NGUYỄN THỊ NGỪNG

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Thị Ngừng

COVER PAGE 2

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO
IMPROVE THE 12th GRADERS’ ENGLISH
VOCABULARY AT MY HAO HIGH SCHOOL

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

COURSE: 2016 – 2018

HANOI, 2018


VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Thị Ngừng

USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO
IMPROVE THE 12th GRADERS’ ENGLISH
VOCABULARY AT MY HAO HIGH SCHOOL



Although only one name appears as the author of this work, writing a
thesis is indeed a collaborative effort. I would like to express my sincere thanks
to the many people who made it possible.
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep
appreciation to Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph. D, my supervisor, for his helpful and
warm encouragement as well as his insightful comments on my work from the
beginning to the end of the study.
Next, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible without
the cooperation from the respondents (ninety 12th graders at My Hao High
School) who have been willing to take part in the study. I am very grateful to all
of them for providing detailed information for the analysis of the study.
In addition, I would like to thank all of the lecturers who gave me
interesting lessons, dedication and advice during my study at Graduate
Academy of Social Sciences.
I also offer my special thanks to my colleagues and friends whose support
and encouragement help me to have this thesis accomplished.
Last but not least, I must express my gratitude to my family. It is their
endless love and expectations that have motivated me to complete this thesis. I
am immensely thankful for all the assistance they have given me.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale.......................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims of the Study ........................................................................................... 2
1.3. Research Questions ........................................................................................ 2
1.4. Scope of the Study.......................................................................................... 3

3.5.1. Phase 1 ...................................................................................................... 40
3.5.2. Phase 2 ...................................................................................................... 40
3.5.3. Phase 3 ...................................................................................................... 41
3.5.4. Phase 4 ...................................................................................................... 42
3.6. Data Analysis ............................................................................................... 43
3.7. Chapter Summary ......................................................................................... 45
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................. 46
4.1. Data Analysis from Questionnaires ............................................................. 46
4.2. Data Analysis from Tests ............................................................................. 54
4.3. Data Analysis from Interviews..................................................................... 59
4.4. Chapter Summary ......................................................................................... 63
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 65
5.1. Recapitulation............................................................................................... 65
5.2. Concluding Remarks .................................................................................... 66
5.3. Implications .................................................................................................. 69
5.4. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies ......................................... 70
5.4.1. Limitations ................................................................................................. 70
5.4.2. Suggestions for Further Studies ................................................................ 70
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 72
APPENDIX 1: Questionnaires ................................................................................I
APPENDIX 2: Semi-structured interview questions ........................................... III
APPENDIX 3: Answers for the interviews........................................................... V
APPENDIX 4: The students’ opinions about the teacher’s activities .............. VIII
APPENDIX 5: Positive attitude of students toward mind mapping technique ... X
APPENDIX 6: The students’ positive evaluation on the effectiveness of the MM
technique ............................................................................................................... X
APPENDIX 7: Pre-test .........................................................................................XI
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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The students’ opinions about the teacher’s activities............................ 47
Table 2: Positive attitudes of the students toward mind-mapping technique ...... 48
Table 3: The students’ positive evaluation on the effectiveness of the mindmapping technique ............................................................................................... 50
Table 4: Mean score of tests ................................................................................ 55
Table 5: Comparison of distribution of score range ………………………………58

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: An example of Mind-mapping .............................................................. 15
Figure 2: An example of a network tree .............................................................. 18
Figure 3: An example of an event chain .............................................................. 19
Figure 4: An example of a cycle concept map ..................................................... 20
Figure 5: An example of hayfork ......................................................................... 21
Figure 6: An example of thorn fish ...................................................................... 21
Figure 7: An example of cluster ........................................................................... 21
Figure 8: An example of variation ....................................................................... 21
Figure 9: A Mind-mapping about City................................................................. 25
Figure 10: A Mind-mapping about Animals ........................................................ 26
Figure 11: Procedure of the research .................................................................. 43
Figure 12: It is interesting to learn English vocabulary with mind-mapping
technique .............................................................................................................. 49

: Action research

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
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 by-product of language teaching and commucative
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.

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 My Hao High School?
- What is the effectiveness of mind-mapping technique on the 12th graders’
English vocabulary outcome at My Hao High School?

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1.4. Scope of the Study
The focus of the study is using mind-mapping technique to improve the
12th graders’ English vocabulary at My Hao high school. Hence, the study could
not cover all aspects in vocabulary teaching. It only focused on the use of mindmapping as a technique to help enhance the 12th graders’ vocabulary at My Hao
high school.
The subjects of the study are 90 male and female students coming from
class 12A2 and 12A8. 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 2017 to
February 2018, during the academic school year (2017-2018) at My Hao high
school.
TIME

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

October 2017

-


techniques) which were theoretically
effective to improve the situation and
solve the problem.

October 2017

- Students were given the pre-test

(week 4: From 23rd to 28th)

before the treatment in order for the
researcher to evaluate the student’s
vocabulary knowledge.

November 2017

- The data collected from the pre-test

(week 1: From 30th Oct to 4th Nov)

were analyzed to form a hypothesis.

