Using mind mapping in pre writing activities to improve university efl learners’ writing performance

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRẦN THỊ THANH ĐÀO USING MIND MAPPING IN PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE UNIVERSITY EFL LEARNERS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghệ An, 8-2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRẦN THỊ THANH ĐÀO USING MIND MAPPING IN PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE UNIVERSITY EFL LEARNERS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 8.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Trần Bá Tiến, Ph.D Nghệ An, 8-2018 Abstract The mind mapping has great potential in providing learners an enjoyable writing In providing a bridge for students to cross over into developing language skills, mind mapping can help to elevate the confidence level of students so that they may employ and develop their own writing skills This study examines the potential effect of mind mapping in pre-writing activities on developing university EFL learners’ writing performance Data for analysis were collected from 20 students of control group were taught by the conventional teaching method and 20 students were taught by mind mapping strategy in the experimental group The results indicated that the learners, who were taught through mind mapping, improved their writing performance The findings also show that students had positive attitudes on the benefits of mind mapping in pre-writing activities i Acknowledgements This thesis would have not been completed without the guidance, encouragement, suggestions and assistance from many members First and foremost, I would like to send my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr Tran Ba Tien, who has supported me and guided me through the thesis Next, I would like to express my special thanks to my beloved colleagues who gave me the valuable ideas for the thesis I would like to send my thanks to my students, who accompanied with me during the thesis Last but not least, I would like to send my special thanks to my family who have helped me a lot and encouraged me to complete my thesis ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Acknowledgements ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of abbreviation List of tables Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 1.3 Aims of the study Research questions 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 The organization of the thesis Chapter 10 LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 Writing skill 10 2.2 A historical review of composition teaching methods 11 2.2.1 Teaching writing according to the Grammar Translation Method 11 2.2.2 Teaching writing according to Audiolingual Method 15 2.2.3 Teaching writing according to Communicative Language Teaching 18 2.3 Stages of writing process 21 2.4 Pre-writing 24 2.4.1 Definition 24 2.4.2 The importance of pre-writing 25 2.5 Mind mapping 27 2.5.1 Definition 27 2.5.2 The seven steps in making a mind map 28 2.5.3 Types of mind mapping 29 2.5.4 The advantages of using mind mapping 30 2.6 Relevant studies 32 Chapter 37 METHODOLOGY 37 3.1 Research setting 37 3.2 Participants of the study 39 3.3 Research design 40 3.4 Research instruments 41 3.4.1 The questionnaire 41 3.4.2 The pretest and the posttest 42 3.5 Scoring scheme 43 3.6 Data collection 44 3.7 Data analysis 44 Chapter 45 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 45 4.1 Analysis of students’ questionnaires 45 4.1.1.Students’ attitudes towards pre-writing activities 45 4.1.2.Students’ perception of the benefits of Mind mapping 48 4.2 Compare the results of pretest and posttest 53 4.3 Discussion 55 Chapter 58 CONCLUSION 58 5.1 Conclusion 58 5.2 Limitations of the study 59 5.3 Recommendations for further research 59 REFERENCES 60 APPENDIX A 65 PRE-WRITING TEST 65 APPENDIX B 66 POST-WRITING TEST 66 APPENDIX C 67 SCORING SCHEME FOR GRADING PRETEST AND POSTTEST 67 APPENDIX D 69 LESSON PLAN 69 APPENDIX E: THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 71 QUESTIONNAIRE 71 APPENDIX F: THE VIETNAMESE VERSION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 75 APPENDIX G: THE MARKS OF PRETEST AND POSTTEST OF CONTROL CLASS 79 APPENDIX H: THE MARKS OF PRETEST AND POSTTEST OF EXPERIMENTAL CLASS 80 List of abbreviation ALM Audiolingual Method CLT Communicative Language Teaching EFL English as a Foreign Language FFL Faculty of Foreign Languages GTM Grammar Translation Method LAU Long An University of Economics and Industry List of tables Table 3.1: A summary of the participants Table 3.2: A summary of the questionnaire Table 3.3: Content of the scoring scheme Table 4.1: Results of the role of pre-writing activities Table 4.2: Results of the way to participate in pre-writing activities Table 4.3: Results of the comments on the pre-writing activities the teachers have used Table 4.4: Results of the feeling when carrying out using mind mapping in the prewriting activities given by the teachers in writing lesson Table 4.5: Results of the benefits of Mind mapping Table 4.6: Results of the benefits of Mind mapping in question number 6, 7, 11 and 12 Table 4.7: Results of the benefits of Mind mapping in question number Table 4.8: Results of the benefits of Mind mapping in question number and 10 Table 4.9: Independent Sample Test of the pretest between control group and experimental group Table 4.10: Independent Samples Test of the posttest between control group and experimental group Table 4.11: Descriptive Statistics of the pretest and posttest in control group Table 4.12: Descriptive Statistics of the pretest and