A Study On The Application Of Mind Mapping To English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools

Mind mapping is a visual tool for the knowledge representing and also an approach which embodies divergent thinking. Since mind mapping approach and the concept based on the thinking visualization were introduced into the field of education, it has brought a positive effect upon teaching and education. It has been an important tool in developing and improving students’ thinking quality, as well as in stimulating and guiding students’ creative thinking. On the other hand, English word is the basis of learning English, also the key to learning English well. However, the difficulty of memorizing English words has already become the main obstacle to learning English. So, this thesis attempts to apply mind mapping to helping memorize English words.The study will be conducted to answer the following questions: 1) Can the application of Mind Map improve the efficiency of English word memory? 2) Can Mind Map be helpful to enhance the students’ using of cognitive strategies in English vocabulary learning? In order to answer these questions, the author conducted a experiment in two parallel classes of Grade One in senior middle school. Randomly class 1 was chosen as the experimental class(EC) and class 2 as the control class(CC). The two classes both had 50 students. After that,the author made a pretest in the two classes to make sure there were no significant differences between the two classes. Then students of the control class were given lessons as usual while students of the experimental class were given a new learning method. The experiment lasted one term. A post-test is made in the two classes at the end of the experiment. By the comparison of the pretest and post-test scores in the two classes, the results and the effectiveness of the mind mapping will be got.The results of study prove that English vocabulary teaching based on Mind Mapping can improve the efficiency of English word memory and enhance the students’ using of cognitive strategies in English vocabulary learning. In consideration of the limitations of the research, some suggestions for future research are put forward at last.