Effects of mind mapping on freshmen's reading comprehension ability at Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

EFFECTS OF MIND MAPPING ON

FRESHMEN’S READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY

AT HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by: NGO THI PHUONG THAO

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYEN THANH TUNG

HO CHI MINH City

August 2017

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled is “Effects of mind mapping on freshmen’s

reading comprehension ability at Ho Chi Minh city University of Transport is my

original work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not

contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by

which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the

text of the thesis.

This thesis has not previously been submitted for any degree in any other

tertiary institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, 2017

NGO THI PHUONG THAO

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my

supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, for his encouragement, dedicated

guidance and valuable comments in the preparation and completion of this study.

Becoming his student is a lucky and grateful opportunity for me in this MA course. He

has offered his precious time to give help and professional advice for my thesis.

Next, I would also like to express my gratitude to my colleagues at the Foreign

Language Faculty of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport who contributed their

ideas to help my thesis be better and complete. Especially, I would like to give my big

thank to my eighty three dear students who enthusiastically participated in my study.

Then, I am very grateful to all my instructors who have taught me in the

TESOL 8 class with their valuable lessons and supports and my MA classmates at Ho

Chi Minh Open University for their assistance.

Finally, I would like to thank my beloved family who always stand by me to

encourage and give support during my study. I am especially thankful to my beloved

mother for her support and sacrifice for taking care of my newborn boy, and my kind

husband for his help and sympathy so that I could have time to do my thesis.

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ABSTRACT

Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills in learning a

foreign language. However, learners face some problems in receiving the information

from a reading text, understanding itdeeply and having the motivation to read it.

Theoretically, mind mapping is a good technique to solve these problems by helping

students comprehend a text easily through colorful visuals and feel interested in doing

comprehension activities. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate whether

the use of mind mapping had any effects on freshmen’s reading comprehension ability

and theirattitude towardits use after the period of eight weeks.

The study employed the three main data collection instruments of tests,

questionnaire and interview. The data were collected from 83 freshmen of the Faculty

of Mechanical Engineering at Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport for the 2016-

2017 academic year. The independent samples t-test was used for proving that the

disparity between the means of the pre- and post-tests of both groups was statistically

significant, while the questionnaire and interview were used for determining the

students’ attitude.

The findings show that after treatment, the students of the experimental

group made a great progress in their reading comprehension while those of the control

group did not present the remarkable improvement. In addition, most of the students

expressed their positive attitude towards the use of mind mapping in their reading

lessons.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Statement of authorship .......................................................................................................i

Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................ii

Abstract...............................................................................................................................iii

Table of contents ................................................................................................................iv

List of abbreviations...........................................................................................................ix

List of figures....................................................................................................................... x

List of tables ....................................................................................................................... xi

Lists of charts.....................................................................................................................xii

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................... 1

1.1. Background of the research ......................................................................................... 1

1.2. Statement of the problem.............................................................................................. 3

1.3. Research aims and questions........................................................................................ 4

1.4. Significance of the research.......................................................................................... 5

1.5. Organization of the research ........................................................................................ 6

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 8

2.1. Mind mapping overview .............................................................................................. 8

2.2. Types of mind mapping ............................................................................................. 12

2.2.1. Library mind maps............................................................................................ 13

2.2.2. Presentation mind maps ................................................................................... 14

2.2.3. Tunnel timeline mind maps ............................................................................. 15

2.3. Advantages of using mind mapping in reading comprehension lessons.................... 16

2.4. Stages to use mind mapping in teaching reading comprehension.............................. 17

2.4.1. Pre-reading stage ............................................................................................. 18

2.4.2. While-reading stage ......................................................................................... 20

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2.4.3. Post-reading stage............................................................................................. 22

2.5. Mind map figures and how to make a mind map ...................................................... 23

2.5.1. Mind map figures.............................................................................................. 23

2.5.2. How to make a mind map....................................................................................... 24

2.6. Prior studies on the related topic ................................................................................ 26

2.7. Chapter summary........................................................................................................ 27

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 29

3.1. Study setting .............................................................................................................. 29

3.2. Participants ................................................................................................................. 30

3.3. Research design and method of investigation ............................................................ 32

3.3.1. Research design ............................................................................................... 32

3.3.2. Method of investigation ................................................................................... 33

3.3.2.1. Experiment .......................................................................................... 33

3.3.2.1.1. Pre-test ........................................................................................ 34

3.3.2.1.2. Experimental teaching process ................................................... 34

3.3.1.1.3. Post-test ...................................................................................... 36

3.3.2.2. Questionnaire ...................................................................................... 37

3.3.2.3. Interview ............................................................................................. 39

3.4. Analytical framework................................................................................................. 40

3.4.1. Tests.................................................................................................................. 40

3.4.2. Questionnaire ................................................................................................... 41

3.4.3. Interview........................................................................................................... 42

3.5. Validity and reliability of the instruments ................................................................. 42

3.5.1. Tests ................................................................................................................. 42

3.5.2. Questionnaire ................................................................................................... 43

3.5.3. Interview........................................................................................................... 45

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3.6. Summary .................................................................................................................... 45

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS.................................................................................. 45

4.1. Results of the experiment .......................................................................................... 45

4.1.1. Resemblance in the pre-test ............................................................................. 45

4.1.2. Difference in the post-test ................................................................................ 49

4.1.3. Summary........................................................................................................... 53

