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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
NGUYEN LAN HUONG
USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO ENHANCE
STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN ACTION
RESEARCH AT HIEP HOA HIGH SCHOOL NUMBER 1
(Sử dụng bản đồ tư duy để tăng cường khả năng ghi nhớ từ vựng:
Nghiên cứu hành động tại trường THPT Hiệp Hoà số 1)
M.A. THESIS
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201
THAI NGUYEN – 2018
i
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
NGUYEN LAN HUONG
USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO ENHANCE
STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN ACTION
RESEARCH AT HIEP HOA HIGH SCHOOL NO.1
(Sử dụng bản đồ tư duy để tăng cường khả năng ghi nhớ từ vựng:
Nghiên cứu hành động tại trường THPT Hiệp Hoà số 1)
M.A THESIS
(APPLICATION ORIENTATION)
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Dr. Pham Lan Anh
ii
THAI NGUYEN – 2018
iii
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I declare that this research report entitled “Using mind mapping technique
to enhance students' vocabulary retention: An action research at Hiep Hoa high
school number one” has been composed by myself, and describes my own work,
unless otherwise acknowledged in the text. I confirm that this work is submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master at Thai Nguyen
University. This work has not been and will not be submitted for any other degree at
any other institution of higher education.
Author’s Signature:
Nguyễn Lan Hương
Approved by
SUPERVISOR
Phạm Lan Anh, Ph.D.
Date: December 2018
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep
appreciation to my supervisor, Phạm Lan Anh Ph.D, for her helpful and timely
encouragement as well as her insightful comments on my work from the beginning
to the end of the study. Without these, the thesis could not have been completed.
Secondly, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible without
the cooperation from forty students of 11A9 class at Hiep Hoa high school number
one who have been willing to participate in the study. I am very grateful to all of
them for providing detailed information for the analysis of the study.
I would also acknowledge my great gratitude to all the lecturers at School of
Foreign Languages - Thai Nguyen University for their valuable lectures, which have
contributed to lay the foundation for this thesis.
Thirdly, I take this opportunity to show my gratitude to my colleagues and
friends for their great help and comments. Without their help, this study could not
have been fulfilled.
Last but not least, I must express my gratitude to my beloved family - my
parents, my husband and my sons whose support and encouragement have always
been a great deal of strength that has helped me to complete this thesis.
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ABTRACT
The main objective of this action research was to solve the problem of
students’ poor memorization of the taught vocabulary by utilizing mind maps. The
researcher then evaluated the effectiveness of using mind mapping technique to
enhance students' vocabulary retention and explored the student’s attitude toward the
teaching and learning vocabulary with this technique. Based on the aims, forty grade11-students studying English in class 11A9 at Hiep Hoa High school number one
took part in the study. Pre-tests, post-tests, questionnaires and interviews were chosen
to be the data collection instruments to find out the effects of mind mapping technique
on students’ memory in vocabulary learning after the intervention. The researcher as
the teacher wanted to apply mind mapping technique to increase students’ potentials
in retaining the taught vocabulary. In this study, the reseacher adopted Nunan’s action
research procedure. The procedure included 7 steps namely initiation, preliminary
investigation, hypotheses, intervention, evaluation, dissemination and follow-up. The
results from the pre-tests and post-tests were used to discover the effects of mind
mapping technique on students’ vocabulary mastery. The mean scores were
determined to compare the differences between the pre-test and post-test. Paired
sample t-test was used to verify the statistical difference of the findings and measure
students’s long-term retention of the words taught during the intervention.The results
from the questionnaires and interviews were used to help the researcher to clarify the
students’ attitude towards mind mapping technique in vocabulary learning. It was
shown through the statistic data that there was a remarkable improvement in students’
vocabulary learning after the intervention and most of the students had positive
attitudes, righteous perception and good behaviour towards the techniques in
vocabulary learning. It was concluded that using mind mapping technique is one of
the good ways to enhance students' vocabulary retention and it exerts students'
postitive attitudes in vocabulary learning.
