Tài liệu A study on using mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students at hung vuong high quality school

HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE BUI NGOC ANH A STUDY ON USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO GRADE 1OTH STUDENTS AT HUNG VUONG HIGH QUALITY SCHOOL B.A. GRADUATION PAPER Field: English Teaching Methodology Phu Tho, 2020 HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE BUI NGOC ANH A STUDY ON USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO GRADE 1OTH STUDENTS AT HUNG VUONG HIGH QUALITY SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng sơ đồ tư duy trong dạy từ vựng cho học sinh khối lớp 10 trường Phổ thông Chất lượng cao Hùng Vương) B.A. GRADUATION PAPER Field: English Teaching Methodology Supervisor: Vu Thi Quynh Dung, M.A Phu Tho, 2020 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis could not have completed without the help, encouragement and support of a number of people who all deserve my sincere gratitude and appreciation. First of formost, I would like to express my deeper gratitude to my supervisor – Ms. Vu Thi Quynh Dung for the valuable guidance and encouragement. She greatly inspired me to work on this paper. My graduation paper cannot come to end without her effort to read it again and again to find out the problems and support me in all stages of the research and writing this study. I am also very grateful to some English teacher at Hung Vuong High Quality School, who has been wiling to answer my questions and have given me valuable advices and suggestions on the research “A study on using mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students in at Hung Vuong High Quality School” and on the completionof my research. I owe sincere and earnest thankfulness to all the students of the classes 10B of Hung Vuong High Quality School, who have been the enthusiastic participants in my study. They provide me valuable information by completing the conveying as well as answering survey questionnaires and doing tests. Without them, my action research could not been completed and successful. In the end, I would like to show my big gratitude to my family and friends, who have constantly inspired and courage me to overcome difficulties to complete this study. Finally, a special word of thanks goes to my readers for their interests and comments on this study. Thanks for all! ii ABSTRACT Based on the assumption that the more teachers know about brain science, the better prepared they will be to make instructional decisions. Mind Map is a powerful tool to learn vocabulary. Language is an important device and a very beneficial means for human being to communicate with other people. In order to communicate fluently, learners must have a large vocabulary stock. This study objective is to test the feasibility of using Mind mapping technique to grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School. The researcher carried out the experiment by teaching English and gives two tests for students. The experiment phase continued for 3 weeks. The participants of this study were 21 students at class 10B. Prior to experiment, participants of class 10B were given a pre-test in order to test their vocabulary stock. Having introduced the mind mapping technique to members of class 10B (21 students) and finished the experiment period, a post-test was administered to measure the effect of the intervention for students. The data were gathered through pre-test and post-test. The comparison between the pre-test and post-test scores reveals a significant difference in vocabulary test. The results indicated that the students after experiment have higher scores. The results manifested that the mind map is effective to use in teaching vocabulary in class 10B of Hung Vuong High Quality School. iii TABLE OF CONTENT PART 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 1. Rationale of the study........................................................................................ 1 2. Previous studies ................................................................................................. 2 3. Research purposes ............................................................................................. 6 4. Research questions ............................................................................................ 6 5. Research method ............................................................................................... 6 6. Significance of the research .............................................................................. 7 7. Research scope .................................................................................................. 7 8. Research design ................................................................................................. 8 PART 2: CONTENT ............................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .............................................. 9 1.1. An overview about Vocabulary ..................................................................... 9 1.1.1. Definition of vocabulary ............................................................................. 9 1.1.2.Aspects of vocabulary ................................................................................ 10 1.1.3.Techniques used in teaching vocabulary ................................................... 12 1.2.An overview of Mind Mapping technique .................................................... 14 1.2.1. Definition of mind mapping technique ..................................................... 14 1.2.2. Classifications of mind map ...................................................................... 15 1.2.3. Parts of mind map ..................................................................................... 17 1.2.4. Steps for making mind mapping technique .............................................. 19 1.3. Relationship between Mind Mapping technique and vocabulary teaching. 21 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................... 22 2.1. Setting of the study....................................................................................... 22 2.2. Subject of the study ...................................................................................... 22 2.3. Participants of the study ............................................................................... 