4.2. Results of questionnaire ............................................................................................ 53

4.2.1. The students’ awareness of reading comprehension in learning English and

their expectation in improving their reading comprehension ability ............... 54

4.2.2. The students’ reflection on the using of mind mapping in reading

comprehension ................................................................................................. 57

4.2.2.1. The students’ impression on mind mapping ....................................... 57

4.2.2.2. The students’ reflection on the teacher’s application of mind

mapping ............................................................................................................................ 58

4.2.2.2.1. The advantages of mind mapping .............................................. 58

4.2.2.2.1.1. Enhancing students’ motivation ........................................ 58

4.2.2.2.1.2. Stimulating and facilitating the reading comprehension

process ............................................................................... 60

4.2.2.2.1.3. Improving students’ group-work skill and students’

creativity ............................................................................ 65

4.2.2.2.2. The difficulties of mind mapping ............................................... 67

4.2.2.2.3. The frequency of using mind mapping ...................................... 68

4.3. Results from the interview ......................................................................................... 69

4.3.1. Importance of reading comprehension in learning English ............................. 70

4.3.2. Students’ opinion about mind mapping ........................................................... 70

4.3.3. Results and factors affecting the tests ............................................................. 71

4.3.4. Characteristics of mind mapping ..................................................................... 72

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4.3.5. Summary .......................................................................................................... 73

4.4. Summary..................................................................................................................... 74

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS............................................................... 75

5.1. Students’ performance in pre-test and post-test ........................................................ 75

5.2. Students’ attitude towards the application of mind mapping .................................... 76

5.2.1. Positive aspects ................................................................................................ 77

5.2.2. Negative aspects .............................................................................................. 78

5.3. Summary .................................................................................................................... 80

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................. 81

6.1. Answering the research questions.............................................................................. 81

6.2. Evaluation of the study methodology......................................................................... 83

6.2.1 Strengths ........................................................................................................... 83

6.2.2 Weaknesses........................................................................................................ 84

6.3. Recommendations for reading comprehension teaching and learning ...................... 85

6.3.1. For teachers ...................................................................................................... 85

6.3.2. For students ...................................................................................................... 87

6.4. Suggestions for further research................................................................................. 88

6.5. Summary .................................................................................................................... 88

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: The typical lesson plan of the experimental group....................................... 97

Appendix 2: The typical lesson plan of the control group .............................................. 101

Appendix 3: List of students of two groups .................................................................... 103

Appendix 4: Pre-test ....................................................................................................... 106

Appendix 5: Post-test ...................................................................................................... 110

Appendix 6: Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) .......................................................... 114

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Appendix 7: Questionnaire (English version) ................................................................ 117

Appendix 8: Interview questions .................................................................................... 120

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CG Control group

EFL English as a Foreign Language

EG The experimental group

HCMCUT Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport

SD Standard Deviation

Sig.(2-tailed) Significance (two-tailed)

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

TPP Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement

WTO World Trade Organization

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.3.1: Sample of mind map on the topic of Mind map in the classroom

Figure 2.3.2.1: Model of a library mind map

Figure 2.3.2.2: Model of the presentation mind map

Figure 2.3.2.3: Model of a tunnel timeline mind map

xi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.2: The information of the control group and the experimental group

Table 3.3.2.1.2: Information of reading text taught to both groups

Table 3.3.2.2: Distribution questions on the questionnaire

Table 3.3.2.3: Distribution questions on the interview

Table 3.5.1: Reliability Statistics of tests

Table 3.5.2: Reliability Statistics of questionnaire

Table 4.1.1.1: Pre-test results for the control group

Table 4.1.1.2: Pre-test results for the experimental group

Table 4.1.1.3: Compare means of the pre-test results of the control group and the

experimental group

Table 4.1.2.1: Post-test results for the control group

Table 4.1.2.2: Post-test results for the experimental group

Table 4.1.2.3: Compare means of the post-test results of the control group and the

experimental group

Table 4.2.2.1a: How students feel about mind mapping

Table 4.2.2.2.1.2b: Students’ responses of the advantage of mind mapping on

facilitating the reading comprehension process

Table 4.2.2.2.2: Students’ responses on difficulties of mind mapping in classroom

xii

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1.3.1: The changes of means of pre-test and post-test for each group

Chart 4.1.3.2.1: Control group’ distribution of score types

Chart 4.1.3.2.2: The experimental group’ distribution of score types

Chart 4.2.1a: Students’ awareness of importance of reading comprehension

Chart 4.2.1b: Students’ opinion on reading comprehension benefits

Chart 4.2.1c: Students’ self-evaluation of their current reading comprehension ability

Chart 4.2.1d: Students’ desire of the improvement in reading comprehension ability

Chart 4.2.2.1b: Students’ impression on mind mapping

Chart 4.2.2.2.1.1: Students’ responses to the advantages of mind mapping on

enhancing students’ motivation

Chart 4.2.2.2.1.2a: Students’ responses to the advantages of mind mapping on

stimulating the learning process

Chart 4.2.2.2.1.2c: Students’ responses to the advantages of mind mapping on

understanding and memorizing the reading lesson

Chart 4.2.2.2.1.3a: Students’ responses to the advantages of mind mapping on

improving students’ group work skill

Chart 4.2.2.2.1.3b: Students’ responses to the advantages of mind mapping on

improving students’ creativity

Chart 4.2.2.2.3: Students’ responses on the frequency of using of mind mapping