The Application Of Mind Map To The Teaching Of English Writing In Senior High Schools

English writing is one of the output skills of the English language,an indispensable part of English teaching and research,and a crucial standard to judge a learner's English proficiency.The English Curriculum Standards for General Senior High Schools(2017)imposes clear requirements on English writing in senior high schools.It stipulates that students should be able to use vocabulary,grammar,and cohesive means to convey information and demonstrate opinions creatively.Even if English teachers continue to work hard in the teaching to achieve the requirements,there is still room for improvement in the current situation of the teaching of English writing in China(Wang,2019).On the one hand,the lesson designs of English teachers of senior high schools tend to be test-oriented,which despise flexible language practice activities(Mei,2018).It is not conducive to developing students' thinking and improving their writing performance;on the other hand,students have insufficient methods to improve their English writing performance.It results in students' distress and writing anxiety,and their English writing ability is not ideal.The application of mind map is an active exploration to improve the current situation.This thesis applies mind map to the teaching of English writing,and aims to explore its impact on senior high school students' English writing performance.Mind map is a non-linear tool that promotes divergent and logical thinking based on the radiant thinking,brain science theory,and constructivism.Factors influencing the English writing include linguistic factors and non-linguistic factors(Zhan & Ai,2015).In terms of linguistic factors,according to the scoring standard of the Shanghai English College Entrance Examination,linguistic factors can be divided into content,language and organization;with respect to non-linguistic factors,writing anxiety is an important emotional factor affecting English writing.Cheng(2004)divided the writing anxiety into three dimensions,including somatic anxiety,cognitive anxiety and avoidance behavior in the questionnaire he complied.Therefore,this thesis puts forwards the research question whether the application of mind map to the teaching of English writing in senior high schools can improve students' English writing performance,which can be broken down into two minor questions:(?)Can mind map make an improvement in students' English writing ability in senior high schools? If so,what impact does it have on the content,language,and organization of English writing?(?)Can mind map make alleviation of students' English writing anxiety in senior high schools? If so,what impact does it have on the somatic anxiety,cognitive anxiety,and avoidance behavior?A mixed method combining the quantitative research and the qualitative research was adopted.Tests,questionnaires(Second Language Writing Anxiety Scale(SLWAI)written by Cheng),and interviews were employed.A quasi-experiment was performed by recruiting two parallel classes in a senior high school in Shanghai.There are 55 students in both classes.Students in two parallel classes were taught by the same English teacher with the same teaching material in the same time duration.One class was arranged as the experimental class which was taught English writing with the assistance of mind map,and the other was assigned as the control class which was taught English writing with the traditional teaching method.The experiment lasted for ten weeks from the middle of October to the end of December,which consisted of ninety lessons in each class.To achieve the triangulation,in addition to the test,we also conducted tests and interviews with students.The data of tests and questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively with SPSS 22.0,and interviews were recorded with recorder,followed by transcribing and analyzing qualitatively.Findings revealed that students' English writing performance in the experimental class was improved significantly.The English writing ability of the students in the experimental class was significantly improved.Three aspects of the English writing content,language,and organization were significantly improved.English writing anxiety was significantly alleviated.Three aspects of the somatic anxiety,cognitive anxiety,and avoidance behavior were alleviated significantly.In summary,mind map can improve students' English writing performance.In the process of applying mind map to the teaching of English writing,the keywords on the mind map were combined with colors and pictures to stimulate the functions of the left brain and right brain,which helped to diversify students' thinking,promote the construction of knowledge.Students can write sufficient content,and their writing anxiety was alleviated.This thesis has certain theoretical significance and practical significance.In terms of the theoretical significance,it can enrich the study of the application of mind map to the teaching of English writing field and second language acquisition field,and provide theoretical support for lesson designs of the teaching of English writing and the teaching of second language.With respect to the practical significance,it is able to provide a practical reference for the application of mind map to the teaching of English writing in senior high schools and the teaching of the second language field.Finally,limitations and suggestions for further study are provided.