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1. What is involved in knowing a word (Nation, 2001, p.40-41) p.9-10
Table 3.1. A schedule of applying vocabulary tasks in language skill p.33
lessons
Table 3.2. Test description of the pre-test and post-test
p.35
Table 3.3. A schedule of the data collection procedure
p.37
Table 4.1. Descriptive Statistics
p.41
Table 4.2. Paired Samples Statistics
p.42
Table 4.3. Paired samples t-test for pre-test and post-test
p.44
Table 4.4. The effects of mind mapping technique in the students’ p.45
vocabulary learning
Table 4.5. Students' attitudes towards using mind mapping technique in p.47-48
vocabulary learning
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LIST OF DIAGRAMS
Diagram 4.1: Distribution of scores in the pre-test and post-test
p.41
Diagram 4.2: Plot of probability distribution of scores in the pre-test
p.42
Diagram 4.3: Plot of probability distribution of scores in the post-test
p.43
Diagram 4.4: The effects of mind mapping technique in the students’
p.46
vocabulary learning
Diagram 4.5: The attitude of the students towards mind mapping
techniques in their vocabulary learning
viii
p.50
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... v
ABTRACT................................................................................................................ vi
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF DIAGRAMS .......................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale of the study ........................................................................................ 1
1.2. Aims of the study ............................................................................................... 2
1.3. Scope of the study .............................................................................................. 3
1.4. Significance of the study ................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 5
2.1. Vocabulary in language learning ..................................................................... 5
2.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary ................................................................................. 5
2.1.2. The role of vocabulary in language learning .................................................... 6
2.1.3. Vocabulary learning ......................................................................................... 7
2.1.3.1. Knowing a word ............................................................................................ 8
2.1.3.2. Incidental and intentional vocabulary learning ............................................. 10
2.2. Mind mapping in vocabulary learning .......................................................... 12
2.2.1. An overview of mind mapping ....................................................................... 12
2.2.2. Characteristics of mind maps ......................................................................... 12
2.2.3. Steps of making mind maps ........................................................................... 13
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2.2.4. Mind mapping in vocabulary learning ........................................................... 14
2.3. Attitude in language learning ......................................................................... 16
2.3.1. An overview of attitude .................................................................................. 16
2.3.2. The role of attitude in language learning........................................................ 17
2.4. Review of related studies................................................................................. 18
2.5. Summary .......................................................................................................... 20
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................ 27
3.1. Research Design ............................................................................................... 27
3.1.1. The setting of the study .................................................................................. 27
3.1.2. Action Research.............................................................................................. 29
3.2. Research Procedure......................................................................................... 30
3.2.1. Participants ..................................................................................................... 30
3.2.2. Action Research Cycle ................................................................................... 30
3.3. Data Collection Instruments ........................................................................... 34
3.3.1. Vocabulary Tests ............................................................................................ 34
3.3.2. Questionnaires ................................................................................................ 35
3.3.3. Interview ......................................................................................................... 36
3.4. Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 37
3.5. Summary .......................................................................................................... 38
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................ 39
4.1. Results ............................................................................................................... 40
4.1.1. Results of the tests .......................................................................................... 40
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4.1.2. Results of the questionnaire............................................................................ 44
4.1.3. Results of the interviews ................................................................................ 50
4.2. Discussion ......................................................................................................... 53
4.3. Summary .......................................................................................................... 55
CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ...................... 55
5.1. Recapitulations ................................................................................................ 56
5.2. Implications ...................................................................................................... 58
5.3. Limitations ....................................................................................................... 59
5.4. Suggestions ....................................................................................................... 59
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 60
Appendix 1: Distribution of points in the pre-test.................................................. I
Appendix 2: Distribution of points in the post-test .............................................. II
Appendix 3: PRE-TEST.........................................................................................III
Appendix 4: POST-TEST ....................................................................................... V
Appendix 5: QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................................................ VII
Appendix 6: QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWS ................................................. X
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
English has become one of the most important and useful means of
communication and access to information in the era of the globalization and
international exchange. As a result, the English teaching and learning are being
motivated more and more quickly. Through the history, there have been many
changes in language teaching process. In the past, the main focus was laid on
grammatical description and procedures of drilling. Nowsaday, more and more
attention is paid to real communication. Every effort is made to help students
understand and use the language in an active way. In recent years, the significance of
vocabulary teaching can be seen clearly in language development.
