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Sáng kiến Sử dụng kỹ thuật lập bản đồ tư duy để nâng cao vốn từ vựng Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 12 – Chương trình cơ bản
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TÀI USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE 12th GRADERS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT LUONG DAC BANG HIGH SCHOOL
Ngườithựchiện:Hồ Thị MinhThái
Chứcvụ:Tổ trưởngchuyênmônTiếngAnh
Đơnvị côngtác:TrườngTHPTLương ĐắcBằng
SKKNthuộcmôn:TiếngAnh
1.1. Reasons for choosing the topic
In today’s global world, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored. It has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, education, aviation, etc. It is the language of science and technology. It is the official language in a large number of countries. English language, therefore, is believed to be used to access to every field of life. It is English that is used to communicate internationally.
In acquiring a foreign language, vocabulary plays a crucial part. It is one element that links the four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) all together. When talking about the importance of vocabulary, it was noted by Wilkins (1972) that: "without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed." Indeed, people need to use words in order to express themselves in any language. In order to communicate well in a foreign language, anyone should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately.
Before 1970, little attention was paid to vocabulary teaching and learning. It means that teaching vocabulary was just considered as an addition to teaching grammar or simply a byproduct of language teaching and communicative functions. However, some scholars of language acquisition no longer talk about the four language skills, but nine skills. These other five skills are vocabulary, spelling, grammar, pronunciation and study skills. Therefore, the role of vocabulary knowledge has been recognized by theorists and researchers since 1990.
Besides, in my experience as a teacher of English, I noticed that my students usually find it difficult to speak English fluently. They usually consider speaking and writing activities (productive skills) exhausting because they keep on using the same words and expressions, so very soon their conversation is abruptly interrupted due to missing words. For the same reason, their receptive skills (listening and reading) are not good either. The main reason for such problems is the lack of vocabulary. Other students are faced with the problem of forgetting the words right after the teacher has elicited their meaning or after having looked them in the dictionary. This is also a cause of the lack of vocabulary.
Recognizing the importance of vocabulary, I myself understand that the teacher has an essential role in helping students to improve their vocabulary.
To the best of my knowledge, there have not been any studies concerning Mind-mapping technique in vocabulary teaching carried out at Luong Dac Bang high school before. Therefore, the author of the present study, a teacher of English, has decided to conduct a study named “Using Mind-mapping Technique to improve the 12th Graders’ English Vocabulary at Luong Dac Bang high school”. The findings of the study, if done well, would be original.
1.2. Research purpose and objectives
The purpose of the study is to improve the 12th graders’ English vocabulary at Luong Dac Bang high school. In order to achieve the purpose, the study is expected to reach the objectives as follows:
- Uncovering the 12th graders’ attitudes towards mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary teaching.
- Evaluating the effectiveness of mind-mapping technique applied to vocabulary teaching.
1.3. Research questions
The objectives of the study can be elaborated into the research questions as follows:
- How is mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary teaching assessed by the 12th graders at Luong Dac Bang High School?
- What is the effectiveness of mind-mapping technique on the 12th graders’ English vocabulary outcome at Luong Dac Bang High School?
1.4. Scope of the research
The focus of the study is using mind-mapping technique to improve the 12th graders’ English vocabulary at Luong Dac Bang high school. Hence, the study could not cover all aspects in vocabulary teaching. It only focused on the use of mind-mapping as a technique to help enhance the 12th graders’ vocabulary at Luong Dac Bang high school.
The subjects of the study are 90 male and female students coming from class 12A3 and 12A9. The age of those 90 students ranges from 17 to 18. They are going to be the participants and respondents to survey questionnaires, trial lessons and tests.
The action plan was implemented in 5 months from October 2021 to February 2022, during the academic school year (2021-2022) at Luong Dac Bang high school.
1.5. Research methodology
The purpose of this research is to find out whether mind-mapping technique has any positive effects on the 12th graders’ improvement and retention of vocabulary and explore the students’ attitudes toward this technique. Besides, I myself - the researcher - would like to improve my students' learning skill and my professional performance. Therefore, it is hoped to be a practical action research project because its purpose is to research a specific school situation with a view toward improving practice, to focus narrowly on a specific problem and to be undertaken by an individual teacher within a high school.
In order to address the two research questions, both qualitative and quantitative methods are exploited in this action research. The data are collected via survey questionnaires, interviews and tests.
2. CONTENTS
2.1. Theoretical background
2.1.1. Vocabulary Defined
According to Webster (1994), vocabulary is the list of words which is often used in every aspect of life and words are usually arranged alphabetically with an equivalent definition. To be more details, vocabulary is often explained or translated, depending on the word stock at the command of an individual for the use of this person in particular work, language or branch of subject, etc. Additionally, Lado (1994) defined vocabulary as a form of expression with associated with the meaning and content of words. Meanwhile, it was also defined by Scrivener (1994) that vocabulary could be considered as a powerful meaning carrier because when a student identifies the importance of the vocabulary in communication and learning, they may reasonably intend to get, receive and accept a working knowledge of a great amount of words.
Another significant thing to be considered for teachers when making work of vocabulary is the difference between receptive and productive vocabulary. According to S. Thornbury (2002), in general, there are several difficulties when learners access vocabulary of a foreign language, and they are:
• Creating the accurate connection between the form and meaning of words during the process of understanding the target language; for example, separating the meaning of the words related to the topic.
• Using the exact word form for the intentional meaning when producing language.
In brief, there are many different points of view about vocabulary. Having mentioned these definitions, the researcher decided to use that of Webster (1994) in this study because this definition from this scholar is more appropriate and useful to use in the study.
2.1.2. Vocabulary Classified
According to Scrivener (1974), vocabulary can be divided into two types, including productive (active vocabulary) and receptive (passive vocabulary). Particularly, productive vocabulary is the group of words which are often used in spoken language, or daily conversation. This type of vocabulary requires good pronunciation – saying the sounds and stress of the words correctly – so that the dialogue can be carried out smoothly. Meanwhile, receptive vocabulary is the use of words that we can identify and understand how to use; but we do not use it intentionally in conversation or other purposes.
Additionally, it is raised by Hendrich (1988, p.131) that, vocabulary classification is possible to maintain from different viewpoints: formal (for example word classes); mechanical (according to the frequency); semantic, that is according to the relationships of language marking to off-language reality or according to the relationships of meaning (synonyms, antonyms, etcetera); or from the grammatical viewpoint, mainly paradigmatic, which is grouping words together according to the same grammatical characteristics.
Another classification by Judy K. Montgomery (from the book: The Bridge of Vocabulary: Evidence Based Activities for Academic Success (NCS Pearson Inc, 2007). There are 4 types of vocabulary:
• Listening which is the words we hear and understand;
• Speaking which is the words we use when we speak;
• Reading which is the words we understand when we read text;
• Writing which is the words we can retrieve when we write to express ourselves.
The first two constitute spoken vocabulary and the last two, written vocabulary. Children begin to acquire listening and speaking vocabularies many years before they start to build reading and writing vocabularies. Spoken language forms the basis for written language. Each type has a different purpose and, luckily, vocabulary development in one type facilitates growth in another.
2.1.3. Vocabulary Tests Defined
According to Brown (2005), test, in simple term is a way of examining ability of an individual, knowledge or performance in a given aspect. There are many published exercises on vocabulary. These include: Matching pictures to words; matching parts of words to other
parts; matching words of other words (synonym, opposites, sets of related words, etc.); using prefixes and suffixes to build new words; using given words to complete a specific task; filling in crossword, girds or diagrams; memory games. Each of them can be interpreted in detail as follows:
• Matching pictures to words which could help a child to demonstrate their knowledge. Activities like this can also be lessons in vocabulary, for a child matching local birds this is also an opportunity for the child to demonstrate their knowledge in the names and sounds of the birds.
• Matching parts of words to other parts in which the child is using their developing memory, utilizing their ability to store, organize and retrieve information, recall information in relation to something they have seen before.
