Mind mapping applications in pre–writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and coherence at chan mong high school

HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FACULITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN TO GIANG MIND MAPPING APPLICATIONS IN PRE-WRITING STAGE TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ WRITINGS UNITY AND COHERENCE AT CHAN MONG HIGH SCHOOL B.A GRADUATION PAPER Field: English Teaching Methodology Phu Tho, 2018 HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FACULITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN TO GIANG MIND MAPPING APPLICATIONS IN PRE-WRITING STAGE TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ WRITINGS UNITY AND COHERENCE AT CHAN MONG HIGH SCHOOL Áp dụng sơ đồ tư bước chuẩn bị viết để nâng cao tính mạch lạc thống viết học sinh Trường THPT Chân Mộng B.A GRADUATION PAPER Field: English Teaching Methodology Supervisor: Vu Thi Quynh Dung, M.A Phu Tho, 2018 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis could not have completed without the help, encouragement and support of a number of people who all deserve my sincere gratitude and appreciation First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Ms Vu Thi Quynh Dung for the valuable guidance and encouragement She greatly inspired me to work on this paper My graduation paper cannot come to end without her effort to read it again and again to find out the problems and support me in all stages of the research and writing this study I am also very grateful to some English teacher at Chan Mong high school, Phu Tho province, who have been willing to answer my questions and have given me valuable advice and suggestions on the research “Mind Mapping Applications in pre–writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and coherence at Chan Mong high school” and on the completion of my research I owe sincere and earnest thankfulness to all the students of the classes 10A1 of Chan Mong high school, who have been the enthusiastic participants in my action research They provided me valuable information by completing the conveying as well as doing the test Without them, my action research could not been completed and successful In the end, I would like to show my big gratitude to my family and friends, who have constantly inspired and courage me to overcome difficulties to complete this study Finally, a special word of thanks goes to my readers for their interest and comments on this study Thanks for all! ii ABSTRACT Based on the assumption that the more teachers know about brain science, the better prepared they will be to make instructional decisions Mind Map is a powerful tool for assisting any form of writing Language is an important device and a very beneficial means for human being to communicate with other people Writing is one of the language skills that will never be left in education The study identifies appropriate mind map techniques to enhance the students’ writing ability It reviews and examines the traditional techniques used in teaching writing learners and identifies appropriate mind map techniques along with an application procedure to enhance the writing skill This study objective is to test the feasibility of using mind map in prewriting stage for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school The researcher carried out the experiment by teaching English and gives two tests for students The experiment phase continued for weeks The participants of this study were 40 students at class 10A1 Prior to experiment, participants of class 10A1 were given a pre-test in order to ensure comparability of their essay writing Having introduced the mind mapping technique to members of class 10A1 (40 students) and finished the experiment period, a post-test was administered to measure the effect of the intervention for students The data were gathered through pre-test and post-test The comparison between the pre and post test scores reveals a significant difference in writing essay The results indicated that the students, who were taught through mind maps, improved unity and coherence; content paragraph structure and length in writing The results manifested that the mind map is effective to use in teaching pre-writing stage in class 10 of Chan Mong high school iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Research Purpose and Aims 3 Research Questions 4 Significance of the study 4.1 Scientific significance 4.2 Practical significance Related Studies 5.1 In the world 5.2 In Vietnam 6 Outline of the research PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 10 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 10 1.1 Overview of writing skill 10 1.1.1 Definition 10 1.1.2 Approaches to teaching writing skills 12 1.2 Overview of pre-writing stage 14 1.2.1 Definition 14 1.2.2 The importance of pre – writing stage in learning writing 15 1.2.3 Techniques in pre-writing stage 16 1.3 Unity and coherence