A study on the use of mind map to improve english vocabulary for first year students of the faculty of economics at hung yen university of technology and education

Trang 1 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE USE OF MIND MAP TO IMPROVE ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE USE OF MIND MAP TO IMPROVE ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (SỬ DỤNG SƠ ĐỒ TƯ DUY ĐỂ NÂNG CAO VỐN TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHOA KINH TẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Supervisor: M.A Pham Thi Duong Student: Do Thi Ngoc Anh Student number: 11317004 Hung Yen – 2021 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE USE OF MIND MAP TO IMPROVE ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (SỬ DỤNG SƠ ĐỒ TƯ DUY ĐỂ NÂNG CAO VỐN TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHOA KINH TẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Student: Do Thi Ngoc Anh Student number: 11317004 Supervisor: M.A Pham Thi Duong Hung Yen – 2021 I DECLARATION I hereby declare that the research paper titled “A study on the use of mind map to improve English vocabulary for first-year students of the Faculty of Economics at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” submitted by me is based on actual and original work carried out by me Any reference to work done by any person or institution or any material obtained from other sources has been duly cited and referenced I further certify that the research paper has not published or submitted for publication anywhere else nor it will be sent for publication in the future Hung Yen, June 2021 Signature Do Thi Ngoc Anh II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude to M.A Pham Thi Duong for her supervision and guidance during the time I did the study I am also grateful to all my teachers at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education who give me an opportunity and the best conditions to this study Last but not least, my special gratitude is for my family and my friends from whom I have received a lot of spiritual and material support III ABSTRACT This research paper mainly is the use of mind map to improve English vocabulary for third-year students of the Faculty of Economics at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education This research can be a useful material for third-year students of the Faculty of Economics at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education This study was based on action research, in the third-year students of the Faculty of Economics at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education Based on the purposes of the study, MM was applied in the existing classes, and then students were given questionnaires that they can write down their ideas about this new teaching method After the data were elaborately calculated and analyzed, it indicated that students were successful in improving vocabulary retention The findings may help English learners can find an effective method to learn English vocabulary better IV LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS E: English MM: mind mapping L2: Second language UTEHY: Hung Yen University of Technology and Education V TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT II ABSTRACT III LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS IV TABLE OF CONTENTS V Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Rationale .1 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions .2 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Method of the study 1.6 Significance of the study .3 1.7 Design of the study .3 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Vocabulary 2.1.1 Vocabulary definition 2.1.2 The role of vocabulary .5 2.2 Mind Mapping 2.2.1 The Definition of Mind Mapping 2.2.2 Characteristics of Mind Mapping .7 2.2.3 Technique of making a mind-map 2.2.4 Classification of mind mapping 2.2.4.1 Flow Map 2.2.4.2 Multi-Flow Map 2.2.4.3 Bridge Map 2.2.4.4 Tree Map 10 2.2.4.5 Bubble Map 11 2.2.4.6 Double Bubble Map .11 VI 2.2.4.7 Brace Map 12 2.2.4.8 Circle Map .12 2.2.5 The significance of mind-mapping in language classroom .13 2.3 Related studies .14 2.3.1 Review of related studies worldwide 14 2.3.2 Review of related studies in Vietnam .15 2.3.3 Gaps in previous research on min-mapping 16 2.4 Summary 16 Chapter 3: THE STUDY 17 3.1 The context of the study .17 3.2 The Students 18 3.3 Data analysis and findings 18 3.3.1 Methods of the study 18 3.3.2 Participants .19 3.3.3 Instruments .19 3.3.4 The procedure of the data collection 19 3.3.5 Results and discussion 20 3.3.6 Interview 27 3.3.7 An analysis of questionnaire for teacher 29 3.4 Discussion 30 3.4.1 The changes in students' vocabulary after applying mind maps to learn vocabulary 30 3.4.2 Learner's attitude after using mind map to learn vocabulary 30 3.5 Summary .31 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 33 4.1 Conclusions 