• Matching words of other words, example: synonym, opposites, sets of related words, etc. which can also provide the child the opportunity to further their knowledge and then demonstrate that knowledge in a particular/specialized area of interest.
• Using prefixes and suffixes to build a new word which give the children an improvement when they read literature, coming upon unknown words. It also helps them concisely say or write something. They just add a prefix or suffix and eliminate the extra prepositions or sentences needed to convey the meaning.
• Using given words to complete a specific task helps the children to train their memory and the capability to analyze and give the most suitable choice.
• Filling in crossword, girds or diagrams force the children to look at the letter sequence of a word which helps them learn new spelling. Filling in crosswords relies on them spelling the word correctly and this helps them to remember words with difficult spelling.
• Memory games bring about a wide range of benefits which include:
improve concentration;
train visual memory;
increase short term memory;
increase attention to detail;
improve the ability to find similarities and differences in objects;
help to classify objects that are grouped by similar traits.
2.1.4. Mind-mapping Technique
Mind-mapping Technique Defined
There are many different views on the definition of mind-mapping. It is defined by Tony, a British psychologist that “Mind-mapping technique” or “Mind-mapping” was created and made progress in the late 1960s in an attempt to assist learners to do the note-taking more effectively. According to Buzan (1993) in the book “The Mind mapping Book”, “Mindmapping is a powerful graphic technique, which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain”. Additionally, it was also noted by McGriff (2000) about Mindmapping that “Mind-mapping is an excellent way to help learners organize knowledge, to empower themselves to better comprehend the key concepts and principles in lectures, readings or other instructional materials”. Mind-mapping is also defined by Readon and
Nourie (1999) that “Mind-mapping is a creative note-taking method, which eases us to remember much information. Because of its visual specialty, Mind-mapping is often full of color, pictures and symbols like a small art.
• Using as least words as possible, the best way to convey ideas in Mind-mapping is using one key word, which is proven to create the creativeness and flexibility to the Mindmapping and help the author to spark off novel thoughts, for each big branch, and more details can be added in further branches.
Mind-mapping Classified
In general, Mind-mapping imitates the thinking process, namely helps us to move from one topic to another topic back and forth, and presents the information through symbols, pictures, emotional meaning and colors, exactly the same as our brains process it. It uses lines, colors, arrows, branches or some ways of showing connections between ideas generated on our mind map. Our brains can remember things better with visual, colors and pictures and therefore remember the facts and ideas that go with them.
In fact, there are many different types of Mind-mapping; however, four types presented below are the most popular.
Network tree
In the example about Mind-mapping given in the picture above, the author concentrates on the topic of “tennis” and the related aspects that help reader to understand more about this sport, for example, principles, shot, scoring, tournaments or surfaces.
In general, Mind-mapping illustrates the process of forming ideas happens in our mind. By using Mind-mapping, a great amount of information can be presented by pictures, lines, colors or symbols. Furthermore, other components of a Mind-mapping such as arrows, shapes will help our brain to remember information in a better way.
In the book about Mind-mapping, Buzan (2004) recommends a way to make or create a Mind-mapping, consists of these following advices:
• Taking a blank piece of paper and beginning in the center of this sheet with turning the paper sideways. Starting from the middle helps the brain to think freely due to numerous creative spaces, ideas from brain can spread in all direction so that they can be expressed in the most effective way.
• Taking pictures, photos or big shape drawn by the author for the main topic or ideas, with the biggest for the most important and smaller for the less significant. An image or picture put in the central of the Mind-mapping can be able to make the map to be more intriguing and keep the author of the map concentrated on the process and stimulate the imagination so that new ideas can be produced.
• Using colors, which are helpful to the imagination, to make the Mind-mapping to be more vibrant, lively and energetic. Bright and impressive colors such as red, orange or blue are highly recommended.
• Using curved lines, which are less boring and more attractive to the maker, to connect the mainideas tothe topicin the central position of the paper.Whenconnectingideasby lines, it creates the structural frame to the whole map and helps the brain link ideas and support evidence together.
Network tree is a way of presenting ideas, concepts or information and relationships among them in the form of branches, often vertical ones. In a network tree, information, with examples incorporated to reinforce the meanings of the word, are regularly arranged basing onits levelof specification,inwhichthe most generalterm willbeatthetopand more specific items will be under the big topic. An example of a network tree is shown in Figure 2 below:
It can be seen in the network tree example shown in Figure 2 that there are many scientific terms presented in this diagram.
Event Chain
In general, an event chain is a diagram which has the function of indicating the relationships among events and how they have an influence on each other. In particular, its chain describes the sequence of the procedure of this event.
This is the most popular and favorite type of Mind-mapping, and this type of Mind-mapping are still used by many students all over the world to help them study more effectively. It is noted by Svantesson (2004) that there are several ways of creating Mind-mapping using this method, namely hayfork, thorn fish, cluster or variation, which are given with examples below:
Take Figure 3 as an example, it can be seen that there are several stages in the Order Information Check process, and each step in the procedure has the relationship to at least one another stage. By using the event chain, steps and stages used to complete the task can be described in a clearer way to understand.
Cycle Concept Map
Cycle concept map could be considered a remarkable type of event chain map. In this type of map, there is no final outcome produced after the event sequence. Instead, the last stage in the map has a reversal effect back to the initial one
2.1.5. Mind-mapping Technique in teaching and learning vocabulary
It is undeniable that memory plays an important part in learning, remembering and acquiring a foreign language, especially in learning vocabulary, in which students hold responsible for getting acquaintance and internalizing to the pronunciation and meaning of the words on the purpose of using them effectively. In order to achieving the aim of learning vocabulary efficiently, takingthe advantage of the tool of Mind-mapping, which use personal connection with a view to making the process of remembering new information to be more easily and visualizing the thinking process, a helpful method. As a result, Mind-mapping is considered to be a very supportive teaching technique to use the vocabulary of a foreign language proficiently. Despite the possibility of being time-consuming to apply the technique, eventually, at the time students recognize and understand the way of using Mindmapping, the learning process will be speeded up. Basing on the viewpoint of Casco (2009), there are some applications of using Mind mapping in teaching vocabulary, including:
• Engaging the students
As can be seen in the Figure 4, which illustrates the cycle of the element of Carbon on the Earth, all of the components involving in the process of producing CO2 and C have the relationship to each other; and if the diagram is analyzed carefully, there are up to three smaller cycles described in this map.
Spider Concept Map
When taking a look at the Mind-mapping, students can pay attention to the main topic and recognize what the subsequent piece of information is. Additionally, Mind mapping can supply necessary information to decrease the apprehension of the students when getting input data.
• Activating previous background knowledge
Mind-mapping is proven to activate prior knowledge of students because the use of pictures, colors and keywords can foster the memorization process of students’ background knowledge about the topic.
• Stimulating students to raise questions
In a Mind-mapping, the information is displayed and arranged in a clear way and it shows the background knowledge of the students about the topic by the density of branches on the Mind-mapping. Therefore, Mind-mapping can help to encourage learners to ask because visual attracts and interrogation marks widen the range of information and urge them to ask more to fulfill the need in the students to discover and answer unanswered questions.
• Supporting the skills of reading, listening and speaking
Owing to offering the students a very general view of the topic, Mind-mapping is considered a powerful method to facilitate the skills of reading and listening comprehension of students. Accordingly, the embedded signals included in the Mind mapping prompt the students to create the link between the ideas summarized on it and the full content of these ideas, and in turn help them to understand. Additionally, Mind mapping also provides a method for the students to arrange their thoughts, because the great number of ideas and information on the Mind-mapping, which are easily connected, allowed the students to make a discourse when using the Mind-mapping.
• Evaluating oral production
In general, the method of implementing the same Mind-mapping at different steps of the coursecan be taken as an example of theprocess ofproductionof the students. Theycan show their level of comprehension of the new grammatical structures and lexical items by explaining the relation among elements on the Mind-mapping. The production acquired with the aid from the Mind-mapping will become an experience for teacher in their work in the future.