As a language teacher, the researcher recognized the importance of vocabulary
instruction to help students develop the knowledge of vocabulary. This process
contributed greatly to their language learning success. The vocabulary instruction that
students needed to achieve success should include reference to explicit and
independent vocabulary instruction. Although the knowledge of vocabulary was
accepted to be one of the main keys for successful communication in language, it was
difficult to reflect how successfully vocabulary could be presented. From my teaching
experience, I found that high school students learned more when they were actively
involved.
In Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject in the formal education
system. As a high school teacher of English, the researcher feels rather concerned
about her students’ English learning, especially their ability in vocabulary retention.
Her students have approached and practised English for years. Under study pressure,
many students learning English also attempt to improve their vocabulary knowledge.
However, they often have many difficulties in learning vocabulary, especially in
memorising and recalling the word meaning. They usually forget the words they have
learnt or use the words inappropriately. They can not keep the words in mind for a
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long time and recall them when necessary. It was challenging for them to gain
language knowledge due to lack of vocabulary.
One more thing to consider was the way the words to be studied. Students only
learned the new words after each lesson by rote learning. In addition, when they had
unknown words at home, students often wrote down the words, looked up the word
meanings and then wrote the meaning of the new words in the first language near the
target words. They did not have varied kinds of practice or revision for the learnt
words. The technique seemed to make students passive in their learning vocabulary
for long-term memory.
It could be supposed that students’ bad memory was due to lack of appropriate
vocabulary memorizing strategies. In student-centered learning environments,
students need to be helped in becoming strategic language students. Learning process
focuses on skills and practices that enable lifelong learning and independent problem
solving and motivates students’ autonomy and independence. They could hardly use
English fluently and naturally to meet the average demands due to lack of vocabulary.
In my teaching context at Hiep Hoa High School number one, the teachers of
English seldom used mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary. Wondering
whether the effectiveness of mind mapping technique could help students in
vocabulary retention, the researcher decided to conduct the study “Using mind
mapping technique to enhance students' vocabulary retention: An action
research at Hiep Hoa high school number one”. The researcher hoped that students
could apply this technique in their studying vocabulary.
1.2. Aims of the study
Being aware of the fact that students had difficulty in memorising and
retaining vocabulary in English, the researcher wanted to apply mind mapping
technique to increase students’ potentials in retaining the taught vocabulary. The
researcher was to evaluate its effects on students’ memory and to explore the
student’s attitude towards the vocabulary teaching and learning with this technique.
Hopefully, the technique could help the students memorize and retain word meanings
effectively.
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There were two research questions based on the aims of the study:
1. How does mind-map technique help the students memorize and retain word
meanings effectively?
2. What are the students’ attitudes towards mind mapping technique?
1.3. Scope of the study
Due to time constraints, the necessary data for the study were collected from
forty grade 11 students studying English in class 11A9 at Hiep Hoa High school No.1.
The study was carried out during 12 weeks. They were given three teaching periods
of English a week. Each period lasted 45 minutes. They were taught the words related
to the content of unit 10, 11, 12, 13 in English 11 textbook. Each unit was divided
into five parts, including four lessons for four communicative skills: reading,
speaking, listening and writing and one lesson for grammar or language focus.
Vocabulary was not taught in isolation. It was embedded in the skill which was taught
in each of the five lessons.
