The Effects of mind-mapping on the 6th graders’ vocabulary retention - An action research project at Thanh My junior high School.pdf

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
TRẦN THỊ VÂN NGA
THE EFECTS OF MIND-MAPPING ON 6TH
GRADERS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT THANH MY
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
(Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của việc sử dụng bản đồ tư duy đến khả
năng nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 6, trường THCS Thanh Mỹ)
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
HANOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
TRẦN THỊ VÂN NGA
THE EFECTS OF MIND-MAPPING ON 6TH
GRADERS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN
ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT THANH MY
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
(Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của việc sử dụng bản đồ tư duy đến khả
năng nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 6, trường THCS Thanh Mỹ)
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYỄN VĂN TRÀO
HANOI - 2016

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DECLARATION
I hereby declare this thesis is the result of my own research and that the
substance of the thesis has not, wholly or part, been submitted for a degree to
any other university or institution.
Hanoi, October 2016
Trần Thị vân Nga

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my special gratitude to my advisor,
Mr.Nguyen Van Trao, Assoc.Prof.Dr for his patience in guiding and supervising
me during the process of this thesis writing.
My special thanks go to my colleagues from Thanh My Junior high school
for their cooperation and support during this study.
The writer would also like to express appreciation to the staff menbers and
the teachers of post-graduate department of University of Languages and
International Studies-Vietnam National University for giving me favourable to
completing the thesis.
Finally I would like to dedicate my big appreciations to my family who
have support me a lot during my study.

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ABSTRACT
The aims of this research are to find out the effects of mind-mapping on
6th
graders‟ vocabulary retention at Thanh My junior high school. To limit the
aspects to be analyzed in this study, I formulate two research questions: (1) To
what extends does the use of mind-mapping affect the students‟ vocabulary
retention? (2) What are the students‟ attitudes toward vocabulary learning?
In the study, I carried out an action research with the 6A1 students of
Thanh My junior high school. Data of this study were obtained from the results
of questionnaires and from pre-test and post-test results. Two instruments for
collecting the data were (1) questionnaires toward vocabulary learning before
and after applying the mind -mapping in teaching vocabulary and (2) the pre-
test and post- test.
The findings of the data analysis showed that (1) Mind-mapping can help
the students to improve their abilities in memorizing English vocabulary
items; (2) the students had positive attitudes toward the mind-mapping. Mind-
mapping is hoped to be a promising technique to teach and learn vocabulary.

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I.LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
1.Table 1: Research schedule
2.Table 2: Result of questionnaire 1
3. Table 3: The causes of the problems encountered by the 6A1 class students
4.Table 4: The activities applied in the study
5.Table 5: Relationship between causes of the problems and the activities
6. Result of questionnaire 2
II. LIST OF FIGURES
Figure I: First step in creating mind-mapping: „drawing a central image‟.
Figure II: Second step in creating mind mapping: „drawing main branches‟
Figure III:Third step in creating mind mapping: „drawing second branch‟
Figure IV: Environment diagram
Figure V: Sports and games diagram
Figure VI: Completing the mind-mapping diagram
II. LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1: Result of the pre-test
Chart 2: Result of the post-test
Chart 3: Comparison between the pre-test anhd the post-test

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKHNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ASTRACT iii
LIST OF TABLE, FIGURES AND CHART iv
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1.Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 3
5. Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMEMT 4
Chapter I: Literature Review 4
1.1.Vocabulary 4
1.1.1.Vocabualry definition 4
1.1.2. The importance of the vocabulary 4
1.1.3.Kinds of vocabulary 5
1.1.4.Vocabulary teaching 6
1.1.5.Vocabulary retention 8
1.2. Mind-mapping 10
1.2.1.Definition of mind-mapping 11
1.2.2.Functions of mind-mapping 11
1.2.3.Characteristics of mind mapping 12
1.2.4. Procedures in making a mind-mapping 12
1.2.5.Steps to read a mind-mapping 12
1.2.6.The application of mind-mapping to teaching a foreign language 13
1.2.7.The use of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning 14
1.3.Previuos studies 18
1.3.1.Review of related studies worldwide 18
1.3.2.Review of related study in Viet Nam 19
Chapter II: Methodology 21
2.1.Action research 21
2.2. Research procedures 21
2.3 Setting of the study 22
2.4.Participants 23

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2.5.Data collection instruments 23
2.6. Research procedures 27
2.6.1.Reconnaissance 27
2.6.2.Planning 27
2.6.3.Implememting the action 28
2.6.4.Reflection 29
Chapter III. Research findings 30
3.1.Initial data analysis 30
3.1.1.Data from questionnaire 1 30
3.1.2.Result of the pre-test 32
3.1.3.Identification of causes of the problems 33
3.2.Action plan 33
3.2.1. Determining the actions 33
3.2.2.Relationship between the causes of the problems and the action 34
3.2.3.The implememtation of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning 37
3.3.Post data 39
3.3.1. Result of questionnaire 2 39
3.3.Result of the post-test 40
3.4.Majors findings 42
3.5.Discussion 44
PART C: CONCLUTION 47
1.Pedagogical implecations 47
2. Limitations of the study 48
3. Suggestions for further study 48
4. Conclusion 49
REFERENCE 50
APPENDIXS I

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In terms of students‟ competences, the teaching of English at the sixth grade has
the aim at developing the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and
writing. This means that the students are expected to practice these language skills
through the activities given in the class. In supporting the development of the four
language skills, it is necessary to learn language components. In the sixth grade
classes, the language components include pronunciation, grammar, spelling, and
vocabulary.
Vocabulary is one of the language components that play a significant part in the
development of the language skills. In the sixth grade, building up a useful vocabulary
is important to the teaching of a foreign language (Cameron, 2001: 72). It shows that
English materials for sixth grade students focus on enriching the students‟ vocabulary.
To have a good memorization on vocabulary, the students are expected to be able to
use the language successfully and efficiently including using it to develop their
language skills in class activities.
Nevertheless, learning English vocabulary is challenging for the sixth grade
students at Thanh My Junior High School (TMJHS). After observing and conducting
an interview at the school, the teacher found that there were two problems that
involved the learning English vocabulary of the TMJHS. Firstly, the students felt
difficult to memorize and recall English vocabulary items including their
pronunciation, their spelling and especially their meaning. The students usually cannot
remember the words for long and recall them when needed. Secondly, the teaching
technique was not very interesting and motivating. The students got bored with the
way of teaching the teacher used. The teacher often asked the students to find the new
words then he or she explained the meaning of the words. After that the students had
to write the list of the new words in their notebook and learn them by heart.
To learn English vocabulary, memorization is very important. In mastering
English vocabulary, the students do not only need to learn a lot of English words but
also to remember them (Thornbury, 2002: 23). Accordingly, low proficiency makes
students find an obstacle in acquiring the language knowledge and taking part in class
activities. It is clear that they could not communicate well because they lack words
they need.
One of the causes of the students‟ low vocabulary retention is likely their
learning habits. The ways they learn new words are various: such as writing down

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words on a piece of paper, learning words by heart, heavily depending on wordlists in
textbook, passively waiting for teacher‟s explanation for new words. These ways do
not seem to be effective and make them bored with learning vocabulary. So as to
memorize new items, students often use rote memorization techniques. As some of the
students said, they used to write down the words for several times, to speak aloud the
words and to make sentences with words. They admitted that they could not recall
most of the words they had learnt before because there were no clues. It can be seen
that the students‟ bad memory is due to the lack of appropriate vocabulary learning
technique. They are not given different ways of learning vocabulary and are not
encouraged to use them as a strategy of learning vocabulary. Therefore, learning new
words is not very enjoyable for the learners.
This study aims to help the students to be more successful in English
vocabulary retention and to motivate them in learning words. For this purpose, mind-
mapping is used as a technique to improve the students’ vocabulary retention and
motivate them in learning vocabulary.
2. Aims of the study
The aims of this study are to find the way to improve vocabulary retention of
the 6A1 students of TMJHS and to motivate them in learning English vocabulary.
3. Research questions
To obtain the stated aims, the following research questions are formulated:
(1) To what extent does the use of mind-mapping affect the students‟
vocabulary retention?
(2) What are the students‟ attitudes toward vocabulary learning?
4. Scope of the Study
In this study, the researcher uses one class and the research is done at the sixth
grade of Thanh My junior high school. The researcher hopes that the findings of this
study will give benefits and contribution for some parties. Firstly, for the English
teachers, the results of the study can be applied for the betterment of the English
teaching and learning process especially in presenting English vocabulary to the
students. The study will be considered as the first step to improve the effectiveness of
the teaching learning process by using mind-mapping to introduce lesson materials at
TMJHS. Secondly, for the sixth grade of TMJHS students, they are expected to enjoy
learning vocabulary with mind-mapping. The use of mind-mapping as the technique in
learning English vocabulary can be considered as an effective way of note-taking to