22 2.3.1. Students ..................................................................................................... 22 2.3.2. Teachers .................................................................................................... 23 2.4. The current textbook English 10 .................................................................. 23 iv 2.5. Data collection instruments .......................................................................... 23 2.5.1. Survey questionnaires ............................................................................... 24 2.5.2. Tests .......................................................................................................... 25 2.5.3. Classroom observations ............................................................................ 26 2.6. Research procedure ...................................................................................... 28 2.7. Data analysis…………………………………………...…………………..30 CHAPTER 3: CURRENT SITUATIONS .......................................................... 30 3.1. Data analysis of the result from survey questionnaire before experiment... 30 3.1.1. Current situation of students’ learning vocabulary ................................... 30 3.1.2. Students’ frequency of learning vocabulary ............................................. 31 3.1.3. Students’ methods in learningvocabulary ................................................. 31 3.1.4. Problems the students encountered when learning vocabulary ................ 32 3.1.5. Students’ techniques used in learning vocabulary .................................... 32 3.1.6. Students’ perception in learning vocabulary by using Mind mapping technique ............................................................................................................. 33 3.2. Data analysis of the result from classroom observations ............................. 34 3.3. Data analysis of the result from pre-test ...................................................... 36 3.4. Discussion .................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 38 4.1. Mind map application in teaching vocabulary (Experiment) ...................... 38 4.1.1. The first week of experiment (from March 23th to March 29th, 2020) ... 38 4.1.2. The second week of the experiment (from May 4th to May 10th, 2020) . 38 4.1.3. In the third week of the experiment (from May 11th to May 17th, 2020) 39 4.1.4. In the fourth week of the experiment (from May 18th to May 24th, 2020) ............................................................................................................................. 39 4.2. Data analysis of the result from survey questionnaire after experiment…..42 4.2.1. Students' attitude toward learning vocabulary with mind maps…………42 4.2.2. Effectiveness of using mind maps in vocabulary teaching and learning...43 v 4.2.3. Challenges in learning vocabulary with mind maps……………………..44 4.2.4. Students' opinions about using mind maps in teaching and learing vocabulary…………………………………………………………...…………45 4.3. The results of post-test ................................................................................. 42 4.4. Comparison of the pre-test and post-test ..................................................... 44 4.5. Evaluation..................................................................................................... 46 PART 3: CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 47 1. Summary and conclusion ................................................................................ 47 2. Implications ..................................................................................................... 48 2.1. For teachers .................................................................................................. 48 2.2. For students .................................................................................................. 48 3. Recommendation............................................................................................. 48 4. Limitations of the study .................................................................................. 49 5. Suggestion for further researches .................................................................... 50 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 51 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Major aspects of vocabulary .............................................................. 10 Table 3.1: Students’ methods in learning vocabulary ......................................... 31 Table 3.2: Problems the students encoutered when learning vocabulary ........... 32 Table 3.3: Students’ opinions about the benefits of using Mind mapping technique in learning vocabulary ......................................................................................... 33 Table 3.4: The result of classroom observation .................................................. 35 Table 3.5: Number of test in score level according to pre-test results................ 36 Table 4.1: Benefits of using mind maps in learning vocabulary……...……..…44 Table 4.2: Students' opinion about using mind maps in teaching and learning vocabulary………………………………………………………………...……45 Table 4.3: Number of tests in score levels according to post-test results ........... 46 Table 4.4: Number of tests in score levels according to pre-test and post-test result………………………………………………… .................. ……………..47 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Network tree ..................................................................................... 16 Figure 1.2: Event chain ....................................................................................... 16 Figure 1.3: Cycle concept map............................................................................ 17 Figure 1.4: Spider concept map .......................................................................... 17 Figure 3.1: Students’ perception towards the important of vocabulary .............. 30 Figure 3.2: Students’ frequency of learning vocabulary ..................................... 31 Figure 3.3: Students’ techniques used in learning vocabulary ........................... 32 Figure 3.4: Students’ perception about Mind mapping technique ...................... 33 Figure 3.5: Skills that students use Mind mapping technique ............................ 34 in learning vocabulary ......................................................................................... 