Using mind map to improve vocabulary knowledge for the first year english language teaching education students of FLF at HPU2

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N 0 .2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY DO THI VAN TRANG USING MIND MAP TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE FOR THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING EDUCATION STUDE

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N 0 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

DO THI VAN TRANG

USING MIND MAP TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE FOR THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING EDUCATION STUDENTS

OF FLF AT HPU2

(SUBMITED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR

OF ARTS IN ENGLISH)

SUPERVISOR: DANG NGOC NAM, M.A

HA NOI, 2016

ABSTRACT

Learning vocabulary is one of the primary emphases to every foreign leaner where it is always mentioned in the objectives of four skills This study was done aiming at investigating the common ways of learning vocabulary and their difficulties in studying vocabulary ; introducing the mind- map technique

to the first year English Language Teaching Education at HPU2 as well First, to learn about the current ways of learning vocabulary, the survey questionnaire was conducted with 48 students of K41 English Language Teaching Education Second, a pre-test and post-test were done to appreciate the quality of vocabulary studying among these students before and after the treatment during five weeks of the second semester of the 2015-2016 academic school year Last, the classroom observation also was used to find whether students like the technique

Based on the results of these methods, the difficulties of students in learning vocabulary have been found out as well as MM Technique was introduced received positive responds from students

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Title: Using Mind Map to Improve Vocabulary for the first year English

Language Teaching Education students of FLF at HPU2

I certify that no part of this study has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the study is originally written by me under serious guidance from my supervisor

Date submitted: May 2016

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FLF Foreign Language Faculty

HPU2 Hanoi Pedagogical University Number 2

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

List of figures:

Figure 1: Human Memory System 13

Finger 2: Network Tree 15

Figure 3: Event Chain 15

Figure 4: Cycle Concept Map 17

Figure 5: Spider Concept Map 18

Figure 6: Percentage of ―Yes‖ in 5 Weeks 30

Figure 7: Difficulties in learning vocabulary 33

Figure 8: Results of the pre-tests in EG 35

Figure 9: Results of the pre-tests in CG 36

List of table: Table 1 : Major aspects of vocabulary (Ur, 1996) 11

Table 2: Background information about the students of the research 22

Table 3: Planning of the pre-tests and the post-tests 27

Table 4: Results of the Classroom Observation with EG in 5 weeks 30

Table 5: Advantages of MM in learning vocabulary 34

Table 6: Results of post-tests in EG 38

Table 7: Results of post-test in CG 39

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE INTRODUCTION

I RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 1

II Aim of the study 2

III Scope of the study 2

IV Research Objectives 3

V Methods of the study 3

VI Significance of the study 3

VII Research tasks 3

VIII Design of the research 4

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1 Literature review in brief 5

I.2 An overview of vocabulary 7

I.2.1 Definitions of vocabulary 7

I.2.2 Types of vocabulary 9

I.2.3 Aspects of vocabulary 11

I.2.4 How vocabulary is remembered 12

I.3 An overview of MM 14

I.3.1 Definitions of MM 14

I.3.2 Classifications of MM 14

I.3.3 Dominant of MM 18

I.3.4 Using MM to teach vocabulary……… 20

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY II.1 Subject of the study 22

II.2 Instruments for the thesis 23

II.2.1 Observation 23

II.2.2 Survey questionnaire 24

II.2.3 Tests 25

II.3 Planning 27

II.4 Procedures for Data Collection 28

Conclusion of the Chapter 29

CHAPTER THREE FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION III.1 Findings of the Observation 30

III.2 Findings of the Questionnaire 31

III.3 Findings of Tests 35

PART THREE CONCLUSION I Conclusion 41

II Limitations and suggestions for further study 42

II.1 Limitations 42

II.2 Suggestions for further study 42

References 44 APPENDIX A: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET

APPENDIX B: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

PART ONE INTRODUCTION

I Rationale for the study

The basic purpose of the language is to get an idea out of one brain into another A question is raised how people can communicate with others effectively if they do not use the same language Therefore, people from different nationalities want to communicate, they commonly use English language That is the reason why it is called ―language of communication‖ or

―language of the world‖

English, nowadays, 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

It cannot be denied that vocabulary knowledge is a significant factor when studying any second language D A Wilkins, a famous linguist, stated that without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can

be conveyed With rich vocabulary, learners could improve their four English skills as well as comprehension and production in English So, learning vocabulary is always one of the most concerned of English learners