• Supporting written production
In writing, Mind-mapping is proven to be an effective tool to form the ideas for the writing topic, because the more branches the Mind-mapping has, the more evidence and supporting ideas the students can have to put into their writing production.
Because of its importance, vocabulary appears in almost every aspect of the language use, including reading, writing and speaking. According to Hofland (2007), reading is considered “a very linear process, a typical left-brain skill.” On the other hand, linear process is not the sole skill that the human brain is good at; it is also extremely strong in parallel processing skill. Obviously, when a word appears in students’ mind, it usually accompanies with related images, pictures, ideas or associations of this word, and the connection itself is also the advantage of Mind-mapping. Leaners can take advantage of it to use in their learning. Additionally, Mind-mapping can be very useful in learning writing, which is considered to be the hardest skill for the students to learn because of the word limitation and the lack of ideas to express in a writing task. With the use of Mind-mapping, students can have a creative way to brainstorm and forming ideas for the task. Besides, students can express their viewpoint by looking at the pictures, photos or colorful words and turn this opinion into sentence in the
writing. Last but not least, Mind-mapping can be used like a reminder tool for the speaking exercises. Students can prepare a Mind-mapping about the topic that they are going to learn in the lesson. Key words and clues appear on the Mind-mapping will be suggestions to them so that they will speak more naturally, fluently and confidently
Figure 9: A Mind-mapping about City (by Archie Archambault)
As is illustrated in the figure, the biggest topic for the lesson is “City” and there are three most popular things can be found in the city, including transport, buildings and places, and each word contain more than ten new words, so there are approximately 40 items of vocabulary on just only one page of paper. Obviously, seeing this Mind mapping will help students to remember these items more easily than looking at the monotonous list of words. Besides using shapes and colors in the previous figure, another way to memorize the new vocabulary is through the pictures and images, because systematically information arranged in the form of pictures and photos can help learners a lot in the process of learning new words.
10: A Mind-mapping about Animals (by Paul Foreman)
For instance, in figure, the topic about animals became very interesting, colorful and lively with the appearance of images represent for each big group of animals. Some difficult words to students such as “amphibian”, “cold-blooded” or “reptiles”, which are regularly time-consuming to remember if students learn in traditional way, now when visualized, the hard-to-remember wordspopped up automatically in thestudents’ mindsevery time they look at it.
2.1.6. Advantages of using Mind-mapping Technique
It is presented in previous parts that the first reason for the advent of Mind mapping was to make the note-taking action of learners, or regularly the action of writing words down with lots of words, which has three following disadvantages: writing down redundant words is time-consuming and labor-consuming, missing information during the process of writing and taking more time to read and review, to be more effective (Tony, 2004).
On the other hand, applying Mind-mapping technique has a variety of strong points. According to De Porter and Hernacki (2008), there are four main advantages and three disadvantages when Mind-mapping technique is applied in the class, as mention below.
• Flexibility
The Mind-mapping can help students express their ideas in a very flexible way, because details or information can be added easily to the Mind-mapping, basing on our viewpoints, anywhere in the Mind-mapping.
• Topic’s concentration
Because of the special position in the Mind-mapping, the topic, which is often written in biggest and most colorful letters or pictures, can be seen by the students easily and it helps students focus on what he or she is mentioning or talking about. Furthermore, keeping seeing on the keywords or phrases, which are very outstanding on the Mind-mapping, can also help students to simplify their outcome.
• Increasing in comprehension
It is proven that using Mind-mapping can make the process of understanding the materials more easily, because Mind-mapping is a simple pattern with branches in different directions and obviously it does not create the confusion when students learn the materials.
• Enjoyment
Because of the special characteristics of Mind-mapping, it will be very enjoyable when designing a Mind-mapping. Imagination, beauty, words, ideas or creativity is unlimited and it makes Mind-mapping to be interesting and exciting to make. The use of picture, image and colors also makes the brain feeling comfortable and it will stimulate the appearance of ideas and information.
2.2.
Practical background
Luong Dac Bang High School was established in 1961. It is one of the most famous schools in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. With about 100 teachers and officers, approximately 1549 students and 37 classes (School year 2021 - 2022), Luong Dac Bang High School is noted for not only many experienced teachers but also many good and successful students.
The English Group consists of 10 graduate teachers with BA and MA degrees from Vietnamese Universities. Luong Dac Bang teachers are co-operative and enthusiastic in teaching. Most students are interested in studying nature science subjects (such as Maths, Physics and Chemistry) rather than English. Although English is important at this school and has been taught as a compulsory subject for all students, they only learn English as a foreign language. Therefore, being an English teacher, I face difficulties in teaching such skills as reading, listening, speaking and writing especially teaching vocabulary for my students. With
mystudents, they inparticularusuallyfeelboredwith learning vocabulary(Eventhoughsome of them are quite good at grammar). They said that vocabulary was very difficult to remember because they did not change their learning habits, such as writing words on paper, trying to learn by heart or learning passively through the teacher's explanations.
This study is carried out at Luong Dac Bang High School, Thanh Hoa Province. The book used for the 12th-Grade students is “Tiếng Anh 12”, published by Vietnam Education Publishing House.
Students at Luong Dac Bang High School, especially students at two experimental classes do not have the similar competence of English. Teachers are continually faced with the students who are not good at vocabulary skill.
Therefore, this research was aimed to find out the way of improving vocabulary skills in learning English by using Mind Mapping technique and suggest some effective resolutions.
2.3. Solutions to the problems
This study is conducted with two-stage sampling, which was applied through – the cluster sampling and the individual sampling, and it is undeniable that there would be two groups chosen through the class, in which the class of 12A3 will be the Experimental group, and the class of 12A9 will be Control group. After gathering and dividing students in two groups basing on their class, the researcher checks the individual sampling competence by giving a pretest to the students from the two groups as pretested; the sampling of the study is presented in the following table.
THE SAMPLE OF THE STUDY
2.3.1. Participants: Researcher and Students
The researcher of this study is also the teacher, intervener. She is a teacher with 20 years of experience and has been teaching the 12th-grade students for more than 10 years. Thus, she knows the situation of the students clearly and she wants to find a way to help the students to learn English, particularly learn vocabulary more effectively.
Besides, the participants of this study were 90 students from the class of 12A3 and 12A9 at Luong Dac Bang high school in the academic school year of 2021 – 2022. They were in their final year at the Upper Secondary School and in their attempt to win a place at universities. They would take GCSE examination (General Certificate of Secondary Education Examination), the most important examination, when the academic school year finishes. The researcher hopes that after participating in this study, students could find a way to improve their vocabulary, which can help them a lot in the English test in the GCSE examination, their further studies as well as their life in the future.
2.3.2. Research Methods used for this study: Action Research
Pretest-posttest designs were chosen during the experimental period of research because they are widely used for the purpose of comparing groups and/or measuring changes resulting from experimental treatment (Dimiter and Rumrill, 2003). The basic pretest-posttest experimental designs are formed and used in which one or more experimental teams are exposed toa treatment orintervention andthen compared tooneor more control teams, whose treatment was not given.
Groups Pretest Treatment Posttest
In this research, there are two kinds of variables could be used, including independent variables and dependent variables. Independent variable is Mind Map technique that is providedto the students, anddependent variable isthe students’scores inthe vocabularytests.
2.3.3.
Data collection instruments
Vocabulary Tests
Before designing a test, it is vital to think about what to test and what its purpose is. As mentioned above, the goals of this study are to evaluate the effectiveness of Mind mapping technique applied to vocabulary teaching and measuring the student’s word retention, which means that how long a word is retained in students’ long-term memory.
In collecting data, vocabulary tests are used by the researcher to get information about the ability of learners in leaning and memorizing vocabulary. In total, a series of three tests were administered to students at a six-week interval and the target words in the previous test were included and tested again in the subsequent tests but in different linguistic contexts. Test items are also varied to include items such as multiple-choice questions, gap-filling, match the words withthepictures,wordsthat gotogether,match thewords withthe definitions,error correction.