During a limited period of time, the study could not cover all communicative
skills and all aspects in vocabulary teaching. It mainly focused on the effectiveness
of mind mapping technique to improve students’ vocabulary retention. The findings
of the study are only meaningful in this particular teaching and learning context at
Hiep Hoa high school No.1.
1.4. Significance of the study
The study will be useful to students, teachers and researchers in the field
of English language teaching
and
learning. Students can use mind mapping
techniques to learn vocabulary more effectively. Teachers can understand more
about mind mapping techniques and use them to teach vocabulary more
effectively in their lessons. Moreover, other researchers will use the study as a
reliable source of reference in their research.
1.5. Outline of the thesis:
The study was intended to consist of five chapters:
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Chapter 1: Introduction - This part gave the rationale of the study, reseach questions,
aims, scope, significance and design of the study
Chapter 2: Literature review - This part focused on the definitions of vocabulary,
its importance, vocabulary learning, an overview of mind mapping, its
characteristics, steps of making mind maps, its benefits in vocabulary learning, an
overview of attitude and the role of attitude in language learning as well as previous
studies about using mind-mapping techniques on students’ vocabulary retention.
Chapter 3: Methodology - This part reported the research design and the research
procedure of conducting this study. The detailed information about data collection
instruments and procedure for data analysis were presented.
Chapter 4: Findings and discussion - This part gave the data analysis from the
research results and made a discussion of the results.
Chapter 5: Recommendations and conclusions - This part gave the summary of the
study and some implications, limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further
studies were proposed. The following section is a bibliography listing all reference
books and materials directly and indirectly quoted in the study. The final section of
the thesis contained the appendices showing all documents serving this inquiry.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter discusses the theories and researches into the areas as a base for
this study in general. The first section provides an overview of vocabulary in
language learning and teaching including definitions, the importance of vocabulary
and looks at various aspects of vocabulary learning and teaching as well. The second
section gives an overview of mind mapping, its characteristics, design and
implementation of mind mapping in vocabulary learning. The third section discusses
attitudes in language learning in terms of definition and the role of attitudes in
language learning. The chapter concludes with a review of related studies on mind
mapping.
2.1. Vocabulary in language learning
2.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary
Up till now, there has been a wide variety of definitions of vocabulary. In
order to find the best and easiest definition to understand is such an impossible task.
Each linguist in his specialized field with his own set of criteria has found out for
his own way to define vocabulary.
In his book, Harmer (1991) provides discussion on “active and passive”
vocabulary. Active vocabulary are words that students “are able to use in speech and
which they remember” (p.101) while passive vocabulary refer to vocabulary items
which students can recognize in a text, understand but are not able to use them
actively.
According to Diamond & Gutlohn (2006), vocabulary is mentioned as the
knowledge of words and their meanings. This means comprehension and use of a
language will not be achieved without establishing a strong vocabulary base,
recognising words, and knowing their meanings. As a result when a student is
effectively able to recognise and use a word in different contexts, speak, write,
pronounce the word well, she/he has the knowledge and meaning of that word.
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Without words, there would be no language structures. Words are the building blocks
of a language since they label objects, actions, ideas without which people cannot
convey the intended meaning (Nation, 2004).
According to Cambridge Advanced Student's Dictionary, "vocabulary" means
"all the words which exist in a particular language or subject" or "all the words known
and used by a particular person". Vocabulary is an essential part in communication
and acquiring knowledge.
In short, it can be shown that vocabulary knowledge requires not only word
meanings knowledge but also the usage of the words in the appropriate context and
in a natural way as well as the relationship between new words acquired and the ones
already acquired.
2.1.2. The role of vocabulary in language learning
Vocabulary is central to language and is of great significance to language
students because without sufficient vocabulary, they can not understand others or
express their own ideas.
