Using mind mapping technique to improve vocabulary retention of first year students an action research project at military technical academy

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY RETENTION OF FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT MILITARY TECHNICAL ACADEMY (SỬ DỤNG BẢN ĐỒ TƯ DUY ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG GHI NHỚ TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI HỌC VIỆN KỸ THUẬT QUÂN SỰ) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY RETENTION OF FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT MILITARY TECHNICAL ACADEMY (SỬ DỤNG BẢN ĐỒ TƯ DUY ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG GHI NHỚ TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI HỌC VIỆN KỸ THUẬT QUÂN SỰ) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ Hanoi, 2016 Declaration I certify that I myself write this thesis entitled “Using mind-mapping technique to improve vocabulary retention of first-year students: An action research project at Military Technical Academy.” It is not a plagiarism or made by others Anything related to others’ works is written in quotation, the sources of which are listed on the list of references If then the pronouncement proves wrong, I am ready to accept any academic punishment, including the withdrawal or cancellation of my academic degree Signature i Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ whose reference materials, support, stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me in all stages of this research for and writing of this thesis Without his critical comments and valuable suggestions, this research could not have been completed I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all my teachers in Faculty of Post-Graduate studies, University of Languages and International Studies, National University, Hanoi for their lectures which enable me to gain a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge Furthermore, I want to thank my colleagues and students at Military Technical Academy who helped me carry out the investigation of the study Finally, I am really grateful to my family and my husband for their encouragement and support to my process of writing of the thesis ii Abstract Vocabulary is one of the most significant parts of English, and its learning in an efficient way gets the most attention by language learners In Vietnam, one of the most difficulties many students face is to learn, memorize and recall word meanings So, it should be taught in a way that learners will be capable of recalling them easily The purpose of this study was to bring mind-mapping technique to improve vocabulary retention of Vietnamese learners This study was based on action research, in which 32 students in the K51 Information class at Military Technical Academy were investigated Based on the purposes of the study, a pre-test and a post-test were used to investigate the effectiveness of mind-mapping on the student’s vocabulary retention Also, a survey questionnaire was designed to get the students’ attitudes about this technique in vocabulary learning and memorizing After the data were elaborately calculated and analyzed, it indicated that students were successful in improving vocabulary retention with the implementation of the treatment and they seemed to highly value this teaching technique iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv Lists of abbreviations vii List of tables and figures viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research question 1.4 Scope of the study .2 1.5 Significance of the study .3 1.6 Method of the study 1.7 Design of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Vocabulary and its importance 2.1.1 Vocabulary definition 2.1.2 The role of vocabulary in second language learning .6 2.2 Memorizing word meanings 2.2.1 Vocabulary retention .7 2.2.2 Types of memory .7 2.2.3 Strategies of teaching and learning vocabulary .8 2.3 Mind-mapping .10 2.3.1 Definition .10 2.3.2 Steps to create a mind map 11 2.3.3 The significance of mind-mapping in language classroom 12 iv 2.4 Related studies 13 2.4.1 Review of related studies worldwide .13 2.4.2 Review of related studies in Vietnam 14 2.4.3 Gaps in previous research on mind-mapping .15 2.5 Summary 15 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 The context of the study 16 3.1.1 Research setting .16 3.1.2 Teaching material 16 3.1.3 Research participants .17 3.2 Research methodology 17 3.2.1 Action research definition 17 3.2.2 Action research procedure 18 3.2.3 Data collection instrument .19 3.2.3.1 Pre-test and post-test 19 3.2.3.2 Survey questionnaire 20 3.2.4 Data collection procedure 20 3.2.5 Data analysis 22 3.3 Summary 22 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Quantitative description of results from the pre-test and post-test 24 4.1.1 The distribution of the test results 24 4.1.2 Descriptive statistics .26 4.2 Quantitative description of results from the questionnaire 26 4.2.1 Students’ attitudes towards mind mapping technique 27 4.2.2 The students’ self-evaluation on the effectiveness of the MM technique .28 v 4.3 Reliability analysis and correlations 30 4.3.1 Reliability analysis .30 4.3.2 Correlations 32 4.4 Summary 32 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 5.1 Conclusions .34 5.2 Limitations of the study 36 5.3 