34 Figure 3.6: The percentage of score levels according to pre-test results ............ 36 Figure 4.1: Students' interest toward learning vocabulary with mind maps…...43 Figure 4.2: Students' opinions about the effectiveness of using mind maps in teaching and learning vocabulary………………………………...…………….44 Figure 4.3: Challenges in learning vocabulary with mind maps…………….....45 Figure 4.4: Number of tests in score levels according to post-test results ......... 43 Figure 4.5: The percentage of score levels according to pre-test and post-test results. ................................................................................................... 45 1 PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Nowadays, in the Industrial Revolution 4.0, English has become more and more dominant around the world. English helps students gain success in every subject at school. By learning English, students are expected to be acquainted with themselves, their culture and other culture. No one can deny the importance of English, which is a global language in the modern social and one of the main ways to communicate and interact with other people around us. It may not be the most spoken language in the world, but it is the official language of 53 countries and spoken by around 400 million people across the globe. In order to keep pace with the development of society, we are demanded to master in English because it is a key to open the door for scientific and technical knowledge which is need for many fields. English is also essential to the field of education in Vietnam. It has been considered as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of all states school and learnt by Vietnamese people as a mean of communication. Apart from four skills and some components, vocabulary is one of the most crucial ones in language learning. It is an essential part of the English, which is important for communication, reading, speaking, listening and writing. Wilkin (1972) states that “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. Or according to Mohammadi & Shakouri, “Without knowledge of words, understanding sentences or passages is not possible” (2016, p.1166). Vocabulary is one of the most important aspects in mastering English because the ability of the students to read or comprehend the subject is relatively determined by their vocabulary. In this case, we must emphasize that vocabulary plays a key role not only in reading but also in speaking, writing, and listening. English vocabulary constitutes a challenge for English foreign language teaching and learning. Most students spend a lot of time studying English vocabulary, but the result is often frustrating and unsatisfactory when so many 2 students learn vocabulary by rote memorization, which is boring and dampens students’ enthusiasm for learning. Besides, the teaching method plays a crucial role in helping students retain vocabulary. Therefore, it is desirable to find an effective tool to help students learn English vocabulary. One strategy can be used is mind mapping. It is a thinking tool that, based on divergent thinking, builds up a structure of knowledge for each target word by associating it with other related words or concepts. Thus, recalling of one vocabulary word will prompt the other related items. It also incorporates words, pictures, color, images and graphics, making learning information a vividly visual format. Mind maps and diagrams allow students to clarify their thoughts by categorizing and grouping related ideas as Thornbury (2002) says, “Acquiring a vocabulary requires not only labeling but categorizing skills”. With mind maps, each new piece of word students put into their head automatically “hooks on to” all the vocabulary already in there. The more these grappling hooks, the easier learners hook out the vocabulary they need. The mind mapping technique can help present vocabularies learned and to be learnt in a logical and related matrix. Thus, the study entitled “A study on using mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students in at Hung Vuong High Quality School” is conducted as an attempt to enhance vocabulary teaching and learning. Hopefully, this reasearch could make a call pay due attention to the vocabulary learming of Hung Vuong High Quality school’s students. 2. Previous studies 2.1. In the world Riswanto and Puta (2012) in “The use of mind mapping strategy in the teaching of writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia” conducted research in Indonesia on the appropriateness of the mind mapping strategy while providing training in writing. The pretest and posttest disparate groups were designed by the researchers. The study was carried out in the town of Bengkulu and 234 students of the first year of SMAN 3 were the population of the study during the academic 3 year of 2011-2012. A total of 66 students were selected as a sample and divied into two groups. The writing test was conducted in order to collected data. Results showed a compelling distinction was present in the writing acomplishment of the students taught in the use of the strategy of mind mapping. Hence, it is evident from this study taht writing achivement of students can be enhanced through the application of the mind mapping strategy. Regarding the research matter of teaching vocabulary with mind maps and diagrams, the writer could find one related study named “Teaching vocabulary through mind mapping technique to the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palembang” by Yusuf Effendi (2004), a student of University PGRI, Indonesia. The research question of this thesis is “Is it effective to use mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palembang?” There are some similarities and differences between this thesis and the writer’s study. First of all, the similarity of these two is that they have the same independent variables and mind mapping techniques in Buzan’s principles. Secondly, both used true-experimental research method. However, Yusuf’s thesis based on Posttest Only Random Control Group Design, and this study based on the Pretest-Posttest Design. Therefore, the most distinctive difference is that in Yusuf’s thesis, there was only one vocabulary test to test students before the treatment and after that. In this study, there were three vocabulary tests, including one pretest and two