33 4.2 Limitations of the study .33 4.3 Suggestions 33 REFERENCES 35 APPENDIX … 37 VII LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: Questionnaire and student’s answers Chart 1: Questionnaire and student’s answers Chart 2: Students' opinion about remember vocabulary Chart 3: Student's feel about using mind-mapping (MM) in remember vocabulary Chart 4: Student's like to learn vocabulary with MM Table 2: Correlation Chart 5: Advantages when using MM to learn vocabulary Chart 6: Difficulties when using MM to learn vocabulary Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale To satisfy the social demand for English competence, more and more people are learning English nowadays and in many colleges or universities English has been chosen as one of the basic compulsory subjects English learners at colleges or universities have a diverse background of English because they come from different provinces in Vietnam Vocabulary is an important element in second language acquisition By learning new words, learners can enhance their listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as improve comprehension and production in second language Scott Thornbury (2002, 13) “If you spend most of your time studying grammar, your English will not improve very much You will see most improvement if you learn more words and expressions You can say very little with grammar, but you can say almost anything with words!” Thornbury (2002, 23) also maintains that learners need not only to learn a lot of words, but also to remember them The prominent role of vocabulary in second or foreign language learning has been recently recognized by theorists and researchers in the field Accordingly, numerous approaches, techniques, exercises and practice have been introduced into the field of vocabulary teaching (Hatch A Brorwn, 1995) It has been suggested that teaching vocabulary should not only consist of teaching specific word but also aim at equipping learners with necessary strategies to expand their vocabulary knowledge (Hulstjin, 1993 cited in Morin and Goebel, 2001) By learning new words, learners can enhance their listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as improve comprehension and production in second language Although students' English level is not homogenous, they have a common difficulty in remember English vocabulary Indeed, many students not have the habits of recording their vocabulary in the same place and not know how to organize them effectively Unfortunately, their English teachers not pay sufficient attention to teaching them strategies to organize vocabulary for the belief that it is the duty of the students at home As organizing to remember vocabulary is one of the main problems faced by Vietnamese learners of English, each teacher should find 29 About the benefits techniques of MM, most of them said that MM help they vocabulary is memorized more systematically and they remember more words Question What are the difficulties in learning vocabulary with Mind mapping? In this interview question, all most students said: Using MM takes a lot of time and energy they have to draw many directions and many ideas Besides, they think that if they not write clearly, they will easily get confused A student shared that when there are too many new words to learn, he has to draw a lot of ideas and that sometimes causes confusion or repetition Another student also shared that when using a mind map, if only using one color of pen, it will look very boring Question What are your suggestions in the applications of Mind mapping to improve vocabulary? They recommend should add picture, color, more some examples to know how to use new word 3.3.7 An analysis of questionnaire for teacher The questionnaire for teacher were conducted with third-year English teacher, Faculty of Economics Question What you think about your students’ attitudes towards learn vocabulary with MM? She thought that her students like towards learn vocabulary with MM Question What kinds of errors related to learn vocabulary with MM your students often make? In this question, she thought that sometimes her students give the incorrect words when they to learn vocabulary with MM Question Could you please state the reasons why the students often make the above errors? 