An Experimental Study On The Effects Of Mind Map On English Vocabulary Learning In Secondary Vocational Schools

The concept of mind mapping is initiated by “Memory Master” Tony Buzan in the book Use Your Head all over the world.Mind mapping is a kind of learning strategy and memory tool which combines with vocabulary,lines,color,and images.In secondary vocational schools,the learning effect of English vocabulary is not always satisfying.Although the most important goal of learning English vocabulary is to use,memory which is the base of English vocabulary is the students’ main difficulty.Students’ bad memory and storage of English vocabulary become the big obstruction in English Learning and teaching.The author analyzes the reason and finds out the main problem is that students lack of proper strategies of learning English vocabulary.Under the background,the author tries to adopt mind mapping into students’ learning English vocabulary.The aim of the study is to improve students’ learning method of English vocabulary and to enrich their learning strategies.The author consults lots of related literatures and discovers a large number of studies center on the schools such as middle and high schools.By contrast,few studies focus on the secondary vocational schools.The above factors urge the author to conduct the study in secondary vocational school.This research is based on Knowledge Visualization theory,Spreading Activation Modals and Cognitive Processing Hierarchy Theory.And it is conducted from September 1,2017 to January 1,2018.The author will teach two parallel classes.The study aims to solve such questions: 1.can the application of mind mapping improve the students’ memory and retention of English vocabulary;2.can the application of mind mapping enlarge the students’ English vocabulary;3.can the application of mind mapping have a positive influence on the students’ learning attitude of English vocabulary.In the thesis,the author will adopt methods of combining quantitative and qualitative studies,among which the memory effect of English vocabulary will be tested by immediate dictations;the retention of English vocabulary will be tested by delay dictations;the influence on students’ learning attitude will be illustrated by the questionnaires supplemented with interview.The above statistics will be analyzed and explained by software Spss21.0.The whole process lasted sixteen teaching weeks.The author made a vocabulary test to decide parallel classes and sent out the pre-questionnaire in the experimental class during the first week.The author analyzed the statistics of two parallel classes,including immediate and delay dictations at the end of the tenth week.At the eleventh week,the author carried out the post-vocabulary test and post-questionnaire in the experimental class.The author finished the analysis of statistics at the twelfth week.And the rest of writing was done from the thirteenth week.The author conducted a series of studies and analysis.The conclusions are presented as below: Firstly,the application of mind mapping can improve the students’ memory and retention of English vocabulary;secondly,the application of mind mapping can enlarge the students’ English vocabulary;thirdly,the application of mind mapping can make a positive influence on students’ learning attitude of English vocabulary.The major findings are as follows: Firstly,mind mapping can improve the students’ memory and retention of English vocabulary,but the effect of retention is more significant than that of memory;secondly,mind mapping can enlarge the student’ English vocabulary;thirdly,mind mapping makes a positive influence on students’ learning attitude of English vocabulary.The thesis provides references to the future related studies.Meanwhile,the author put forward some suggestions to our teachers and students: Firstly,they should pay more attention to English vocabulary and try to make more use of mind mapping.Moreover,they can make some attempts to use mind mapping into other aspects of English teaching and learning.The careful implementation preparation and procedure as well as learning procedures are demonstrated in the thesis.In order to show the students’ learning situation of English vocabulary by mind mapping,the author illustrates some teaching examples of the application of mind mapping in English vocabulary.At the end of the research,the author attaches some examples of mind mapping drawn by students to provide the research materials for further study.