VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES wlll BUI THI NHO USING MIND MAPS TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT A LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN HAI PHONG (SU DUNG SO DO TU DUY DE CAI THIEN Ki NANG VIET CUA HOC SINH: MA.MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HA NOI - 2024 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES wlll BUI THI NHO O HAI PHONG) MA. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Hoang Van Van HA NOI - 2024 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Using mind maps to improve secondary school students’ English essay writing: An action research at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong” is the product of my own labor and hasn't been submitted in any way to colleges or other institutions for consideration for another degree or credential. I understand that disciplinary action and fines in line with University policies and norms may be applied if this declaration is determined to be false.
Hanoi, 2024 The researcher Approved by SUPERVISOR | DY: | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere gratitude goes out to my supervisor, Prof. Hoang Van Van, for his careful reading, insightful criticism, priceless advice, and priceless thesis edits. His astute advice has enabled me to identify the most appropriate course of action for finishing this research.In addition, I want to sincerely thank my pupils and my colleagues at the school for agreeing to respond to my inquiries.I am grateful for the support and collaboration of the tenth graders in the selected school.I would especially like to express my gratitude to my family, especially my husband, who has supported and encouraged me constantly while I have been conducting my research. Hanoi, 2024 il ABSTRACT This study examines how well mind maps work to improve English essay writing skills among students at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong.
The investigator aimed to address two primary inquiries: the impact of using mindmaps on English essay writing skills of 9" grade students at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong. and the attitudes of 9” grade students to learning essay writing skills via using mindmaps. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods, including pre-tests and post-tests, questionnaires, and interviews. The findings indicated that using mind maps led to an improvement in essay writing skills and most students had a positive attitude towards it.
The statistical analysis confirmed the significant impact of mind maps on students’ essay writing. ill TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP. G2 +1 SH HH ng re i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTTS. HH HH ng HH HH re i ABSTRACT ooo.
Vii LIST OF FIGURES 115. ng HH HH giết 9 1.1 Rationale for the Study .G- 5G 2s 1S 9H HT HH nh 9 1. Aims and objectives of the SfUy.- - - - G1 SH HH ng 10 1. Research Questions anh hố.
Scope Of the SfUY.- cọ TH TH HH HH ng 10 1. Method of the SEUyy. «SH TH TH TH HT TH Hà Hưng 11 1. Significance Of the Study.
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Data analysis of questionnaire for the stdenfs. Data analysis of interview with the studenIfS.- -- 55s S-sss+csseerseeeres 52 0 0i on. The improvement of the students’ writing competence through mind maps. The attitudes of 9th grade students at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong towards mind maps in English-writing Ï€SSOTS.
HH HH HH, 59 5. Limitations To vi 0. Suggestions for further Study .- - - <1 11 HH ng 62 REFERENCES. -2 5 5c S1 2 2E 2212112112111 11211 1 1112111 1 ru | APPENDIX I: TESTTS.- 2-2: 2 ©S2+EE£2EE£EEEEEE2EEE7112712112711271211 11111211.
| APPENDIX II: QUESTIONNAIRES.---2- 22 + ©S£+E£+EEt£EEeEEESExrreerkeerxee Il APPENDIX III: INTER VIEW.csscssesssessessessessssssessssecssssssssecsessussusssessessessesssseseesess Vv APPENDIX IV: LESSON PLANS .ccsscssesssessessessssssessessessessecsuessessessecsussuseseeseesecaes VI APPENDIX V: WRITING CRITERIA .scsssssssessssssesssesssessecssecsssssscssecssesssessecsees XIII APPENDIX VI: PHIẾU ĐÔNG THUAN THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU. XIV APPENDIX VII: PHIẾU DONG THUẬN THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU. XV vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: 12 Units English 9- Text bOOKK. -- 5 5c 1321113931138 EESEkreeerere 33 Table 2: Classification of students’ level on a 10-point scale .- --‹- -- 36 Table 3: The results of pre-test and post-test of the first cycle (cycle T).
42 Table 4: The significant difference of the pretest and posttest mean scores of the i18 /9I55(À 4110001107277. 45 Table 5: The results of pre-test and post-test of the second cycle (cycle 2). 45 Table 6: The significant difference of the pretest and posttest mean scores of the Second cycle (CYCle 2). s2 TH ng HH TH HH Hư 49 Table 7: Grade 9 students’ opinion on learning English writing through mind maps 801011018 2210892421100.
