors, and pre-writing will help with that When students do not prewrite and just attempts to start writing the essay, they only focus on trying to stay organized and on topic; therefore, they do not stay fully focused on their grammar and mechanics Therefore, when students prewrite, they have an idea of what to write for their essays, which means they can focus on grammar and mechanics much more

2.2.3 Prewriting techniques

Pre-writing strategies use writing to generate and clarify ideas While many writers have traditionally created outlines before beginning writing, there are other possible prewriting activities Five useful strategies are brainstorming, clustering, free

Brainstorming

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Brainstorming, also called listing, is a process of generating a lot of information within

a short time by building on the association of previous terms you have mentioned

• Jot down all the possible terms that emerge from the general topic you are thinking about This procedure works especially well if you work in a team All team members can generate ideas, with one member acting as scribe Don't worry about editing or throwing out what might not be a good idea Simply write down a lot of possibilities

• Group the items that you have listed according to arrangements that make sense to you

• Give each group a label Now you have a topic with possible points of development

• Write a sentence about the label you have given the group of ideas Now you have a topic sentence or possibly a thesis statement

Mindmapping/Clustering

Clustering is also called mind mapping or idea mapping It is a strategy that allows you

to explore the relationships between ideas

• Put the subject in the center of a page Circle or underline it

• As you think of other ideas, link the new ideas to the central circle with lines

• As you think of ideas that relate to the new ideas, add to those in the same way The result will look like a web on your page Locate clusters of interest to you, and use the terms you attached to the key ideas as departure points for your paper

Clustering is especially useful in determining the relationship between ideas You will be able to distinguish how the ideas fit together, especially where there is an abundance of ideas Clustering your ideas lets you see them visually in a different way,

so that you can more readily understand possible directions your paper may take

Freewriting

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Free-writing is a process of generating a lot of information by writing non-stop

It allows you to focus on a specific topic, but forces you to write so quickly that you are unable to edit any of your ideas

• Free-write on the assignment or general topic for several 5-10 minutes non-stop Force yourself to continue writing even if nothing specific comes to mind This free- writing will include many ideas; at this point, generating ideas is what is important, not the grammar or the spelling

• After you've finished free-writing, look back over what you have written and highlight the most prominent and interesting ideas; then you can begin all over again, with a tighter focus You will narrow your topic and, in the process, you will generate several relevant points about the topic

Looping

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Looping is a free-writing technique that allows you to increasingly focus your ideas in trying to discover a writing topic You loop one 5-10 minute free-writing after another, so you have a sequence of free-writings, each more specific than the other The same rules that apply to free-writing apply to looping: write quickly, do not edit, and do not stop

Free-write on an assignment for 5-10 minutes Then, read through your free- writing, looking for interesting topics, ideas, phrases, or sentences Circle those you find interesting A variation on looping is to have a classmate circle ideas in your free- writing that interests him or her

Then free-write again for 5-10 minutes on one of the circled topics You should end up with a more specific free-writing about a particular topic

Loop your free-writing again, circling another interesting topic, idea, phrase, or sentence When you have finished four or five rounds of looping, you will begin to have specific information that indicates what you are thinking about a particular topic You may even have the basis for a tentative thesis or an improved idea for an approach to your assignment when you have finished

5 Wh-questions andl Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? You can use these questions to explore the topic you are writing about for an assignment A key to using

The Journalists' Questions

Journalists traditionally ask six questions when they are writing assignments,

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the journalists' questions is to make them flexible enough to account for the specific details of your topic For instance, if your topic is the rise and fall of the Puget Sound tides and its effect on salmon spawning, you may have very little to say about Who? if your focus doesn't account for human involvement On the other hand, some topics may

be heavy on the Who? especially if human involvement is a crucial part of the topic Possible generic questions you can ask using the six journalists' questions follow:

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about a topic very quickly Learning to ask the appropriate questions about a topic takes practice, however At times during writing an assignment, you may wish to go back and ask the journalists' questions again to clarify important points that may be getting lost in your planning and drafting

2.3 Mindmapping

2.3.1 Definition

Nowadays, mind mapping is a common technique in the English learning process Mind mapping involves writing down a central idea and thinking up new and related ideas which radiate out from the centre It is a good technique that can help our memory because it enables us to arrange the facts and ideas Mapping knowledge which will help us to understand and remember new information by focusing on the key ideas that are written down, and then looking for branches out and connections between the ideas

teaching-Hedge (1998: 30) states making a mind map is a strategy for note-making before writing; in other words, scribbling down ideas about a topic and developing those ideas

as the mind makes associations So, it can be said that mind mapping can give students

a way to begin writing assignments Hayes (1992: 203) states that through mind mapping students turns random thoughts into patterns that can be written down and developed Students become increasingly motivated to complete a writing task as their ideas emerge in organized forms

Buzan (2010:4) states that “mind mapping is an easy way to place information to brain and take information out from brain Mind Mapping is creative and effective way

to write and will map your mind by a simple way” In this definition, five important concepts of mind mapping are used Firstly, the mind mapping is one of the creative note taking techniques It is a technique used by people to represent ideas into visualization and graphic forms where one idea is connected to another idea by using