In fact, the first year students in FLF at HPU2 said that they confuse in finding ways to improve their vocabulary They realized that it is not easy to deal with new words or how to use a word in a sentence In addition, it is hard for them to remember these new words for a long time Consequently, their vocabulary knowledge is not rich enough to associate with many other problems

in studying English process

Teaching methods also play a significant role to help students improve their English skills In lectures of FLF at HPU2, teachers always try to bring their students various ways to improve their English However, some methods are out of fashion for students Hence, how to improve vocabulary is still a big problem need solving

For all reasons listed above with my own enthusiasm in vocabulary, I

would decide to choose Using Mind Map to Improve Vocabulary Knowledge

for the first year English Language Teaching Education students of FLF at HPU2 as the title of my thesis

II Aim of the study

The purpose of this thesis is finding more effective methods to improve vocabulary knowledge for students of FLF at HPU2 In detail, the primary aim

of the study was set up as follows: To test the usefulness of MM techniques in improving vocabulary for students of FLF at HPU2;To investigate the experimental students’ attitudes towards learning vocabulary through applying

MM Technique

III Scope of the study

The general research area of this study is vocabulary

The phenomenon is strategies for enriching vocabulary by using MM Technique for the first year English Language Teaching Education students of FLF at HPU2 in the academic year of 2015-2016 Other aspects of vocabulary and MM Technique are also mentioned

The participants involved in the study are forty eight K41A English Language Teaching Education students at HPU2

IV Research Questions

1 How are the attitudes of students with the MM Technique in class?

2 How effectively is MM used to teach vocabulary to the first year English Language Teaching Education students at HPU2?

V Methods of the study

Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used and the data analysis is collected in the study from many different resources as follows:

Survey questionnaire was designed for collecting data from the first year English Language Teaching Education at HPU2

Observation was used as a consideration to observe the student’s attitudes Tests for students (pre-test and post-test): these tests helped researcher associate the improvement of students before and after using MM Technique

VI Significance of the study

The thesis was conducted to bring out an overlook on learning vocabulary statement of the first year English Language Teaching Education at HPU2 as well as the importance of vocabulary Moreover, it shows advantages of using

MM Technique in increasing vocabulary The finding of the study is believed to

be useful for both students and teachers in solving vocabulary problems In addition, the study is also useful source of material for anyone who is interested

in enriching vocabulary and MM Technique

VII Researcher tasks

The study brings benefits for both teachers and students in terms of English language as following ways:

Students: they can themselves make MM for learning vocabulary effectively and feel enthusiastic about it MM Technique encourages them to enrich their vocabulary knowledge

Teachers: Teachers may have one more technique to vary their teaching techniques and they also can help their students fix their vocabulary difficulties

Readers: Like students, readers can get more knowledge about MM Technique as well as find a new way to enrich their vocabulary for studying a second language

VIII Design of the research

The research includes three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part 1: ―Introduction‖ is about all primary knowledge required for an

essay namely rationale for the study, research presupposition, research objectives, research scope, research methods, research tasks, design of the research work

Part 2: ―Development‖ consists of three main chapters Chapter 1 entitled

―Theoretical background‖ that deal with things about literature review, an overview of vocabulary and an overview of MM Technique While, the second chapter covers all about the methodology used in the research The last chapter

in this part is Finding and Discussion It deals with data collected from the surveys above and then gives the reality and some suggested solutions of applying MM Technique as a way of learning vocabulary

Part 3: ―Conclusion‖ is mentioned with limitations of the study as well as

some suggested solutions for further study

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I.1 Literature Review in Brief

Oxford (1990) stated that the word ―strategy‖ ‖ originated from an ancient Greek term ―strategia‖ which meant generalship or the art of war Accordingly,

it indicated the management of the troops, ships, or aircraft in a war situation She also expanded on this definition by saying that: ―Learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situation‖ (pp.45-48)

Teachers often use various strategies to facilitate vocabulary acquisition For example, they may present clear explanations and synonyms of the words,

or use role-plays or multi-media to increase exposure The connection between vocabulary learning strategies and learning outcomes have been shown (Gu, 2010) and researchers have studied the nature of the former in this connection

Meanwhile, students often use repetition as an important step for vocabulary acquisition (Ellis and Beaton, 1993) However, learning vocabulary

by reciting words is painful and not effective (Li, Yang and Chen, 2010) To enhance the effectiveness of learning, students have to be trained about memory strategies and encouraged to use them during the process of learning

MM which contains different colors, images, symbols and errors can be used in many learning and thinking processes It is more fully explained in part I.3