Suggestions 36 REFERENCES 38 APPENDICES I vi LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS MM: Mind-mapping MMs: Mind maps MTA: Military Technical Academy NEFE: New English File Elementary L1: First language L2: Second language vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Page Figure 1: Action research cycle 18 Table 1: Procedure of the research 21 Table 2: Score interval of the tests 24 Figure 2: Comparison between pre-test and post-test score 25 Table : The descriptive statistics of the two tests scores 26 Table 4: Students’ attitudes towards MM technique 27 Table 5: The students’ self-evaluation on the effectiveness of MM 28 technique Table : Reliability Statistics 30 Table 7: Item-Total Statistics 31 Table 8: Correlations 32 viii Appendix TEST RESULTS Case Pre-test Post-test Gain 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 60 50 30 45 30 45 40 45 30 35 45 25 20 30 85 60 45 50 80 45 35 40 45 75 25 45 90 25 55 45 75 30 70 60 50 55 30 50 70 45 30 70 70 40 50 70 90 85 65 75 90 80 65 70 45 95 60 65 95 45 75 60 85 50 10 10 20 10 30 0 35 25 15 30 40 25 20 25 10 35 30 30 20 35 20 20 20 15 10 20 XIV Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE Please answer the questionnaire by ticking (v) the column which reflects your opinion N0 Opinions I find it easy to use MM to recall learnt vocabulary Strongly Disagree Neutral disagree MM gives me more pleasure in learning E vocabulary I started to feel like learning new words by using MM technique MM is a creative technique for vocabulary learning It helps me to enhance my vocabulary knowledge considerably I can remember vocabulary items right at class thanks to MM It helps me to activate my prior knowledge and link to new items MM technique can help me memorize and recall the word meanings more easily for a longer time XV Agree Strongly agree Appendix 5: Item-Total Statistics Scale Mean if Scale Variance if Item Deleted Item Deleted Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 28.03 27.63 27.72 27.38 27.25 28.09 27.50 27.78 23.838 26.629 25.628 28.629 28.323 24.088 27.419 25.854 XVI Corrected ItemTotal Correlation 715 742 571 562 660 709 691 693 Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted 864 862 880 878 872 864 867 865 Appendix 6: Correlations Gain scores Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Pearson 496** 704** 467** 547** Gain Correlation score Sig (2-tailed) 004 000 007 001 N 32 32 32 32 32 Pearson 496** 599** 583** 532** Correlation Q1 Sig (2-tailed) 004 000 000 002 N 32 32 32 32 32 Pearson 704** 599** 424* 503** Correlation Q2 Sig (2-tailed) 000 000 016 003 N 32 32 32 32 32 Pearson 467** 583** 424* 460** Correlation Q3 Sig (2-tailed) 007 000 016 008 N 32 32 32 32 32 Pearson 547** 532** 503** 460** Correlation Q4 Sig (2-tailed) 001 002 003 008 N 32 32 32 32 32 Pearson 465** 559** 596** 471** 180 Correlation Q5 Sig (2-tailed) 007 001 000 006 325 N 32 32 32 32 32 Pearson 740** 533** 611** 337 453** Correlation Q6 Sig (2-tailed) 000 002 000 059 009 N 32 32 32 32 32 Pearson 480** 523** 579** 533** 374* Correlation Q7 Sig (2-tailed) 005 002 001 002 035 N 32 32 32 32 32 Pearson 726** 457** 621** 321 439* Correlation Q8 Sig (2-tailed) 000 009 000 073 012 N 32 32 32 32 32 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) XVII Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 465** 740** 480** 726** 007 32 000 32 005 32 000 32 559** 533** 523** 457** 001 32 002 32 002 32 009 32 596** 611** 579** 621** 000 32 471** 006 32 000 32 001 32 000 32 337 533** 321 059 32 073 32 002 32 180 453** 374* 439* 325 32 009 32 035 32 012 32 484** 834** 410* 32 484** 005 32 005 32 020 32 440* 896** 32 834** 440* 000 32 000 32 000 32 479** 32 006 32 410* 896** 479** 020 32 012 32 012 32 000 32 006 32 32 Appendix 7: Sample lesson plan File 6A: A house with a history Vocabulary: house and furniture Aims By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Grammar: - Know how to use the structure there is/ there are - Vocabulary: - Get familiar with vocabulary related to the topic “houses and furniture” - Pronunciation: Pronounce the letter /ð/ /eə/, sentence stress Time: 40’ Teaching aids: - Text-book, projector, chalk, lesson plan, laptop …… B Procedure: I Class organization: (1’) - Greet and check Ss’ attendance II New lesson: XVIII Students’ Contents Time Teacher’s activities Pre- -Ask some students to talk about where -Answer activities they live, for example it is a house or a lesson flat, kinds of house (one-floor house, two-floor house, apartment,) how many rooms, etc - Elicit Ss to guess the topic -Guess the topic of the lesson and lead to the lesson Whilelesson 15 -Introduce the topic -Divide the class into big groups Draw -Work in groups maps about rooms and furniture on the and complete board and ask Ss to close the book and the maps complete them -After a representative of each group -Write on the completes his (her) mind map on the board board, teacher will call students to give the recommendation of the maps A student in group A gives a recommendation for the map of group B, and a student in group B gives a recommendation for the map of group A At the end of this step, the teacher will give his recommendation to the maps of two groups -Give the suggested completed map by delivering the map prepared to Ss XIX -Elicit them to give their Vietnamese -Give meaning