THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT QUANG XUONG HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE APPLYING MIND – MAP TECHNIQUES TO TEACH READING COMPREHENSION TO THE TWELVETH GRADE STUDENTS AT QUANG XUONG I HIGH SCHOOL ( ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP BẢN ĐỒ TƯ DUY DẠY ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 12 TRƯỜNG THPT QUẢNG XƯƠNG 1) Writer: Nguyễn Thị Thanh Ngọc Position: teacher School: Quang Xuong High School Subject: English THANH HOA, YEAR 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page 1.Introduction …………………………………………………………… 1.1.Rationale of the study………………………………………………… 1.2 Aim of the study ……………………………………………………….1 1.3 Scope of the study……………………………………………… 1.4 The significant of the study ………………………………………… 1.5.Methodolody………………………………………………………… 2.Content…………………………………………………………………….3 2.1 Theorical background and literature view ……………………………3 2.1.1 Definition of reading …………………………………………………3 1.2 Definition of reading comprehension …………………………… 2.3 Mind – map …………………………………………………………… 2.3.1 Definition of mind map ………………………………………………4 2.3.2 Benifits of mind maps in reading comprehension………………… 2.2 The reality of teaching and learning reading skill before applying mind – map …………………………………………………… 2.3 Using mind – map technique to deal with reading skill‘s problem… 2.4 Effectiveness of mind – map technique, to my teaching , my colleagues and my students in teaching and learning reading skill………12 3.Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 14 3.1.Conclusion ………………………………………………………………14 3.2 Suggestions …………………………………………………………… 14 Reference CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION English as an international language has been used for all over the world in Recent years English plays an important role in people’s communication an English is an compulsory subject in national exams This part introduces the rationale of the study, the aim, the scope, the methodology, the time , and the design of the study 1.1.Rationale of the study At present reading is a compulsory skill in all schools and vocational training in Viet Nam The English language curriculum is based on the four language skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing which are the cores of the curriculum Learners use these skills to obtain information and present information , to communicate with people Becoming an effective and good reader in another language, a reader can consolidate their already- learning knowledge The reading process in learning a foreign language may help students review as well as increase their knowledge of the target language through exposure to new vocabulary and grammar structure in the text Therefore reading skill is still one of the most important aspects to be taught at high school However, students have some difficulties in learning reading skill They find it difficult to understand the meaning of context because they lack of background knowledge , vocabulary And they gradually find it bored to learn reading skill To help students learn reading skill effectively, I use mind map technique in teaching skill with the hope that students will improve their vocabulary, background knowledge, pronunciation and increase their interest in learning reading skill 1.2 Aim of the study - The aim of the study is to examine if using mind- map help to increase students’ interest in reading comprehension skill It aims at: - I identify students’ perception about mind- map and using mind – map in reading comprehension 1.3 Scope of the study I carried out the investigation at Quang Xuong high school to study the result of mind – map in reading activities to improve the students’ interest , ability and help them to read better 1.4 The significant of the study The study attempts to examine whether mind – map will improve students’ ability in reading comprehension Reading will be the most important aspect in acquiring the target language Therefore, the result of the study of using mind – map in reading comprehension will make students more interested in reading comprehension and help teachers improve their teaching method and increase students’ performance effectively in reading comprehension Sum up , this study is significant because it helps to improve the classroom’s atmostphere in reading lesson 1.5.Methodolody To fulfill this study, a mixed use of both quantitative and qualitative methods are applied The data are collected by means of questionnaire and tests CHAPTER II : CONTENT 2.1 Theorical background and literature view 2.1 Definition of reading Reading has a multi - faced impact on our life People have demand for reading to expand their knowledge Through reading textbooks, magazines, newspapers,… People can discover what happens around the world Today, when people have to update new mass information all over the world, reading becomes more and more important However, there are different point of view on the definition of reading According to Siberstein ( 1993) [1] : “ Reading is complex information processing skill in which reader interact with the text to create the meaningful discourse In general term, reading is defined as “ reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and reading materials in building meaning Meaning does not reside on the printed pages, nor is it only in the reader” Anderson, (5,P.1) [2] This definition of reading has been generally shared by other researchers deriving from those opinions, reading is considered as a process in which a reader looks at and understands what has been written out 1.2 Definition of reading comprehension Understanding the massage that the authors want to covey is very important Therefore, reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learning