THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THI NHUNG A STUDY ON THE USE OF MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TOWARDS STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY RETENTION AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2023 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THI NHUNG A STUDY ON THE USE OF MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TOWARDS STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY RETENTION AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL M.A THESIS (ACTION RESEARCH) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Bui Thi Huong Giang, Ph.D THAI NGUYEN – 2023 ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ LÊ THỊ NHUNG NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG KĨ THUẬT SƠ ĐỒ TƯ DUY TRONG VIỆC GHI NHỚ TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ (Nghiên cứu hành động) Ngành : Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số : 8220201 Cán bộ hướng dẫn : TS. Bùi Thị Hương Giang THÁI NGUYÊN – 2023 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A study on the use of mind-mapping technique towards students’ English vocabulary retention at a primary school” is the study of my own research and the substance of this research has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution. Approved by Author’s signature SUPERVISOR Dr. Bui Thi Huong Giang Le Thi Nhung Thai Nguyen, February, 2023 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To finish this paper completely, I have received a lot of support and encouragement.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Ms. Bui Thi Huong Giang who gave me pretty much valuable assistance, considerable encouragement as well as great inspiration of a great woman in modern time while I was conducting my research. Without her careful guidance and valuable suggestions, this paper really could not be completed. Secondly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all my lecturers and staffs at School of Foreign Languages-Thai Nguyen University for their lectures and support which enables me to gain both useful theoretical and practical knowledge to complete this master's course.
In addition, I would like to say thanks to teachers and all students of Nguyen Hue Primary School for their cooperation to participate in the research. Last but not least, I would like to give my special thanks to my family who have always been encouraging and supporting me to complete this thesis. ii ABSTRACT This thesis was an attempt to find out the effectiveness of mind-mapping technique on the 4th graders’ vocabulary retention at Nguyen Hue Primary School. An action research was carried out to answer two research questions: 1.
To what extend does mind mapping strategy affect students’ vocabulary retention? 2. What are the students’ attitudes towards mind-mapping technique? To get the data of the study, two data collection instruments were used: questionnaires and the pre-test and post- tests toward before and after applying the mind-mapping in teaching vocabulary. The findings of the data analysis showed that mind-mapping can help the students to improve their abilities in memorizing English vocabulary and the students had positive attitudes toward the mind-mapping technique. Moreover, some limitations and suggestions for further studies were included in this study.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES.
viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aim of the study.
Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Organization of the study. The role of vocabulary.
Kinds of vocabulary. Aspects of knowing a word. Short-term and long-term memory. Major factors affecting vocabulary retention.
Definition of mind maps. Characteristics of mind maps. Classfification of mind maps. The functions of mind maps.
Steps to create a mind map. The significance of mind-mapping in the language classroom. The application of mind-mapping to teaching a foreign language. The application of mind-mapping in teaching English vocabulary.
The advantages and possible shortcomings of using mind maps in the classroom. Context of the study. Subjects of the study. Method of the study.
Data collection procedures. Data collection instruments. Data analytical methods .29 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Results of Questionnaires.
Results of the tests .39 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. Summary of the study. Implications of the study. Limitations of the study.
Suggestions for future research .XXIX vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3. The study procedures. Result of Questionnaire 1. Result of Questionnaire 2 .32 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.
Characteristics of a mind map. Network tree example. Cycle concept map example. Spider concept map example .5 Mind map guidelines.
Action research cycle. Result of the pre-test. Result of the post-test. Comparison between the pretest and the posttest .37 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS % : Percent MM : Mind map NHPS : Nguyen Hue Primary School ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION With the aim of bringing readers an introduction to the study, in this initial chapter, the rationale, along with the aims, the scope and significance of the study are going to be presented.
Moreover, so as to provide clear guidance for the whole thesis, the research questions and organization of the study are being illustrated. Rationale of the study Nowadays, English has been playing an important role in various aspects of life such as entertainment, economy, science and education…As its popularity, our education system attaches special importance to teaching and learning English in many school levels from primary to university or higher education one. A plenty of programs and methods have been introduced aiming at improving Vietnamese’s English skills. It cannot be denied that vocabulary is the core of learning English.
