An investigation into efl students perceptions and use of mind mapping in learning vocabulary nghiên cứu về nhận thức và sử dụng sơ đồ tư duy vào việc học từ vựng của sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng anh

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY DAO NGOC TAM AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND USE OF MIND MAPPING IN LEARNING VOCABULARY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY DAO NGOC TAM AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND USE OF MIND MAPPING IN LEARNING VOCABULARY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof Dr LE PHAM HOAI HUONG HUE, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ĐÀO NGỌC TÂM NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHẬN THỨC VÀ SỬ DỤNG SƠ ĐỒ TƯ DUY VÀO VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS TS LÊ PHẠM HOÀI HƯƠNG HUẾ, 2019 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere Signed: DAO NGOC TAM Date: 10/ 12/ 2019 i ABSTRACT This study was carried out to investigate EFL students‘ perceptions towards the use of Mind Mapping (MM) in learning vocabulary and the practice of this technique in vocabulary learning process at HUFL Besides, the study also explored the difficulties faced by the students in using MM to learn vocabulary The data were collected from 112 EFL students at HUFL through questionnaires, interviews and diaries Both quantitative and quantitative methods were applied to the data analysis The findings of the research reveal that students have positive attitudes towards using MM in learning vocabulary Besides, they knew how to combine colors, images and line to make the MM more interesting and effective for learning English vocabulary However, the EFL students did not have much experience in applying MM to learn vocabulary and they always faced some disadvantages of technique such as shortage of time, lack of ability to create interesting mind maps and shortage of space for a large topic of vocabulary Based on the findings, some practical implications for the students and teachers were made to improve the quality of vocabulary learning process by using MM ii Acknowledgement This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement and whole-hearted assistance of many people Firstly, I would like to express my deepest to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Le Pham Hoai Huong, whose encouragement, guidance, and support from the initial to the final level has enabled me to overcome many difficulties and develop my research skills It is an honor for me to extend my special thanks to all the staff, especially, the teaching staff at Hue College of Foreign Languages Without their help and encouragement, I would not have accomplished my thesis Secondly, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the second-year and third-year students at Hue College of Foreign Languages for their precious help and cooperation during my survey there Thirdly, I wish to thank my friends who have encouraged me to carry out this thesis and shared with me their materials, ideas as well as useful comments on my research Finally, millions of thanks go to our beloved family whose financial support and spiritual encouragement contribute a significant part to the completion of the research iii TABLES OF CONTENTS Statement of Original Authorship i Abstract ii Acknowledgement iii Tables of contents iv List of tables vii List of figures viii List of abbreviations ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research 1.2 Research aims 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Significance of research 1.6 Structure of the research CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Mind maps 2.2.1 Overview of mind mapping 2.2.2 Theories supporting the concept mind map 2.2.2.1 Knowledge visualization theory 2.2.2.2 Brain science theory 2.2.2.3 Information processing theory 2.2.3 Types of mind maps 2.2.4 Steps of making mind maps 11 2.2.5 Characteristics of mind maps 11 2.2.6 The difference between mind map and concept maps 12 2.2.7 Advantages and disadvantages of mind maps 15 2.2.7.1 Advantages of mind maps 15 2.2.7.2 Disadvantages of mind maps 16 iv 2.3 Vocabulary 17 2.3.1 Definition of vocabulary 17 2.3.2 Importance of vocabulary 18 2.3.3 Types of vocabulary 19 2.3.4 Difficulties in learning vocabulary 19 2.3.5 Strategies for learning vocabulary 21 2.4 Previous studies 22 2.4.1 In the world 22 2.4.2 In Vietnam 24 2.4.3 Gaps in the literature 25 2.5 Summary 25 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 26 3.1 Introduction 26 3.2 Research design 26 3.3 Settings and Participants 27 3.4 Research instruments 28 3.5 Procedure of the study 30 3.6 Data Analysis 32 3.7 Summary 32 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33 4.1 Introduction 33 4.2 Findings and Discussions 33 4.2.1 EFL students‘ perceptions of the use of MM in learning vocabulary 34 4.2.2 EFL students‘ experience in using MM to learn vocabulary 38 4.2.3 Difficulties encountered by EFL students in using MM to learn vocabulary 43 4.3 Chapter summary 46 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTHER RESEARCH 47 5.1 EFL students‘ perceptions of using MM in vocabulary learning 47 5.2 EFL students‘ use of MM technique in learning vocabulary 47 v 5.3 Difficulties encountered by EFL students in using MM to learn vocabulary 48 5.4 Implications 48 5.5 Contribution of the study 49 5.6 Limitations 50 5.7 Suggestions for the further research 50 APPENDIX A P1 APPENDIX B P5 APPENDIX C P6 APPENDIX D P7 APPENDIX E P26 APPENDIX F P9 APPENDIX G P26 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Participants‘ information 27 Table 4.1 The reliability of the questionnaire 33 Table 4.2 One-Sample Statistics of Mean Score of General Attitude Toward MM 34 Table 4.3 One-Sample T- Test of mean score of General attitude toward MM 34 Table 4.4 Mean scores of EFL students‘ general attitudes toward MM 35 Table 4.5 One-Sample Statistics of EFL students‘ experience on using MM in learning vocabulary 39 Table 4.6 One Sample T- Test of mean score about Experience in using MM in learning vocabulary 39 Table 4.7 Mean scores of EFL students‘ experience in using MM in learning vocabulary 40 Table 4.8 EFL students‘ purposes in using MM 42 Table 4.9 Kinds of mind maps used by EFL students 42 Table 4.10 One-Sample Statistics of mean score of difficulties faced by EFL students in using MM to learn vocabulary 44 Table 4.11 One-Sample T-Test of mean score about 44 Table 4.12 Mean scores of the statements about the difficulties encountered by EFL students in using MM to learn vocabulary 45 vii P33 P34 P35 APPENDIX F Journal: The sample answer P36 P37 P38 P39 P40 P41 P42 P43 P44 P45 APPENDIX G Scale: ALL VARIABLES Case Processing Summary N Cases Valid % 112 100,0 ,0 112 100,0 Excludeda Total Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha N of Items ,811 22 P46 Item-Total Statistics Scale Mean if Item Deleted Corrected ItemScale Variance if Total Item Deleted Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted N.1 72,42 87,435 ,601 ,790 N.2 72,55 88,412 ,577 ,792 N.3 72,46 88,701 ,571 ,792 N.4 72,63 90,000 ,534 ,795 N.5 72,32 89,355 ,471 ,797 N.6 72,58 88,408 ,609 ,791 N.7 72,60 87,179 ,616 ,789 N.8 72,65 87,905 ,601 ,790 N.9 72,63 89,351 ,576 ,793 N.1 72,92 94,381 ,395 ,803 N.2 73,07 92,157 ,420 ,801 N.3 73,00 92,306 ,389 ,802 N.4 72,77 92,973 ,328 ,805 N.5 72,53 94,360 ,291 ,807 N.6 72,63 97,027 ,179 ,812 N.7 72,61 93,844 ,326 ,805 N.8 72,62 89,660 ,521 ,795 N.1 73,23 100,036 ,057 ,815 N.2 73,09 99,740 ,043 ,817 N.3 73,34 102,460 -,105 ,828 N.4 73,29 101,777 -,067 ,820 N.5 73,11 102,205 -,092 ,824 P47