First of all, according to Boyson (2009), Using MM for lesson planning can help teachers find out a logical plan or teaching route and increase recall of

the subject matter Then, it can boost teaching confidence and facilitate the smooth running of programs

Moreover, as illustrated by Buzan (1976), the drawing of MM requires the use of both sides of the brain and therefore can increase productivity and memory retention The strong visual appeal of MM can speed up the learning process and help students to memorize and recall information effectively (Brinkman, 2003) Also, the more personalized the MM is, the easier the learner could retrieve information (Buzan and Buzan, 2000)

Besides, Li, Yang and Chen (2010) declared that MM were commonly used for note taking, creative thinking, report writing and decision making In Taiwan, since 2002, numerous journal papers have been published in support of the positive effects of using MM in teaching and learning at school Through

MM, children develop their ―personalized‖ maps with pictures and colorful lines that stimulate their interests and creativity and consequently their competences

in reading and writing Especially, MM is useful for the building of knowledge and understanding, ideas association and vocabulary learning

In additions, Goodnough and Long (2002) stated MM to be a useful technique for introducing new concepts, providing a whole-class focus for a large research project, assessing learning of individuals and offering greater choice in how people chose to complete assignments and projects

Holland, B., Holland, L and Davies, J (2003/2004) claimed that MM was useful for helping people plan and structure projects and assignments more effectively The experimental subjects in this study were able to improve the structure, coherence and, as a result, the quality of their written work and draw value from the technique for project managing practical work Furthermore, Mento, A.J., Martinnelli, P and Jones, R.M (1999) affirmed that MM was a powerful cognitive tool which could be used in a variety of ways because of its ability to create associative thinking

Finally, as stated by Rivers (2002) vocabulary could not be taught, but it could be presented, explained, included in all kinds of activities and experienced

in all manner of association MM was regarded as a significant tool which could

be used in teaching vocabulary as well as enables for learners to memorize vocabulary easily

I.2 An Overview of Vocabulary

I.2.1 Definitions of vocabulary

Vocabulary is an important factor to learn English that can have the great influence on the process of learning English The richer vocabulary knowledge

of learner is, the easier they can communicate and express their ideas to others English has a very large, estimated to between 450,000 and 750,000 words (Stahl, 1999 and Tompkins, 2005) In addition, with the development of human society, the number of vocabulary is higher and higher day by day

Regarding vocabulary, agreement on its definition seems to be difficult as each scholar and linguist or even each English learner has his own set of ideas to come up with the precise definition of vocabulary Thus, there have been many differences in defining it

According to Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Online, vocabulary

is defined as a) all the words that a person knows or uses, b) all the words in a particular language, c) the words that people use when they are talking about a particular subject and d) a list of words with their meanings, especially in a book for learning a foreign language

Richard (2002) defined in his book ―Longman dictionary of language

teaching and applied linguistic‖ (p.580) that vocabulary was a set of Lexemes,

including single words, compound words and idioms

Hornby (1974) said that vocabulary was (1) the total number of words that

make up a language (2) body of words knows to a person or used particular book subject (3) list of words with their meaning

From all the above discussions about vocabulary, there is also a need to elaborate word Word is a single unit of language which means something and

can be spoken or written (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) Regarding the connection of words and vocabulary, McCarthy (1995) also asserted that―[…] when we speak of the vocabulary of a language, we are speaking primarily, but not exclusively, of the word of that language […]‖ (p.3)

Therefore, it can be understood simply that a word is one part of a vocabulary

In conclusion, there are numerous ways to understand the concept of

―vocabulary‖ Besides, here arises the problem of whether ―words‖ and

―vocabulary‖ has the same indication In this paper, there is no difference in use between ―words‖ and ―vocabulary‖ to refer to all the words that existed in a language, which can transmit and express ideas However, when ―word‖ is used,

it refers to a single word only as the smallest unit of language to convey ideas

A beginning student who is good at English may know about twice as many words as others Generally, this gap does not tighten Following Wikipedia (2001) this translates into a wide range of vocabulary size by age five or six, at which time an English-speaking child will know about 2500-5000 words An average student learns some 3000 words per year, or approximately eight words per day

After leaving school, vocabulary growth reaches a plateau People may then enrich their vocabulary by engaging in activities such as reading, playing word game or even themselves create new words to meet their demand