Subsequently, statistical analysis is able to examine the effectiveness of the intervention by the process below:
In which,
R: Randomization
M: Matching process through a pretest
X1: Teaching through Mind Map
X2: Teaching without mind maps and diagrams
P1: Posttest 1
P2: Posttest 2
On the purpose of carrying this research, the writer would select students from two classes 12A3 and 12A9; subsequently divided the chosen students into two groups; which are experimental and control group. When the process of the try-out of the vocabulary tests finished, the writer would give the same test to students from these two groups. After that, there would be a thirty-minute vocabulary lesson with mind mapping and diagrammatic techniques to the experimental group and a lesson without Mind Map would be conveyed to the control group. Finally, right after the lesson, both of the two groups are given a post-test and another post-test three weeks later. Data was collected, processed and carried out through these tests.
All the target words or lexical items that are taken from the text book was developed and tested. All the tests were designed in such a way that they were marked objectively. Specifically, the multiple-choice format with four options was used for all tests and they were piloted with the best students of other classes who all have good knowledge of the subject before they were administered to the students. This is to make sure that there were no ambiguities in the tests, i.e. no test item with two possible correct answers. In the tests, students areasked tochoosethe best answer by circling the letter A, B, C or D. Time allocated for each test was 15 minutes and mark allocation is 100 points in total, which means 50 points for each item.
The general description of the test is illustrated in the following table, which gives general information about basic requirement of the test.
Questionnaires
Undoubtedly, questionnaires are one of the primary sources of acquiring data in any research. According to Salkind (2003), questionnaire is a useful tool in educational research since “individuals can complete them without any direct assistance or intervention from the researchers”. Nevertheless, Richards & Schmidt (2002) critically pointed out that when designing a questionnaire, the researcher should make sure that it is “valid, reliable and unambiguous” (p. 438). Besides, Seliger and Shohamy (1989) believed that closed-ended questionnaires are more effective because of their ease of analysis. Nunan (1999) is of the opinion as follows: “The important issue in closedended questions is that the responses to these types of questions will more accurately reflect what the respondent wants to say”.
Due to the fact that questionnaires save time and efforts for both researchers and participants, in the scope of this research, questionnaires for students and teachers were employed as one of the primary instruments for data collection. In this study, the questionnaire (Appendix 1) consists of six questions concerning the 12th graders’ opinions about learning vocabulary and their feedbacks on the teacher’s activities.
During the process of delivering the questionnaires for students of two classes 12A3 and 12A9, the researcher focused on answering the first research questions: “How is Mindmapping technique used in vocabulary teaching assessed by the 12th graders at Luong Dac Bang high school?” Because of the fact that the informants are in the final grade – grade 12th , all items in the questionnaires for students were both in English and Vietnamese so that the students could have intensive understanding in both languages and could follow and complete more easily.
Interviews
The next main source of data to be collected in the mixed method design comes from the interview. It was stated by Salkind (2003) that interviews help researchers “get better response and more accurate data”. In addition, Burns (1999) debates that “Interviews are a popular and widely used means of collecting qualitative data”. In the process of the study, interviews were carried out after the trial lessons with Mind mapping. In general, interview can be conducted in two forms: person-to-person and group or collective formats. Merriam
(1998) admits that both of these forms of interview are a kind of goal-oriented conversation. After the trial lessons which applied Mind mapping techniques, informal interviews between the researcher and the participants were conducted with 15 students randomly at a different convenient time after the trial lessons to get more objective, exact opinions and feedbacks about learning vocabulary with Mind-mapping. These semi-structured interviews (Appendix 2) were employed to get information about the difficulties, interests, advantages that Mindmapping techniques have brought to students and some of their desire if they had. The interviewswerecarried outinbothVietnameseandEnglishbasingonstudents’understanding and interest. During the interview, detailed notes were taken.
2.4. Effectiveness of using mind- mapping techniques
Theoretically, the findings of this research will reaffirm and reinforce the effectiveness of Mind-mapping technique in previous studies. Besides, teachers’ skill in using Mindmapping technique to improve student’s vocabulary is expected to be sharpened and developed. In addition, the findings of this research will be considered as reference to other researchers who want to study Mind-mapping technique more intensively in teaching vocabulary. Practically, the researcher hopes that the study of the using of Mind-mapping technique in teaching and learning vocabulary may be practically beneficial to not only the researcher herself but also to the other teachers, the students and Luong Dac Bang High School itself in the academic school year of 2021 - 2022. Firstly, to the researcher, after carrying out this research, the researcher will have deeper and broader understanding the theoryandtechniques of teaching vocabulary, especially Mind-mapping technique. Secondly, to the teachers, the result and findings of this research can support Luong Dac Bang English teachers to apply this strategy in teaching vocabulary, along with many other methods so that not only the 12th graders but also the rest students at Luong Dac Bang High School may be beneficial. Moreover, the teacher can put aside their traditional method in teaching English language particularly in teaching vocabulary. They can use this new strategy to make the studentsmoreinterestedinlearningprocess.Inaddition,teachersmaynotconfuseinchoosing an appropriate technique to teach different kinds of vocabulary. Thirdly, to the students, the positive result of this research is hoped to help the students enrich their vocabulary. In addition, learning vocabulary through Mind-mapping technique can make students more excited; more interested in doing their tasks and retain vocabulary in a long-term. In addition, they can recall many kinds of vocabulary effectively. Finally, to Luong Dac Bang High School, school leaders can give the recommendation to the teachers in order to use the appropriatetechniqueorstrategyinteachingandlearningvocabulary.Therefore,teacherswill master more teaching skills and will bring benefit to the school.
2.4.1. Results from students’ questionnaires
The analysis of results collected from the questionnaire aimed at answering the first questionof thestudy: “How is mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary teaching assessed by the 12th graders at Luong Dac Bang high school?” Thequestionnairesinclude6 statements which were to investigate the informants’ attitudes towards the researcher’s intervention. Items 1, 2 and 3 were to investigate the students’ attitudes towards Mind-mapping technique. Items 4, 5 and 6 aimed at exposing the students’ evaluation on the effectiveness of the Mindmapping technique in vocabulary retention. The following table shows the detail assessments of students toward mind mapping technique.
Table 2: The students’ opinions about the teacher’s activities
It can be clearly seen from the above tables 1 and 2 that there were 90 students who got involved in answering the questions.
From the data Table 1, the students were firstly asked whether using Mind mapping to learn vocabulary was interesting or not. With this question, 86 out of 90 students (95.56 %) agreed or strongly agreed that the techniques applied by the teacher made the lessons interesting. The students were then asked about the pleasure that Mind mapping technique brings about to them. Almost all the students (97.78% equivalent to 88 students) approved that learning vocabulary with Mind-mapping technique gave them more pleasure than learning vocabulary with traditional techniques. Only two students (See table 2) disapproved with this view. With question 3, most of the students reported that the activities with Mindmapping technique applied to learn vocabulary are creative. 88 out of 90 students said that by creating branches out from the central idea, they can free their minds to think creatively on the vocabulary and knowledge related to the central idea. It means that 97.78 % students shared this view.
To be in more detail, the results from questions 1, 2, 3 in table 1 and table 2 can be visualized by the following pie charts with different colours presenting degree of agreeing or disagreeing. (Figure 12, 13, 14)
From the table 1 and 3, it is not difficult to realize that questions 4, 5 and 6 are of importance in discovering the effectiveness of Mind-mapping technique in learning vocabulary.
The results of question 4 revealed that all most all the respondents (98.88 %) found it easy to remember new words. Especially, a large number of students (76 students) totally agreed with this opinion.
From the data of question 5, it can be concluded that the majority of the students expressed positive attitude toward the Mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary learning, which helps lengthen the retention of vocabulary learnt. In total, there were again 88 students (97.78 %) confirmed that the activities with Mind-mapping helps retain vocabulary longer. In question 6, the students were inquired whether using Mind-mapping technique help to activate learnt vocabulary / knowledge and help link to new items. Concerning this feature, more than 98.8 % of the students agreed that they could activate the vocabulary knowledge thanks to Mind-mapping technique used in the lessons. Only one of them (1.11 %) did not think so.