in writing 19 1.3.1 Unity 19 1.3.2 Coherence 20 1.4 Mind map 24 1.4.1 Definition of mind map 24 1.4.2 Classifications of mind map 26 1.4.3 Parts of Mind Mapping Technique 28 1.4.4 Relationship between Mind Map and Unity and Coherence in writing 29 iv 1.4.5 Steps for Making Mind Mapping Technique 30 1.5 Summary of the chapter 31 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 32 2.1 Research methods 32 2.1.1 Theoretical method 32 2.1.2 Qualitative and quantitative methods 32 2.1.3 Analysis and synthesis methods 32 2.2 Subject of the study 32 2.3 Data collection instrument 33 2.3.1 Classroom observation 33 2.3.2 Interviews 34 2.3.3 Test 36 2.3.4 Mind map application in pre-writing stage (Experiment) 38 2.3.5 Data analysis 40 CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 41 3.1 An introduction of students and teachers at Chan Mong high school 41 3.2 Participants 41 3.3 The current textbook English 10 43 3.4.1 Data analysis of the class observations 45 3.4.2 Data analysis of the interview questions for teachers 47 3.4.3 Data analysis of the tests 50 3.5 Discussion 55 3.5.1 Discussion of the unity 55 3.5.2 Discussion of the coherence 56 PART III: CONCLUSION 60 Conclusion 60 Implication 62 Limitation of study 65 Suggestion for further research 65 REFERENCE 66 v LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES List of Figures Figures Pages Figure 1.1 Network Tree 26 Figure 1.2 Event chain 26 Figure 1.3 Cycle Concept Map 27 Figure 1.4 Spider Concept Map 27 Figure 3.1 The results of entry exam in grade 10A1 English subject 43 Figure 3.2 The percentage of score levels according to pre-test results 51 Figure 3.3 The percentage of score levels according to post- test results 52 Figure 3.4 The percentage of score levels according to pre-test and 54 post-test results List of Tables Tables Pages Table 2.1 Category descriptions for the assessment of coherence 37 and unity Table 3.1 Checklist of Writing Tasks in current Textbook 45 “English 10” Table 3.2 The result of classroom observation 46 Table 3.3 Number of tests in score levels according to pre-test results 50 Table 3.4 Number of tests in score levels according to post-test results 52 Table 3.5 Number of tests in score levels according to pre-test and 53 post-test results Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study English is spoken as the first language by nearly 400 million people and as the second language by 1.6 million people As its popularity, our education system attaches special importance to teaching and learning English in many school levels from primary to university or higher education one A plenty of programs and methods were introduced aiming at raising Vietnamese’s English skills Along with the globalization trend, English has been considered as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of all state schools In order to keep pace with the development of society, the need for good communication is put in one of the top demand for English language including writing skill It is undeniable that writing skill plays a significant role in daily communication and educational process In spite of its importance, writing has long been the neglected skill in second language for many years as writing is placed poor fourth Writing skill is a component of language skill with important role in human life Through writing activity, an individual can express his idea and thought to achieve purpose and objective For that reason, writing skill is the language skill considered as most difficult to master compared with other skills Pouring idea and thought into writing should consider the grammar rule corresponding to the correct spelling However, while this activity is a part of language ability aspect, writing skill gets inadequate particular attention Through writing, an individual can tell about idea, feeling, event, and object to others For that reason, this ability should be taught appropriately in elementary school But the reality proves that writing teaching is earned out incorrectly Writing learning aims to create the students with adequate writing skill The objective of research was basically affected by many factors such as learning method, teachers’ teaching ability, student condition, learning circumstance, learning material, learning motivation, learning interest, and Graduation Paper Nguyễn Tô Giang - K12 English Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department learning media or aid Effective communication in learning process will affect the students’ success in achieving adequate outcome Teacher can serve effectively as a communication expert in the classroom Thanks to the innovation of ways in teaching English, English lessons are taught with four skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) in one unit Moreover, there exist three stages Pre – While – Post teaching in one lesson This really helps students improve their skills beside the grammar exercises to pass the