VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECT OF APPLYING MIND-MAPPING IN TEACHING PHRASAL VERBS TO CHAU VAN LIEM 9TH GRADERS Submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages By LA THẢO QUỲNH Supervised by NGUYỄN THỊ KIỀU THU, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, AUGUST 2017 ` STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY, RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS This is to certify that the thesis entitled An Investigation into the Effect of Applying Mind-Mapping in Teaching Phrasal Verbs to Chau Van Liem 9th graders is the product of my own work. The thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution. The thesis’s content, except where clearly acknowledged within the text, has not been published by other authors.
I hereby state that I approve the requirements of the University for the Retention and use of my thesis and that it is accessible for the purposes of study and research. Ho Chi Minh City, August 15, 2017. La Thảo Quỳnh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe my deepest gratitude to Ms. Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph., my supervisor, for her clear and enthusiastic instructions as well as valuable comments on my paper at various points in its development.
Without her precious support and patient guidance, I could have never finished this research. I also would like to express my gratitude to the headmaster, teachers and students at Chau Van Liem Secondary School, who contributed a great deal to helping me collect valuable data for my study. I am also grateful to my best friends who have spent their precious time listening to me, encouraging me, consoling me and giving me valuable advice when I need them the most. Also, I am indebted to all the members in my family, for their great support and encouragement, especially my mom who always reminds me of finishing my work on time and being responsible for it.
I would also like to say thanks to my boyfriend who has also been there for me and reminded me to complete my work responsibly and timely. ii ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of a technique which English teachers can apply in teaching phrasal verbs to the students attending Chau Van Liem Secondary School in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on their students’ learning. This particular technique incorporated a number of mind maps self-designed by the researcher whose hope was to introduce them and prove their effect in teaching one of the most challenging aspects of English: phrasal verbs. The data used for this study were collected through the administration of three sets of pre-tests and post-tests together with a student questionnaire and informal talks with some volunteer students.
The research has pointed out that the applied teaching technique does have an effect on the participants’ scores, attitudes and short-term memory through an increase in their scores after they underwent the treatment. Furthermore, they expressed generally positive attitudes towards the technique stating that the mind maps’ general presentation and design were attractive enough to motivate them in learning. Although the students did point out some unsatisfactory features of the treatment, they still agreed that this teaching method could be used effectively to support the teaching and learning of English phrasal verbs. Based on the findings, the researcher expected that English teachers at secondary schools would try out the method so as to create favorable results which have been proved by the study in its own research condition.
Key words: mind-mapping, phrasal verbs, cognitive processing iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY, RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .viii LIST OF TABLES. ix LIST OF FIGURES. xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .1 Background to the study .2 Aim of the study .4 Significance of the study .5 Organization of the study.
4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Definitions of mind-mapping .2 Characteristics of mind-mapping .3 Laws of mind-mapping .1 Definitions of ‘phrasal verbs’ .2 The construction and types of phrasal verbs .1 The construction of phrasal verbs .2 Types of phrasal verbs .3 Approaches to teaching phrasal verbs .4 How phrasal verbs have been taught in grade 9 in Vietnam .1 Phrasal verbs taught in the English 9 textbook .2 Phrasal verbs taught in English 9 Workbook .3 Phrasal verbs taught in Mai Lan Huong Workbook .4 Phrasal verbs in teachers’ English 9 lesson plans .3 Applications of mind mapping in educational settings and their related issues .1 Students’ attitudes towards the use of mind maps in various educational contexts .2 Teachers’ attitudes towards the use of mind maps in the context of ELT classroom .3 The effects of using mind maps in education .4 Using mind maps to teach vocabulary.4 A typology of memory and memory retention .1 A typology of memory .5 Basic framework for designing the phrasal verb mind maps .6 Definition of attitude .8 The Current Study’s Operational Definitions and Theoretical Framework .10 Summary of Chapter 2. 43 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .1 Research question and hypotheses .3 Context of the study .1 Selection of taught phrasal verbs .2 Presentation of phrasal verb mind maps .1 Sets of pre-tests and post-tests .4 Attitudinal student questionnaire .6 Procedures of data collection and data analysis .7 Summary of Chapter 3. 67 CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Analysis of data .1 The analysis of students’ test scores .2 First group (Class 9A5)’s test scores .2 Second group (Class 9A2)’s test scores .3 Comparison between the two experimental groups .2 The effect of using mind mapping to teach phrasal verbs on students’ attitudes .1 Students’ attitudes towards the presentation of distributed mind maps .2 Students’ attitudes towards the images in distributed mind maps .3 Students’ attitudes towards the content of the mind maps .4 Students’ favorite and disliked aspects of the mind maps .5 Students’ attitudes towards the actual application of mind maps .4 The effect of using mind mapping to teach phrasal verbs on students’ STM .2 Major findings of the current study .1 The participants’ increased test scores .2 The participants’ attitudes towards the application of mind-mapping in teaching phrasal verbs .4 Summary of Chapter 4. 94 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATION .2 Limitations of the study.3 Recommendations for the application of the technique and further studies .1 Recommendation for the application of the technique .2 Recommendation for further studies.
