The Application Of Mind Maps To English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools

Mind map is a tool to help learners study and think through a visual form made up of pictures, colors,and codes. Learning English words is a necessity of learning English language. In the teaching practice, theauthor found that most middle school students regarded learning English vocabulary as a heavy burden. Sothe thesis aims to research whether the mind map can help students in the senior grade one to improve theinterest in learning English vocabulary and then keep them for a long time.After reviewing literature about the mind map and its theoretical framework, the author has found theweakness in this field. Based on this, the thesis is to testify whether mind map can be used in thevocabulary teaching properly and have a great effect on it. The subjects of the research are senior grade onestudents. By using the comparative experiment method, the experiment chose two classes in the same gradeand equal in scores. One is the experimental class while the other is the control class. The experiment lastedfor about two months. The questionnaires and tests were conducted in the experiment and the results areanalyzed by SPSS19.0.Based on the experimental research, the thesis has drawn the following conclusions: Firstly, mind mapcan not only improve students’attitudes and interests in vocabulary learning but also help students cultivategood study habits and improve students learning autonomy. Secondly, Mind mapping is not only aphotographical way to express knowledge, but also a study method. It can inspire students’ imagination,integrate words learned and to be learned, and help students master the English words according to theirown words system in a certain logical order, which can make the memory last longer.