The effects of mind mapping on the 6th graders’ vocabulary retention an action research project at thanh my junior high school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TRẦN THỊ VÂN NGA THE EFECTS OF MIND-MAPPING ON 6TH GRADERS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT THANH MY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng việc sử dụng đồ tư đến khả nhớ từ vựng học sinh lớp 6, trường THCS Thanh Mỹ) 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 ***************** TRẦN THỊ VÂN NGA THE EFECTS OF MIND-MAPPING ON 6TH GRADERS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT THANH MY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng việc sử dụng đồ tư đến khả nhớ từ vựng học sinh lớp 6, trường THCS Thanh Mỹ) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr NGUYỄN VĂN TRÀO HANOI - 2016 DECLARATION I hereby declare this thesis is the result of my own research and that the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or part, been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Hanoi, October 2016 Trần Thị vân Nga i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my special gratitude to my advisor, Mr.Nguyen Van Trao, Assoc.Prof.Dr for his patience in guiding and supervising me during the process of this thesis writing My special thanks go to my colleagues from Thanh My Junior high school for their cooperation and support during this study The writer would also like to express appreciation to the staff menbers and the teachers of post-graduate department of University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National University for giving me favourable to completing the thesis Finally I would like to dedicate my big appreciations to my family who have support me a lot during my study ii ABSTRACT The aims of this research are to find out the effects of mind-mapping on graders‟ vocabulary retention at Thanh My junior high school To limit the aspects to be analyzed in this study, I formulate two research questions: (1) To what extends does the use of mind-mapping affect the students‟ vocabulary retention? (2) What are the students‟ attitudes toward vocabulary learning? th In the study, I carried out an action research with the 6A1 students of Thanh My junior high school Data of this study were obtained from the results of questionnaires and from pre-test and post-test results Two instruments for collecting the data were (1) questionnaires toward vocabulary learning before and after applying the mind -mapping in teaching vocabulary and (2) the pretest and post- test The findings of the data analysis showed that (1) Mind-mapping can help the students to improve their abilities in memorizing English vocabulary items; (2) the students had positive attitudes toward the mind-mapping Mindmapping is hoped to be a promising technique to teach and learn vocabulary iii I.LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 1.Table 1: Research schedule 2.Table 2: Result of questionnaire Table 3: The causes of the problems encountered by the 6A1 class students 4.Table 4: The activities applied in the study 5.Table 5: Relationship between causes of the problems and the activities Result of questionnaire II LIST OF FIGURES Figure I: First step in creating mind-mapping: „drawing a central image‟ Figure II: Second step in creating mind mapping: „drawing main branches‟ Figure III:Third step in creating mind mapping: „drawing second branch‟ Figure IV: Environment diagram Figure V: Sports and games diagram Figure VI: Completing the mind-mapping diagram II LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Result of the pre-test Chart 2: Result of the post-test Chart 3: Comparison between the pre-test anhd the post-test iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKHNOWLEDGEMENTS ASTRACT LIST OF TABLE, FIGURES AND CHART PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMEMT Chapter I: Literature Review 1.1.Vocabulary 1.1.1.Vocabualry definition 1.1.2 The importance of the vocabulary 1.1.3.Kinds of vocabulary 1.1.4.Vocabulary teaching 1.1.5.Vocabulary retention 1.2 Mind-mapping 1.2.1.Definition of mind-mapping 1.2.2.Functions of mind-mapping 1.2.3.Characteristics of mind mapping 1.2.4 Procedures in making a mind-mapping 1.2.5.Steps to read a mind-mapping 1.2.6.The application of mind-mapping to teaching a foreign language 1.2.7.The use of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning 1.3.Previuos studies 1.3.1.Review of related studies worldwide 1.3.2.Review of related study in Viet Nam Chapter II: Methodology 2.1.Action research 2.2 Research procedures 2.3 Setting of the study 2.4.Participants v ii iii iv 1 2 3 4 4 10 11 11 12 12 12 13 14 18 18 19 21 21 21 22 23 2.5.Data collection instruments 2.6 Research procedures 2.6.1.Reconnaissance 2.6.2.Planning 2.6.3.Implememting the action 2.6.4.Reflection Chapter III Research findings 3.1.Initial data analysis 3.1.1.Data from questionnaire 3.1.2.Result of the pre-test 3.1.3.Identification of causes of the problems 3.2.Action plan 3.2.1 Determining the actions 3.2.2.Relationship between the causes of the problems and the action 3.2.3.The implememtation of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning 3.3.Post data 3.3.1 Result of questionnaire 3.3.Result of the post-test 3.4.Majors findings 3.5.Discussion PART C: CONCLUTION 1.Pedagogical