posttest in experimental group Chapter INTRODUCTION In chapter 1, the researcher will present the rationale and the purpose for conducting this study Two research questions and the significance of the study as well as a brief description of methods and organizations of the study will also be introduced in this chapter 1.1 Rationale Teaching and learning writing skills play an important role in the process of language teaching and learning Good writing skills are essential for effective communication The better you write, the more easily readers will understand you It is true that writing is an essential skill in learning English as a foreign language In this regard, White (1994) states that writing is used to examine a student’s performance in English Rao (2007) also believes that writing helps to motivate students’ thinking, organize ideas, and develop their ability to summarize, analyze and criticize as well as strengthening students’ learning, thinking and reflecting on the English language Moreover, writing in English is a task that is often required in the university Most academic courses in English universities use essays or other written tasks to assess students’ work (Bailey, 2006) Therefore, having good writing English skills are important for a positive passing of university assignments Writing is one of the skills that should be mastered to communicate in written form but at Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL), Long An University of Economics and Industry (LAU) students tend to consider that writing is the most difficult skill Most students are less proficient in and they not know how to accomplish the written tasks in satisfactory ways Students especially first-year students face many difficulties when they write One of the major difficulties that they face in writing is essentially lack of necessary ideas to write convincingly till the end Thus, they APPENDIX B POST-WRITING TEST Name: ………………………………………… Student’s code number: ………………………………… Class: ………………………………………… Write a paragraph (at least 100 words) describing your teacher who you are impressed best …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… 66 APPENDIX C Category SCORING SCHEME FOR GRADING PRETEST AND POSTTEST 10 - Describe a -Describe a -Doesn’t describe -Doesn’t person and person but may a person or may describe a include facts not include both not include facts person and may about the person facts and the and opinions not include as well as her or person’s opinions facts and his opinions opinions - Clear, specific - Mostly clear - Limited or - Limited and and varied and specific repeated repeated vocabularies are vocabularies are vocabularies are vocabularies used, and used used, one or two used, or there are are used, there correctly words may be too many are too many throughout used incorrectly mistakes to mistakes to understand the understand the ideas ideas Content - Subjects and - Subjects and - Many subjects - Most subjects verbs agree, and verbs mostly and verbs and verbs singular and agree, and agreement agreement plural nouns are singular and mistakes and mistakes and correct plural nouns are singular and singular and mostly correct plural noun plural noun mistakes Many mistakes Most grammar grammar mistakes make it mistakes make difficult for the it difficult for 67 Score Organization reader to the reader to understand the understand the ideas ideas - Most words are - Paragraph may - Many - Many spelled correctly, include some distracting distracting punctuation is spelling and/or spelling or spelling and correct punctuation punctuation punctuation mistakes mistakes mistakes -Include a topic -Include a topic -Topic sentence -Doesn’t have a sentence, sentence, but one is unclear, topic sentence introduce facts or two ideas in incomplete or and ordering of then opinions, the paragraph absent, and ideas is unclear and all sentences may not connect ordering of ideas throughout relate to the topic to it Ordering of is unclear sentence throughout some ideas may not be clear - Paragraph form - Paragraph form - Correct - Correct is followed is mostly paragraph form paragraph form followed is not followed is not followed Total score 68 …./20 APPENDIX D LESSON PLAN Lesson: Unit 1: Academic Life Around the World Time: 45 minutes Prescribed Learning Outcome: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to write a descriptive paragraph about a classmate Instructional Objective: The students will be able to distinguish fact and opinion, learn about topic sentences, use “and, but, so, also” to connect ideas and add information Prerequisite Concepts and Skills: The students reviewed verb forms of present simple Lesson Activities: Teacher Activities Student Activities Time - 5’ Introduce the lesson: Academic life around the world - Introduce and guide how to use mind map to - Do students activities - Introduce part 1: Before you write that the + exploring ideas: writing interview questions and teacher interviewing someone asks - 10’ + building vocabulary: make a list new words - 5’ + organizing ideas: distinguishing fact and - 5’ opinion +writing topic sentences: study functions and 69 - 5’ characteristics of a topic sentence - 10’ Introduce part 2: Developing writing skills: developing cohesion and clarity - 5’ Introduce part 3: Revising and Editing: Revising for content and editing for form and - Do evaluating your writing activities that the teacher asks - Do activities that the teacher asks 70 APPENDIX E: THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE QUESTIONNAIRE The questionnaire is delivered to you for the purpose of collecting data for the