Also, in question 6, 89 out of 90 students (98.88 %) agreed and strongly agreed that Mind-mapping helped them connect the prior knowledge with new information, which may help them transfer what they learnt and apply it to new situations. Actually, when building a Mind Map with a key word or phrase in the center, it activated learners with previous knowledge. In this way, the knowledge was revised repeatedly and retention ability would be better.
For more details, the results from questions 4, 5, and 6 in table 1 and table 3 can be illustrated by the following pie charts with different colours showing degree of agreeing or disagreeing. (Figure 15, 16, 17)
The results of the questionnaires have shown that learning vocabulary by using Mindmapping technique is considered effective. The feedback of students to questionnaire helps uncover the 12th graders’ attitudes toward Mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary teaching. All most all the students have positive assessment about the Mind-mapping techniques.
On average, 97.04 % of the students agreed and strongly agreed that Mind mapping techniques give students interest, pleasure and creativity. (Table 1). Moreover, when being asked about the effectiveness of Mind-mapping techniques, 98.51 % of respondents affirmed that Mind-mapping techniques make them easy to remember new words, retain vocabulary longer and activate prior knowledge and link to new ideas.
In brief, from the results of data collected from questionnaire, the researcher realizes that applying Mind-mapping techniques in her lesson is efficient.
2.4.2. Results from students’ tests
Another important factor for the assessment of the effectiveness of the Mind mapping technique is through the tests. The analysis of scores from pre-test, post-test 1and post-test 2 aimed at answering the second question of this study: “What is the effectiveness of Mindmapping technique on the 12th graders’ English vocabulary outcome at Luong Dac Bang high school?”
Before and after the intervention, all the students were given a pre-test and 2 post-tests. The aim of post-test 1 is to find out whether there is any difference in result between pre-test and post-test so that the researcher can draw out the effectiveness of Mind-mapping technique in learning vocabulary. The purpose of post-test 2 to test the students’ retention of words under the treatment of Mind-mapping technique.
As stated in this part, the students were divided into 5 groups including excellent group (85 -100), good group (70 -80), average group (50 -65), poor group (30 -45) and very poor group (0 -25). In Vietnam, mark 5 (equivalent to 50 points in this study) is considered as the pass mark.
The collected results of the tests were calculated, analyzed and presented in the forms of charts and tables.
Table 4: Mean score of tests
Clearly seen from table above, the minimum score of the pre-test is 15, that of post-test 1 is 35 and that of post-test 2 is 25 whereas the maximum score of pre-test is 80, and these of post-test 1 and post-test 2 were both 90. The gap between the minimum score and the maximum score of pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2 are 60 points, 60 points and 70 points respectively.
The gap between the minimum score and the maximum score of pre-test and posttest 1 was both 60 points. It seems that there is no change in quality of tests between the pre-test andpost-test1, but wheninvestigatingdeeperinsight,the realscoreof students, the researcher identified that there is a rather strong improvement in quality of the pretest and post-test 1. This is shown clearly in the mean score of the pre-test and post-test 1 (40.11 is the mean score of pre-test and that of the posttest 1 is 63.33). It means that students’ mean score increased by 23.22 after the treatment. Furthermore, the maximum score of the post-test 1 was higher than that of the pre-test (95>80). The minimum score increased by 20 points from 15 points in the pre-test to 35 points in the post-test 1.
More importantly, there is little change in mean score between post-test 1 and post-test 2 (63.33 points compared to 59.33 points). The deviation of the two post-tests is only 4 points, which indicated that there was a significant change in the students’ vocabulary retention after the treatment. In order to be easy to imagine, the following column chart will visualize the average score of the three tests.
When looking at the column chart showing the distribution in results of the post-test 1 and of the post-test 2, it can be seen that the shapes of the two tests look almost alike. In general, the change here may be due to the fact that the 3-week period is quite long for some students, which makes some students forget some words learnt. The results revealed that the use of Mind-mapping techniques in teaching and learning English vocabulary has positive effect on students’ vocabulary retention.
The results of tests help evaluate the effectiveness of Mind-mapping technique applied to vocabulary teaching. From all the data analyzed in the previous part, the researcher herself has an unbiased judgment on the technique applied in the lessons. In summary, the analysis and comparison of the results of the three tests shows that the effectiveness of applying Mindmapping technique is reliable.
2.5. SAMPLE LESSONS
SAMPLE 1 UNIT 6: FUTURE JOBS
PART A: READING
I. Aim: To help students understand the passage about a job interview.
II. Objectives
1. Educational aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to know some factors that would help them succeed in a job interview
2. Knowledge:
- General knowledge: Students know about future jobs - Vocabulary: Words related to jobs and job interview.
3. Skills:
- Guessing the meaning of some new words in context
- Reading for specific information
Figure 18: Mean score of the tests
In order to have further understanding about the statistics of the three tests, the following column chart (Figure 18) together with table 5 will present the distribution and comparison of the test results.
- Applying some micro-skills in reading
+ Competence: self-study; problem-solving; communication, cooperation, using language.
+ Attitude: Raise Ss’ awareness of the preparation for jobs in the future.
III. Materials:
- Teacher: Textbook, lesson plan, workbook, hand-outs, pictures, cassette, power point presentation, etc.
- Students: Textbooks, notebooks, workbooks, etc.
IV. Anticipated problems:
- Students may need help with discussion task, so teacher should be ready to help them.
V. Procedure:
19: Distribution in results of the three tests
- Divide the class into 4 groups.
- Explain the rules.
- Listen to the teacher
→ Lead to the new lesson:
UNIT 6: FUTURE JOBS
Questions:
1.Which job do you like best?
2.Have you ever had a job interview?
3.What should you prepare?
Tick (✓ ✓✓ ✓) the factors that you think would help you in a job interview.
- wearing casual clothes
- feeling nervous
- giving clear, honest answers
- having a good sense of humour
- feeling self-confident
- avoiding difficult questions
II. PRE-READING
Vocabulary:
+ vacancy ['veikə nsi] (n)
->Vietnamese translation
+ résumé [`rezjumei] (n) ~ curriculum vitae -> Using real object
+ recommendation [, rekə men'dei∫n] (n) -> Vietnamese translation
+ jot down (v phr) ~ note down / write
+ stress [stres] (n + v)
-> Vietnamese translation
+ employer [im'plɔ iə] (n)
~ boss >< employee.
+ enthusiasm [in'θju:ziæzm]
-> Vietnamese translation
- Ask students to stand in 4 lines.
- Give a key word, ask students of each group to write down as many jobs as possible in the given time.
- Check students result, then announce the winner.
- Ask students some questions.
- Ask students to work in groups of 4 to tick (✓) the factors that they think would help them in a job interview.
- Ask students to give reasons for their choice.
- Compete in the game
+ keenness (n) ~ eagerness
-> Using real object
III. WHILE-READING Task 1:
- Ask students to do Task 1 individually.
- Work individually
- Listen to the teacher - Answer the questions
- Work in groups of four to tick (✓) the factors that they think would help them in a job interview.
These words are from the passage. Look back to the text and circle the best meanings A, B, C:
* Keys: - Feedback comments
1. B. a job that is available
2. C. a short-written account of someone’s education and previous jobs.
3. A. special interest
4. B. note down
Task 2: Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F): * Keys:
- Check students’ answers, ask others to comment.
- Feedback
- Students give their comments.
- Present new words.
- Follow steps of presenting vocabulary.
- Listen & write new words .
- Do as directed.
IV. POST- READING
- Give instructions,
- Ask students read silently.
- Ask students to do Task 2 in pairs.
- Walk round to control students’ activity.
- Ask students to compare their answers with other pairs.
- Ask students to give the way to correct the statements if the answer is False.
