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 của việc sử dụng bản đồ tư duy đến khả năng nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 6, trường THCS Thanh Mỹ) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2016 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 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 của việc sử dụng bản đồ tư duy đến khả năng nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 6, trường THCS Thanh Mỹ) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc. NGUYỄN VĂN TRÀO HANOI - 2016 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 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 TIEU LUAN MOI downloadi : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my special gratitude to my advisor, Mr.Nguyen Van Trao, Assoc.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.
TIEU LUAN MOI downloadii : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT The aims of this research are to find out the effects of mind-mapping on th 6 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? 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 pre- test 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. Mind- mapping is hoped to be a promising technique to teach and learn vocabulary. TIEU LUAN MOI downloadiii : skknchat@gmail.LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 1.Table 1: Research schedule 2.Table 2: Result of questionnaire 1 3. 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 6.
Result of questionnaire 2 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 TIEU LUAN MOI downloadiv : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKHNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ASTRACT iii LIST OF TABLE, FIGURES AND CHART iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1.
Aims of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 3 5. Design of the study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMEMT 4 Chapter I: Literature Review 4 1. The importance of the vocabulary 4 1.Kinds of vocabulary 5 1.Definition of mind-mapping 11 1.Functions of mind-mapping 11 1.Characteristics of mind mapping 12 1.
Procedures in making a mind-mapping 12 1.Steps to read a mind-mapping 12 1.The application of mind-mapping to teaching a foreign language 13 1.The use of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning 14 1.Review of related studies worldwide 18 1.Review of related study in Viet Nam 19 Chapter II: Methodology 21 2.3 Setting of the study 22 2.Participants 23 TIEU LUAN MOI downloadv : skknchat@gmail.Data collection instruments 23 2.Implememting the action 28 2.Reflection 29 Chapter III.Initial data analysis 30 3.Data from questionnaire 1 30 3.Result of the pre-test 32 3.Identification of causes of the problems 33 3. Determining the actions 33 3.Relationship between the causes of the problems and the action 34 3.The implememtation of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning 37 3. Result of questionnaire 2 39 3.Result of the post-test 40 3.Discussion 44 PART C: CONCLUTION 47 1. Limitations of the study 48 3.
Suggestions for further study 48 4. Conclusion 49 REFERENCE 50 APPENDIXS I TIEU LUAN MOI downloadvi : skknchat@gmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. 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 do 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 TIEU LUAN MOI download1 : skknchat@gmail.com 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 do 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, mind- mapping 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? 4. 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 TIEU LUAN MOI download2 : skknchat@gmail.com memorize English words easily. The last is for other researchers. The study can give general knowledge of materials that can be done for research studies in relation to vocabulary learning in the secondary level of education. Design of the study The thesis consists of three main parts: Part A: Introduction introduces the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope and the design of the study.
Part B: Development is divided into 3 chapters. Chapter 1: Literature Review presents theories related to vocabulary, mind-mapping. Previous studies on mind-mapping are also reviewed. Chapter 2: Methodology presents the research methods, the setting of the study, the participants, the research data and the research procedures.
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion presents the analysis of initial collected data to determine the problems, then the action plan. The analysis of post-treatment data was then presented along with which the discussions were given. Part C: Conclusion provides the pedagogical implications, some limitations of the study and suggestions for future study. TIEU LUAN MOI download3 : skknchat@gmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHARPER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.
Vocabulary definition McCarthy (1990: 32) defined vocabulary as words in a specific language or freestanding items of language that have meaning. According to Penny Ur (1996: 122) vocabulary is defined roughly as “the words we teach in the foreign language”. She also stated that “a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of two or three words (e., bus stop, father -in-law), and multi-word idioms (e., call it a day)”. As can be seen, vocabulary is defined in many different ways.
It refers to words or a group of words in a language and knowledge of words regarding its meanings, forms, and how to use it correctly in the context.