posttests. The reason for having three different tests is to ensure the reliability of the tests. The three tests had the same language items but different test items so that the vocabulary proficiency and learning progress of students were evaluated most exactly. Al Naqbi’s (2011) in “The use of Mind Mapping to develop writing skills in UAE schools” carried a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of mnd map at the pre-writing brainstorming stage under exam condition. Actually, her primary purpose was not to aim to the high results of the students, yet she aimed to help 4 students in planning and organizing ideas in writing. After conducting the research, she found that students’ thinking and cognitive skills were developed and students became better in organizing ideas, activating their background knowledge. This proved that mind map has a powerful effect on students in prewriting stage and it was worth teaching this technique to EFL students in classes. Maestas & Croll (1985) carried out a study on the effects of training in story mapping procedures on the reading comprehension of poor readers. It was found that there was an increase on the students’ability to answer comprehension questions and increased tendency to maintain story mapping component in their story recall. The result of aforementioned studies indicates that mind mapping tecnique can help improve students’ reading comprehension ability, especially poor reader. The present work, thus, adopts the use of mind mapping techniques to improve the poor readers’ reading ability at Rajabhat University, Songkhla. In addition, an effort is made to investigate the students’ attitude towards the use of mind mapping techniques to enhance their reading ability. 2.2. In Vietnam Dang Thanh Diem (2011) researched about “ Using mind maps and diagrams to teach vocabulary for first year mainstream students, faculty of English language teacher education” with the aims at figuring out whether the techniques work to teach vocabulary at Division I. The study began with the literature review on vocabulary teaching and application of mind maps and diagrams in teaching vocabulary. Then the paper-based questionnaires were delivered to students to explore the situation of the research problem. After that, the true-experimental method was applied in data collection procedures to fulfill the second aim of the research. The findings of the study indicated that mind maps and diagrams were applicable and effective to teach vocabulary at Division I. Therefore, the techniques were suggested to be exploited more in the context of teaching vocabulary for first year students. 5 Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (2013) researched about “Enhancing the efficiency of the presentation through the use of mind mapping for K8 major English students in Hung Vuong University” with the study aims at the researching and valuating the use of Mind Mapping in enhancing the efficiency of a presentation. They use pretest and posttest to survey the current situation then the point out the effective of using mind map in presentation for students. The result is quite satisfactory because the number of students getting low reduces considerably. The marks of posttest are improved. It makes the study more successful. Do Thi Van Trang (2016) researched about “Using mind map to improve vocabulary knowledge for the first year English language teaching education students of FLF at HPU2” with the study aims at investigating the common ways of learning vocabulary and their difficulties in studying vocabulary; introducing the mind mapping 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, 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 years. 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 mind mapping technique was introduced received positive responds from students. These above reasearches study about using mind map in teaching and learning and also have provided valuable information indicating that use mind maps to help students improve skils such as writing, presentation and learning vocabulary. Moreover, those studies investigated the effectiveness of applying mind maps in teaching and developing skills above. However, there is no research about using mind maps to improve vocabulary for grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School. So, the author will 6 choose research about this issue with hope that this method can help the students learn vocabulary more effectively. 3. Research purposes The aims of the study consist of: - Exploring the current situations of teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School. - Designing and applying activities with mind-mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School. - From the findings of the paper, the writer wants to evaluate whether it is possible to apply mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students in at Hung Vuong High Quality School. 4. Research questions There are three research questions, based on the focused objectives of the study accordingly. They are: 1) What techniques in teaching vocabulary have been used by the teachers of Hung Vuong High Quality School? 2) How to use mind maps in vocabulary teaching and learning effectively? 3) How effective is the mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School? 5. Research methods - Theoretical research method: The author researches the related documents to give some knowledge about vocabulary, definition and features of mind maps and mind mapping technique. - Investigating methods: The researcher uses survey questionnaires for students and teachers, tests and classroom observations to investigate the real situation of using mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10 th students in Hung Vuong High Quality School. 7 - Mathematical statistical method: It focuses on presenting, analyzing, caculating the data collected from survey questionnaires and observation to get the final results. - Experimental method: This method is used to find out about the effectiveness of using mind maps in teaching and learning vocabulary. Experiment is to verify by using mind map as tool to learn vocabulary grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School. The research carried out the experiment to comparison then to evaluate the feasibility of using mind map as an instrument in vocabulary teaching and learning. 