30 The main reasons why her students often make the above mistake is due to lack of new words Her students have little vocabulary so they often give some wrong vocabulary Question Can you propose some suggestions to overcome this situation? She suggested that students should study harder to overcome this situation Question What are the advantages when using MM to learn vocabulary? About the advantage she thinks mind mapping can be used to help students plan and organize their thinking before they start writing or get stuck into a project Students can use of mind map to improve English vocabulary Question Are students making progress using MM to learn vocabulary? Students have made great progress Students' vocabulary has improved a lot when using mind maps Through learning activities as well as classroom exercises, it can be seen that students have memorized new words longer and more effectively 3.4 Discussion 3.4.1 The changes in students' vocabulary after applying mind maps to learn vocabulary The students who used this method to learn vocabulary when surveyed showed that they memorized words longer and remembered vocabulary more systematically And most of them admit that they can remember vocabulary items right in class thanks to MM Moreover, mind maps help them recall old knowledge and associate with new knowledge They said that their vocabulary improved a lot when using MM to learn vocabulary Through the learning activities as well as the classroom exercises their teachers also commented that their vocabulary has improved a lot 3.4.2 Learner's attitude after using mind map to learn vocabulary The results from the questionnaire also revealed that the students had positive attitudes towards the use of mind-mapping The reason for these students' attitudes might be that the mind-mapping brought the students with a new trial in their learning vocabulary Teaching and 31 learning vocabulary by using other traditional techniques made them bored and tired Moreover, these techniques hardly made progress in their using vocabulary communicatively Meanwhile, the mind-mapping attracted the attention of both the teacher and her students For the teacher, mind- mapping was one of the tools to present words systematically and logically The students were supplied a new strategy to learn vocabulary, which helped them feel motivated and interested when working with words Moreover, the mind-mapping created more interactions in the class That might be another explanation why the students had positive attitudes towards using mind-mapping The students themselves studied together to explore the relations between words, to build a nets of words and to enrich their vocabulary knowledge However, some students admitted that they felt it difficult to using more time and energy mind-mapping and could not memorize words well with maps This could be interpreted that how to use the mind-mapping was quite ambiguous for the students These students could misunderstand some steps of using the mindmapping To help these students remember words better with maps, they should be encouraged to involve in regular learning, using both the mind- mapping and the word lists if necessary In addition, at the beginning of the research cycle, the students thought that the mind-mapping took them a lot of time to create a diagram because they were not used to using it during their lessons To solve this problem, the teacher should instruct the students more carefully how to make a mind-mapping diagram and have the students practice making mind-mapping diagrams some times before conducting the action research 3.5 Summary In this chapter, after presenting the student questionnaire, the researcher has analyzed the data thoroughly with a view to showing the ideas about application of using MM to learn vocabulary by students at UTEHY, the difficulties and suggestions of students had got when they using MM to learn their vocabulary Besides, the result from the questionnaire indicates that mind mapping has much effectiveness in helping students learn vocabulary, and when there is some doubt about the results of the questionnaire; an informal interview is conducted The findings were viewed by extracted from the data analysis The students found that when they 32 using MM they remembered the vocabulary better than before when they used the traditional learning method Traditional way of learning only helps them to remember words for a short time, but with MM they remember vocabulary systematically and longer In the next chapter, the researcher would like to give a summary of the study, the limitations of the study, and suggestions for further study 33 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION In this last chapter, the findings of the study will be summarized first and followed by some suggestions for learn vocabulary to third-year students of the Faculty of Economics at UTEHY This chapter also discusses the limitations of the study as well as some recommendations for further research 4.1 Conclusions The results showed that MM is an effective technique that should be used to learn vocabulary to the students at UTEHY It can clearly be seen that the students feel interesting when they use mind mapping to learn vocabulary MM as a visual diagram has successfully motivated the students of experimental to learn vocabulary interestingly They could use colorful chalks to write down their vocabularies through this they remember their vocabulary more effectively In addition, the use of MM in learning vocabulary made students have positive attitudes and increase