MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY DAO NGOC TAM AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND USE OF MIND MAPPING IN LEARNING VOCABULARY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY DAO NGOC TAM AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND USE OF MIND MAPPING IN LEARNING VOCABULARY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: Assoc. LE PHAM HOAI HUONG HUE, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ĐÀO NGỌC TÂM NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHẬN THỨC VÀ SỬ DỤNG SƠ ĐỒ TƯ DUY VÀO VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. LÊ PHẠM HOÀI HƯƠNG HUẾ, 2019 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere.
Signed: DAO NGOC TAM Date: 10/ 12/ 2019 i ABSTRACT This study was carried out to investigate EFL students‘ perceptions towards the use of Mind Mapping (MM) in learning vocabulary and the practice of this technique in vocabulary learning process at HUFL. Besides, the study also explored the difficulties faced by the students in using MM to learn vocabulary. The data were collected from 112 EFL students at HUFL through questionnaires, interviews and diaries. Both quantitative and quantitative methods were applied to the data analysis.
The findings of the research reveal that students have positive attitudes towards using MM in learning vocabulary. Besides, they knew how to combine colors, images and line to make the MM more interesting and effective for learning English vocabulary. However, the EFL students did not have much experience in applying MM to learn vocabulary and they always faced some disadvantages of technique such as shortage of time, lack of ability to create interesting mind maps and shortage of space for a large topic of vocabulary. Based on the findings, some practical implications for the students and teachers were made to improve the quality of vocabulary learning process by using MM.
ii Acknowledgement This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement and whole-hearted assistance of many people. Firstly, I would like to express my deepest to my supervisor, Assoc. Le Pham Hoai Huong, whose encouragement, guidance, and support from the initial to the final level has enabled me to overcome many difficulties and develop my research skills. It is an honor for me to extend my special thanks to all the staff, especially, the teaching staff at Hue College of Foreign Languages.
Without their help and encouragement, I would not have accomplished my thesis. Secondly, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the second-year and third-year students at Hue College of Foreign Languages for their precious help and cooperation during my survey there. Thirdly, I wish to thank my friends who have encouraged me to carry out this thesis and shared with me their materials, ideas as well as useful comments on my research. Finally, millions of thanks go to our beloved family whose financial support and spiritual encouragement contribute a significant part to the completion of the research.
iii TABLES OF CONTENTS Statement of Original Authorship. iii Tables of contents. iv List of tables. vii List of figures.
viii List of abbreviations .1 Rationale for the research .4 Scope of the research .5 Significance of research .6 Structure of the research .1 Overview of mind mapping .2 Theories supporting the concept mind map .1 Knowledge visualization theory .2 Brain science theory .3 Information processing theory .3 Types of mind maps .4 Steps of making mind maps .5 Characteristics of mind maps.6 The difference between mind map and concept maps .7 Advantages and disadvantages of mind maps .1 Advantages of mind maps .2 Disadvantages of mind maps .