A Study On The Application Of Mind Map To The Teaching Of English Reading In Junior Hign School

Mind Map is a network of mind tool used to store,arrange,optimize and output information.It is also another form of divergent thinking.The author had a four-month work placement with Luohe Foreign Language Junior High School since September,2016.It’ s been observed that students are passive in English reading class and the teaching effect is quite inefficient.Therefore,the author made careful investigations of the main problems and causes through questionnaire,interview and tests.Based on Schema Theory,Constructivism Theory and the related data,the author proposes the hypotheses that Mind Map can improve students’ reading efficiency,and chooses Class Two as research subjects to conduct action research,aiming to study the effect of Mind Map on English reading.Research questions are as follows.(1)What are the major problems with junior high school students’ English reading?(2)What are the main causes for these problems?(3)What changes have taken place with the students’ English reading?The research results show that(1)The major problems existing in students’ English reading are that students are lack of reading interest,strategies and ability.While the causes of these problems own to teachers’ wrong teaching methods and aims,that is to say,they focus on the grammar rather than reading ability.They are used to teach texts words by words but ignore the understanding.(2)The effects of Mind Map on students’ reading are as follows.In term of ability,Mind Map is an effective tool to cultivate the sense of question and improve thinking ability.Retelling with Mind Map can help students monitor and organize their mind,and grasp the texts from different aspects,so as to promote the quality of retelling and reciting.As for strategies,the process of making Mind Map changes reading habits from word by word to gaining main idea and information.Perfecting Mind Map can stimulate students’ mind,deepen the understanding of main theme and inner relations,and classify and clear up the skeleton.As far as interest,transformed into beautiful picture through Mind Map,texts become easier and more acceptable.