This is because vocabulary is integral to every language skill, including reading, writing, listening and speaking skill. Without it, students fail to understand what other people say and express their own ideas. To emphasize the importance of vocabulary, Schmitt (2000, p.55) states that “lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language”. British linguist Wilkins (1972) once said, “Without grammar, little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” (pp.
Therefore, learning vocabulary is always one of the most concerned to English learners. At Nguyen Hue Primary School, English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum and it is taught for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students to equip the students with some basic knowledge to communicate and complete basic tasks in the textbooks. After a five-year period of teaching English at the school, the teacher identified a problem that the students felt difficult to memorize and recall English vocabulary items including their pronunciation, their spelling and especially their meaning. It is clear that they could not communicate and practice writing tasks well because they lack the words they need.
In fact, there are many vocabulary learning techniques such as matching, role play, dictionary use…introduced to students to 1 improve their English vocabulary by the teachers, however, how to improve vocabulary is still a big problem which needs solving. With the purpose of helping the students to be more successful in memorizing English vocabulary and to motivate them to learn new words, I would like to conduct this study entitled “A study on the use of mind-mapping technique towards students’ English vocabulary retention at a primary school” in Thai Nguyen City. Aim of the study The research focuses on using mind maps to improve vocabulary retention of the 4th grade students at NHPS and to motivate them in learning English vocabulary. In order to achieve the aim stated, the following research questions are formulated: 1.
To what extend does mind mapping strategy affect students’ vocabulary retention? 2. What are the students’ attitudes towards mind-mapping technique? 1. Scope of the study The scope of this research was limited on the influence of mind-mapping technique on students’ vocabulary retention within the context of teaching and learning English as a compulsory subject at NHPS in Thai Nguyen city. Due to the limited time, this research was conducted on only 40 fourth-grade students at NHPS in the second term of the school year 2020 - 2021.
Significance of the study This study is potentially significant for English language teachers and students in some ways. Firstly, for English teachers, this study gives detailed information about the application of MM technique and its impacts on vocabulary retention for 4 graders. This can be a reference for teachers who want to use the same technique in their classrooms. The study can also be useful for students who are seeking for a suitable way to improve the ability of vocabulary memorization.
Organization of the study This thesis was divided into five chapters. 2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION - introduced the rationale, the aims, scope of the study, and significance of the study and organization of the study. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW – set up theoretical background related to vocabulary, mind-mapping and previous studies on it. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY - provided the methodology which included the general information about study subjects, context, method of the study, data collection instruments, data collection procedure, and data analytical method.
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION – presented research findings and discussed research questions. CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION– summarized the key issues in the study, points out the implications, limitations, and provided some suggestions for further study. LITERATURE REVIEW This part focuses on the theoretical background and the literature review of the study. It includes a number of important theoretical terms related to vocabulary, vocabulary retention, mind-mapping and previous studies related to the research as well.
Vocabulary definition Regarding vocabulary term, there have been many differences in defining it so far. According to Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Online, vocabulary is defined as all the words known and used by a particular person, and all the words which exist in a particular language or subject. Hatch and Brown (1995: 1) stated that vocabulary refers to a list or set of words for a particular language or a list or set of words that individual speakers of language might use. They also regarded vocabulary as the only system involved of alphabetical order.
Penny Ur (1996) characterized vocabulary 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 or multi-word idioms. In addition, Read (2001) viewed words as the basic building blocks of language, the units of meaning from which the larger structures such as sentences, paragraphs and whole texts are formed (p. There are numerous ways to understand the concept of “vocabulary”.
However, from the definitions above, it can be concluded that vocabulary is a list of words or a set of words in a language and knowledge of words regarding its forms and meanings. In the present study, vocabulary refers to the words, compounds and phrases in a language that have meanings used to convey and receive information in oral and written communication. The role of vocabulary Even though vocabulary is the sub-set of a language, it plays a very important role in language. It is considered as “the Everest of a language.
There is no larger task than to look for order among the hundreds of thousand words which comprise lexicon” (Crystal, 2003). It is obvious that no one can communicate in any meaningful 4 way without vocabulary. A large, rich vocabulary gives them the right words to use at the right time. Underlining the importance of vocabulary acquisition, Schmitt (2000) emphasizes that “lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language” (p.
Limited vocabulary in the second language blocks successful communication. According to Richards and Renandya in 2002, vocabulary is a core component of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read, and write.