their meaning in Vietnamese - Help Ss practice pronouncing these - Pronounce words Do -Ask Ss to focus on the three anagrams - Work in pairs Tell Ss that they are three rooms in a flat exercise a or house Ss in pairs reorder the letters -Call some representatives to speak aloud -Speak aloud in front of the class -Check answers Model and drill pronunciation Do -Elecit from the class two items of - Name some furniture for each room, e.g: bath, items exercise b cooker, fridge, bed, etc Do Go to Vocabulary Bank flats and houses on page 151 exercise c For part 1: - Ask Ss work in pairs to match the words -Work in pairs and pictures in part -Check answers Model and drill pronunciation -Now give Ss mins to part 2a in -Work in pairs pairs -Check answers Model pronunciation XX and drill For part 2: - Get Ss to cover the words and use the picture to test themselves or each other with the words from and -Tell Ss to close their books In pairs they -Work in pairs should try to tell each other what they have in at least two rooms in their own house/flat Post -Ask students to summarize what they -Summarize lesson have leant Homewor -Suggest that Ss can practice these words k on the MultiROM and on the NEFE website XXI File 7A: What does your food say about you? Vocabulary: Food Aims By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Grammar: get to know more about countable- uncountable nouns and the rules for using a/an, some/any… - Vocabulary: Get familiar with vocabulary related to the topic “food and drink” and identify which type of food and drink is countable and which one is uncountable - Pronunciation: Pronounce the letter ae Time: 40’ Teaching aids: - Text-book, projector, chalk, lesson plan, laptop …… B Procedure: I Class organization: (1’) - Greet and check Ss’ attendance II New lesson: Contents Time Teacher’s activities Students’ activities Prelesson Call three students to some activities +Ask the 1st student: "What did you eat -Speaking for dinner yesterday? +Ask the 2ndSs to repeat what the 1stSs -Speaking XXII said and ask him/her the same question + Ask the 3rdSs to repeat what the 1st and -Speaking 2ndSs ate and ask him/her the same question - Elicit Ss to guess the topic of the lesson -Guess the topic and lead to the lesson of the lesson Whilelesson 15 -Introduce the topic: FOODS AND DRINKS - Divide the class into big groups Draw -Work in maps about foods and drinks on the groups and board and ask Ss to close the book and the task complete them -After that, a representative in each group - Write down would the task by completing the map the answer on on the board the board -Give the suggested completed map by delivering the map prepared to Ss -Elicit them to give their Vietnamese -Give meaning their meaning in Vietnamese - Help Ss practice pronouncing these -Practice words pronouncing these words Do -Ask Ss to focus on the picture Ask Ss - Look at the XXIII what they think Laura writes in her Food pictures exercise a and Diary (what she eats and drinks every answer day) and why (to try to control her diet or her weight) -Ask them to write the missing letters -Write the -Tell them that there is only one letter missing letters missing from each word and answer -Now check answers getting SS to tell the -Answer first letter for each word -Get Ss to check their answers by answering the questions: What did Laura have to eat and drink yesterday? Do exercise b -Ask Ss focus on the two columns -Look headings and explain the difference at the book +Countable words are used in the singular or plural and that they are things you can count(e.g a banana, two apples) +Uncountable nouns are used in the singular and that they are things you cannot count( e.g sugar, rice) -Ask Ss to work in pairs and find food and drink in the picture given One puts the words in task into countable nouns box, XXIV -Work in pairs others puts them into uncountable nouns box -Call some pairs to speak aloud in front of - Speak aloud the class Do -Vocabulary Bank Daily routine p147 exercise c -For a: - Get Ss focus on the groups of words and -Look at the the table, and the photos of food for book breakfast, lunch, dinner and desserts and snacks -Ask Ss to in pairs -Work in pairs and the task -Call some pairs to speak aloud in front of -Speak aloud the class -Check answers Model and drill pronunciation For b: -Get Ss to cover the words and use the picture to test themselves or each other Postlesson -Ask students to summarize what they -Summarize have leant XXV Home work -Write sentences about your favourite food/drinks using uncountable and countable nouns Suggest that Ss can practice these words on the MultiROM and on the NEFE website XXVI Appendix Mind map on rooms and furniture XXVII Appendix Mind map on food XXVIII ... titled ? ?Using mind- mapping technique to improve vocabulary retention of firstyear students: An action research project at Military Technical Academy? ?? Hopefully, this study may contribute to bettering... Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ Hanoi, 2016 Declaration I certify that I myself write this thesis entitled ? ?Using mind- mapping technique to improve vocabulary retention of first- year students: An action. .. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN USING MIND- MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY RETENTION OF FIRST- YEAR