implecations Limitations of the study Suggestions for further study Conclusion REFERENCE APPENDIXS vi 23 27 27 27 28 29 30 30 30 32 33 33 33 34 37 39 39 40 42 44 47 47 48 48 49 50 I PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale In terms of students‟ competences, the teaching of English at the sixth grade has the aim at developing the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing This means that the students are expected to practice these language skills through the activities given in the class In supporting the development of the four language skills, it is necessary to learn language components In the sixth grade classes, the language components include pronunciation, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary Vocabulary is one of the language components that play a significant part in the development of the language skills In the sixth grade, building up a useful vocabulary is important to the teaching of a foreign language (Cameron, 2001: 72) It shows that English materials for sixth grade students focus on enriching the students‟ vocabulary To have a good memorization on vocabulary, the students are expected to be able to use the language successfully and efficiently including using it to develop their language skills in class activities Nevertheless, learning English vocabulary is challenging for the sixth grade students at Thanh My Junior High School (TMJHS) After observing and conducting an interview at the school, the teacher found that there were two problems that involved the learning English vocabulary of the TMJHS Firstly, the students felt difficult to memorize and recall English vocabulary items including their pronunciation, their spelling and especially their meaning The students usually cannot remember the words for long and recall them when needed Secondly, the teaching technique was not very interesting and motivating The students got bored with the way of teaching the teacher used The teacher often asked the students to find the new words then he or she explained the meaning of the words After that the students had to write the list of the new words in their notebook and learn them by heart To learn English vocabulary, memorization is very important In mastering English vocabulary, the students not only need to learn a lot of English words but also to remember them (Thornbury, 2002: 23) Accordingly, low proficiency makes students find an obstacle in acquiring the language knowledge and taking part in class activities It is clear that they could not communicate well because they lack words they need One of the causes of the students‟ low vocabulary retention is likely their learning habits The ways they learn new words are various: such as writing down words on a piece of paper, learning words by heart, heavily depending on wordlists in textbook, passively waiting for teacher‟s explanation for new words These ways not seem to be effective and make them bored with learning vocabulary So as to memorize new items, students often use rote memorization techniques As some of the students said, they used to write down the words for several times, to speak aloud the words and to make sentences with words They admitted that they could not recall most of the words they had learnt before because there were no clues It can be seen that the students‟ bad memory is due to the lack of appropriate vocabulary learning technique They are not given different ways of learning vocabulary and are not encouraged to use them as a strategy of learning vocabulary Therefore, learning new words is not very enjoyable for the learners This study aims to help the students to be more successful in English vocabulary retention and to motivate them in learning words For this purpose, mindmapping is used as a technique to improve the students’ vocabulary retention and motivate them in learning vocabulary Aims of the study The aims of this study are to find the way to improve vocabulary retention of the 6A1 students of TMJHS and to motivate them in learning English vocabulary Research questions To obtain the stated aims, the following research questions are formulated: (1) To what extent does the use of mind-mapping affect the students‟ vocabulary retention? (2) What are the students‟ attitudes toward vocabulary learning? Scope of the Study In this study, the researcher uses one class and the research is done at the sixth grade of Thanh My junior high school The researcher hopes that the findings of this study will give benefits and contribution for some parties Firstly, for the English teachers, the results of the study can be applied for the betterment of the English teaching and learning process especially in presenting English vocabulary to the students The study will be considered as the first step to improve the effectiveness of the teaching learning process by using mind-mapping to introduce lesson materials at TMJHS Secondly, for the sixth grade of TMJHS students, they are expected to enjoy learning vocabulary with mind-mapping The use of mind-mapping as the technique in learning English vocabulary can be considered as an effective way of note-taking to SPORTS AND GAMES-FIGURE XXXIII SPORTS AND GAMES-FIGURE XXXIV SPORTS AND GAMES-FIGURE XXXV SPORTS AND GAMES-FIGURE XXXVI CITIES IN THE WORLD-MIND-MAPPING DIAGRAM XXXVII OUR HOUSE