- Check students’ answers, and comment.
- Divide the class into 4 groups.
- Hand out colour pencils, and one sheet of A0 paper.
- Ask students to free their mind to create mind-map of their own by using the key word given.
- Follow teacher’s instructions.
- Read silently.
- Do task 2 (p.64).
- Compare the answers with other pairs.
- Do as directed.
- Listen to the teacher.
- Work in groups to create their Mindmap.
V. HOMEWORK
* Question: Which pieces of advice given in the passage do you find most useful and least useful? Why?
- Each student draws a Mind-map of his / her own.
- Be ready for Unit 6- B. Speaking
(Explain that students can use ideas in/ outside the passage.)
- Walk round the class to observe the whole class.
- Ask students to hang papers with Mindmaps on the board when the time is over.
- Check students’ Mind-maps and give comments.
- Show teacher’s Mind-map that had been prepared beforehand on the projector’s screen in order for students to compare to theirs.
(See Attachment 1)
- Assign homework
- Ask students to use colour pencils to design Mind-maps of their own.
- Hang papers with Mind-maps on the board when the time is over.
- Listen to the teacher’s and their friends’ comments.
- Study teacher’s Mind-map and make comparisons.
PART B: SPEAKING
I. Aim: To help students talk about jobs and their choices of jobs in the future.
II. Objectives
1. Educational aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be to give opinions about choices of jobs
2. Knowledge:
- General knowledge: Students know about future jobs
- New words: Words related to future jobs
3. Skills: Taking turns, giving opinions
+ Competence: self-study; problem-solving; communication, cooperation, using language.
+ Attitude: Raise students’ awareness of the preparation for jobs in the future.
III. Materials:
- Teacher: Textbook, lesson plan, workbook, hand-outs, pictures, cassette, board and chalk, etc.
- Students: Textbooks, notebooks, workbooks, etc.
IV. Anticipated problems: Students may need help with discussion task, so teacher should be ready to help them.
V. Procedure:
Time Content Teacher’s activities Students’ activities
- Listen to the teacher.
- Take notes.
4’
I.WARM -UP: (Books closed)
Game: What’s my job?
Sentences teacher read:
1. Take two tablets a day after meal.
2. You will have a test next week.
3. Here’s your key. Room 246
4.We have to bumper crop this year.
5.Please fasten your seatbelt before the plan takes off.
6. You’ve passed the red light. Can I check your driving license?
7. Our next destination is Phong Nha Cave. It’s rather cold inside the cave so you should bring warm clothes.
8. What would you like to order?
- Divide the class into 2 groups.
- Read 8 sentences that farmers, doctors, teachers … often say.
- Tell students to listen and guess the job by calling out its name.
- The first group to speak out the name of the job will get one point. The group with more points wins the game.
After the game, announce the winner
- Work in 2 groups. Listen to the 8 sentences read by the teacher and guess the job.
Answers:
1. doctor
2. teacher
3. (hotel) receptionist
4. farmer
5. air- hostess
6.traffic warden/ police
7. tour guide
8. waiter
UNIT 6: FUTURE JOBS PART B: SPEAKING
Task 1: Match a job in A with at least two descriptions in B.
Answers:
1.a doctor: - take care of people’s health.
- help save people’s lives
2. a farmer: - construct irrigation systems
- apply new farming techniques
3. a tourist - find good and safe hotels for guide customers.
- take people to places of interest
4. a writer: - create imaginary characters and events.
- tell stories through pictures.
Model:
A: What does a doctor do?
B: A doctor is the one who helps save people’s lives.
/- A doctor is the one who takes care of people’s health.
Suggested answers:
*- What does a farmer do?
- A farmer is the one who constructs irrigation systems. / A farmer is the one who applies new farming techniques.
*- What does a tourist guide do?
- A tourist guide is the one who takes people to places of interest.
/ A tourist guide is the one who find good and safe hotels for customers.
*- What does a writer do?
- A writer is the one who tells stories through pictures. / A writer is the one who creates
- Ask students to work in pairs to match a job in A with at least two descriptions in B.
- Go around the class to offer help if necessary.
- Call some Ss to answer in front of the class.
- Give feedback and correct answers.
-Workinpairstomatch a job in A with at least two descriptions in B.
imaginary characters and events.
- Some students answer in front of the class.
Task 2: Make a Mind-map using the following key word given.
- Divide the class into 4 groups
- Work in groups to create their Mind-map
- Give the model to ask and answer about jobs.
- Work in pairs to ask and answer about jobs.
- Ask students to work in pairs to ask and answer about jobs.
- Call on some pairs of students to ask and answer in front of the class.
- Some pairs ask and answer in front of the class.
- Give feedback and correct answers.
- Listen to the teacher
12’
- Hand out colour pencils, and one sheet of A0 paper.
- Ask students to free their mind to create mind-map of their own by using the key word given.
(Explain that students can use ideas in / outside the lesson.)
- Walk round the class to control students’ activities.
- Ask students hang papers with Mind-maps on the board when the time is over.
- Hang papers with Mind-maps on the board when the time is over.
- Check students’ Mindmaps and give comments.
- Show teacher’s Mind-map that had been prepared beforehand on the projector’s screen in order for students to compare to theirs.
(See Attachment 2)
- Listen to the teacher’s comments.
- Study teacher’s Mind-map and make comparisons.
- Listen to the teacher.
Task 3: Discuss which of the jobs in column A you would/ wouldn’t like to do. Explain why/ why not.
- Explain the meaning of some words that students do not know.
- Ask students to work in pairs to do task 3
- Tell students to use words / ideas in the mind-maps that have been created.
- Give the model.
- Work in pairs to do task 3.
The model:
*- What would you like to be in the future?
- I would like to work as a pilot.
- Why?
- Because working as a pilot would be a challenging job. I would have a chance to travel around the world and meet many interesting people.
*- What wouldn’t you like to be in the future?
- I wouldn’t like to be an electrician.
- Why?
- - Because working as an electrician would be a dangerous job. I may get electric shocked. / I may be killed by electricity.
Task 4: Talk about the job you dream to do after you finish school, using the following cues:
- Where you will work
- Who you will work with
- The salary you may get paid
- The working condition
- Go around the class to offer help if necessary.
-Call on some pairsof students to act out in front of the class.
- Give feedback.
- Some pairs act out in front of the class.
- Listen to the teacher.
- Put Ss to work in groups of 4 or 5 to talk about the job they dream to do after they finish school.
- Go around the class to offer help if necessary.
- Work in groups of 4 or 5 to talk about the job they may do after they finish school.
- Invite the groups’ ideas.
- Comment on what students have talked about.
- The leader of each group presents the group’s ideas.
- Summarize the main points.
1’
Suggested answer:
I would like to work as a tourist guide. It would be a challenging and fascinating job because I would have a chance to travel all over the world and meet many interesting people. If I work for a foreign tourist company, I can get high salary, useful experiences and improve my English speaking and listening skills. Also, I am a sociable and confident person and I can work hard for a long time so I want to work far away from home to know more about the world around me.
III. HOMEWORK
- Summarythe lessonbya mind-map.
- Prepare for the new lesson
- Assign homework. “In no more than 100 words, write about the job you would like to work in the future you have just talked about.”
-Listen and take notes.
SAMPLE 3 UNIT 6: HIGHER EDUCATION PART C: LISTENING
I. Aim: To help Ss know more about jobs, their choices of jobs in the future and help them understand some of the changes in the US job market.
II. Objectives
1. Educational aim: Students should know about future jobs and recent changes in job market.
2. Knowledge:
- General knowledge: Students learn more about jobs - New words: Words related to future jobs and workforce.
3. Skills: - Filling in missing information
- Deciding on True or False statements
+ Competence: self-study; problem-solving; communication, cooperation, using language.
+ Attitude: Raise Ss’ awareness of jobs in the future.
III. Materials:
- Listen and take notes.
- Teacher: Textbook, lesson plan, workbook, hand-outs, pictures, cassette, board and chalk, etc.