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memorize English words easily. The last is for other researchers. The study can give
general knowledge of materials that can be done for research studies in relation to
vocabulary learning in the secondary level of education.
5. Design of the study
The thesis consists of three main parts:
Part A: Introduction introduces the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the
scope and the design of the study.
Part B: Development is divided into 3 chapters.
Chapter 1: Literature Review presents theories related to vocabulary, mind-mapping.
Previous studies on mind-mapping are also reviewed.
Chapter 2: Methodology presents the research methods, the setting of the study, the
participants, the research data and the research procedures.
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion presents the analysis of initial collected data to
determine the problems, then the action plan. The analysis of post-treatment data was
then presented along with which the discussions were given.
Part C: Conclusion provides the pedagogical implications, some limitations of the
study and suggestions for future study.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHARPER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Vocabulary
1.1.1. Vocabulary definition
McCarthy (1990: 32) defined vocabulary as words in a specific language or
freestanding items of language that have meaning. According to Penny Ur (1996: 122)
vocabulary is defined roughly as “the words we teach in the foreign language”. She also
stated that “a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of
two or three words (e.g., bus stop, father -in-law), and multi-word idioms (e.g., call it a
day)”.
As can be seen, vocabulary is defined in many different ways. It refers to words or
a group of words in a language and knowledge of words regarding its meanings, forms,
and how to use it correctly in the context. In this study, vocabulary refers to the words,
compounds and phases in a language that could be use to exchange information in oral
and written communication.
1.1.2. The importance of vocabulary
Vocabulary plays a significant role in language learning activities. It consists of all
the words that we usually used when the other language skills are studied. Learning
vocabulary does not mean learning word isolation. We should learn words in context
because a word may have different meanings in different contexts. According to French
(1983: 1), the meaning of the word will be dependent on the context itself and word in
isolation usually does not associate with the intended meaning. The English words and
their meaning should not be useful unless we know how to organize the words
meaningfully in a sentence. However, vocabulary growth depends on the students‟
experiences. Words must match with the meaning so as to be useful for communication.
Vocabulary has an important role in mastering a language. Whoever wants to master well
a language needs to have good vocabulary retention. Memorizing vocabulary is the first
step to master English well. Therefore the students will have problems in mastering
English when lacking the vocabulary. They find it hard to express their idea clearly and
also they could not understand the teacher‟s explanation because they do not know the
meaning of words used by the teacher. Moreover, they have difficulties in understanding
books, newspapers, magazines written in English, or even in understanding the radio

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broadcast or television programs. So the retention of a great number of vocabularies is
necessary to use English. In other words, vocabulary as an important tool helps the
students to understand when they listen or read something in English. Harmer (1991: 23)
said that we should ensure that our students memorize the vocabulary they need for their
level and that they can recall them when needed. The vocabulary is one of the language
aspects along with grammar and pronunciation which is considered a tool to support the
ability to communicate in English.
1.1.3. Kinds of vocabulary
In vocabulary learning, the words to be learned can be classified into two categories
which are content words and function words. Content words carry a lexical meaning, and
function words cover grammatical meaning. In language, to understand functions of
words students can arrange words in a correct sentence and analyze the sentence
(Cameron 2001: 82). Based on the meaning of words, content words are the word classes
of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. In teaching content words, the teacher can
explain the words and their meanings in a direct and explicit way (Cameron 2001: 82). On
the other hand, function words are the classes of articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and
pronouns. In teaching function words, the teacher teaches words incidentally and uses
them continuously in a range of different discourse contexts (Cameron, 2001).
However, according to Nation (2001: 78), groups of English vocabulary have been
categorized by frequency of overall occurrence in order to determine which words are
most necessary for students to learn. There are two common divisions: high-frequency
words and low-frequency words. High-frequency words which, include function words
and content words, account for a very large proportion of the running words in spoken
and written texts and occur in all kinds of uses of the language. Low-frequency words
cover over 5 percent of the words in an academic text. In fact, English students try their
best to master a large amount of vocabulary. Based on the learners‟ English level and the
discussed issue, vocabulary and its compounds and idioms focused in the present study
will be chosen basing on frequency and usefulness to the need of the learners.
1.1.4. Vocabulary teaching
According to Thornbury (2004), vocabulary is usually a problem of memorizing.
In order to teach it effectively, it is important for the teacher to know how to make
students remember words and store them in students‟ mind for long-term.

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Some writers (Thornbury, 2004; Mccarthy, 1992; Gairns and Redman, 1986) claim
that the vocabulary is well stored in the mind, in a complex web-like system called
“mental lexicon”. In this regard, words are stored, classified and interconnected in
different ways accordance with their features such as form, meaning, collocations,
properties, cultural background. As a result, a word can be looked up through some
pathway at once.
Therefore, the language teacher plays an important role in helping their students
determine the easiest way to convey new words into the already existing web of the
mental lexicon (Thornbury, 2004). In addition, it is necessary for the students to acquire
the capacity to store the information for long-term.
Research into memory of Thornbury (2004) suggests principles to support the
process of permanent remembering. In this research, he listed some techniques to make
vocabulary teaching effective.
The first technique is repetition for example in reading. Moreover, he also focuses
on the importance of use and retrieval of the new words: eg, use the new words to
complete the sentences.
Furthermore, Thornburry thinks that the presentation of new words should be
divided into separated sequences that are followed by repeated revision later in the next
sections or periods.
Motivation, which is another helpful element, is closely linked with attention.
Thornburry states that an arousal (a very high degree of attention) seems to relate with
improved recall.
Finally, according to Thornburry (2004), visualization of a picture for a new
vocabulary item or link an abstract word with several metal images should be done by the
teacher. Images can help students draw themselves the best outcomes. Thornburry claims
one more time that the students‟ own images give the best influence on memorizing.
To concern this problem, Gairns and Redman (1986) emphasized the significance
of activities in the classroom. They thought that the activities need to be presented in
detail so information is more likely to be remembered in long-term memory. Moreover,
they together Thornburry presented the positive influence of imaging, repetition…They
also suggest a good technique “word diagram” to support retention which might be useful
for “storage of lexis”.

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Traditionally, students have not been taught vocabulary in a particular lesson but
along with lessons of listening, speaking, reading or writing. Some learners make a list
then put into it the meaning of new words in their mother tongue without any real context.
Learners often look up the meaning of the words in the dictionary or ask the teacher to
translate the words and try to learn them by heart. There are some other traditional
techniques such as illustration, mime…For those techniques, the learners are usually
passive and the lessons center on the teachers. Consequently, the students usually have
difficulties in memorizing and recalling the words.
The current trends in teaching vocabulary stress on helping learners memorizing
the words that they have learn and relate words with others or in different contexts.
Learners should not learn words in isolation (Harmer, 1991)
Mind-mapping is considered as an example of current trends in teaching
vocabulary. Mind-mapping is a visual organizer that promotes vocabulary development.
Mind-mapping is a creative note-taking strategy which makes us easy to memorize the
information. Buzan (2009) thinks that mind-mapping is a powerful technique graphic,
which provides universal key to unlock the potential of brain. Mind-mapping technique
imitates the thinking process, makes it possible for us to move from one topic to another
topic back and forth. A pattern with pictures, color, symbol not only makes the learners
understand the vocabulary knowledge but also makes them feel good and enjoyable and it
can attract them to pay attention to the vocabulary knowledge then retain the words. In
contrast with the traditional technique, the current ones are considered the positive change
for a new teaching and learning process. The teachers are now not only the knowledge
provider but also the initiator, the guider and the controller. The students also get engaged
with the learning process. They could discuss and interact with their teachers, exchange
information with their classmates.
Despite the advantages it can bring, mind-mapping exhibits some limitations.
Mind-mapping can give the danger of introducing closely related new vocabulary items at
the same time. Learners find troubles in relation with too many vocabulary items. This
makes learners‟ task more difficult.
1.1.5. Vocabulary retention
1.1.5.1. Vocabulary retention

