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. 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.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. Date: December 2018 iv 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. v 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 grade- 11-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. vi LIST OF TABLES Table 2. What is involved in knowing a word (Nation, 2001, p.
A schedule of applying vocabulary tasks in language skill p. Test description of the pre-test and post-test p. A schedule of the data collection procedure p. Paired Samples Statistics p.
Paired samples t-test for pre-test and post-test p. The effects of mind mapping technique in the students’ p.45 vocabulary learning Table 4. Students' attitudes towards using mind mapping technique in p.47-48 vocabulary learning vii LIST OF DIAGRAMS Diagram 4.1: Distribution of scores in the pre-test and post-test p.2: Plot of probability distribution of scores in the pre-test p.3: Plot of probability distribution of scores in the post-test p.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 p.50 techniques in their vocabulary learning viii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. vi LIST OF TABLES.
vii LIST OF DIAGRAMS. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aims of the study.
Scope of the study. Significance of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Vocabulary in language learning.
Definitions of vocabulary. The role of vocabulary in language learning. Incidental and intentional vocabulary learning. Mind mapping in vocabulary learning.
An overview of mind mapping. Characteristics of mind maps. Steps of making mind maps. Mind mapping in vocabulary learning.
Attitude in language learning. An overview of attitude. The role of attitude in language learning. Review of related studies.
The setting of the study. Action Research Cycle. Data Collection Instruments. 38 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.
Results of the tests. Results of the questionnaire. Results of the interviews. 55 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS.
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. VII Appendix 6: QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWS.
X xi xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 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 1 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. 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.
2 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. 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.
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. 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.