To sum up, it is clear enough that everybody learning a language as a foreign language expects to know and master the vocabulary to improve the language

skills So when someone interests to learn a foreign language they must master

at vocabulary, because in all language aspects vocabulary is needed Shortage of vocabulary becomes a major problem in learning English especially to English university students, when they have good ability in mastering vocabulary, they will be easier in mastering any aspect of English

I.2.2 Types of Vocabulary

Vocabulary development is a critical aspect of teaching, especially in classes or schools with high populations of English leaner Differentiating between the types of vocabulary can help teachers decide how much effort to put into teaching particular vocabulary words, as well as which strategies will be the most effective when teaching the words

First and foremost, Harmer (1991) divided vocabulary into two types, they are:

a Active vocabulary refers to vocabulary that has been learned by students They are expected to be able to use it

b Passive vocabulary refers to word which the students will recognize when they meet them but which they will probably not able to produce

On the other hand, basing on the information from Wapedia (http:// wapedia.mobi/ en/ Vocabulary) there are four types of vocabulary:

a Reading Vocabulary: A person’s reading vocabulary is all words they can learn when reading This is the largest type of vocabulary simply because it concludes the other three

b Listening Vocabulary: That is all words we can recognize when listening to speech This vocabulary is aided in size by context and tone of voice

c Speaking Vocabulary: It is all the vocabulary that learners can use in speech Due to the spontaneous nature of the speaking vocabulary, words are often misused This misuse – though slight and unintentional – may be compensated

by facial expressions, tone of voice, or hand gestures

d Writing Vocabulary: A learner’s writing vocabulary is words which he or she can employ in writing Contrary to the Listening and Reading Vocabulary types, this one is stimulated by its user

In addition, Stephen Lauber mentioned some types of vocabulary in Classroom Strategy (2014) Following his point, there were three different kinds

of vocabulary: Academic Vocabulary, Content Vocabulary and Support Vocabulary

First, academic vocabulary can be defined as words that are not tied to any particular course or content area These are words that students may be exposed to during any subject or class, whether it is math or social science Typically, these are words that regularly appear in academic texts and tests; however, Stephen Lauber has found that they are not often explicitly taught Academic Vocabulary words often show up as the skill words in learning objectives, but can occur at any point during a lesson as well Because of this, it

is more effective way to teach Academic Vocabulary words as they arise, within the context of a lesson

Second, contrasted with Academic Vocabulary, Content Vocabulary includes words that are specific to a given domain or subject area, rarely being found outside of their particular content area Often, these words can be found directly in the content standards and are presented as the concept words (typically nouns) in a Learning Objective Content Vocabulary words are addressed extensively in the Concept Development of a lesson, through the use

of clear definitions, examples, and Checking For Understanding questions, as these words and terms are frequently the foundation of a lesson

The third, and final, type of vocabulary (as identified by DataWORKS) is Support Vocabulary Support Vocabulary consists of any remaining words that students need to know in order to understand a particular sentence or phrase used in a lesson Support Vocabulary words are unrelated to grade-level

concepts and skills and can typically be found in reading passages or text These words are often not critical for the success of the lesson, so little time needs to

be spent on teaching Support Vocabulary beyond ensuring that the students understand any meaning in the context of the lesson

I.2.3 Aspects of Vocabulary

Basically, before knowing deeper about techniques to teach vocabulary, it

is required to define clearly the matter of what to teach Following Richards (1976), knowing a word involves knowing 1) a great deal about its general frequency of use, syntactic and situational limitation on its use, 2) its underlying form and forms that can be derived from it, 3) the network of its semantic features and 4) the various meanings associated with the item

Denotation The core meaning that refers

to the word to the real world

Nightfall: the close of the day

Connotation The additional meaning that

shows people’s emotions and attitudes towards what the word refer

―Excuse‖ in ―She made an excuse for being late has a negative meaning‖

appropriate to use in certain context

Thanks versus Thank you

nearly the same

Keen on versus Interested

in

opposite

Happy versus Unhappy

concept

Ruler, Book, Erase, Pencil ->School things

Table 1: Major aspects of vocabulary (Ur, 1996)

Table 1 is to describe the major aspects of vocabulary that can be taught to students by Ur (1996) adapted in ELT Methodology II Course Book and Recommended Readings Those divisions of vocabulary by Ur cover all aspects presented by other scholars

Therefore, knowing a word does not just simply know its equivalent in one’s mother tongue but there are a lot of aspects to cover It is not easy for teachers to teach new words and provide as many aspects as possible Similarly, students also find that it is difficult to build up their own vocabulary with the sufficient perception of all aspects But after all, the important in learning vocabulary is not only learning its meaning, but also remembering it and then using it as well