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The Longman dictionary defines retention in some way. It is also the condition of
being retained or the act of retaining. It is the power and capacity of retaining and ability
to recognize or recall what has been experienced or learned.
According to Oxford dictionary, vocabulary retention is the fact of keeping
information in one‟s memory or is the power or capacity of holding and absorbing a
certain number of words in their memory. Vocabulary retention can refer to short-term
memory and long-term memory retention.
1.1.5.2. Short-term and long-term memory
Memory is divided into short-term and long-term memory base on duration of
memory retention and capacity of recalling information after the original input. Long-
term memory is used to retain information in anything but the immediate future. Short-
term memory is to store or keep information while it is being processed. The object of
vocabulary learning is to transfer the lexical information from the short-term memory to
the more permanent long-term memory (Schmitt, 2000). However, we can not
distinguish clearly short-term retention and long-term retention. Information entering
short-term memory may pass quite effortlessly into long-term memory, and some learners
may find repetition a very effective way of transferring information into long-term
memory.
When learning vocabulary, learners often have difficulties in retention of words for
a long time. They do not usually succeed in putting the words into long-term memory. In
the present study, short-term memory is referred as the initial memory of the word
meaning at the end of the lessons whereas the number of words can be recalled at the next
lessons or at the end of the study is considered as one form long -term memory because
the participants in the study have only three forty-five-minute lessons per week.
1.5.3. Major factors affecting word retention
There are many reasons why students remember words better than others. For
example, nature of the words themselves, situations under which the words are learnt,
how the words are taught to students and so on affect word retention. Gairns and Redman
(1986) pointed out that learning new items involves storing them first in the short-term
memory and afterwards in the long-term memory, and the long-term memory can hold
any amount of information. They showed that our “mental lexicon” is highly organized
and efficient, and that semantic related items are stored together. Another factor affecting

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storage is word frequency because the most frequently used items are easier to retrieve.
We can facilitate the leaning process by classifying items of vocabulary in semantic fields
such as topics.
Besides, retrieval is another difficulty faced by the learners when learning
vocabulary. According to Nunan (1990) learners can be motivated to develop their own
personal learning styles for vocabulary, in such areas as memorizing and retaining new
words. However, Cater et al. (1989) showed that the storage of information does not
guarantee its retrieval. Learners need to increase the effectiveness of retrieval probability
because they need techniques to recall appropriate words for particular occasion. Cater
also pointed out that the meanings of words are focused rather than on their forms to
enhance production, as most of our production has to do with searching for an appropriate
meaning to fit the specific situation. The most effective is to associate bonds for
production, therefore, connect the words with their meanings.
1.5.4. Indicators of students’ vocabulary retention
In vocabulary teaching learning, both teacher and student will happy if teaching
learning process gains good result. Teacher can be said to be successful in his teaching
language if the students can mastery four skills in language, they are listening, reading,
speaking, and writing, of course vocabulary retention become a basic aspect to support
that skills.
These are some indicators of vocabulary retention suitable with the school
curriculum especially for Junior High School. They are:
* Students can identify, understand, grasp and remember the meaning of words in the
text.
* Students can pronounce the words correctly.
* Students can use and write the words correctly, so they can write a composition
well.
* Students have high score in the vocabulary test.
According to (Nation, 2001), vocabulary learning strategies are one part of
language learning strategies which in turn are part of general learning strategies. Gu, Y
(2000, p.85-86) cites some vocabulary learning strategies such as cognitive,
metacognitive memory and activation strategies

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Metacognitive strategies entail selective attention and self-initiation strategies.
Cognitive strategies consist of guessing strategies, skillful use of dictionaries and note-
taking strategies. Memory strategies are grouped into rehearsal and encoding categories.
Word lists and repetition are instances of rehearsal strategies. Encoding strategies include
such strategies as association, imagery, visual, auditory, semantic, and contextual
encoding as well as word-structure. Activation strategies encompass those strategies
through which the learners actually use new words in different contexts.
With regard to word meaning and retrieval, many researchers (Hague, 1987; Cater,
1989; Amer, 2002) agreed that mind-mapping is effective for long-term memory and
support the recall. Therefore, in this study, the mind-mapping technique will be presented
in the next section.
1.2. Mind-mapping
1.2.1. Definition of mind-mapping
Mind-mapping is a creative note taking technique in a visualization and graphic
form that is used to make people feel easy in entering information into their brains,
keeping information in a long term memory and taking it out from their brains easily by
engaging imagination and association (Buzan 2006: 6; Buzan 2009: 10). In this definition,
there are five important concepts of mind-mapping. Firstly, mind-mapping is one of
creative note taking techniques used by people to represent ideas into visualization and
graphic forms where one idea is connected to another idea by using branches. Secondly,
by using mind mapping, it is easy for people to enter the information into their brains.
Also, mind-mapping supports to put information into their memory. Thirdly, mind
mapping helps people to keep information in the long term memory. Fourthly,
information can be easily taken out from their brain when using mind-mapping. Finally,
mind-mapping involves the use of imagination and association in its application. This
means that in presenting ideas into mind-mapping diagrams, people enclose imagination
stimulators such as pictures, symbols, and colors to present ideas clearly and use
association techniques to help them build their senses to the new concepts. These new
concepts are connected to the known concepts having a tight relationship with the new
concepts.
According to Buzan (1993: 1) mind-mapping is a great graphic technique, which
gives a general key to unlock the potential of brain. Mind-mapping technique copies the
thinking process, which enable us to move from one topic to another topic back and forth.

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Recording the information through symbols, pictures, emotional meaning and colors,
exactly the same like our brains process it. A pattern which at least consists of symbol,
picture, and color will not only help the students to understand the vocabulary knowledge
but also makes the students feel interesting, enjoyable. In addition, it can encourage the
students‟ brain and leads them to have interest in retain vocabulary knowledge.
1.2.2. Functions of mind-mapping
According to Buzan (2009:6), mind-mapping have the following functions:
* To make active all parts of brain.
* To make people (learners) be focus in the main topic.
* To help show the relation among parts of information
* To give a certain illustration in the whole and detail.
* To help group the concept and compare it.
1.2.3. Characteristics of mind-mapping
The mind map has four essential characteristics:
* The subject of attention is crystallized in a central image.
* The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image on branches.
* Branches hold a key image word printed on the associated line-details radiate
out.
* The branches form a connected structure.
1.2.4. Procedures in making a mind-mapping
The procedure in making a mind map consists of seven steps:
* Start from the centre of paper that put horizontally.
* Use images for the central ideas.
* Use color. By coloring, it can improve the energy toward creative thinking.
* Connect the main branches to the central image; connect the second and third
branches to the first and second branches and so on.
* Make a curve line as connected line among branches. It will be more interesting.
Use a key word in each line. It useful to give the mind map more energy and flexibility.
* Use image is like on central image (Buzan, 2009: 15-16).
1.2.5. Steps to read a mind-mapping
The steps to read a mind map, as follows:

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* Start in the centre that is the focus of the mind map.
* Words/images closest to the central image show the main themes of the mind-
map. This is the start of the radiant hierarchical structure.
* Select one main theme and read out from the centre along the branch. This
provides greater levels of associated detail.
* Notice links between the branches.
1.2.6. The application of mind-mapping to teaching a foreign language.
It is obvious that memory plays an important role in learning and mastering a
foreign language. In the communicative approach, learners need to retain words and use
them effectively.
Mind-mapping is a helpful memory technique which makes it easier to remember
new materials and to visualize the thinking process, so mind-mapping proves to be a very
helpful tool to master a foreign language. Although it may cost time to use the technique,
it will eventually speed up the learning process when learners know and understand how
to use it.
Casco (2009) suggests some applications of mind-mapping in teaching a foreign
language which can be presented as follows:
Engage the learners:
Thanks to the map, the learners know easily what comes next and focus the
learners‟ attention on the topic. Moreover, the map supports a structure to reduce the
learners‟ anxiety when they receive input through listening and reading when they speak.
Active prior knowledge
The use of keywords stimulates memory of what the student know about the topic.
Encourage the learner to ask questions:
The map shows clearly what the students know and what they do not know about
the topic. Image and interrogation marks widen the information gap and encourage the
learners to find out what they do not know.
Scaffold reading and listening comprehension:
The map is an efficient tool to facilitate comprehension because it offers the
students a globe view of listening or reading contents. Furthermore, the cues showing in
the map helps the learner to form inferences as an aid to understanding.
Scaffold speaking