Vocabulary of a language is just like bricks of a high building. Despite quite
small pieces, they are vital to the great structure. Like bricks, vocabulary plays an
integral part of building of a language. Wilkin (1972) noted that “without grammar
very little can be conveyed, but without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. If we
want to use a language effectively, we must have good stock of vocabulary. We can
not use the language if we do not know the words of that language. Therefore it is
significant for students to develop their productive vocabulary knowledge in using a
language.
As stated by Harmer (1993), “if language structures make up the skeleton of
language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh”. If one
wants to use language effectively, he/she must have an extensive vocabulary. This
also means the comprehension of a language depends on the amount of words that
are known in that language. In other words, students need to have sufficient word
knowledge to understand what they read. Nation (2001) states that readers need to
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know at least 97% of the vocabulary in a text for an adequate understanding of it.
Thornbury (2002) also expressed the importance of vocabulary in language
learning. He stated that “If you spend most of your time studying grammar, your
English will not improve very much. You will see most improvement if you learn
more words and expressions. You can say very little with grammar, but you can say
almost anything with words!”. Good vocabulary helps students develop reading
comprehension ability, writing ability and communicative competence. Nagy (2003)
remarks “ vocabulary knowledge is fundamental to reading comprehension; one can
not understand text without knowing what most of the words mean”. Schmitt (2000)
emphasizes that “lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to
the acquisition of a second language” (p. 55). Teaching vocabulary well is considered
as a key aspect of developing engaged and successful readers.
Vocabulary can be descibed as “scaffolding” of building a language. It helps
students with language production. The more words a student knows the more
precisely that student can express the exact meaning he/she wants to. This means that
students need to know a large number of word meanings to communicate effectively.
According to Cardenas (2001), vocabulary is used to determine the proficiency which
a student has in oral contexts. Vocabulary serves as an essential component to
determine how much a student is able to communicate successfully. Therefore
students have to overcome the lack of vocabulary knowledge in order to communicate
effectively. The importance of vocabulary in language learning process can be seen
clearly although teaching of grammatical structures was given for a long time a
greater priority over the communicative function itself. For many years, teaching
vocabulary was considered as an add-on to teaching grammar or simply a by-product
of language teaching and communicative functions (Meara,1980). Language teachers
should focus on effective instruction to teach vocabulary to help students to develop
their vocabulary knowledge for them to communicate successfully.
2.1.3. Vocabulary learning
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It can be seen from what was presented in the previous section that vocabulary
plays an essential role in language learning, hence vocabulary learning is an
indispensable task for EFL students to achieve proficiency and competence in
language learning. The two next sub-sections presented what it means to know a
word and how vocabulary is learned and remembered.
2.1.3.1. Knowing a word
Knowing a word is not a simple task. The task does not simply mean you can
recognize the word and use it. You need to cover all the contents related to a specific
word to learn vocabulary as effectively as possible.
According to McCarthy (1991), “knowing a word involves knowing its spoken
and written context of use; its patterns with words of related meaning as well as with
its collocation partners; its syntactic, pragmatic and discourse patterns; It means
knowing it actively and productively as well as receptively”. It is inevitable to know
the different meanings of the item clearly. Students need to have the ability to
recognise the word in its spoken and written forms, then identify its part of speech,
grammatical function or any unpredictable grammatical patterns so that they can use
the word correctly and be aware of potential conversion. In English, there is no
correspondence between the form of a word and its phonemic transcription. In some
cases, the distribution of stress can change the meaning of a word. As a result, the
pronunciation and stress of the word need to be focused. Students need to know how
the word is used in its spoken and written context with words of related meaning as
well as with its collocation partners. The connotations that the item may have should
be mastered. For example, “Bachelor” is a neutral/ positive word whereas “spinster”
has a more negative image. The word can be used in formal, neutral or informal
situations. For example, die, pass away, kick the bucket. Students also need to know
how the word is related to others such as synonyms, antonyms. It is neccesary for
students to study the collocations. For example, students use “heavy rain”, not “strong
rain”. Lastly, the affixation should be noticed to clarify the word meaning.
According to Nation (2001), words are not isolated units of language, but fit
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