I.2.4 How vocabulary is remembered

Following Schmitt and Schmitt (2010), there were two types of mental process relating to remember a word: dicovering the meaning of this new word; then using and memorising this one.Therefore, it should be noted that there is a distance from knowing a word to remembering a word

Then, it is essential in teaching vocabulary to know how it is learned If teachers do not know the process of storing words in learners’ mind, they will not be able to have positive impacts in need to help learners with words

Moreover, how vocabulary is learned and remembered are different but related because how word is learned has great influence on how it is remembered For example, a good presentation of a word will help learners remember it more easily and use it more effectively as words are put in visualized presentation and in contexts (Do, 2009)

For that all reasons above,not only students, every teacher should find out

an effective method to teach vocabulary and help student remember word better

Reinitz (2010) said that the goal of memory was to leave people with a coherent story of what happened Memorising was a very complex

psychological process It was a dynamic system, involving three interconnected memory stores ( Dr Drew Appleby from Indiana University)

to long-term memory Understanding the memorable process above, we all know that to remember things better, we need to bring them to long-term memory But how to do that? How to present information well is a great question that needs solving

In term of learning new words, the way to learn them is still being a challenging to both students and teachers We should find out a technique that can help us record not only the words but also the way we learned the word

I.3 An Overview of MM

I.3.1 Definitions of MM

MM is a powerful technique that expresses information in diagrams instead of writing it in sentences The diagram may use a lot of different colors, shapes, images, symbols, numbers or lines It often takes the same basic format

of a tree with a single starting point in the middle that branches out then divides again and again

The term MM was first introduced by British popular psychology author and television personality Tony Buzan in the lately 1960s Nowadays, it is used

by millions of people in all over the world- from the very young to the very old who wish to use their mind more effectively MM is suitable for all types of learners with different levels because there is no limit to the number of ideas, connections or thought made by learners In addition, MM can be drawn by hand, either by ―rough notes‖ during the lecture or even higher quality pictures when learner has enough time It is also considered to be a type of spider diagram or a similar concept in the 1970s was ―idea sun bursting‖

I.3.2 Classifications of MM

Trianto (2009) distinguished four kinds of MM, namely: (1) network tree, (2) event chain, (3) cycle concept map, and (4) spider concept map

I.3.2.1 Network tree

The network tree starts with one item – centre word that branches into two

or more, each of which branch into two or more, so on It looks like a tree, with trunk and multiple branches

Network tree is often used to divide big categories into smaller and smaller ones Using network tree help learners think step by step from generalities to specifics

Finger 2: Network Tree

I.3.2.2 Event chain

Figure 3: Event Chain

Event chain is visualization that shows the relationships between events and tasks and how the events affect each other

It can be used for giving an accident order, steps in a procedure, or steps in a process It is suitable for visualization (a) some steps in a process, (b) some steps

in a liner procedure, and (c) an accident order

I.3.2.3 Cycle concept map

Cycle concept map is a graphical tool for organizing and representing knowledge in a circles or boxes On the other hand, it is suitable to show a correlation how a combination is interacting to produce a group of result repeatedly which has no final result

Figure 4: Cycle Concept Map

I.3.2.4 Spider concept map

Spider diagrams organized in a neat and clearly structured layout are mainly used for planning (eg an article or story) or creating and provoking ideas The biggest advantage of using this structure is that you have to think about where you are going to position your ideas in relation to the central topic and the other ideas you are considering

Figure 5: Spider Concept Map

Again, there are many types of Mind Map Therefore, the choices of which to use and how to use need to be considered carefully by both teachers and learners It depends on the content of the language items to teach, the levels

of the students’ understandings and knowledge, the facility and preparation and such However, there is no doubt that MM is a helpful tool for organizing and learning things

I.3.3 Dominant of MM

For hundred years, linear note is traditional way used by people to write,

to copy, to learn about things It is still the most popular one until now However, when students want to learn about something, especially learn by heart, traditional linear note easily shows its disadvantages

First of all, it wastes more energy and time to write down an enormous amount of words, both main ideas and the detail ones However, not all this information is necessary for learners to learn or remember As a result, it is hard for them to read and review lessons and reader’s attention easily wanders, rather than focusing on the main ideas

Furthermore, while they are trying to copy one information, they may be missed other important ones For that reason, traditional linear note taking is only suitable for primary students who are starting learning to write For higher students, who are taught a large knowledge in one lesson, they have to learn how

to take note as fast as possible while listening to their teachers So linear notes are not the most effective one for them to copy information and review lessons

