MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A Thesis USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE THE 7TH GRADERS’ WRITING SKILLS AT A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI Sử dụng kỹ thuật sơ đồ tư duy nhằm nâng cao kỹ năng viết cho học sinh lớp 7 tại một trường THCS ở Hà Nội NGUYEN THI THAO Field: English Language Code: 8.01 Hanoi – 2023 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A Thesis USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE THE 7TH GRADERS’ WRITING SKILLS AT A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI Sử dụng kỹ thuật sơ đồ tư duy nhằm nâng cao kỹ năng viết cho học sinh lớp 7 tại một trường THCS ở Hà Nội NGUYEN THI THAO Field: English Language Code: 8. Nguyen Thi Van Dong Hanoi – 2023 2 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled Using mind-mapping techniques to enhance the 7th graders’ writing skills at a Junior High School in Ha Noi submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2023 Nguyen Thi Thao Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and date) Date: 1/2/2024 3 Abstract This is a classroom action research aimed at identifying whether the use of Mind Mapping strategy was effective in improving the students’ writing achievement.
In addition, the second purpose of the research is find out the problems faced by 7th graders and the factors affecting 7th graders’ writing skill. The research was conducted at Da Ton Junior High School with fifty students. The questionnaires were delivered to students to explore the situation of the research problem. Informal interviews with the students were then conducted to get more unbiased viewpoints regarding the use of mind mapping as a method for organizing ideas for their works, after five trial subjects had used the mind mapping approach.
During the lessons, it did not seem to be difficult for students to follow the teaching-learning process. In particular, they showed their excitement and interest in the lesson. Employing the data analysis, the writer comes to a conclusion that students at Da Ton Junior High school can improve their writing skills through mind mapping. 4 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale of the study. Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study. The Significance of the Research.
The structure of the study. 11 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Review of theoretical background……………………………………….1 Review of related studies worldwide………………………………………….2 Review of related studies in Vietnam………………………………………….14 2 General concepts of writing .1 Definitions of Writing .2 Definition of Writing skills .1 Definitions of Mind mapping .2 How to create mind mapping .3 The Use of Mind mapping in classroom .4 The difference between mind mapping and modeling for teaching writing. 28 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 2.1 General description of Da Ton Junior High school and the teaching and learning of English… .2 Teachers of English and students at Da Ton Junior High school .4 The Setting of Time .4 Data collection instruments .5 Student’s writing samples… .6 Data collection procedures…. 40 CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.
Results of Survey questionnaire. Figure 1 - Interest towards mind mapping. Figure 2- Usage of mind mapping. Figure 3- Anxiety in preparing the test.
Figure 4 - Using mind mapping to write a lot of topics. Figure 5 - Relating new information to the old. Results of informal interviews. The first question.
The second question. The third question…. The fourth question…. Findings and discussion.
50 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION… .3 Limitations during the study process .3 To further researchers. 57 APPENDICE Appendix A: Questionnaire. 59 Appendix B: Questions for Informal Interview .61 Appendix C: Lesson plan Sample. 62 LIST OF TABLEs Table 1: The schedule of the action implementation.
………………33 LIST OF FIGURE Figure 1 - Interest towards mind mapping……………………………………….42 Figure 2- Usage of mind mapping………………………………………………. 43 Figure 3 - Anxiety in preparing the test…………………………………………. 44 Figure 4 - Using mind mapping to write a lot of topics…………………………. 46 Figure 5 - Relating new information to the old…………………………….
Rationale There is no denying the importance of writing in the language learning process, together with other language abilities. Without writing, the students are unable to compose even casual letters to friends and family, birthday greetings, or Curriculum Vitae that are necessary for job applications. More importantly, records and transmissions from generation to generation are not possible for textbooks, scientific reports, well-known learning skill books, or literary masterpieces. Writing is regarded, along with other abilities, as one of the most important linking devices that enable us to interact, share information, and stay up to speed on news or events that are happening globally on a daily basis.
We can quickly, in less than a second, obtain thousands of written results related to our search query by simply double clicking. Because writing is so important, people tend to be more concerned about this and try to learn as many new ways and strategies as they can to fulfill the needs of the student. As a result, linguistic experts as well as students worldwide are becoming increasingly interested in the issues of which is appropriate for the majority of students and how to teach writing efficiently. In actuality, a significant issue with Vietnamese learners' writing abilities is that, in addition to being riddled with grammatical errors and devoid of vocabulary and structural elements, many of them lack the ability to plan or organize their thoughts.
