| Vocabulary learning is not only the foundation of foreign language acquisition,but also the premise for the improvement of learner's comprehensive capacities in foreign language learning.Vocabulary teaching has attracted more and more attention since it plays an essential role in the field of foreign language teaching.However,the current vocabulary teaching situation is not quite optimistic: the teachers often complain that their students are reluctant to memorize the words even though they clearly know the importance of vocabulary learning for foreign language learning.On the other hand,students are troubled by the boring and invariable vocabulary teaching method.What's more,some of them can not give a correct and positive treatment for the forgetting phenomenon.They are trapped in a cycled embarrassment: memorizing again and again,forgetting repeatedly.So it is not surprising to see they are tired of vocabulary learning,even foreign language learning.Consequently,it is urgent to propose a proper teaching method in agreement with the learners' cognitive characters which can motivate students' learning interest and improve their vocabulary learning efficiency and then put it into effect.Mind mapping is a kind of visual tool which can be used for representing knowledge.Since it was first introduced by Tony Buzan in 1960 s,it has received lots of attention,especially in the teaching field.By making use of colors,codes,charts,and images,this kind of radiant thinking tool can make the teaching process more enjoyable,effective and stimulating and then make the decrease of fatigue feeling become possible.It also can be used to assist the learners to review and construct the knowledge in a more effective way.Guided by the knowledge visual theory and divergent thinking theory,this study aims to empirically investigate the effectiveness of mind mapping applied to English vocabulary learning for junior middle school students.This study intends to investigate whether the teaching based on mind mapping can improve students' attitude,strategy as well as the achievement of English vocabulary learning.The experiment was conducted in a junior middle school in Shi Jiazhuang,Hebei Province.Taught by the same English teacher,all the subjects are students from Grade Eight.They respectively come from Class 5 and Class 6.Class 5(N=55)is the control class in which vocabulary teaching is taught by the traditional teaching approach.Class 6(N=53)is the experimental class which is taught based on mind mapping.The main research instruments are: test,interview and questionnaire.By using SPSS 13.0,statistic analysis was done based on the data obtained through the experiment of 16 weeks.The main findings are listed as follows:1.Compared with the traditional teaching method,English vocabulary teaching based on mind mapping can improve students' attitude toward vocabulary learning.2.Compared with the traditional teaching method,English vocabulary teaching based on mind mapping can enrich students' vocabulary learning strategies.3.Compared with the traditional teaching method,English vocabulary teaching based on mind mapping can improve students' vocabulary learning achievement,even their English proficiency.Furthermore,vocabulary teaching based on mind mapping plays an essential role in cultivating students' divergent thinking and awareness of autonomy learning.It can lighten classroom atmosphere,inspire students' learning interest and strengthen their confidence in vocabulary and language learning.Based on the above findings,there are also some suggestions put forward: Firstly,teachers have to get deep knowledge of mind mapping and then combine their professional knowledge with their understanding of mind mapping well.Secondly,the teachers should introduce more vocabulary learning strategies to the students during the teaching procedure,in order to improve students' learning effectiveness and interest.Thirdly,the teachers should lay emphasis on English vocabulary by applying mind mapping in the teaching process. |
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