their enthusiasm because writing down vocabulary with them is like a game Moreover, using very colorful chalks or pens make the students enjoy the learning It can encourage the lower English proficiency students to get and use more vocabulary and the higher English proficiency ones develop their vocabulary 4.2 Limitations of the study Although this research had been conducted with the best of researcher's efforts, time constraint and other unexpected objective factors have led to certain unavoidable limitations The total of number of the participants is only 70 students, thus they cannot present the whole third-year students of the Faculty of Economics at UTEHY And because of resource limitation, the theoretical background of study might not enough information Therefore, I hope that I have a chance to carry out further studies in future 4.3 Suggestions Considering the results obtained in this study and discussions in the previous chapter, there are several suggestions that the writer would like to present 34 There are not many studies on the use of MM to improve vocabulary retention, so it offers other researchers to a similar research with a similar topic by using a wider scope and larger population Also, there should be more cycles in action research project so that the results could be more reliable Teachers of English are expected to embody sections related to MM into not only in vocabulary lessons but also in other skills so as to make students interested in foreign language learning The students are suggested to pay attention to the teacher's explanation about the lessons and participate in the knowledge of memorizing vocabulary through MM technique By practicing remembering and using words with the use of MM, students will gradually better in learning English and enhancing their four English skills 35 REFERENCES Buzan, T (1993) The Mind Map Book New York: A Dutton Book Casco M (2009) The Use of “Mind Maps” in the Teaching of Foreign Languages Dang Thanh Diem (2011) Using MMs and diagrams to teach vocabulary for first year mainstream students, Faculty of English Language Teacher Education Hatch A Brorwn (1995) Vocabulary Semantics Language Education Heidari & Karimi (2015) The Effect of Mind Mapping on Vocabulary Learning and Retention Hulstjin (2001) 1993 cited in Morin and Goebel McCarthey, M (1990) Vocabulary Oxford University Press Nation, I S P (2001) Learning vocabulary in another language Cambridge Cambridge University Press Nguyen Thi Thuy Lan (2012) Using mind-mapping to teach vocabulary to the first-year nonEnglish major students at Bac Giang University of Agriculture and Forestry 10 Richards and Renandya (2002) Teaching Grammar in School English Language Essay 11 Oppenheim (1992) Questionnaire design, interviewing and attitude measurement 12 Samhudi (2015) The Use of Mind Mapping Technique in Teaching Vocabulary 13 Thornbury (2002) How to teach vocabulary 14 Ur (1996) A course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 15 Yusuf Effendi (2004) Teaching vocabulary through MM technique to the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palembang 36 Figure 1: Flow Map form the World Wide Web: http://mrslevels376.weebly.com/what-arethinking-maps.html Figure 2: Multi-Flow Map form the World Wide Web: http://mrslevels376.weebly.com/whatare-thinking-maps.html Figure 3: Bridge Map form the World Wide Web: http://mrslevels376.weebly.com/what-arethinking-maps.html Figure 4: Tree Map form the World Wide Web: http://mrslevels376.weebly.com/what-arethinking-maps.html Figure 5: Bubble Map form the World Wide Web: http://mrslevels376.weebly.com/what-arethinking-maps.html Figure 6: Double Bubble Map the World Wide Web: http://mrslevels376.weebly.com/whatare-thinking-maps.html Figure 7: Brace Map the World Wide Web: http://mrslevels376.weebly.com/what-arethinking-maps.html Figure 8: Circle Map the World Wide Web: http://mrslevels376.weebly.com/what-arethinking-maps.html 37 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (BẢN CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN) This questionnaire consists of questions (Bản câu hỏi gồm câu hỏi) Hi, students in UTEHY (Xin chào bạn sinh viên trường Đại học Sư phạm Kỹ thuật Hưng Yên) I'm studying the title “A study on the use of mind map to improve English vocabulary for first-year students of the Faculty of Economics at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” To get more information for my thesis, I need your co-operation to complete this questionnaire (Tôi làm đề tài việc "sử dụng sơ đồ tư để nâng cao vốn từ vựng tiếng Anh cho sinh viên năm thứ Khoa Kinh tế trường Đại học Sư phạm Kỹ thuật Hưng Yên" Để thu thập thêm liệu nghiên cứu, hợp tác bạn việc hoàn thành câu hỏi khảo sát thực cần thiết Mọi thông tin cá nhân câu trả lời bạn giữ kín tuyệt đối.) Full name (Họ tên): ……………………………………………………………… Class (Lớp): …………………………………………………………………… Male or female (Nam/Nữ): …………………………………………………… Writing