They frequently use their own to jot down any thought that comes to mind expertise in the specified areas without providing an outline. Occasionally, they also write in Vietnamese, using a lot of popular Vietnamese terms, on what they understand about the subjects. After translating into English, they consider it to be the best version. In this approach, individuals perceive the subjects in a foreign language using the Vietnamese style of thinking without having any knowledge of the local speakers' perspective.
However, selecting the most exquisite words and intricate structures may take some time, which may unintentionally cause people to forget the deadlines associated with the writing process. Furthermore, it is inevitable for them to select incorrect terminology during the translation process, and they also struggle to locate corresponding terms in English. Since they are actually studying English, they should adopt an American or 8 British direct style of thinking. Foreign examiners will not find their compositions acceptable on international standard exams such as the TOEFL, TOEIC, and IELTS due to their excessive use of unusual and difficult terminology and lack of control over length and time.
Another thing to consider is that English classes in Vietnam frequently employ conventional teaching techniques. Instructors typically assign homework to their students, giving them certain subjects to write about along with a few language suggestions. Based on my personal observations, educators mostly concentrate on identifying grammatical errors made by students and requesting repairs, rather than instructing them on content organization, as they hold the belief that this is the most effective approach to enhance their writing abilities. As a result, rather than having strong substance, students start to believe that the best written papers are those with the fewest grammatical errors.
However, several teachers have noticed that the results of writing tests, which primarily focus on grammar and spelling accuracy, do not accurately reflect students' writing talents. As a result, pupils start to realize how difficult it is to develop their thoughts and write meaningful content, instead choosing to concentrate more on the written piece's mechanical form. Numerous innovative methods and approaches have been used to address it, and they have quickly become a phenomenon in the teaching and learning of writing. Mind mapping is one of those techniques.
Tony Buzan claims that mind mapping is the best tool for encouraging frequent thought Buzan (2006). According to him, mind maps not only display facts but also a subject's overall structure and the relative significance of its constituent pieces. According to Tony Buzan (2010), it facilitates pupils' ability to link ideas, think creatively, and draw connections that they might not have otherwise. Using colored pencils, photos, and images connected by flexible lines could help students focus more during writing courses and become more creative.
Additionally, mind mapping might assist them in refining the themes they are provided as well as in generating and developing thoughts more logically as opposed to simply writing everything they have in mind in any order. To be more precise, it is one type of instructional strategy that has been shown to be successful in writing assignments and may increase students' drive to improve their abilities and obtain better results through visual aids. Because of the aforementioned situation, the author decides to carry out a 9 study titled “Using mind-mapping techniques to enhance the 7th graders writing skills at a junior high school in Ha Noi” in an effort to determine how to make this procedure better. Since writing is just as important as any other talent, the author decided to focus on developing her writing abilities while conducting her research.
Furthermore, numerous studies have been conducted to assess the efficacy of mind mapping in teaching reading, vocabulary, and listening skills. For these reasons, the author decided to focus more on writing skills in order to assist her own students in advancing in these areas. Last but not least, Da Ton Junior High school students tend to concentrate mostly on grammar rules and occasionally overlook the development of other abilities, which results in their inefficiency in language proficiency. These are the explanations for the author's choice of writing skills as the study's central focus.
Aim and objectives of the study The main objective of this study is to explore the effect of using the strategy of mind mapping on the writing achievement of 7th graders at a junior school in Da Ton Junior high school. In particular, the following objectives derive from the main one as follows. • To find out the problems faced by 7th graders in Da Ton Junior high school in the thesis. • To find out the factors affecting 7th graders’ writing skill in Da Ton Junior high school.
• To give some suggestions in using mind-mapping to improve writing skills for students in the 7th graders in Da Ton Junior high school. Research questions By this study, the researcher’s objective is to determine responses to the following research questions: 1. What are the difficulties that the 7th-grade students in Da Ton Junior high school face in writing in English? 2. What are the factors causing the mentioned problems to the 7th-grade students in Da Ton Junior high school in the study? 3.
How do the students overcome these problems? 4. Scope of the study First of all, the study was unable to examine every facet of writing instruction and learning because of time and resource constraints. It solely addressed mind maps as 10 one method of teaching writing. Students from Da Ton Junior High School participated in trial lessons, answered survey questions, and were interviewed informally to make up the study's population.
In specifics, fifty students received survey questionnaires, and six of them—selected at random—participated in unofficial interviews. The Significance of the Research The author anticipates that the study will demonstrate the value of mind mapping as a teaching and learning tool for the writing process. Additionally, the researcher anticipates that both teachers and students will benefit from the study on the application of mind mapping techniques in the instruction and acquisition of writing abilities. - For the Researcher: The researcher will gain a better understanding of how well students' writing skills may be improved by employing the mind mapping approach.