49 Table 8: Students’ answer on the Inf€TVIW.- HH HH ngư 53 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: An example of mind map gøu1deÏIT€S. - -- 55s + * 3+ ‡£++se++eeseexss 21 Figure 2: An example of mind mapping - Network tr€e.- -- ccc«ccccssesses 22 Figure 3: An example of mind mapping - Event cha1n.-‹-- 5+ +ss<+++ss+ss+ 22 Figure 4: An example of mind mapping - Cycle concept map .- --- -----« + 23 Figure 5: An example of mind mapping - Spider concept map.-- -- «+ 24 Figure 6: The Two-Cycles Kemmis Classroom Action Research Spiral Model €2 20212. 29 Figure 7: Students’ mean scores of average scores in the first cycle (cycle 1). 43 Figure 8: The Comparison of mean scores on pre-test and post-test of the first cycle Vill CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION This section provides a comprehensive overview of the research, including the objectives and scope of the study, the research questions, the significance and breadth of the investigation, the methods used in the research, and the thesis structure.1 Rationale for the study For many students, writing generally and writing in a second language particularly can challenge. The fact that authors must overcome numerous obstacles from the outset is the rationale behind why writing might be a difficult skill to learn. The difficulties may arise from assembling the thoughts to be written, organizing the outline, concentrating on sentence structure, selecting the right terminology, and ensuring organization. Furthermore, these difficulties may make kids feel negatively about writing.
As an English teacher at the school, over the years the researcher has used several methods and techniques to teach subject such as explaining and listing sentence patterns and formulas to help students apply in doing exercises, and then asking students to memorize them. Despite great efforts, students are also not very interested in learning writing skill. The researcher always wonder how to make students love English, what teaching methods help students remember it, how to improve the quality of the subject, etc. Stemming from the actual situation of the school and also aiming to enhance the subject in order to meet the roadmap for changing textbooks and innovating teaching methods, the researcher realizes that one of the best ways to improve memory retention and aid with idea visualization when learning a foreign language is to employ mind maps.
Writing techniques can help students take charge of the writing process, which positively affects their writing performance and attitudes toward writing, according to previous studies. A method for prewriting called mind mapping aids writers in visualizing the organization of their work. Nonetheless, the researcher suggests employing the mind mapping technique to arrange linguistic and grammatical knowledge in addition to concepts. This study looks into how mind mapping can improve students' essay writing performance as a pre-writing technique and how they feel about utilizing mind maps in English classes.
Aims and objectives of the study The thesis is aimed at improving 9"-grade students’ English essay writing via using mind maps. Two objectives are hereby set forth for the fulfilment of the above-mentioned aim. These objectives are: (i) To find out the impact of mind maps on English essay writing skills of 9°-srade students at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong. (ii) To investigate the attitudes of 9”-grade students at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong while learning essay writing skills via using mind maps.
Research questions In order to accomplish the objectives, an action research project will be conducted to tackle the following inquiries: 1. How does the use of mind maps impact on English essay writing skills of 9th grade students at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong? 2. What are the attitudes of 9th grade students to learning essay writing skills via using mind maps? 1. Scope of the study The scope of this research is limited to exploring the effectiveness of using mind maps to improve lower secondary school students’ English essay writing.
The study involves a total of 45 students who are honing their essay writing skills through several extracurricular sessions at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong. The study was carried out over a period of approximately two months, allowing for a comprehensive examination of the research questions and objectives. The geographical location of the study is lower secondary school in Haiphong, Vietnam. By focusing on this specific school setting, the research provides insights into the context of essay writing teaching, evaluating the effectiveness of mind maps in 10 essay writing teaching, investigating students’ attitudes towards learning essay writing through the mind maps.
Method of the study The main research approaches employed in this research included action research, pre-tests, post-tests, survey questionnaires and interviews. These data collection instruments were carefully selected to align with the study's goals and address the research questions. Action research played a crucial role in the methodology, offering a framework for executing mind maps and collecting data. The action research process encompassed a pre-test evaluation, the introduction of mind maps, and a subsequent post-test assessment.
This method allowed for a comparative analysis of students’ English essay writing before and after the mind maps intervention. Firstly, ninth-grade students underwent pre-tests and post-tests to quantitatively measure the impact of mind maps. These evaluations yielded essential data on English essay writing of students, enabling a statistical comparison of their performance before and after the mind maps intervention. Mean scores and statistical significance were computed to gauge the method's effectiveness in improving English essay writing.
Secondly, to gather information on students’ perceptions of essay writing skills and the implementation of mind maps in teaching essay writing, the researcher administered a questionnaire consisting of 10 items to the students. The items on the questionnaire aimed to elicit responses on topics such as the students' attitudes towards using mind maps in writing essay. The Likert Scale was used to analyze the responses. Thirdly, semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data on students’ perceptions, preferences, and experiences regarding the method.