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The map helps the learner to organize their thought and speech. Thanks to the
different linked and cross-referenced elements of the map allow the learner to create a
various discourse each time he/she use the map.
Assess oral production
The map can assess the students‟ oral production by explaining the link of the
maps. The learner has to use new structure and lexical items to introduce the content of
the map.
Scaffold written production
The map can be considered the starting point or the outline to write a paragraph or
an essay on the topic explored.
Casco (2009) showed that mind-mapping has a lot of benefits in teaching a foreign
language in many aspects consisting of reading, writing, reading skill as well as in
motivating the learners and activating the prior knowledge.
1.2.7. The Use of Mind Mapping in Vocabulary Learning
In vocabulary learning, mind-mapping can be used in some activities: presenting
and reviewing English vocabulary. In this study, for example, the English teacher can use
mind-mapping diagrams to help the students to understand English words and their
meaning, and make the words easier to be memorized (Buzan, 2006: 201).
Mind-mapping is a creative note-taking form which applies visualization and
graphic forms. To create mind-mapping diagrams, the teacher or students need to follow
some steps. Below, Tony Buzan presented four steps in creating the mind-mapping
diagram as examples of the use of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning (Buzan, 2006:
21-23). However, the teacher can use the software to create the mind-mapping diagram.
The software which is quite convenient and easy to operate, also help the teacher to save
the time.
 Creating mind-mapping diagrams
A frame of mind-mapping diagram is made by using color pencils, a piece of plain
paper in a landscape position, pictures, key words, and association. A frame of the mind-
mapping diagram can be made by doing the steps below.
To make a frame of mind-mapping, we should use color pencils, paper, pictures,
keys words and association in traditional way but in this study I will introduce another

14
way to create mind-mapping diagram by using the software iMinMap7. A mind-mapping
can be easily made thanks to the support of this software by doing the following steps
Firstly, the teacher draws or chooses a picture as a central image in the middle part
of the paper (Buzan, 2006: 21). The page should be placed in a landscape position. Here,
the central image is used to describe the main idea or to be more understandable, we
should write key words along with the image. It is to activate the learners‟ right brains,
strengthen the learners‟ memory, and make the learning enjoyable. The steps in creating
of “Sports and Games” diagram are presented as an example. The first step is shown in
Figure I below.
Figure I: First step in creating mind-mapping: ‘drawing a central image’.
Secondly, the teacher draws curve lines and boxes around the central image to
build main branches or basic ordering ideas (Buzan, 2006: 24-25). The main branches
have tight relationship with the topic idea. Then, a picture or symbol and keyword in
every main branch tip is made to strengthen the writing of keywords and make it easy to
be understood (Buzan, 2006: 26).The pictures in the mind-mapping diagram (Figure II)
below show the kind of sports as branch keywords.
Finally, the teacher makes the second and the third branches and so on. The second
branches are radiated from the main branches. The second branches are created to present
ideas related to ideas in the main branches. At the tips of second branches, the teacher
adds pictures or symbols and keyword. Figure III below is an example.

15
Figure II: Second step in creating mind mapping: ‘drawing main branches’.

16
Figure III: Third step in creating mind mapping: ‘drawing second branch’

17
 Presenting vocabulary by using mind-mapping
The teacher presents the vocabulary items by using the frame of the mind-mapping
diagram which has been prepared and places it on the blackboard or screen of projector.
The teacher can do some steps before when vocabulary items are introduced. The teacher
presents materials in mind-mapping based on the sequences of the steps in creating mind-
mapping. These steps are described below:
First, a frame of the mind-mapping diagram should be placed on the middle of the
blackboard or screen to make sure that all students could see the content of the mind-
mapping diagram. Second, the teacher introduces the lesson topic by using the central
image of the mind-mapping diagram (Buzan, 2006: 21). Then, the teacher starts to present
English words in the main branches one by one based on the pictures in the branches
(Buzan, 2006: 24-25). Then, she asks students to guess a word from each picture .Then,
she writes the word in the available branch (Ellis, 1993:88). In presenting the words in the
second branches, the teacher does the same way as the step in presenting the ones in the
main branches. After the teacher finishes in completing the mind -mapping diagram, she
asks the students to pronounce all or some important words presented in the mind-
mapping diagram to check whether or not the students pronounce correctly the words.
With the support of color and images illustrated in Figure III, mind-mapping
could help students a lot in learning words and organizing the ideas systematically. In
fact, the students have to usually take a lot of effort to retain words and sentences;
whereas by visualizing them, it makes us much easier to memorize and recall the words.
1.3. Previous studies
1.3.1. Review of related studies worldwide
Looking for studies related to using mind-mapping technique in teaching language
in the world, the researcher found several ones. The study Teaching vocabulary through
MM technique to the ten grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palembang was written by
Effendi (2004). Through the analysis of the data collected during the study, the researcher
concluded that it existed a significant difference between the students‟ process in the
experimental group (using mind-mapping technique) and the control group (using
traditional method) and it can be concluded that mind-mapping is an effective technique
to teach vocabulary to ten grade students of SMA Negeri 15 Palebang.

18
A research on semantic mapping was conducted by DeCarrico (2001). She stated
that semantic mapping helps to make conscious about relationship among words in a text
and helps to understand deeply by making an associative networks for words. The teacher
asked the students to draw a diagram of the relationship between particular words from
the text chosen. She said in her conclusion: “especially at the beginning levels, the
teaching of wordlists through word association techniques has proven to be successful
way to learn a large number of words in a short period and retain them over
time”.(DeCarrico (2001; 288-289).
Beside the above studies, the researcher can find the study related to using mind-
mapping in teaching language. The finding of the study Introducing mind map in
comprehension by Moi and Lian (2007) was that students are able to understand and
remember the comprehension passage better in establishing meaningful links, pattern,
relationship among concepts and information. Visual mapping also help them to develop
their thinking skills, sorting of information and ideas, thus developing better
understanding in a topic area. Students gain confidence in attempting comprehension
questions.
1.3.2. Review of related studies in Vietnam
It was quiet difficult to look for the studies related to the topic of this study in
Vietnam. After a long time searching, several related studies–the graduation paper-which
were found, names Using MMs and diagrams to teach vocabulary for the first year
mainstream students, faculty of English language teacher Education by Dang (2011).
She concluded that there was a different achievement on the experimental group and
control group, which means, using mind-mappings and diagrams to teach vocabulary can
help students have better and longer memory of word items taught. Moreover, students
after attending a lesson with mind-mapping and diagrams really wanted to have chance to
learn with those techniques
Besides, the study The Effects of Semantic Mapping on Vocabulary Memorizing by
Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, Viet Nam pointed that the semantic-mapping was an effective way
of enabling the students to achieve greater progress in vocabulary learning. As a result,
the students had positive attitudes towards this method. The findings were not only
consistent with the literature review but also supportive of the research on using the
semantic-mapping made before. This leads to the implication that the semantic mapping

19
can improve high school students‟ vocabulary retention and is promising to vocabulary
teaching and learning.
Another study Using mind mapping to teach vocabulary to the first year non-
English major students at Bac Giang university of Agriculture and Forestry by Nguyen
Thi Thuy Lan found out the many advantages and effectiveness of using mind-mapping
to teaching vocabulary to language learner. First, min-mapping can help students to
brainstorm a new topic and activate the prior knowledge. Besides, it can be a tool to
facilitate students to summarize lesson effectively. Last, students can apply mind-
mapping to take note during the lessons.
In this chapter, the researcher has been concerned with a review of mind-mapping
as a technique model. At the first stage, an overview of vocabulary was presented with
various aspects of vocabulary: definitions, vocabulary learning and teaching, strategies for
vocabulary retention. Next, an overview of mind-mapping was exposed with the
definition of mind-mapping, the parts and the criteria and the classification of mind-
mapping. Besides, the implication of mind-mapping in teaching foreign language and
vocabulary was also introduced. Lastly, some related studies worldwide and in Vietnam
were presented with clear description of their findings.

20
CHAPTER II
METHODOLOGY
2.1. Action research
Harmer (2002:334-345) stated that action research is the name given to a series of
procedures teachers can engage in their classroom either because they wish to improve
aspect of their teaching or because they wish to evaluate the success and or
appropriateness of certain activities and procedures.
Action research is a form of collective self-reflective inquiry undertaken by
participants in a social situation in order to improve the rational and justice of their own
social or educational practices, as well as understanding of this practices and the situation
in which the practices are carried out. The researcher used classroom action research
because of some reasons, firstly: this research is to find out the causes of poor English
vocabulary retention of the 6th
students of TMJHS, in the academic year 2015/2016.
Secondly: to find out the extent of using the mind-mapping toward the improvement of
students‟ vocabulary retention and thirdly: to describe the process of teaching vocabulary
using mind-mapping.
This action research study aims to show the effects of mind-mapping on the
students‟ vocabulary retention. In this process, the researcher worked together with the
students to identify and investigate the problem which occurs in the vocabulary learning.
Then, the researcher applied the suitable solution to solve the problem, carried out the
action in the class, and finally, analyzed the effects of mind-mapping on the students‟
vocabulary retention. The steps taken in this action research include: identifying the
problem, planning the solution, doing the action in the class, and reflecting the use of
action done (Burns, 1999: 30).
2.2. Research procedures
In carrying out the study, the action research suggested by Burns (1999: 161-162)
was conducted. This procedure consisted of the following steps.
2.2.1. Reconnaissance
In this step, the teacher observed the class where she conducted the study and
discussed with other English teachers during their regular meetings to identify the