November 2017

- The researcher made a detailed plan

(week 2,3: From 6th to 18th )

of what she intended to implement.
- Researcher’s intervention


(week 1: From 1st to 6th )

students to determine the effectiveness
of the intervention.

January 2018

- The data collected from the two post-

(week 2,3,4: From 8th to 27th)

tests and questionnaire, interviews
were analyzed to evaluate the students’
opinions about the treatment used and
to

identify

if

there

are

any

improvements.
-


can support the teachers of English at My Hao high school to apply this strategy
in teaching vocabulary, along with many other methods, so that not only the 12th
graders but also the rest students may be beneficial. Moreover, the teacher can
put aside their traditional methods in teaching English language particularly in
teaching vocabulary. They can use this new strategy to make the students more
interested in learning process. In addition, the teachers may not confuse in
choosing an appropriate technique to teach different kinds of vocabulary.
Thirdly, to the students, the positive results of this research are hoped to help the
students enrich their vocabulary. In addition, learning vocabulary through Mindmapping technique can make the students more excited; more interested in
doing their tasks and retain vocabulary in a long-term. Then, they can recall
many kinds of vocabulary effectively. Finally, to My Hao high school, the
school leaders can give the recommendation to the teachers in order to use the
appropriate techniques or strategies in teaching and learning vocabulary.
Therefore, the teachers will master more teaching skills and will bring benefit to
the school.
1.6. Research Methods
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
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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.

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.
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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

 Nouns
It was defined by Harmer (1998) that noun is a word or groups of words
which illustrates the name of an individual, a place, an animal or abstract thing
that we cannot touch. Particularly, there are seven types of noun; including
countable and uncountable noun, which can be described by the appearance of
the plural form. Another type of noun to be mentioned is the proper noun,
which, according to Frank (1972), is nouns with the first letter written in capital
form and it often refers to the exact name of a person or geographical things, etc.
The next two types are the common nouns, which refer to a general sense of an
individual place or object and physical items that we can perceive by using our
senses to touch, feel, see, smell, taste or hear. Another type of noun mentioned is
abstract noun, according to Martinet and Thomson (1986), which describes
anything that can’t be perceived through physical sense, and the last type of
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nouns is collective noun, which illustrates groups or organizations of people or
animal.
Types of Nouns
Types

Examples

Countable noun

monkey, bag, door, etc.

Uncountable noun

rice, sand, water, etc.

Thomson (1986) that it is a verb which accompanies another verb to express
grammatical distinctions, is considered relatively important because of their
function. The third type is the phrasal verb, which is created by a verb and a
preposition right after it to make a completely new word (Warriner, 1982). Other
types of verb to be mentioned here are the transitive verb which requires a direct
object after it and the intransitive verb which can stand alone in the sentence to
illustrate the full meaning of it.

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Types of verbs
Types

Examples

Action verb

go, wear, paint, etc.

Auxiliary verb

 Be: be, is, am, are, was, were, been and being
 Do: do, does, did, doing and done
 Have: have, has, had and having

Phrasal verb

look into, go off, get out, etc.



his, that, those, etc.

interrogative adjective

what, whose, why, etc.

 Adverbs
According to Harmer (1998), adverb is a word or group of words which
has the aim to illustrate the meaning of another complement of a sentence in a
more detail way. Furthermore, according to Warriner (1982) and Frank (1972),
there are some types of adverb, including: adverb of manner, adverb of time,
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adverb of place, adverb of frequency, adverb of quantity, relative adverb, adverb
of degree and interrogative adverb. The examples of each kinds of adverb are
given in the table below:
Types of adverbs
Types

Examples

Adverb of manner

quickly, neatly, etc.

Adverb of time

now, yesterday, soon, etc.

pronoun, which consists of three smaller types, including subjective personal
pronouns which illustrate this pronoun used as the sentence’s subject, objective
personal pronoun which illustrate this pronoun used as the sentence’s verb or
infinitive phrase and possessive personal pronoun which illustrate the owner of a
particular object or person. The second type is demonstrative pronoun which has
the function of identifying a noun or another pronoun. Another types of pronoun
can be mentioned are indefinite pronoun which refers recognizable but not
specified person or object, interrogative pronoun which used to ask for
information, reflexive pronoun which refer back to the exactly the subject who
did the action, reciprocal pronoun which indicates the relationship among
people, relative pronoun which has the function of connecting phrase or clause
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of a sentence. The last type of pronoun is possessive pronoun, which is divided
into two smaller types are possessive pronoun followed by noun and possessive
pronoun can stand alone.
 Prepositions
Preposition is a word which has a function of indicating the relationship
between a noun, pronoun or a verb to some other words. Preposition is divided
into many kinds, but the most popular are preposition of place, preposition of
time and preposition goes before or after a noun, verb or adjective.
 Conjunctions
According to Harmer (1998), conjunction is a set of words go together to
make connection among phrases and clauses in a sentence. In general, three
types of conjunction have been mentioned, including coordinating conjunction,
correlative conjunction and subordinating conjunction.
2.1.4. Vocabulary Tests Dèined
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

 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.

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