exams Pre-writing stages are very important in teaching writing and it also has significant effects on the students’ writing performance Pre-writing activities are supposed to the foremost phrase to start for a successful writing task Moreover, pre-writing stage could considerably solve the problem of ideas stuck and raise the students’ interest in learning writing If students not prepare well enough they can’t write well, they can’t even write anything in their notebooks Paragraph unity is the most important characteristic of a good paragraph Students often got difficulties in stating idea or organizing ideas and connecting the sentences when they wrote Their writing result often did not have clear meaning or it could not be understood For example, they discussed more than one topic in a single paragraph and the students could not use the appropriate pronouns or transition signals in the paragraph Therefore, the condition automatically made the readers confused with the paragraph and they would not get the information from the paragraph because it did not have unity and the supporting details did not support the topic anymore and it was caused of inappropriate words in connecting the sentences in the paragraph Further, paragraphs should also be coherent Coherence demands that the ideas or sentences presented in a paragraph should flow smoothly from one to the other Paragraphs should not only be well-developed and unified but also coherent In this lesson you will learn about paragraph unity and coherence without which a paragraph cannot be called a complete composition Graduation Paper Nguyễn Tô Giang - K12 English Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department Mind mapping is the easiest way to develop information in a human mind and take information from out of brain It is a creative and an effective way that map our ideas Maps are easier to follow than the long tardy note taking or listing techniques where ideas are kept in a top down sequence and it becomes difficult to make connection of the last idea to the first in the list Mind maps can work as tool to facilitate the learners to plan ideas in the pre-writing process Learners can be provided with examples to prepare a step vise pattern in hierarchy that would help them retain ideas till the whole of the essay is written Mind-mapping techniques are good to be applied in the pre-writing stage to explore ideas and generate thoughts on the topic for writing Mind-maps allow gathering concepts in relation to the main theme The concepts gathered this way are coherent without the linear or inflexible structure of outlines, clustering or listing ideas The use of mind map can present information using images, symbols, key words, codes and color to the level one wishes to This type of organization of ideas can capture the spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and visual intelligences of some learners As the content resembles that’s found on a topic outline, the structure of the mind map is nonlinear and lends itself to personalization by the student Students in general and Chan Mong high school students in particular have difficulty writing to create unity and coherence in their writing So, this the reason why I decided to choose the title for my thesis: “Mind mapping applications in pre-writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and coherence at Chan Mong high school” as the title of my thesis Research Purpose and Aims The aims of study consist of: - Exploring the current situation of pre-writing stage in writing lesson for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school - Designing and applying activities with mind-mapping techniques in prewriting stage for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school Graduation Paper Nguyễn Tô Giang - K12 English APPENDIX PRE – TEST AND POST – TEST Topic 1: Write a short paragraph (about 100 - 120 words) about the life story about famous person you know from music Topic 2: Write a short paragraph (about 100 - 120 words) about a film you have seen APPENDIX LESSON PLAN OF UNIT 12: MUSIC Date of planning: 18th March, 2018 Class: 10A1 Teacher: Nguyen To Giang Period: 79 UNIT 12: MUSIC Part 4: WRITING (Writing a profile) (English 10: 129) I Objectives: Knowledge: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Improve their writing skill - Write a profile based on provided prompts - Gain more knowledge about the life story of some composers Skills: Write a profile of someone Attitude: Students are interested in the lesson and have the positive attitude to the knowledge they have learnt II Teaching aids: Textbook, reference book, blackboard, poster, chalk III Method: Communicative approach IV Anticipated problem: Students may have difficulties with irregular verbs when writing using past simple V Procedure: Class organization: Class Date of teaching Attendance 10A1 20th March, 2018 40/40 Checking homework: New lesson: With this lesson, the