21
problems that occurred. In the preliminary step, the teacher focused on analyzing the
problems which related to the students‟ ability in retaining the English vocabulary. The
teacher based on the results of the observation to develop the research actions.
2.2.2. Planning
Before implementing the action, the teacher had to make preparations. First of all,
the students were asked to take the pre-test of target words to check the unfamiliarity of
vocabulary items learnt during the action. Then, the teacher presented the students how to
create or read a mind-mapping diagram in order that the students could be familiar to the
technique.
In this step, the teacher worked to plan some actions to be carried out in the
English teaching-learning process based on the problems determined in the previous step.
The actions aimed to improve the students‟ vocabulary retention by using mind-mapping
techniques. The actions planned to be carried out were presented below:
The first was to select the vocabulary items tested in the pre-test and post-test. In
this action, the teacher formulated the test items chosen from the students‟ workbook and
textbook that focused on the topics „sports and games‟, „cities in the world‟, „our house in
the future‟, and “ our green world”. Moreover, the teacher tried to design the test items
based on the syllabus of English for the sixth grade of the secondary school in the second
semester.
The second was to provide mind-mapping diagrams. In this action, the teacher
created mind-mapping diagrams used to introduce and revise vocabulary items with the
topics of „television‟ in unit 7, „sports and games‟ in unit 8, „cities in the world‟ in unit 9,
„our houses in the future‟ in unit 10 and “our green world” in unit 11 of “Tieng Anh 6”
textbook. To make sure that every student could observe clearly the diagrams, the teacher
showed some mind-mapping diagrams in the big size. Every time, the English teacher
presented a new material topic, she would provide a mind-mapping diagram suitable to
the topic.
The third was to set up the class activities. In this action, the teacher planned some
interesting activities to encourage the students to use their English vocabulary in the class
activities in order that they could remember the words. Some activities were implemented
as follows: The first activity was to memorize vocabulary items in the mind-mapping
diagram with the aim to help the students recall all the words mentioned earlier. The

22
second one was to fill out an incomplete mind-mapping diagram with the correct words so
as to make the students write the words with the correct spelling. To explore the students‟
vocabulary knowledge when practicing language skill activities such as matching, role-
playing, doing the teacher‟s instruction, describing pictures…etc are the third activities.
These activities were carried out to make the students use the words learned in the
English language either in spoken or written forms.
2.2.3. Implementing the Actions
In this step, the teacher carried out the planned actions in the previous step. The
actions were implemented in fifteen lessons of five units or one research cycle. In the
first lesson of each unit the English teacher conducted the teaching learning process by
presenting new topics and having the students revise the words related to the topics. In
the three first lessons, the teacher presented the topic of “television” in unit 7, then the
topics of „sports and games‟ in unit 8, in the three next lessons, the topic of „Cities in the
world‟ in unit 9 was given. In the three next lessons, she presented the topic of „Our
houses in the future‟ in unit 10. The last topic was “our green house” in unit 11. To
complete the diagram of mind-mapping, the teacher asked the students to work together
by having them guess the words through pictures or other clues given. The students could
explain their knowledge in Vietnamese when they had difficulties in using English. They
had to participate in building the diagram of mind-mapping in order to remember the new
words more effectively. After finishing the diagram of mind-mapping, the students were
asked to pronounce and memorize the words before completing the incomplete mind-
mapping diagram by writing the words near the key pictures in correct spelling. In the
next activity, the teacher gave tasks or exercises that have the students use new
vocabulary items. The tasks or activities involved all four language skills: listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. In the following lessons of the same unit, the students had
to revise the vocabulary learned in the previous lessons and the teacher supplied more
new words about the same topics. In addition, the teacher discussed the developed
material from the topics presented in the previous lesson.
After each lesson, the teacher observed and evaluated the activities in the class to
find problems during the class and find how effective the action was.
2.2.4. Reflection
In this step, the action conducted in the implementation cycle was evaluated. The
teacher evaluated the action by herself after each class and by interviewing the students

23
about the teaching and learning process. To evaluate the action, the researcher
emphasized on the successful activities or failed activities. After determining the problem
that happed in the class, she would change some techniques of teaching by mind-mapping
to improve the results. For example, the teacher should improve the diagram of mind-
mapping by adding letter cues in every branch of the mind-mapping diagram to help the
students write the English words in the correct spelling. Another change was exchanging
the role-playing with the speaking activity by focusing on the students‟ readiness in
conveying the expression when the English teacher pointed at them at random.
2.3 Setting of the Study
This study was conducted in the second semester in the academic year of 2015-
2016 in TMJHS in the suburb of Son Tay Town, Hanoi. It started on January 5th
2015 and
ended on April 28th
, 2016. The research was conducted according to the English teaching-
learning schedule on weekday morning at 7.15 a.m with time duration of 45 minutes in
every session. The schedule of the study in the English class can be seen in the Table 1
below:
Table1. Research schedule
Date Activities Description
January 4th
Pre-test Before conducting the treatment, the teacher
has the students do the pre-test of target
words and tell them about the materials
learnt
1st
two weeks
5/1/2016-
20/1/2016
Unit 7 The topic was “television”
2nd
two weeks
21/1-27/2
Unit 8 The topic was “sports and games”
3rd
two weeks Unit 9 The topic was “cities of the world”

24
29/2-16/3
4th
two weeks
17/3-6/4
Unit 10 The topic was “our houses in the future”
5th
two weeks
7/4-23/4
Unit 11 The topics was “our green world”
28/4 Post-test
2.4. Participants
The participants of this study are the 6A1 students of TMJHS. The class has 48
students, consisting of 19 female and 20 male students. The students are twelve years old.
They have learnt English with the new textbook for 10 years from the 3th
grade. In
primary school, the students got used to learning English with a small number of
vocabularies but when they started the English secondary program with a greater number
of words, they felt scared and discouraged. In addition, they are given only three English
lessons per week with a big amount of knowledge. This makes them under pressure so
their English level is supposed to be pre-intermediate.
The researcher is an English teacher at TMJHS. She has worked there for 9 years
and is now taking a Master course TESOL at ULIS.
2.5 Data collection instruments
This study adopted questionnaires and tests as instruments for data collection
2.5.1. Questionnaires
Questionnaires were used to evaluate teaching and to collect information from
every student and helped the teacher to collect quickly a large amount of related
information in a short time at a very low cost. Two questionnaires were designed, one at
the pre-action stage and another at the post-action stage.
Questionnaire 1 (Appendix1A)
In order to identify the actual situation of the students‟ learning vocabulary and

25
find out the causes of the students‟ low vocabulary retention. Questionnaire 1 consisted
of seven questions. Question 1 identified the students‟ attitudes towards learning English
vocabulary. Question 2 determined the level of the students‟ vocabulary retention.
Question 3 identified the students‟ attitudes towards the English 6 vocabularies. Question
4 asked about the classroom atmosphere at vocabulary lessons. Question 5, 6 and 7 were
designed to get the students‟ attitudes toward the teacher‟s vocabulary technique.
Questionnaire 2 (Appendix 2)
This questionnaire was given at post-action stage to evaluate the students‟ attitudes
towards the effects of mind-mapping on the students‟ vocabulary retention. Question 1
was set up to determine the level of the students‟ vocabulary retention after the action
stage. Questions 2-4 aimed at the students‟ attitudes toward the classroom atmosphere
when mind-mapping was applied. Question 5 was designed to pose the students‟ attitudes
towards mind-mapping about the feasibility, usefulness, interests, application, and
suggestion for the future use.
2.5.2. Tests
With the intention to find out the effects of mind-mapping on vocabulary retention,
the teacher designed three kinds of test: a pre-test of target words, a pre-test and a post-
test to compare the students‟ progress before and after applying mind-mapping in
teaching vocabulary.
Tests measure a person‟s ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain
(Brown, 2004:3). The purpose of a vocabulary test is to measure the comprehension and
production of words used in speaking or writing. There are four general kinds of
vocabulary tests which include:
* Limited respond, is for beginners. These test items require either a simple physical
action like pointing at something or a very simple verbal answer such as “yes” or “no”.
* Multiple-choice complete, is a test in which a sentence with a missing word is
presented; students choose one of the four vocabulary items given to complete the
sentence.
* Multiple-choice paraphrase is a test in which a sentence with words underlined is
given. Students choose which of the four words in the closest in meaning to the