107 APPENDIX 1: THE PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST 1. 107 APPENDIX 2: THE PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST 2. 111 APPENDIX 3: THE PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST 3. 117 APPENDIX 4: THE STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE.
123 APPENDIX 5: THREE MIND MAPS USED IN THE TREATMENT. 127 APPENDIX 6: LEARNERS’ OPINIONS TOWARDS MIND MAPS IN A STUDY BY JONES ET AL. 130 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CVL Chau Van Liem Secondary School EF Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature EFL English as a Foreign Language ELT English Languages Teaching STM short-term memory USSH University of Social Sciences and Humanities VNU-HCMC Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam National University viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Keys of Unit 7’s Exercise VIII in Mai Lan Huong’s Workbook .2 List of all excluded phrasal verbs .1 Basic information about two experimental groups .1 The summary of basic figures of Class 9A5's 3 sets of tests .2 The summary of the mean scores of Class 9A5's tests .3 The summary of Class 9A5's first meeting paired samples statistics and correlations .4 The summary of Class 9A5's first meeting paired samples test .5 The summary of Class 9A5's second meeting paired samples statistics and correlations .6 The summary of Class 9A5's second meeting paired samples test.7 The summary of Class 9A5's third meeting paired samples statistics and correlations .8 The summary of Class 9A5's third meeting paired samples test .9 The summary of basic figures of Class 9A2's 3 sets of tests .10 The summary of the mean scores of Class 9A2's tests .11 The summary of Class 9A2's first meeting paired samples statistics and correlations .12 The summary of Class 9A2's first meeting paired samples test .13 The summary of Class 9A2's second meeting paired samples statistics and correlations .14 The summary of Class 9A2's second meeting paired samples test.15 The summary of Class 9A2's third meeting paired samples statistics and correlations .16 The summary of Class 9A2's third meeting paired samples test .17 The summary of two groups' mean scores .18 The summary of two groups' deviations .19 The summary of two groups' t-values .20 Students' attitudes towards the mind maps' presentation .21 Students' attitudes towards the mind maps' images .22 Students' attitudes towards the mind maps' content. 83 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Thim’s classification of phrasal verbs .2 Phrasal verbs taught in Unit 7’s Language Focus in English 9 .3 Phrasal verbs in Unit 7’s Exercise 4 in English 9’s Workbook .4 Phrasal verbs in Unit 7’s Exercise VI in Mai Lan Huong’s Workbook .5 Phrasal verbs in Unit 7’s Exercise VII in Mai Lan Huong’s Workbook .6 Phrasal verbs in Unit 7’s Exercise VIII in Mai Lan Huong’s Workbook .7 Illustrative mind-mapping characteristics .8 The study’s theoretical framework .9 The study’s conceptual framework .1 Illustration of a phrasal-verb mind map .2 Process of data collection and analysis .1 Rustler’s basic mind map presentation .2 The respondents' favorite aspects of the phrasal verb mind maps .3 The respondents' disliked aspects of the phrasal verb mind maps .4 The respondents' views on the fitness of using mind maps to teach phrasal verbs .5 The respondents' views on the potential of the actual application of multi-word mind maps.
88 xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study Since the issue of Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW by the Central Government of November 11, 2013, there has been a widespread trend of renovations in the education field in most types of schools all over Vietnam. The Resolution discussed the worrying past situations of education in Vietnam. Specifically, the number of students per class was frequently quite high, approximately from 45 to 50 students or even higher than that.
The teaching and learning quality remained low, especially in universities and vocational schools. Teaching methods were obsolete and theories received most attention instead of practice. Consequently, it has been observed that graduates lack specific necessary practical skills for their jobs. These drawbacks led to the urge to propose and implement renovations in the educational fields so as to enhance the teaching and learning quality of Vietnamese teachers and students.
Novel innovations have come in various forms, one of which was the application of a new model of classroom at some primary schools. This model proposed the formation of a student council and students were asked to vote for and elect their president. This was believed to help train students’ autonomy as well as equip them with a sense of modern society and responsibility. Apart from that organization which was applied to learners, teachers were also another main focus of the Resolution.
Teachers working in all types of schools and institutes have been taking part in competitions and activities at local and national levels. These contests create the opportunity for them to refine their teaching skills as well as exchange precious teaching experiences with other colleagues. Besides participating in these mentioned occasions, teachers have also been required to submit their initiatives gathered from their teaching experiences and contexts. Among these suggestions, mind mapping has been proposed as a novel method to be applied in various academic subjects such as History or Math.
A number of teachers teaching the two mentioned subjects asked their students to design mind maps whose contents are based on taught lessons. This type of activity appeared to 1 stimulate learners’ interest and learning motives (Nguyen, 2012).