author applied mind map for pre – writing stage Stage/ Teacher’s activities Students’ Time activities - After teaching new words and structure, the teacher will move the topic in lesson - Listen to the - Ask student to read aloud the requirement of direction this task in textbook page 129 “Write about the Pre- life story of Van Cao.” writing - Before doing this task, teacher asks students to - To the task (10m) know about the mind map - Introduces some information about mind map, then lead to the task - Give for students the mind maps which express the main points of Van Cao - Design the - Ask students write about the life story of Van mind map base Cao based on the sample mind map of teacher on the mind map sample - Divide class into groups, give poster for each groups to continue design the mind map based on the sample mind map - After 10 minutes, call on one group goes to the board to stick the poster Based on the poster, write the topic ( Appendix 7) - Check the student’s answers then give feedback Consolidation Teacher summarize the main contents of the lesson Homework Write a short paragraph (about 100-120 words) about the life story of famous person (note: applying mind map in pre-writing stage) (Appendix 8) VI Comment: Good points: Bad points: APPENDIX LESSON PLAN OF UNIT 13: FILM AND CINEMA Date of planning: 24th March 2018 Class: 10A1 Teacher: Nguyen To Giang Period: 84 UNIT 13: FILM AND CINEMA Part 4: WRITING (Writing a film) (English 10: 138) I Objectives: Knowledge: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Write a description of a film - Know some vocabularies to describe a film - Know some information about the “Titanic” & the “Tom & Jerry” Skills: - Reading: Read the description of the film Titanic and then answer the question - Writing: write about a film they have seen Attitude: Students are interested in the lesson and have the positive attitude to the knowledge they have learnt II Teaching aids: Textbook, reference book, blackboard, poster, chalk III Method: Communicative approach IV Anticipated problem: Students may find it difficult to write about the content of the film V Procedure: Class organization: Class Date of teaching Attendance 10A1 26th March 2018 40/40 Checking homework: T checks sts homework New lesson: With this lesson, the author applied mind map for pre – writing stage Teacher’s activities Stage/ Students’ activities Time - Ask students to find out main points of this lesson then give the questions which relate to - Read quickly and the films and cinema in minutes find information to - Design a mind map with topic and main compare with their Pre- ideas writing - Give poster for each group (10m) - Ask students to work in groups in 10 partners minutes to this task - Call on student of group goes to the board - Work in small to express their own ideas based on their mind groups of or map - Check the answer then give the sample mind map - Design the mind map base on the sample mind map - Ask students continue to work in groups design mind map to develop the questions of the topic Students can base on the teacher’s mind map to develop the ideas or continue their mind map - After minutes, call on students goes to the board to stick the poster then write about the topic in their way (Can see in appendix 9) - Give feedback Consolidation Teacher summarize the main contents of the lesson Homework Write a short paragraph (about 100 - 120 words) about a film you like best (note: applying mind map in pre-writing stage) (Appendix 10) VI Comment: Good points: Bad points: APPENDIX THE RESULT OF PRE – TEST AND POST – TEST Students of the first topic Result (score) Pre-test Post-test (a) (b) 6,5 7,5 4.5 Students of the second topic Result (score) Pre-test’ Post-test’ (c) (d) 4.5 6,5 3,5 4,5 4,5 6,5 7,5 4,5 6 5,5 6,5 4,5 4,5 2,5 3,5 10 10 5,5 11 11 12 7,5 12 13 13 7,5 14 14 4.5 15 3,5 4,5 15 3,75 16 8,5 16 8,5 17 6,5 7,5 17 18 6,5 7,5 18 6,5 19 19 5,5 20 2,5 20 3,5 21 7,5 21 8 22 4,5 22 5,5 23 8,5 23 8,5 24 7,5 24 8 25 6,5 25 5,5 26 4,5 26 3,5 27 27 8.5 28 7,5 28 8 29 5,5 29 4,5 30 8,5 30 8,5 31 8,5 31 32 32 3,5 33 8,5 33 34 6,5 34 35 7,5 35 5,5 36 6,5 36 37 2,75 3,5 37 3,75 38 3,5 38 3,75 39 39 40 40 4,5 APPENDIX 11 STUDENTS WRITINGS (21a) (11a) (39a) (23a) (3a) (3b) (7b) (12b) (33b) (25b) (2c) (19c) (13c) (13d) (27d) (34d) (12d) (2d) ... me valuable advice and suggestions on the research ? ?Mind Mapping Applications in pre–writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and coherence at Chan Mong high school? ?? and on the completion... Relationship between Mind Map and Unity and Coherence in writing Mind mapping is the easiest way to develop information in a human mind and take information from out of brain It is a creative and an effective... using mind map in pre-writing stage to create unity and coherence for grade 10 students Moreover, this is the first time the study on mind mapping applications in pre-writing stage to enhance students’