study entitled “ Using mind mapping in pre-writing activities to improve university EFL learners’ writing performance” Your responses are definitely critical to the success of this study The data collected will be used for research purposes only Thank you very much for your cooperation I Personal information Name: …………………………………………… Age: ……………………………………………… Gender: II Male Female Questionnaire Please circle your choice in the following questions Question 1: How you find the role of pre- writing activities in a writing lesson? A: very important B: important C: somewhat important D: not important Question 2: Which way you prefer to participate in pre-writing activities? A work individual B work in pairs C work in groups of three or four D work in groups of five or six 71 Question 3: What are your comments on the pre-writing activities your teachers have used? A boring B unsuitable for students’ needs C unable to motivate students D interesting Question 4: How you feel when carrying out using mind mapping in the pre-writing activities given by your teachers in writing lessons? A confident B motivated and interested C unsuitable for students’ needs D bored Question 5: Mind mapping was easy to learn A strongly agree B agree C disagree D strongly disagree Question 6: Mind mapping enhanced creativity A strongly agree B agree C disagree D strongly disagree Question 7: Mind mapping was a useful learning strategy 72 A strongly agree B agree C disagree D strongly disagree Question 8: Mind mapping helped you put your ideas in some type of order A strongly agree B agree C disagree D strongly disagree Question 9: Mind mapping helped you make the writing tasks easier to carry out A strongly agree B agree C disagree D strongly disagree Question 10: Mind mapping helped you have interest in learning writing sections A strongly agree B agree C disagree D strongly disagree Question 11: Mind mapping helped you improve your writing skills A strongly agree B agree 73 C disagree D strongly disagree Question 12: When using mind mapping, you had sufficient time to complete the activity A strongly agree B agree C disagree D strongly disagree Thanks for your help 74 APPENDIX F: THE VIETNAMESE VERSION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE BẢNG CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT Bảng câu hỏi phát cho bạn nhằm mục đích thu thập liệu cho nghiên cứu có tiêu đề “ Khảo sát việc sử dụng đồ tư hoạt động trước viết sinh viên đại học để nâng cao kỹ viết ” Tôi cam đoan câu hỏi sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu Xin chân thành cảm ơn bạn I Thông tin cá nhân Tên: …………………………………………… Tuổi: ……………………………………………… Giới tính: II Nam Nữ Bảng khảo sát Vui lòng khoanh tròn câu trả lời bạn câu hỏi bên Câu 1: Bạn cảm thấy vai trò hoạt động trước viết? A: quan trọng B: quan trọng C: quan trọng chút D: khơng quan trọng hết Câu 2: Bạn thích tham gia vào hoạt động trước viết hình thức nào? A cá nhân B theo cặp C theo nhóm người người D theo nhóm người người 75 Câu 3: Nhận xét bạn hoạt động trước viết mà giáo viên sử dụng gì? A chán B khơng phù hợp C khơng thể tạo động lực cho sinh viên D thú vị Question 4: Bạn cảm thấy sử dụng đồ tư hoạt động trước viết mà giáo viên đưa ra? A tự tin B tạo động lực học tập thú vị C không phù hợp D chán Question 5: Bản đồ tư dễ học A hoàn toàn đồng ý B đồng ý C khơng đồng ý D hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Question 6: Bản đồ tư thúc đẩy sáng tạo A hoàn toàn đồng ý B đồng ý C khơng đồng ý D hồn tồn không đồng ý Question 7: Bản đồ tư cách học hữu ích 76 A hồn tồn đồng ý B đồng ý C khơng đồng ý D hồn tồn không đồng ý Question 8: Bản đồ tư giúp bạn xếp ý theo trật tự A hoàn tồn đồng ý B đồng ý C khơng đồng ý D hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Question 9: Bản đồ tư giúp bạn viết dễ A hoàn toàn đồng ý B đồng ý C không đồng ý D hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Question 10: Bản đồ tư giúp bạn thích học viết A hồn tồn đồng ý B đồng ý C không đồng ý D hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Question 11: Bản đồ tư giúp bạn cải thiện kỹ viết A hoàn tồn đồng ý B đồng ý 77 C khơng đồng ý D hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Question 12: Khi sử dụng đồ tư duy, bạn có đủ thời gian để hoàn thành viết A hoàn toàn đồng ý B đồng ý C khơng đồng ý D hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Cảm ơn giúp đỡ bạn 78 APPENDIX G: THE MARKS OF PRETEST AND POSTTEST OF CONTROL CLASS Class Control N0 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Marks of pretest 13 13 14 15 13 13 14 15 13 13 14 14 13 14 13 14 13 14 13 14 79 Marks of posttest 14 15 15 16 15 15 15 16 14 14 15 15 14 15 14 15 15 15 14 15 APPENDIX H: THE MARKS OF PRETEST AND POSTTEST OF EXPERIMENTAL CLASS Group Experimental N0 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Marks of pretest 14 14 14 15 14 13 14 15 14 13 14 14 14 14 13 14 13 14 15 14 80 Marks of posttest 17 18 17 18 17 17 18 18 18 16 18 18 19 17 17 17 18 18 19 18 ... are students’ attitudes towards using mind mapping in pre- writing activities on students’ writing performance? What is the impact of using mind mapping in pre- writing activities on the contents... way to determine the efficacy of mind mapping technique in pre- writing activities In order to collect factual information about students’ attitude towards using mind mapping in pre- writing activities, ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRẦN THỊ THANH ĐÀO USING MIND MAPPING IN PRE- WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE UNIVERSITY EFL LEARNERS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE Major: Teaching English