language reading skill Methodologists have been provide different definitions of reading comprehension According to Smith ( 204, p.379) [3] comprehension as a process by which someone links what he knows about the world to what he already has as information ( intensive) and ( expectations) in his head thus, comprehending is the state of being out of confusion and puzzling to set things clear with no misunderstanding” Also concerning the reading comprehension, Grellet ( 18, p.3) [4] argued that reading comprehension or understanding a Written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible” The researcher means reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way From these opinion, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a Process of understanding what is conveyed in the text It does not mean that the reader need to understand every single word in the text but activity work in the text and extract the required information efficiently 2.3 Mind – map 2.3.1 Definition of mind map Mind mapping technique refers to teaching technique using mind mapping as a tool to represent students’ understanding by using words, picture with color and symbols in a hierarchical or tree branch format To explore the effective technique for teaching reading comprehension, this study adopted mind mapping technique (1970) developed by Tony Buzan [5] as a tool to represent the students’ understanding Mind mapping is a graphical method of taking note by using words, pictures with color, and symbols which take a hierarchical or tree branch format with idea branching into their subsections It can help poor readers to read more effectively because the format can show the relative importance of individual points and the way in which facts relate to one another as shown below: Mind map is a tool for enhancing learning and thinking It provides a structure to reveal various aspects of a story such as the sequence of events, the key points, the cause and effect, the relation of ideas and so on Students can use mind maps for revising and clarifying thoughts so as to get the deep meaning of a story 2.3.2 Benifits of mind maps in reading comprehension - Mind maps help to increase interest in the students, thus it makes them more receptive and co- operative in the classroom activities -Mind maps make lesson and presentation more spontaneous, creative an enjoyable, both for the teachers and the students Therefore, the learning process will become more exciting - Using mind maps, teacher notes become more flexible and adaptable This created deep remembering in students’ learning - Because mind maps present only relevant material in an clear and memorable form, the students tend to get better marks in examinations 2.2 The reality of teaching and learning reading comprehension before applying mind – map As an English teacher, I have encountered several problems when teaching reading skill to the twelveth grade students at Quang Xuong high school I found it hard to teach reading skill because of various reasons such as students’ low level of English, large – sized classes So it is difficult to manage the class as well as organize classroom activities Moreover, the students’ lack of motivation is a trouble to my teaching Calderson Guerrero and Carvajal (2007) stated that “ A person who is motivated to something can get better outcomes” Many of students did not like reading texts because they did not understand them , because of the lack of vocabulary and background knowledge they had They thought that to understand the text, they needed to know the meaning of every word Besides, the students’ lack of reading skills prevents me from teaching reading comprehension successfully Lack of teaching equipment for the lesson is seen as difficulties To conclude, There are number of factors, both objective and subjective preventing me from teaching reading skill effectively These finding also reflect the common problems of teaching at other school as well 2.3 Using mind – map technique to deal with reading skill‘s problem Here’s a list of the main components of a reading comprehension mind map Each one of these components lives as a node branching off from the center and will give your student deeper insight into the literary themes, characters, and more To help students get started with a mind map, teacher can provide them with a template like this one: 2.3.1 General information Students use this section to collect information about the author, when he/she lived, what his/her background was and how all of this might influence the book Connections between the author’s life and parts of the book can be visualized with arrows The setting of the story should be captured as well Depending on the book, it may make sense to provide an overview of all chapters and give the setting for each individual chapter 2.3.2.Characters Comprehending fictional texts is largely about understanding the characters; what they are driven by, what they care about, and how they’re connected to one another Using a mind map, students can visualize the relationships between individual characters, both on the surface (e.g Mercedes is Hal’s sister) and on a literary level (e.g Buck is the protagonist, Spitz is the antagonist) 2.3.3.Content You can help your students understand content of a reading text by providing them with a content framework in the mind map template which they can “fill out” themselves 2.3.4 Vocabulary A major obstacle in reading comprehension is new vocabulary To ensure that your students understand and retain all the new words (instead of just skipping over them), tell them to add the terms they don’t understand to their mind map, either in a separate vocabulary