IN THE FUTURE-MIND-MAPPING DIAGRAM XXXVIII LESSON PLAN SAMPLE Planning Date: Planning Date: Unit 8: Sports and Games Period 62-Lesson 1: Getting started I Aims: - To help students to extend and practice vocabulary items related to the topic “sports and games” - To improve skill of reading: get the main details by answering the questions - To use some expressions in the conversation - Use the combinations: go, play, + N/Ving II Objective: By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to: - to know and practice vocabulary around topic “sports and games ” - to get main details of a conversation about sports and games III Way of works: individual, pairs, groups, whole class IV Material: book, posters, tape V Anticipated problem: SS can make mistakes with do, play, go VI Procedure: Teacher‟s activities A Warm up: - Greeting - Guides Ss to play - T asks Ss to play it Students‟ activities -Mind-mapping to brainstorm the topic of sports and games (Figure 1) -Ss answer B Presentation: Set the scene: Let‟s look at the picture, Duong and Mai are talking to each other Can you guess where they are? -Teach vocabulary by mind-mapping (Figure 2) + situation + pictures + examples * Checking by ROR (Figure 3) C Listen and read Vocabulary: * Check: ROR (mind-mapping) II Listen and read Prediction - Karate, table tennis 2.Listen and read: XXXIX + Ask: What sports does Duong at the Gym? + Plays the recording Ss listen and read the text + Have the Ss practice the dialogue in pair + Let Ss work in pair After that, Ss can share answers together b Answer the questions: Ss work in pairs *Key: Duong can play table tennis and karate Mai is (going to learn karate Because the modern equipment and the people are friendly Duong played with Duy and won (for the first time) At the karate club b Find these expressions: Wow: used to express surprise Congratulation: used to congratulate sb/ to tell sb that you are pleased about - Asks Ss to refer back to the their success conversation to find the phrases and great: used to showed admiration fill the information See you: used when you say goodbye c Making dialogue Revision vocabulary - Guide Ss to make the dialogue with a Exercise 2- Bingo the expression in pairs boxing Fishing Aerobics - Explain to the Ss how to play Bingo chess Table tennis Karate - Listen to the tape and play Bingo cycling Swimming 9.volleyball - Practice pronouncing the words 10 tennis 11 Skiing 12 running - Guides Ss to it: Let Ss the matching independently then pair- b Exercise 3-Labelling Use words in compare as the vocabulary is quite , name these sports and games : simple then T can check the answers *Key: XL - Aks Ss to repeat the words cycling table tennis running 4.swimming 5.chess -Let Ss have to read the sentences skiing carefully and decide which words is c Exercise 4-Matching: Put the verbs: the right one do, play, go - Play: chess, tables tennis, - Guide Ss to it - do: boxing, aerobics, karate - Go: fishing, cycling, swimming, running, skiing d Gap-filling: Put the verbs: do, play, go, watch and like do/ is watching/ goes likes/ played III Production: Exercise 6-Survey*Work in pairs: D Production: If Ss answer to the qs are mostly “ A” , you are sporty If Ss‟ answer to the qs are mostly “B”, you are sport and try to be more active -Learn by heart new words *Consolidate: vocabulary around topic -Prepare the next lesson: A closer look “sports and games”, main details of a -Do exercise A 1,2 in student‟s conversation about this workbook E Homework: XLI Planning Date: Teaching Date: Unit 8: Sports and Games Period 63-Lesson 2: A closer look I Aims - Helps students to + Use the lexical items, things for sports and games + Pronounce correctly the sounds / eə / and / iə / in insolation and in context + Listen for sound / eə / and / iə / II Objectives -By the end of the lesson Ss can + Extend the lexical items related to the topic “spots and games ” + Pronounce correctly the sounds / eə / and / iə / well III Material: Teaching plan, text book, tape, IV Ways of working; T, T- WC, Ss –Ss V Anticipated problem -Some poor Ss feel difficult in listening the sounds / eə / and / iə / VI Procedures: Teacher‟s activities Students‟ activities A Warm-up -*Revision: Mind- mapping -Greeting (Figure 2) -Asks Ss to revise around topic sport by mind mapping B Presentation Teach vocabulary by mind- mapping (Figure 4) + Pictures in activity Let Ss work in groups of 2-3 to label the pictures with the word in then let Ss listen the tape to check their answers * Checking by listening the tape C.PRACTICE - Ss listen and repeat the words in then label the pictures -Choose the word from the box for I Vocabulary: Figure II Practice listen and repeat Write the words under the picture XLII each description below.