- Students: Textbooks, notebooks, workbooks, etc.
IV. Anticipated problems:
- Ss may need help with discussion task, so teacher should be ready to help them.
V. Procedure: Time Content Teacher’s activities Students’ activities
I. WARM- UP: Fill in the diagram with kinds of suitable jobs given in the box.
5’
Washing cars, teaching, taking care of sick people, making cake, producing cars or planes, accounting, engineering, banking, driving cars, selling, financing, mining, electrical jobs, chemical jobs
- Ask students to work in groups to fill in the diagram with kinds of suitable jobs given in the box.
- Work in groups to find in the diagram with kinds of suitable jobs given in the box.
- Go around the class and offers help if necessary.
- Call on some students to answer in front of the class.
- Some students answer in front of the class.
Answers: Service jobs: washing cars, teaching, taking care of sick people, accounting,
- Give feedback and correct answers.
engineering, banking, driving cars, selling, financing
Manufacturing jobs: producing cars or planes, making cake, mining, electrical jobs, chemical jobs
Explaining:
- Manufacturing jobs are jobs in which people make something or produce things.
- Service jobs are jobs in which workers provide services or do something.
II. PRE-LISTENING
1. Asking and answering the question:
Which is the most popular job in Vietnam?
- Explain service jobs and manufacturing jobs.
-Listen carefully.
Answers:
1. manufacturing
2. service
3. transportation
4. finance
5. services
Task 2: Listen again and decide whether the statements are true or false.
- Play the CD player the second time for students to fill in the missing words in the boxes.
-Listen attentively and fill in the missing words in the boxes.
- Have students work in pairs to ask and answer the question.
- Go around the class to offer help if necessary.
- Call some students to answer in front of the class.
- Comment and feedback.
- Work in pairs.
Answers: 1. T
2.T
3.T
4.F (80 %)
- Let students read the statements for about 1 or 2 minutes.
- Play the CD player again for students to listen.
-Call on somestudents to give the answers.
- Read the statements for about 1 or 2 minutes.
- Listen again.
- Answer the questions.
- Listen to the teacher.
5.F (nine out of every ten/ 90% workers will work in service jobs)
- Have the others listen and make correction if necessary.
- Give feedback.
-Some students to give the answers in front of the class.
- Listen to the teacher and take notes.
- Help students read words by word.
- To predict [pri'dikt]: dự đoán
- shift(n) [∫ift]: sự thay đổi (vị trí, hình dạng, bản chất)
- work force (n) [wə :k fɔ :s]: lực lượng lao động
- manufacturing (n) sản xuất
- retail (n) ['ri:teil]: bán lẻ
III. WHILE- LISTENING
Task 1: Listen to the passage and fill in the missing words in the boxes.
- Ask students to repeat in chorus and individual and write them down
- Read new words after the teacher.
- Repeat in chorus and individual and write them down.
IV. POST- LISTENING
Summarize the passage
- Ask students to work in 4 groups to summarize the passage using mind-maps.
- Go around the class and offers help if necessary.
- Call on the leader of each group to summarize the passage.
- Comment, feedback.
- Work in 4 groups to summarize the passage by using mindmaps.
- The leader of each group summarizes the passage.
- Ask students to read through the information in the boxes.
- Play the CD player and let students to listen to the passage.
-Read through the information in the boxes.
Attachment 3
V. HOMEWORK
- Draw a mind-map on future jobs by using ideas in and outside the lesson.
- Prepare the new lesson - Writing
- Assign homework.
- Listen to the teacher. Listen to the teacher and take notes.
AND PETITION
The focus of the research is applying mind-mapping techniques to improve the 12th graders’ English vocabulary at Luong Dac Bang high school.
As stated in this research, the author has been concerned with discovering the usefulness of using mind-mapping techniques to teach vocabulary to the students of grade 12 at the High School where the author works. During the time when the research was carried out, the researcher tried to search for the answers for the two research questions by analyzing evidences gathered from questionnaires, pre-test, post-tests, and interviews.
Based on the data analysis results of using mind-mapping techniques to improve the 12th graders’ English vocabulary, it was proved that the researcher was going in the right direction in order to meet the study’s objectives. Therefore, this study brings about practical implications for notonly theteachersof Englishand studentsat Luong DacBangHigh School but also other researchers as follows:
Firstly, to teachers of English at Luong Dac Bang High School:
Teachers have a crucial influence on the success of the students’ learning. Teachers of English group can apply mind-mapping techniques in teaching skills, especially teaching vocabulary In the classroom, the teachers need to design more activities using mind mapping technique to motivate the students. Additionally, the teachers should be more creative in teaching English especially teaching vocabulary with mind-mapping techniques.
Next, to students at Luong Dac Bang High School:
Students should develop their awareness in learning English, specially learning vocabulary because English is a compulsory subject in GCSE examination. They should be more active, creative during the lessons. They should apply mind-mapping techniques not only in vocabulary learning, but also in acquiring other skills of English. On the other hand, they can use mind-mapping techniques in studying other subjects.
Lastly, to the future researchers:
Hopefully, the future researchers concerning the same problems can take several advantages from this research. Based on the description above, the writer would like to suggest that the result of this action research should be used as additional reference for their research. It is certain that the study is also a reference for those who want to research on vocabulary using Mind Mapping in teaching a language.
REFERENCES
Foreign Authors
1.Bielska, J. (2011). Action Research in Teacher Development: An Overview of Research Methodology. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego.
2. Brown, D. J. (2005). Testing in Language Programs. New York Mc: Graw-Hill.
3. Buzan, T. (1993). The Mind Mapping Book. London: BBC Books.
4. Buzan, T. (2010). The Mind Map Book: Unlock Your Creativity, Boost Your Memory, Change Your Life. 1sted, BBC Worldwide. England.
5. Casco. M. (2009). The Use of “Mind Maps” in the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Retrieved from http://www.madycasco.com.ar/articles/ mindmaps. PDF.
6. Hofland, C. (2007). Mind Mapping in the EFL Classroom. Graduation Paper, Fontys Teacher Training College.
7. Harmer, J. (1998). How to Teach English. Pearson Education limited. Edinburgh gate, Harlow, Essex CM20 2JE, England.
8. Hopkins, D. (2008). A Teacher’s Guide to Classroom Research. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
9. Kurniawati, I. (2011). Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Through Mind Mapping Strategy. English Department of Education, Faculty State Islamic Studies Institute (Stain) Salatiga.
10. Moi, W. G. & Lian, O. L. (2007). Introducing Mind Mapping in comprehension. Singapore: Educational research association. Vietnamese Authors
1. Đỗ Thị Lan Anh (2010). Using Movies and Videos to Teach English Vocabulary to the Tenth Form Students. Unpublished MA Thesis, CFL-VNU.
2. Nguyễn Thị Kim Chi (2010). Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners at ILA School. Unpublished MA Thesis. CFL-VNU.
3.Ngô Xuân Minh (2009). Vocabulary Level and Vocabulary Learning Strategies of First Year ULIS English Majors. Unpublished MA Thesis, VNU.
APPENDIX 1
THE STUDENTS’ OPINIONS ABOUT THE TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES
This survey questionnaire consists of 6 questions concerning your opinions about learning vocabulary and your feedbacks on the teacher’s activities. Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated. Data collected will remain confidential and be used for the study purpose only.
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
(Please put a tick () in the appropriate column) (1) Strongly Disagree (2) Disagree (3) Agree (4) Strongly Agree
NO OPINION (1) Strongly Disagree (2) Disagree (3) Agree (4) Strongly Agree
1 It is interesting to learn English vocabulary with what the teacher’s done.
2 The activities give me more pleasure.
3 The activities applied to learn vocabulary are creative
4 I find it easy to remember new words.
5 The activities help retain vocabulary longer
6 The activities help to activate prior knowledge and link to new items
APPENDIX 2
SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
I am Ho Thi Minh Thai, a teacher of English at Luong Dac Bang High School. I am conducting my study of using mind-mapping technique to improve the students’ vocabulary. Thank you very much for participating in my research. After the lesson with the use of mindmaps, I would like to know your opinions towards the lesson.