6. Significance of the research 6.1. Scientific significance Conducting this study firstly helped the researcher obtaining a comprehensive understanding about using mind maps in teaching and learning English in general and in improving vocabulary in particular. 6.2. Practical significance This reasearch is carried out with the hope that it can apply mind maps to enhance vocabulary for grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality effectively. With a new methodology, mind maps will draw the students’ attention by using pictures, color, images and graphics. In addition, the research also helped the teachers of English use mind mapping technique to teach new words more effectively and successfully, which make the lesson meaningful and interesting, help students to get the best results in vocablary learning and many others. 7. Research scope Mind Mapping is a useful method and applied in many fields that cannot be mantioned all. Due to time constraints, instead of studying in a large context, this study only focuses on small context of grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School. The author would research the current effectiveness of using Mind Mapping technique to promote student’s vocabulary. 8 In this study, Mind mapping technique was used in Unit 8: New ways to learn (Getting started and Reading), Unit 9: Preserving the ennvironment (Getting started & Reading). 8. Research design The study consists of three main parts Part 1: Introduction Presenting the overview of the study including the rationale for the research, previous studies, research problems, research questions, significant of the research, the scope of the research as well as the outline of research. Part 2: Content This part consists of 4 main chapters Chapter 1 – Theoretical background: Focusing on theorical background of the study, the overview of vocabulary and Mind Mapping technique, and relationship between mind mapping technique and vocabulary teaching. Chapter 2 – Methodology: Discussing about researching objectives, method of the study, instrument, data collection and data analysis of the study Chapter 3 – Current situations: In this chapter, the author has to make some major findings, analyzes and discusses the data collected from classroom observations, interviews and results of pre-test in details to find out the problems of grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School in teaching vcabulary. Chapter 4 – Experiment and Discussion: In this chapter, the researcher applies Mind mapping technique to teach vocabulary. Then, the author delivers the post-test, analyzises and compares the data collected from pre-test and posttest. After that, the researcher will evaluate the effectiveness and limitations when using Mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary. Part 3: Conclusion In this part, the researcher gives summarization about major findings of the study. This includes the conclusion of the whole study, implications, recommendation, limitations of the research, and provides suggestions for further studies. 9 PART 2: CONTENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This chapter focuses on providing an overview of theoretical background relevant to this study including vocabulary in teaching and learning, mind mapping technique and the relationship between vocabulary and mind mapping. 1.1. An overview about Vocabulary 1.1.1. Definition of vocabulary 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 d) a list of words with their meanings, especially in a book for learning a foreign language. Hornby (2000: 1331) descibed vocabulary as “a list of words in a language with their meanings”, which is common with the third and fourth meanings from the definition of the dictionary. Besides, “Vocabulary is knowledge of words and words meanings” is defined by Fran Lehr and his associates (2004). Richards and Platt (1992) pointed out that vocabulary is a set of lexeme, including single words, compound words, and idioms. While, Ur (1996) argued that vocabulary are the words teachers teach in a foreign language. It is evident that each set of vocabulary can make up for more than just one word, but it combines into a single meaning. 10 Hatch & Brown (1995) stated that vocabulary refers to a list or set of words for particular language or a list or set of words that individual speakers of language might use. In other words, vocabulary is a collection of words that used by one’s as mean of communication. To conclude, there are numerous ways to understand the concept of “vocabulary”. From all the above discussions about it, we can understand vocabulary as a list of words that teachers and learners use in the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language as well as their usage to understand the productive skill and receptive skill. 1.1.2. Aspects of vocabulary Basically, before digging deeper in techniques to teach vocabulary, it is required to define clearly the matter of what to teach. Thus, what it means to “know a word” becomes another complicated issue. 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 (Richards, 1976 cited in Ghazal, 2007). Table 1.1: Major aspects of vocabulary Categories Form Spelling Pronunciation Grammar Collocation Description Example What a word look like. t-e-a What a word sounds like. [ti:] Change of forms Sink => Sinking Restriction or how words Make trouble but can be used together. do wrong 11 Denotation Aspects of Connotation meaning Formality The core meaning that refers Nightfall: the close words to the real world. of the day The additional meaning that Excuse in She shows people’s emotions made an excuse for and attitudes towards what being late has a the word refers to. negative meaning. Whether the word is Thank you vs. appropriate to use in certain Thanks context. Bright, clever, Synonym Antonym Words that mean the same smart, intelligent, nearly the same. etc. Words that mean the Rich vs. Poor opposite. Hyponym Words that serve as specific Bus, car, lorry, etc. examples of the same concept. Word Building How a word is created. Ultra-modern, Super-hero (Source: Ur, 1996) Table 1.1 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 (pp.81-87). Those divisions of vocabulary by Ur cover all aspects presented by other scholars. Schmitt (1995: 86) also presented a list of the word knowledge types that native speakers typically possess, which should be achieved by the learners of