26
underlined item.
* Simple completion (words) has students write in the missing part of words that
appear in sentences (Madsen, 1983: 12).
Pre-test of target words (Appendix 3A)
In order to test the students‟ vocabulary knowledge, the Vocabulary Knowledge
Scale developed by Paribakht and Wesche (1997) was used to measure vocabulary
knowledge and retention. This instrument uses a score of one to the five points for each
subject‟s self-analysis of each target word. The scoring criteria were explained as follows:
(1) One point is given for words reported both unfamiliar and unknown.
(2) Two points are given for familiar words with unknown meanings.
(3) Three points are given if a synonym or translation of the target word is correct.
(4) Four points are given when the use of a word is semantically correct.
(5) Five points are given when the use of a target word is both grammatically and
semantically correct, even if other parts of the sentence contain errors.
To sure of the students‟ unfamiliarity with the target words, a test of vocabulary was
used at the pre-action stage. This test was a check list of one hundred items. The words
were chosen from “Tiếng Anh 6” by Hoang Van Van (2013). In selecting the words, two
criteria were considered:
1. All the words were unknown to the learners.
2. The words presented in this study had different parts of speech.
The check list was handed to the participants. The learners had to tick one of the five
grades for each given word with the points of Vocabulary Knowledge Scale above:
After the pre-test, 8 familiar words were excluded. Hence, a list including 92
(Appendix 3B) new words about which the learners did not have any previous knowledge
contains the target words in this study.

27
Pre-test (Appendix 4A)
The pre-test was used to check the students‟ knowledge of vocabulary at the pre-action
stage. The duration of the test was 45 minutes under the supervision of the teacher. The
results of the pre-test and the post-test were compared to check the students‟ progress.
The vocabulary items were chosen from the words they had learnt in the previous lessons.
The test comprised 3 sections with the total score of 10 marks:
Section 1 aimed to check the students‟ knowledge of a word‟s meaning: Matching the
words with its definition or meaning.
Section 2 stressed on the lexical relation: Odd one out
Section 3 aimed to check both the syntactic pattern of the words and contextual meaning:
Fill in the passage with the suitable words.
Post-test (Appendix 4B)
A ninety-two item recognition vocabulary–in- short- context test was also constructed
to measure the learners‟ lexical acquisition and recall. The post-test which was given four
months after the treatment to test the retention of the learned words in long-term memory
included three parts: multiple choice, Odd one out and a short text completion.

28
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH FINDINGS
This action research was in a natural setting. The aims of the study are to find
ways to help the 6A1 students TMJHS improve their vocabulary retention. One of the
ways is using the mind-mapping technique. The results in two main sections of data
analysis and research findings are presented in this chapter. In data analysis, the possible
solutions to solve the problems are reviewed. In the research findings, the researcher
shows the report of the actions done, the effects of mind-mapping on students‟
vocabulary retention.
The researcher presents the reports of the process of the study in relation to the
implementation of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning and teaching and the use of
vocabulary items in the class activities. The result of the implementation of mind-
mapping in vocabulary learning and teaching is discussed in relation to the effects of
mind-mapping on the students‟ vocabulary retention.
3.1. Initial data analysis
At the beginning of this study, the researcher conducted two types of collecting
initial data: Questionnaire 1 and pre-test. The result of the questionnaire at the pre-action
stage presented the students‟ opinions about English vocabulary, their self-evaluation on
their ability of vocabulary retention and also showed their opinion about some factors
which had bad effects on their vocabulary retention. Through the pre-test, the researcher
assessed students‟ vocabulary knowledge.
3.1.1. Data from questionnaire 1 (Appendix 1B)
Questionnaire 1 consisted of 7 questions. Question 1 identifies the students‟
attitudes towards the importance of learning vocabulary. The students were asked if
learning vocabulary was important and their opinions were presented in Table 2 below.
As can be seen from the table, 58% (26 students) of the students agreed that vocabulary
learning was important; 31% (14 students), which were neutral, believed that it was
neither important nor unimportant; whereas only 11% (5 students) disagreed with the
importance of learning vocabulary. These above statistics showed that almost all students
understood the significance of learning vocabulary in foreign language learning.

29
Question 2 asked the students to evaluate themselves about their vocabulary
retention level. To look at the table, the data for this question was not very optimistic:
Only 11% (5 students) thought that they had a good memory on vocabulary while up to
73% (33 students) found they had bad vocabulary retention. The rest, 16% (7 students)
are neutral.
Question 3 explored the students‟ opinions on English 6 vocabulary whether it was
easy to memorize. About a haft of the students (53%=24 students) expressed their
disagreement, only 29% (13 students) agreed and 16% (7 students) were neutral.
According to the figure, the English 6 vocabulary was not easy to remember. Therefore,
it was supposed that the new learning syllabus was considered as one of challenge for the
students‟ vocabulary retention.
Question 4 showed the students‟ attitudes towards the classroom atmosphere
during vocabulary class. The figure from the table 2 was quite worrying: 20% believed
that the vocabulary lessons were interesting; 64% found it boring and 16% (7 students)
neither agreed nor disagreed. As a result, vocabulary teaching technique must to be
changed and varied to motivate the students in the lessons.
The three last questions 5, 6 and 7 asked the students to give their opinion on
vocabulary teaching techniques. The result did not gain positive attitude: Up to 82% of
the students showed their disagreement to their variety. Just 22% thought that the
teaching techniques were useful and not many students (13%) liked those techniques.
Table2. Result of the questionnaire 1
Questions Students‟ opinion on Disagree Neutral Agree
1 the importance of learning
vocabulary
5(11%) 14 (31%) 26(58%)
2 their ability on vocabulary
retention
33 (73%) 7(16%) 5(11%)
3 English 6 vocabulary 24(53%) 8(18%) 13(29%)
4 classroom atmosphere during
vocabulary class
29(64%) 7(16%) 9(20%)
5,6,7 vocabulary teaching techniques
5 the variety of the teacher‟s 37(82%) 3(7%) 5(11%)

30
vocabulary teaching techniques
6 the usefulness of the teacher‟s
31(69%) 4(9%) 10(22%)
7 the interest of teacher‟s
30(67%) 9(20%) 6(13%)
3.1.2. Result of the pre-test
Chart1. Results of the pre-test
As can be clearly seen from that the number of the students (45%) get below -
average marks while 15% gets good marks.
In conclusion, the result from the analysis of questionnaire 1 and the pre-test
revealed that almost all the students were aware of the importance of learning vocabulary
but they met problems in learning vocabulary. They did not get good grade because they
had low motivation in learning vocabulary. These are several reasons for this situation:
The students had difficulties in vocabulary retention because the teacher did not use
appropriate technique which can motivate them or help them learn words more
effectively. Therefore, the teacher had to intervene to improve the situation.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
marks 9-10 marks 7-8 marks 5-6 marks 3-4 marks 1-2
marks 9-10
marks 7-8
marks 5-6
marks 3-4
marks 1-2

31
3.1.3. Identification of the causes of the problem
Based on the result of the first questionnaire and the pre-test, the researcher
identified 7 problems related to the vocabulary learning in the 6A1 class. The problems
are shown in Table 3 below.
Table3. The causes of the problems encountered by the 6A1 class students
No Problems
1 The students had low motivation in learning English.
2 The students‟ vocabulary retention was low.
3 The students felt difficult in remembering English vocabulary
4 The students easily got bored during vocabulary learning session.
5 Teaching techniques used by the English teacher to present materials were not
interesting.
6 The students found it difficult in spelling the English words
7 Many students could not pronounce the English words correctly
3.2. Action plan
3.2.1. Determining the Actions
After identifying the cause of the problem, an action expected to solve the
problems was carried out. The researcher prepared 15 lesson plans and taught them with
applying mind-mapping for vocabulary sections. In conducting the action, three stages of
the teaching learning process was taken: including presentation, practice, and production.
Four main activities in vocabulary learning related to the use of min-mapping were
applied during the lessons. First, the teacher presented and revised vocabulary items by
using mind-mapping diagrams. Second, the teacher helped the students pronounce the
words in the mind-mapping diagram. Third, the teacher asked the students to memorize
the vocabulary items in the mind-mapping diagrams. Fourth, the teacher had the students
to complete the mind-mapping diagrams with the correct words to check the vocabulary.