Last but not least, in this type of writing, the associations and connections between key words and ideas are hard to be seen because they are not clear enough Most sheets of papers are full of words They lack of color and other visual qualities that handicap remembering

Therefore, traditional linear notes is not the perfect way for all learners and has some disadvantages such as too long, too time consuming, or hard to remember and such

In contrast, MM can solve these problems above because of some its advantages

Firstly,MM lets learns start quickly and generates more ideas in less time

We don’t have to edit or order our thoughts; just start with a creative doodle in the center of our page and begin printing words on lines emanating from the center as we think of them By using MM, learners may save time and don’t need to worry about missing information Moreover, the free-ranging format that

is suitable for any kind of students— adding words to one branch one moment, skipping over to another branch the next — increases our chances of generating new ideas

Secondly, it allows students themselves to arrange a huge amount of information in a relatively small space They can have all their notes for a topic

on one piece of paper, with their ideas presented in a way that encourages them

to find out relationships between them MM lets students see connections among things clearly while traditional linear notes can’t

In addition, using MM can help us improve our memory Because three central ingredients of MM – colors, images and key words — are much more engaging to the brain than sentences A well-made MM is almost impossible to forget

Finally, MM helps us strengthen our analytical left brain by training you

to look for the most essential key words Normally, when we use traditional linear notes, we just use our right brain and waste the left one However, if we use MM, it stimulates the right brain by encouraging us to use colors and images

To sum up, MM Technique has more advantages than traditional ones as

it saves time, and it is suitable for more types of learners and improves our memory better

I.3.4 Using MM to teach vocabulary

As mentioned above, we need to use a technique that can help us remember thing better and MM Technique is itself showing that it is an essential one

First of all, MM organizes words in a logical way, which shows ideas or word relationships Normally, learners often start a topic at the center and then develop it following their own way, categorize ideas in different colors, shapes, and dimension This organization of making associations reflects the way our brains organize ideas The mind is highly organized and appears to store lexical items in semantic fields, so when we think of one idea or word, we automatically think of others which are associated with it Moreover, our brain can remember the process we learn that word After that, it is easier for us to memeorize or recall that word In addition, MM Techique uses a lot of colors, images, shapes, and dimension, which aids memory These visual aids help the brain sort the ideas or words into groups by giving each sub-group a different

sign to recognize Thanks to these visual aids and associations in this organization, recalling the loads of words is easier than in linear notes as usual

Second, MM is flexible and changeable It allows leanrners add more related words, ideas or subgroups that appear while we study a single word MM also encourges learners to develop their vocabulary by thinking of further possibility of connections because the basic technique is versatile Learners, of course, may use mind maps to store words of one topic in its relation to other word classes or word sets For example, if students know the word ―happy‖, they can make and understand at least 5 new but connected words by adding the prefixes and suffixes ―un-‖, ―-ily‖, ―-ness‖, ―-ier‖, or ―-iest‖ (Baker & Westrup, 2000)

Last but not least, MM develops itself which enhance one’s memory Indeed learners are definitely unique Each student creates a unique personality network because they themselves have thought of or grouped the words, and made the connections By proceeding with a specific MM task, monitoring one’s own performance, and evaluating learning and self as learner on task completion, learners remember more what they do Students’ mind maps should

be personalized so that they could reflect the unique networks and patterns of thought in their individual brains The more the learners do so, the better their brains will be able to identify with them

For all these significant reasons above, MM is believed a helpful tool in teaching and learning vocabulary

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the study aims to research questions related to vocabulary and MM Technique The first question is about the ways and difficulties that students have when they study vocabulary The second question is supposed to point out benefits of MM in enriching vocabulary knowledge In detail, the research uses three tools as a methodology to measure the effectiveness of MM

on learning vocabulary: observation, survey questionnaire and tests

II.1 Subject of the study

The participants in the thesis are students from K41A in English Language Teaching Education Class whose major is English Following the result received from questionnaires, the number of the years that each student has studied English is different Some of them have studied English for less than 5 years, others have studied for 5 years, 7 years, and some even have learnt English for more than 7 years

In the experiment, the participants were divided into two groups: Experiment group (EG) and the control group (CG) Each group included 24 students Both groups were taught by the same teacher and text book named PET B1.Therefore, they are suitable participants for this research The table below (Table 1) gives the general background information about the student’s gender, age, and English proficiency

Pre-B1 Pre-B1 Pre-B1

Table 2: Background information about the students of the research