( activity 2) -Ask Ss to activity by explaining the content carefully to the Ss, T can take examples to illustrate: some words and nouns phrases go together - Let Ss work individual -T guides ss to play game: Ss work in groups of 4-5 and choose two words from the list and work out a description for each word The turns reading for each word then read aloud the description D PRACTICE -Ask Ss to activity by reminding that they focus on the two sounds and distinguish between them - Let Ss listen and repeat a bicycle /2 a ball/ sports shoes skis/ a boat/ a racquet a skateboard/ goggle Matching 1c 2.d a e g h 7.b f III Pronunciation / eə / and / iə/ Listen and repeat Read words and say them aloud Which one has / eə / and / iə / A/ C/ B/ A/ B/ A -T plays the record and asks Ss to listen and write the correct column (activity 3.Listenthen choose the right words 6) fair hear idea square nearly cheered *Consolidation: + Use the lexical items related to the topic “ sports and games” - Learn by heart the vocabulary + Pronounce correctly the sound / eə / - Practice the phonetic and / iə / - Prepare A closer look E Homework XLIII Planning Date: Teaching Date: UNIT 8: Sports and Games Period 65-Lesson4: Communication I Aims - Helps students to + use the sports and game language + apply the knowledge what they have learned II Objectives -By the end of the lesson Ss can +ask appropriate questions about sports and games + talk about people, activities, subjects of sports and games III Material: Teaching plan, text book IV Ways of working; T, T- WC, Ss –Ss V Anticipated problem -Some Ss forget new words VI Procedures: Teacher’s activities Students’ activities A Warmer * Revision: Mind mapping (Figure 4) - Greeting - Correct them B Presentation - Sets the scence by using I Game: Sports quiz pictures Vocabulary - Asks Ss to guess Then give the (Figure 6) meaning Using mind mapping * Check : Vocabulary matching-ROR (Figure 6) * Sets the scene: by picture: -Asks some Qs * answer the qs ? What can you see the picture? ? What the represent for the interlocked rings? … C Practice II Practice - Guides Ss to read and tick the qs Play game.( p21) How many players are there in a XLIV - Ask Ss to exercise - Corrects them      sports / games … in free time … at school … on TV ….famous sportsman football? How long does a football match last? 10 How often is the Olympic Game held? 11 Were there Olympic Games in 2011? 12 How long is a marathon? 13 Where were the first Olympic Games held? 14 Which sport happens in a ring?  Key: There are 22 It normally lasts 90 minutes 10 They are held years 11 No there weren‟t They held in 2004, 2008, 2012 12 A marathon is 42.195 kilometers long 13 They were held in Olympic( in Ancient Greece) (in 776 BC) 14 Boxing does - Work individually - Then discuss in group Interview - Answer the qs * Work in pairs Take turns to interview the other using the qs part (p 21) D Production - Ask Ss to present to the class III Production - talk freely about their sport and games - Draw a picture of a sportsman or woman who Corrects them * Consolidation: sports and games you like Use the following cues: E Homework - Read the vocabulary again - Prepare: skill1 - Do exercise 5, 6, 7( p 12) XLV Planning Date: Teaching Date: Unit 8: Sports and Games Period 66-Lesson 5: Skills I Aims - Helps students to develop reading skill and speaking skill by: + Reading about Pelé, The King of football + Speaking about sports and games II Objectives -By the end of the lesson Ss can III Material: Teaching plan, text book IV Ways of working; T, T- WC, Ss –Ss V Anticipated problem: pronunciation SS don‟t know more about Pelé VI Procedure: Teacher‟s activities Students‟ activities Revision: Mind-mapping A WARMER - Greeting B PRESENTATION * Sets the scene ( pictures) - Look at the picture to answer - Asks students some questions to lead into the topic - Who is this? - What is special about him? Vocabulary …… - regard(v) coi - Teaches vocabulary by mind - professional (adj) chuyên nghiệp mapping (figure 7) - career (n) : nghề nghiệp + Situation - well- known( adj) : tiếng - Checking vocabulary by: * Check: “What and Where” “What and Where” - Aks Ss to discuss these qs * Discuss the qs: work in groups Do you know Pele, The King of football? What is special about him? Where does he come from? What other things you know about him? XLVI C READING II READING Read and check their ideas - Asks students to read three Read answer the qs ( pairs work) passages quickly and check their He was born on 21st October 1940 ideas People called him “ The King of football” He became Football Player of the Century - Asks students to work in pairs in 1999 He scored 1,281 goals in total Yes he is - Calls student to check Speaking Sports/ games always usually sometimes never - Correct them jogging - Allows Ss time to read the 2.swimming table and tick the right badmiton fotball column 5.morning exercise skipping chess cycling 9.skateboarding 10 skiing - Correct them D PRODUCTION - Guides Ss to it - Calls student to present - Correct them * Consolidation: All of them E HOMEWORK III PRODUCTION * Speaking: - Work in groups ( exercise 5) ? What kinds of sports / games you liked most? ? Why? *- Work in pairs( exercise 6) - Learn by heart vocabulary - Do exercise C, D in student‟s workbook - Prepare Skill XLVII ... retention? (2) What are the students‟ attitudes toward vocabulary learning? Scope of the Study In this study, the researcher uses one class and the research is done at the sixth grade of Thanh My junior. .. the researcher applied the suitable solution to solve the problem, carried out the action in the class, and finally, analyzed the effects of mind- mapping on the students‟ vocabulary retention The. .. 3.1.1.Data from questionnaire 3.1.2.Result of the pre-test 3.1.3.Identification of causes of the problems 3.2 .Action plan 3.2.1 Determining the actions 3.2.2.Relationship between the causes of the