32
Table 4.The activities applied in the study
No Activities
1 Using mind mapping to review vocabulary
Using mind mapping to present new vocabulary
2 Asking the students to pronounce the English words in the mind mapping
diagram
3 Using mind mapping to help the students to memorize vocabulary
4 Asking the students to complete the mind mapping diagram with the correct
words
3.2.2. Relationship between the cause of the problem and the actions
After the activities had been designed, the researcher analyzed and related the
causes of the problem to the activities designed. Each action which the researcher carried
out was suitable to solve one or more problems. The following table shows which causes
of the problem were related to the actions that had been prepared.
Table 5.Relationship between causes of the problem and the activities
Action Causes of the problem
1.Using mind mapping to present and
revise vocabulary items
• Teacher did not use interesting teaching
technique to present materials.
2. Asking the students to pronounce
the English words in the mind
mapping diagrams
• Many students could not pronounce the
English words correctly
3. Using mind mapping to help
students memorize vocabulary items
• The students had limited vocabulary retention
• The students felt difficult in memorizing
English vocabulary.
• The students had low motivation to learn
English vocabulary
4. Asking the students to complete
mind mapping diagrams with the
correct words
• The students had difficulty in spelling the
English words

33
3.2.3. Implementation of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning
3.2.3.1. Presenting vocabulary
As presented in Table 5, the first action is using mind-mapping to present new
vocabulary and revise the vocabulary learnt. This action aims to help the teacher to
present new vocabulary and revise the vocabulary learnt in the previous periods to the
students and help the students understand the words and their meaning. The students like
interesting things such as pictures in colors, mind-mapping becomes an appropriate
teaching technique in presenting vocabulary items because it applies the use of pictures,
colors, key words, word categorization and association in its work. To know the ways of
presenting and revise vocabulary items by using mind-mapping, the researcher shows the
picture of the mind -mapping diagram with the topic „Environment‟ as the model
presented in Figure IV below.

34
Figure IV: Environment Diagram

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Presenting material topics
The finding shows that the teacher could tell the material topic to the students
easily by using of the central image and the key word in the mind-mapping which usually
is created in illustration form. Thanks to the central image or the key word, the students
can see the material that will be learned.
Presenting vocabulary in main branches
The main ideas of the materials are presented in the main branches of the mind
mapping diagram. There, the words are represented by the key pictures. In addition,
branches in the mind-mapping diagram are used as places where the words can be
showed in clear shapes because each of the branches is used to introduce one vocabulary
item. There, the teacher needs to show the words in big sizes in order to be easily seen
and read.
Presenting vocabulary in second branches
In conducting the action, the word association needs to be used to present the
vocabulary items in second branches of the mind-mapping diagram. The words in second
branches relate to the words in main or first branches from the diagram, it can be seen
that the words presented in the mind-mapping are put in their categories or functions. The
presentation of words is a sequence from the general till the specific forms and the
teacher can use the third branch of mind-mapping. This illustrated in Figure V below.

36
Figure V: Sports and games diagram

37
With the four steps above, it can be said that the teacher‟s way in presenting and
revising vocabulary items is more interesting and it can be more attractive to the students
during the lessons.
3.2.3.2. Pronouncing the words
The second activity is asking the students to pronounce loudly the words in the
mind-mapping diagram. During the action, asking the students to pronounce all the words
is important to help the teacher check the students‟ pronunciation and correct the
students‟ pronunciation when they make mistakes. This activity should be done after
presenting all the vocabulary items in the mind-mapping.
3.2.3.3. Remembering the words
In the third activity, mind-mapping help the students to memorize new words. This
action aims to solve the problems concerning students‟ low abilities in retaining words
and the students‟ vocabulary limitation. In this study, the students were difficult to
remember all the words in a short time but mind-mapping with its principles such as
using colors, pictures, key words, words categorization, branches, etc. can help the
students remember and recall the words easily. By seeing the relationship between the
words and the pictures and remember the key picture, the position of word, the students
were able to remember the words in a short time.
3.2.3.4. Filling out the mind-mapping diagram with the correct words
The fourth activity is completing mind-mapping diagrams with correct words. This
action is done to check the students‟ memory about the vocabulary they have learnt. In
this part, some of the words were erased from the mind-mapping diagram, the teacher
then asked the students to read the erased words again. After that the students had to add
the letter cues in the blanks of mind-mapping. This action can stimulate the students to
recognize and write the word in the correct spelling. Figure IV below is an example.

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Figure VI. Completing the mind-mapping diagram

40
3.3. Post-treatment data
In order to identify the effects of mind-mapping on the vocabulary retention, the
students were asked to do the post-test and to fulfill the questionnaire 2 at the end of
action process.
3.3.1. Result from questionnaire 2 (Appendix 2B)
When the action stage finished, questionnaire 2 was given with the aim to collect
the students‟ opinion about the effects of mind-mapping. The result of the second
questionnaire was presented in Table 6 below.
Question 1 asked the students to self-evaluate their vocabulary retention ability
after action research. The result from Table 6 revealed that 80% (36 students) confirmed
to have good and very good memory, 11% of the students were neutral and only 9% (4
students) have bad memory.
Question 2 explored the students‟ opinions on classroom atmosphere in mind-
mapping lessons. As can be presented in Table 6 many of the students (76%=34 students)
said that the classroom atmosphere when applying mind-mapping was exciting. 13% (6
students) were neutral and few students (9%=4 students) paid their negative attitude. It is
likely that the use of mind-mapping really helped motivate the students during the
lessons.
Questions 3, 4 and 5 showed the students‟ comments on mind-mapping. It is
optimistic when the majority of the students gave good comments on the technique. 82%
of the students believed that the mind-mapping is easy to applied, 89% voted for the
effectiveness of mind-mapping for vocabulary retention. It is noted that 42 students
(94%) wanted to apply the technique in the future.

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Table 6.Result of questionnaire 2
Questions Students‟ opinion on Disagree Neutral Agree
1 their ability on vocabulary retention
after the action research
4 (9%) 5 (11%) 36 (80%)
2 the classroom atmosphere when
mind-mapping was applied
5 (11%) 6 (13%) 34 (76%)
3,4,5 mind-mapping
3 Mind-mapping is easy to apply 3(7%) 5(11%) 37(82%)
4 Mind-mapping is effective for
vocabulary retention
2(4%) 3(7%) 40(89%)
5a Mind-mapping ought to be applied
in vocabulary lessons in the future
2(4%) 1(2%) 42(94%)
Question 5b asked the students to give the reasons for the use of mind-mapping in
the future. There is 94% agreed to use mind-mapping in the future with the following
reasons:
1) mind-mapping is one of the effective techniques for long-term memory
2) mind mapping motivates the students motivation to learn vocabulary
3) mind-mapping is a way to organize words systematically
4) mind-mapping helps the students learn and revise the words easily
Question 5c showed the suggestions by students for the better use of mind-
mapping. 42/45 students express their support of applying mind-mapping in learning
vocabulary. They also gave some recommendations for the better use of the technique.
1) use mind-mapping to revise and brainstorm to warm-up other lessons such as
reading and writing
2) add pictures or remarks to help remember the words easily
3) combine other techniques with mind-mapping to help memorize words easily
and effectively.
3.3.2. Result of the post-test
The teacher implemented the post-test after 5 units applying mind-mapping. The
test was done within 45 minutes under the teacher‟s supervisor and its scores were only
used for the research purpose.

42
From the chart, it can be seen that the number of the students who got bad marks
1-2 fell dramatically from 11% to 2% whereas the number of the students who got good
marks 7-8 increased considerably from 13% to 42%.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
Chart 2: Result of post-test
marks 9-10
marks 7-8
marks 5-6
marks 3-4
marks 1-2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Chart 3: Comparison between the pre-test and the
post-test
pre-test
post-test

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The difference between the result of the pre-test and post-test showed that the
students achieved high vocabulary level after 5 units to apply mind-mapping. In the post-
test those who got marks 1-2 rested only 1 student (2%) and 5 (11%) got marks 3-4 while
the students getting marks 9-10 accounted for 18% (8 students) and up to 42% (19
students) got marks 7-8. Therefore, the scores between the two tests indicated the
students‟ remarkable progress in retaining vocabularies.
In conclusion, the result of questionnaire 2 showed the students held positive
attitudes towards mind-mapping and got more motivated in learning vocabulary.
Therefore, the students could get progress in their learning. Moreover, the result of post
test proved their progress through their higher result in post-test although there may be
others factors affected their result.
3.4. Major findings
In this section, the results of the study are presented in both initial and post data to
answer the research questions.
(1) To what extent does the use of mind-mapping affect the students’ vocabulary
retention?
As can be seen from the questionnaire 2, 80 % of the students self-assessed that
they have better vocabulary retention level after 3 months applying mind-mapping in
English lessons. Moreover, the result of the post-test was quite higher than that of the
pre-test: 60 % of the students getting marks 7-10 at post-test compared with 15% on the
pre-test. In addition, most of the students believed that the class atmosphere is more
exciting and motivating them in learning vocabulary. As a result, most of them wished to
continue to learn English with mind-mapping in the future. In reality, mind-mapping
technique helped organize words in a system which is considered easy and good for long-
term memory. The mind-mapping creates the relationship the words with the topics, the
ideas with the contexts therefore it makes the student have a deeper mental processing to
retain words which will last for a long time. Based on the findings collected above, it is
likely that the use of mind-mapping gives positive effects on the students‟ vocabulary
retention. This technique can improve the students‟ memorization and the students‟
abilities in spelling the words.
Improving the students‟ memorizing abilities