information in the blank by ticking  In some questions, more than one answer can be chosen (Điền thông tin vào chỗ trống cách đánh dấu câu  Trong số câu hỏi, bạn chọn nhiều câu trả lời.) How many years have you learnt English? (Bạn học tiếng Anh năm?) 38 A Never (chưa bao giờ) B Less than years (ít năm) C 3-5 years (3-5 năm) D Over years (hơn năm) In your opinion, memorizing vocabulary is … (Theo bạn việc ghi nhớ từ vựng là?) A Very easy (rất dễ) B Easy (dễ) C Normal (bình thường) D Difficult (khó) E Very difficult (rất khó) How you feel about using mind-mapping (MM) in remember vocabulary? (Bạn cảm thấy việc sử dụng sơ đồ tư để ghi nhớ từ vựng nào?) A Boring (chán) B Normal (bình thường) C Interesting (thú vị) D Very Interesting (rất thú vị) Would you like to learn vocabulary with MM any longer? (Bạn có thích sử dụng sơ đồ tư để học từ vựng không?) A Yes (Có) B No (khơng) Please answer the questions by ticking () the column which reflects your opinion ( Vui lòng trả lời câu hỏi cách đánh dấu () vào cột phản ánh ý kiến bạn) 39 Strongly No Opinions disagree (phản đối kịch liệt) I find it easy to use MM to recall learnt vocabulary (Tôi thấy nhớ lại từ vựng học dễ dàng sử dụng sơ đồ tư duy) MM gives me more pleasure in learning E vocabulary (sơ đồ tư mang lại cho nhiều niềm vui việc học từ vựng tiếng anh) I started to feel like learning new words by using MM technique ( Tôi bắt đầu cảm thấy muốn học từ cách sử dụng sơ đồ tư duy) MM is a creative technique for vocabulary learning ( Sơ đồ tư kỹ thuật sáng tạo để học từ vựng) MM helps me to enhance my vocabulary knowledge considerably ( Sơ đồ tư Disagree Neutral Agree (phản (bình (đồng đối) thường) ý) Strongly agree (rất đồng ý) 40 giúp nâng cao kiến thức từ vựng) I can remember vocabulary items right at class thanks to MM ( Tơi nhớ mục từ vựng lớp nhờ sơ đồ tư duy) MM helps me to activate my prior knowledge and link to new items ( Sơ đồ tư giúp nhớ lại kiến thức cũ liên kết với kiến thức mới) MM technique can help me memorize and recall the word meanings more easily for a longer time ( Sơ đồ tư giúp ghi nhớ nhớ lại nghĩa từ dễ dàng thời gian dài hơn) In your opinions, what are the advantages when using MM to learn vocabulary for learners? (Theo bạn việc sử dụng sơ đồ tư để học từ vựng có lợi ích cho người học?) A Making interests in learning vocabulary (Tạo hứng thú cho việc học từ vựng) B Memorizing vocabulary what they have leant (Khơi gợi kiến thức học) 41 C Helping learners summarize what they have learnt effectively (Giúp người học tóm tắt lại nội dung học cách hiệu quả) D Memorizing vocabulary long time (Nhớ từ vựng thời gian dài) What are the difficulties when using MM to learn vocabulary for learner? (Những khó khăn mà bạn gặp phải sử dụng sơ đồ tư để học từ vựng gì?) A Difficulties in memorizing vocabulary (Khó để nhớ từ) B Using more time and energy (tốn thời gian lượng) C Other idea (Ý kiến khác): ………………………………………………………… What are your suggestion in using MM to learn vocabulary more interestingly and effectively? (Bạn có gợi ý sử dụng sơ đồ tư để học từ vựng thú vị hiệu hơn?) …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your co-operation! (Cảm ơn giúp đỡ bạn!) 42 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTION (Câu hỏi vấn) This interview is performed to get information of students about the application of MM to improve vocabulary The interview is conducted to get more objective and exact opinions and feedbacks about learning vocabulary with MM The interviews are performed in both Vietnamese and English (depend on students' interest) (Cuộc vấn thực để lấy thông tin sinh viên việc ứng dụng sơ đồ tư để cải thiện vốn từ vựng Buổi vấn thực để lấy thêm ý kiến, phản hồi khách quan xác việc học từ vựng sơ đồ tư Các vấn thực tiếng Việt tiếng Anh (tùy thuộc vào sở thích sinh viên) Questions How you feel the learning vocabulary with Mind mapping? (Bạn cảm thấy học từ vựng sơ đồ tư nào?) Would you like to improve vocabulary with Mind mapping any longer? (Bạn có muốn cải thiện vốn từ vựng với sơ đồ tư không?) What benefits does using Mind mapping bring to improve vocabulary? (Lợi ích mà việc sử dụng sơ đồ tư đem lại việc cải thiện vốn từ vựng?) What are the difficulties in learning vocabulary with Mind mapping? (Những khó khăn bạn gặp phải học từ vựng sơ đồ tư duy?) What are your suggestions in the applications of Mind mapping to improve vocabulary? (Bạn có gợi ý cho việc ứng dụng sơ đồ tư để nâng cao vốn từ vựng không?) 43 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHER 1.What you think about your students’ attitudes towards learn vocabulary with MM? 2.What kinds of errors related to learn vocabulary with MM your students often make? 3.Could you please state the reasons why the students often make the above errors? 4.Can you propose some suggestions to overcome this situation? What are the advantages when using MM to learn vocabulary? Are students making progress using MM to learn vocabulary?