The Research On The Effectiveness Of The Application Of Mind Mapping To English Continuation Writing In Senior High School

The reform of the college entrance exam brought forth a novel type of English writing test,known as continuation writing.English educators and learners have been captivated by the combination of reading and writing that has been introduced in the domestic English college entrance examination since its debut in 2016.Yet,fresh challenges and hindrances to their teaching and education have been presented.How to help educators find effective teaching methods and guide students to actively adapt to and master coping strategies has become a difficult point.Tony Buzan,a renowned British educator,has proposed the concept of Mind Mapping,which can unlock the potential of the human brain and assist individuals in comprehending data and augmenting their divergent thinking capabilities.Mind mapping has been extensively employed in a variety of areas in recent years,and researchers have increasingly blended it with foreign language instruction.This research seeks to explore the effectiveness of mind mapping in high school English continuation writing teaching,within the background of the new college entrance exam.Proposing two research questions,they are the following.First,can the application of mind mapping in high school English continuation writing teaching reduce students’ anxiety in English continuation writing?Second,can the application of mind mapping in high school English continuation writing teaching effectively improve students’ level of content,structure,and language in English continuation writing?If so,in what ways?The author conducted a 16-week experimental study,spanning from September12 th to December 31 st of 2022 at Fucheng Aidi high school in Liaocheng City,Shandong Province,in order to delve deeply into these two questions.This study spanned a period of approximately 4 months.In the experimental class,the teaching method of mind mapping was applied in their English continuation writing class,while the control class’ s English continuation writing class was taught by a conventional approach.By conducting questionnaires,writing tests,and interviews with students before and after the teaching experiment,relevant data on students’ writing anxiety and writing level were collected.After a thorough comparison and analysis of the questionnaire survey,writing test,and interview data,mind mapping in high school English continuation writing classroom teaching has been discovered to be a beneficial tool for teachers,enabling them to activate the classroom,foster interaction between teachers and students,and reduce students’ anxiety in English continuation writing.Mind mapping can enhance students’ content,structure,and language in English continuation writing,in which the effectiveness of the mind mapping method is reflected in the content level,which helps to improve the richness of the content and the harmony with the original text;in the structure level,which helps to strengthen the connection between the preceding and following sentences and the coherence of the whole text;in the language level,which helps to improve the accuracy,fluency and complexity of the continuation writing.