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The use of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning gives positive effects on the
improvement of the students‟ vocabulary retention. By using mind-mapping, the students
can remember many English words in a short time and it is not difficult for them to keep
the words in their long-term memory. They can also understand the meaning of the words
presented in the mind-mapping and relate the words in the same topic with context.
Improving the students‟ abilities in spelling the words
Learning vocabulary items by using mind-mapping can give a positive effect on
the students‟ abilities in spelling the words because the students can write the word in the
correct spelling because the word shape in the mind-mapping diagram can be
impressed and memorized easily by the students.
(2) What are the students’ attitudes towards vocabulary learning?
At the beginning of the study, the data from questionnaire 1 showed that the
students held quite negative attitudes towards learning vocabulary. They thought that it
was difficult for them to memorize systematically and effectively the words in long-term,
it took them a lot of time to learn vocabulary and the teaching vocabulary technique did
not motivate them to learn vocabulary. Consequently, they did not like learning
vocabulary and even were afraid of it. To help the students solve their problems, the
teacher presented a new technique- mind-mapping in the lessons. Fortunately, the
students‟ attitudes to learning English have positively changed. A large proportion of the
students (80%) stated that there was a great improvement in their vocabulary level after
the action research. Most of them (76%) also found excited during lessons with mind-
mapping because over 80% pointed that mind-mapping was easy to apply and very useful
for their vocabulary retention. To be aware of its importance in learning vocabulary,
mind-mapping was expected to be used to teach vocabulary in the future by 94% of the
students. Hence, it is likely to see that mind-mapping give good effects on the students‟
attitudes to learning English vocabulary.
3.5. Discussions
The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mind-mapping on
students‟ vocabulary retention. The major findings revealed that mind-mapping has
positive effects on 6th
graders‟ vocabulary retention and result in students‟ positive
attitudes.

45
The students‟ vocabulary retention
In this study, the effort to improve the students‟ vocabulary retention is promising
by carrying out the use of mind-mapping in vocabulary learning. The conducting of
mind-mapping can be seen in three main activities: presenting vocabulary items by using
mind-mapping diagrams, memorizing the English words in the mind-mapping diagram,
and filling out incomplete mind-mapping diagrams with correct words. These activities,
which were implemented when the English teacher presents a new topic, had the goal to
build the students‟ knowledge about vocabulary items taught and made the students ready
to do exercises given in the class.
By involving the use of mind-mapping aspects such as colors, pictures, key words,
branches, word association, and word categorization, mind-mapping helps the English
teacher and the students in the teaching and learning of English vocabulary process.
Firstly, mind-mapping can help the teacher to present vocabulary items to the students in
a clear and systematically way including building the students‟ understanding to the
words presented and their meaning. Secondly, mind-mapping helps the students to
memorize and remember the vocabulary item learned including their meaning and
spelling.
Therefore, it can be said that there would be improvement of the students‟ abilities
in memorizing and remembering English words, their meanings, and the word spelling.
In addition, they can explore their vocabulary knowledge to do class activities. The
different results of the students‟ pre-test and post test also show that the students can
improve their vocabulary retention because the result of pre-test and post-test had a
significant change. The percentage of students getting good marks in post-test increased
considerately in comparison with that in the pre-test.
The students’ attitudes towards using mind-mapping
The results from the questionnaire 2 revealed that the students had positive
attitudes towards the use of mind-mapping. The reason for these students‟ attitudes might
be that the mind-mapping brought the students with a new trial in their learning
vocabulary. Teaching and learning vocabulary by using other traditional techniques made
them bored and tired. Moreover, these techniques hardly made progress in their
vocabulary learning. Meanwhile, the mind-mapping attracted the attention of both the
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46
teacher and her students. For the teacher, mind-mapping was one of the tools to present
words systematically and logically. It was also a way to check the students‟
understanding about the words learnt. The students were supplied a new strategy to learn
vocabulary, which helped them feel motivated and interested when working with words.
Moreover, the mind-mapping created more interactions in the class. That might be
another explanation why the students had positive attitudes towards using mind-mapping.
The students themselves studied together to explore the relations between words, to build
a nets of words and to enrich their vocabulary knowledge. They also asked the teacher to
assist their learning. Interactions no longer helped the students understand linguistic input
but make changes in their linguistic output (Swain,1995).Besides, the interactions in
vocabulary learning also showed that vocabulary learning was not only a student‟s self-
study way but also one of tools for language acquisition. However, some students
admitted that they felt it difficult to follow the building of mind-mapping and could not
memorize words well with maps. This could be interpreted that the instruction of how to
use the mind-mapping was quite ambiguous for all of the students. These students could
be misunderstood some steps of using the mind-mapping. Thus, the teacher ought to be
more careful in presenting the mind-mapping to the students. To help these students
remember words better with maps, they should be encouraged to involve in regular
learning, using both the mind-mapping and the word lists if necessary. In addition, at the
beginning of the research cycle, the students thought that the mind-mapping took them a
lot of time to create a mind-mapping diagram because they were not used to using it
during their lessons. To solve this problem, the teacher should instruct the students more
carefully how to make a mind-mapping diagram and have the students practice making
mind-mapping diagrams some times before conducting the action research.

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PART C: CONCLUSION
This part comprises four sections. Some pedagogical implications are presented in
the first section. The next two sections are limitations of the study and the suggestions for
further study. The last part is the conclusion.
1. Pedagogical implications
According to the major findings above, we can find that mind-mapping had
positive effects on 6th
graders‟ vocabulary retention and the students had positive
attitudes towards using mind-mapping, some implications might be considered.
For the teacher
The findings indicate that the use of mind-mapping in vocabulary teaching and
learning has two advantages to the English teacher.
Firstly, mind-mapping helps the teacher to teach vocabulary. By using mind-
mapping with pictures, key words, the teacher can explain the meaning of English words
clearly. Sometimes, it helps the teacher explain the words in context by word
categorization, word association. So, the teacher can help the students understand the
words easily.
Secondly mind-mapping helps the teacher attract the students‟ attention to her
teaching. It can be shown through the students‟ attitudes during class presentation. The
students focus their eyes to the mind-mapping diagram and do not make noises during the
teacher‟s presentation. Then, they are enthusiastic about guessing the words based on the
key pictures and symbols.
For the students
According to the findings, the use of mind-mapping in the vocabulary learning
gives the students three advantages. Firstly, mind-mapping helps the students to
remember the words easier in a short time because mind-mapping engages to use the
colors, pictures, and the word categorization to present the vocabulary items and the
words are presented in a systematical way.
Secondly, mind-mapping helps the students remember the word spelling. Based on
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48
the findings, it can be said that the words presented in mind-mapping can be remembered
easily by the students including the word spelling. The words presented in mind mapping
are written in colors and in a clear way. It is done to help the students remember the
word spelling.
Thirdly, mind-mapping builds the students‟ motivation to learn English
vocabulary. In these findings, it can be seen that the students are motivated to learn
English words because the words are presented in an interesting way. The use of
interesting things such as pictures and colors in mind-mapping can make the words clear.
This can make the students interested in reading the words and memorize them.
2. Limitations of the study
Despite having reached its aims, the research study could not avoid some
limitations. First, because of the time limit, it was impossible for the researcher to apply
the mind-mapping through the whole book. Moreover, the implementation of mind-
mapping was conducted in vocabulary stage in a short period about 12 weeks. In
addition, the shortage of time also resulted in a small size of participants involved in the
study. Thus, so as to generalize the results for larger population, the study ought to be
extended its time and as well as it should have been added more participants at different
levels.
Second, the junior high school students‟ were overloaded with their study. They
were often under pressure from learning to many subjects. These factors also affected the
result of the study.
3. Suggestions for further study
From the result of this action research, in order to make the English teaching learning
process more effective and more optimal for the students, the following should be
considered:
* To apply mind-mapping strategy, the researcher needs a better preparation.
Moreover, the teacher should be able to determine and choose the topic which is
associated with mind mapping.
* The researcher should choose the appropriate method in order to help students get
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