branch, or as part of the topic, theme, chapter and character branches the words are related to 2.3.5.Themes, motives and symbols For a more advanced literary analysis, create a branch for themes, motives and symbols, and add definitions of each to remind your students what each term means 2.4 Effectiveness of mind – map technique to my teaching , my colleagues and my students in teaching and learning reading skill 2.4.1.The author’s opinion - A mind map can help my students structure their thoughts No matter how complex an idea or big a topic, a mind map brings order into the chaos - Mind mapping provides a clear overview of a topic It enables my students to see the bigger picture, find connections and detect hierarchies between individual pieces of information - Mind mapping enhances memory by utilizing a number of mental triggers such as colors, images and a two-dimensional structure Because mind maps encourage the use of single keywords instead of whole sentences, my students are able to review core concepts and ideas at a glance 2.4.2 The Students’ Opinion Almost all the students enjoy the learning process From the open-ended questionnaire, they explicitly wrote, “very interesting for me, I enjoy on study,” “it is fun, colorful, and it is not make us boring,” “I feel enjoy, cool, not make me bored, I like this method,” “I feel understand, I think it is good for me, I like this,” “we can practice our creativity.” Moreover, one of them felt that the time was not enough She wrote, “it is fun but a time so short and not boring, not bad.” And one student wrote, “it needs preparation, some of us are lazy.” The students’ reactions to the mind mapping to comprehend the texts were categorized as good They stated that it was new for the most of them Students acknowledged that they have been used to mind mapping They were curious about the text They wanted to draw of what they had read They did not consider it as an evaluation of reading comprehension 2.4.3 The colleagues’ Opinion : The teachers wrote that the students paid more attention to the teachers’ Explanation than usually They were more focused and at the same time they were curious about the mind mapping project The teacher noticed that the students did not chat with their mates or played their mobile They asked questions to get more clear explanation The teacher believed that the teaching and learning process was more conductive than usual CHAPTER III : CONCLUSION 3.1 Conclusion There have been many techniques proposed to help students comprehend a text However, a conventional way appears to be popular among the teachers and the students The students have to understand each word of the text and answer several questions based on the text This situation affects students’ perspective on learning reading course, especially reading English They tend to be lazy to read since there are too many words they not know the meanings Based on the experimental statement, it was concluded that, first, mind map is one of the techniques that are fun to It involves colors and pictures or drawings The students somehow not realize that they are drawing their comprehension of the text Second, there is no major problem in teaching mind map to the students The noise that the class made was seen to be an interactive process Third, mind map is good to train students’ comprehension on the facts and details It proves that mind map is a superior notetaking technique And the last, the students’ reaction on mind mapping is mainly positive 3.2 suggestions Based on effective of mind – map technique in teaching and learning reading skill, several suggestions in order to make improvement for the next study are proposed First, mind map technique can be used to improve students’ reading comprehension combine with other strategies beside KWL Second, mind map technique can be used not only on reading narrative text but also other genres of the text Third, the teacher and the students need to apply the technique continuously with some changes in the method so it will not be monotonous This study is important to reveal the mind mapping technique in comprehending a text It is a contribution to EFL methodology where mind map is an alternative technique to be used in teaching and learning reading comprehension REFERENCES [1] Sheiberstein, S (1993) Techniques & Resources in Teaching Reading Oxford: Oxford University Press [2] Anderson, T.(2003) Modes of interaction in distance education: Recent development and research questions In M Moore ( Ed) handbook of distance education, Mahwah, NJ, Erlbaum [3] Smith,F ( 1978) Understanding reading : A psycholinguistic analysis of reading and learning to read New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston [4] Grellet,F.(1981) Developing reading skills Cambridge University Press [5] Buzan, T ( 1993) The Mind Map Book – How To Use Radiant Thinking To Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential New York: Penguin Group XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh Hóa, ngày tháng năm 2017 Tơi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Người viết Nguyễn Thị Thanh Ngọc ... comprehension skill It aims at: - I identify students perception about mind- map and using mind – map in reading comprehension 1.3 Scope of the study I carried out the investigation at Quang Xuong high. .. pronunciation and increase their interest in learning reading skill 1.2 Aim of the study - The aim of the study is to examine if using mind- map help to increase students interest in reading comprehension. .. every single word in the text but activity work in the text and extract the required information efficiently 2.3 Mind – map 2.3.1 Definition of mind map Mind mapping technique refers to teaching