Once again, thank you for your kind cooperation!
This interview is conducted to find out the opinions of 15 students from the Experimental Group towards the using of mind-maps and diagrams to teach vocabulary. The interview is right after their lesson with mind-maps to have the most vivid reflection on the technique applied. The questions are designed in the hope of finding out the students’ opinions about learning vocabulary, their feedbacks on the use of Mind Maps in teaching vocabulary, and the difficulties that they have faced when learning vocabulary with Mind Maps.
QUESTIONS
1. How do you find the teacher’s activities?
2. What effects do the teacher’s activities have on your vocabulary learning in the lessons?
3. What are possible difficulties in learning vocabulary with what the teacher’s done?
4. Do you desire to continue learning vocabulary with the teacher’s techniques?
APPENDIX 3
THE STUDENTS’ OPINIONS ABOUT THE TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES (The number and the percentage of students) (Please put a tick () in the appropriate column) (5) Strongly Disagree (6) Agree (7) Disagree (8) Strongly Agree
APPENDIX 4
Positive attitude of students toward Mind Mapping technique
5
The students’ positive evaluation on the effectiveness of the MM technique
PRE-TEST
Time Allowance: 15 minutes
Full name: ……………………..
Class: ………………………….
I. Look at the picture and match each picture with a suitable given job.
A. anger B. thrill C. amazement D. interest
13.The ______ this position starts at $ 3000,000 per year
A. salary B. payment C. wage D. tip
14.I am so _______ that I cannot say anything, but keep silent.
A. nerve B. nervous C. nervously D. nervousness
15.People under a lot of ______ may experience headaches, minor pains, and sleeping difficulties.
A. interest B. satisfactory C. stress D. responsibility
16. Being well-dress and punctual can help you create a good _______ on your interviewer.
A. impression B. pressure C. employment D. effectiveness
17. As you are sixty-three years old, you are ______ for this job.
A. improper B. inconvenient C. disagreeable D. unsuitable
III. Find and correct the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.
18. If you are offered the position, congratulations! If you do not get the job, try not to be A B C too disappointing.
A. Lawyer B. Dentist C. Lecturer D. Tour guide E. policeman
What job is each person in the picture?
II. Choose one best answer to complete the sentences
6. You shouldn't wear casual clothes to an interview. The word casual is closest in meaning to
A. formal B. informal C. elegant D. untidy
7. Not all teenagers are well _______ for their future job when they are at high school.
A. interested B. satisfied C. concerned D. prepared
8. Some days of rest may help to _______ the pressure of work.
A. reduce B. lower C. chop D. crease
9. His work involves helping students to find temporary _______ during their summer vacation.
A. decision B. employment C. choice D. selection
10. It is _______ to fail a job interview, but try again.
A. disappoint B. disappointing C. disappointedly D. disappointment
11. Many children are under such a high _______ of learning that they do not feel happy at school.
A. recommendation B. interview C. pressure D. concentration
12.You should ask the interviewer some questions about the job to show your _______ and keenness.
19. You should concentrate in what the interviewer is saying and make a real effort to answer A B C the all questions the interviewer asks.
20. The most important change in the American workforce has been the shift from A B manufactured jobs to service jobs.
APPENDIX 7
POST-TEST 1
Time Allowance: 15 minutes
Full name: ……………………....
Class: …………………………....
I. Look at the picture and complete the missing words; the first letter has been given as a cue.
12. She often reads newspapers and look through the Situations _______ columns every day, but up to now she has not found any job yet.
A. Article B. Space C. Vacant D. Spot 13. They are ______ aware that this will be their last chance to succeed.
A. keen B. keenly C. keener D. keenness
14. If you do not know something about the more technical aspects of the job, admit it and ______ that you are willing to learn.
A. stress B. demand C. agree D. emphasis 15.It ______ a bad impression if you’re late for an interview.
A. takes B. makes C. has D. create 16. You should concentrate on what the interviewer is saying and make a real effort to answer all the questions.
A. look at B. listen to C. try your best D. focus your attention on 17. Look at the American _____ and see how it is changing. The most important change has been the shift from manufacturing jobs to service jobs.
A. workforce B. workplace C. worker D. work
III. Find and correct the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.
18.If you are offered the position, congratulations! If you do not get the work, try A B C not to be too disappointed.
II. Choose one best answer to complete the sentences.
6. When you come to the interview, do not forget to bring letters of from your teachers or your previous employers.
A. recommend B. recommendable C. recommendation D. recommendatory
7. You should show the ______ that you are really keen on the job you have applied.
A. interviewee B. interview C. interviewer D. interviewing
8. In this business, the risks and the ______ are high.
A. award B. rewards C. rewarding D. rewarded
9. Hefilled inthenecessary forms and ______ for the position ofan accountant of that company.
A. appealed B. applied C. requested D. asked
10. The main attraction of the job was that it offered the ______ to do research.
A. possibility B. proposal C. prospect D. opportunity
11. The interviewer looked at her ______, asked her a few questions, and then offered her the job.
A. résumé B. reference C. recommendation D. photograph
19.You should concentrate on what the interviewer is saying and make a real effort A B C to answer all the questions the interview asks.
20.The most important change in the American workforce has been the shift from A B manufacturing jobs to service works.
APPENDIX 9
POST-TEST 2
Time Allowance: 15 minutes
Full name: ……………………...
Class: …………………………...
I. Use these pictures as suggestions and complete the missing word(s) in each definition.
9. Before _______ for a position, check whether you can fulfill all the requirements from the employer.
A. deciding B. applying C. requiring D. demanding
10. The exhibition is a unique ______ to see her later work.
A. opportunity B. proposal C. prospect D. possibility
11.Before the interview, you have to send a letter of application and your résumé to the company. The word résumé is closest in meaning to ______.
A. recommendation B. reference C. curriculum vitae D. photograph
12. A / An ______ is a job that no one is doing and is therefore available for someone new to do.
A. vacancy B. offer C. space D. situation
13. The interviewer gave his consent to John's _______ for work and promised to give him a job.
A. keen B. keenly C. keener D. keenness
14. Her job was so _______ that she decided to quit it.
A. interesting B. satisfactory C. stressful D. wonderful
15. Below are some pieces of advice that can help you reduce the feeling of pressure and ______ a good impression on your interviewer.
A. take B. makes C. have D. create
16.You should concentrate on what the interviewer is saying and make a real effort to answer all the questions.
A. focus your attention on B. listen to C. try your best D. look at 17. Much of the ______ in the banking sector is affected by the new legislation.
1. She works in the field or on a farm and applies new farming techniques. She is a / an ______.
2. His responsibility is to help save people’s lives. He is a / an ______.
3. This is the person who installs and maintains electrical equipment. He is a / an ______.
4. A / An ______ is a person who is trained to fly a plane or operates the flying controls of an aircraft.
5. A / An ______ is a man who works in a restaurant, serving people with food and drink
II. Choose one best answer to complete the sentences.
6. When coming to the interview, you should remember to bring letters ofrecommendation from your teachers or your previous bosses. The word recommendation is closest in meaning to ______.
A. advice B. reference C. introduction D. suggestion
7. If you are _______ for a particular job, someone asks you questions about yourself to find out whether you suitable for it or not.
A. paid B. chosen C. interviewed D. recommended
8. The company ______ him for his years of service with a grand farewell party and several presents.
A. rewarded B. reward C. award D. recommend
A. works B. workforce C. worker D. workplace
III. Find and correct the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.
18. If you are offered the vacancy, congratulations! If you do not get the job, try not to A B C be too disappointed.
19. You should concentrate on what the interviewer is saying and take a real effort to A B C answer all the questions the interviewer asks.
20. The most important change in the American job force has been the shift from A B manufacturing jobs to service jobs.
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
KEY TO THE TESTS