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branches Secondly, the mind mapping helps people to enter the information into their brains By using mind mapping, it is easy for people to put information into their memory Thirdly, the mind mapping helps people to keep information in the long term memory By using mind mapping, the information can be saved into their memories for

a long time Fourthly, the mind mapping helps people to take information out from their brain easily By using mind mapping, it is easy to recall information saved in their memories Finally, the mind mapping engages the use of imagination and association in its application This means that in presenting ideas into mind mapping diagrams, people enclose imagination stimulators such as pictures, symbols, and colors to present ideas clearly and use association techniques to help them build their senses to the new concepts These new concepts are connected to the known concepts having a tight relationship with the new concepts

All mind maps are using color and the form is radiant thinking All mind maps have basic structure which spray from the center It can be by lines, symbol, words, and picture which related in simply, basic, nature series with brain By using mind map, long list information could change into colorful diagram, well regulated, and easy to memorize

2.3.2 Benefits of mindmapping in writing

Buzan (2002) claims that the mind map is a vastly superior note taking method because it does not lead to a "semi- hypnotic trance" state induced by other note forms Buzan also argues that the mind map utilizes the full range of left and right human cortical skills, balances the brain, taps into the alleged 99% of your unused mental potential, as well as intuition (which he calls "super logic")

Some people realize that a certain chart or diagram can help them rearrange and visualize the ideas that bear on their mind That chart usually helps them to remember well by using symbol or pictures that can represent words and ideas Mind mapping has

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many benefits in the daily life According to Casco (2009), there are some advantages

of mind mapping technique One of them is that the radiating design concept keeps the mind topic or central idea with all its major sub-topics close to it Similarity, sub- topics stay close to their topic This arrangement keeps the big picture in focus Beside, mind mapping makes relationships and connectors easier to see, it is more flexible than outlining In addition, it encourages creativity and improves memory retention and it is also easier to understand, saves time and increases productivity

The mind mapping is also considered as the technique that enables the user to enlist the full power of the brain both the right side, which is employed for spatial awareness, a sense of wholeness, imagination, day dreaming and color, and the left side, which is the more analytical, logical side According to DePorter and Mike (2008: 172), the mind mapping has four benefits They are as follows:

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So mind mapping has many benefits in writing The researcher applies it in teaching writing for the tenth grade students in senior high school to increase students’ writing skill

2.3.3 How to make a mind map

Mind mapping is a system that uses brain management to open all the hidden brain potency and capacity Besides, mind mapping is also a learning system that is often used to help students to learn effectively, efficiently and happily Buzan (2005: 15) mentions seven stages to make a mind mapping as follows:

1) Putting the main idea in the center: the beginning idea in the center is designed to give freedom to expand the ideas to any direction which is a perfect example of radiant thinking in action Most students find it useful to turn their page on the side and do mind map in “landscape” style Placing the main idea or topic in the middle of page will give maximum space for other ideas to radiate out from the center

2) Using a picture or photo for the central idea: picture and photo are important enough in making mind mapping It is because pictures have a strong impact on imagination and memory It also pleases sight and keeps attention focused

3) Using colors: color makes mind map more alive and adds the energy on creative thinking It can be used to capture eye’s attention and interest

4) Connecting main branches to the center picture and connect the second and third branches to the first and second, and so on trying to connect main branches to the center picture and connect the second and third branches to the first and second, and so

on because the brain works according to the association Human brain likes to relate two

or more things all at once The connections among branches make it easier to understand and remember

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5) Making a curve line connector, not a straight line

A mind map with straight lines is boring to the eyes and does not reflect its creative intent, but the curve branches like a tree branches are more interesting for eyes

6) Using one key word for each line

It is because a single key word gives more energy and flexibility for mind mapping

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A Different Similar

mapping can make the students happy in studying because there are colorful pictures That is why mind mapping is a technique that can be used to learn writing skills

2.3.4 Common types of mind maps

Buzan maps

Originated in the late 1960s by Tony Buzan Mind Maps are now used by millions of people around the world - from the very young to the very old - whenever they wish to use their minds more effectively

Venn maps

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A Venn Diagram was introduced by the British philosopher and mathematician John Venn(1834-1923) in 1881 and visually shows all the possible logical relations between the sets This diagram can be interpreted as the relationships of sets which may have some (but not all) elements in common

Bubble maps

A very simple drawing that consists of roughly drawn bubble connected by solid lines, broken lines, or wavy lines to specify the type of relationship between the spaces (Marxuach, 2009)

Bubble Maps are used to describe qualities using adjectives ("sparkle words") and adjective phrases As a writing tool it enriches students' abilities to identify qualities and use descriptive words

In the center circle, write the word or thing being described Write the adjectives or adjective phrases in the outside circles

Describe a friend, a pet, favorite candy, a game, a stuffed animal

Bubble Diagram