Application Of Mind Map To English Reading Teaching In Junior High School

Mind map is an emerging brain science introduced by the famous British psychologist Tony Buzan in the 1960 s.It is regarded as a new method of note-taking at first,and gradually develop into a tool for cognizing and learning.Reading literacy is a relatively new reading concept.It covers reading ability and reading character.The core of reading ability is reading comprehension,and reading character is made up of reading habits and reading experience.The new English curriculum standard for junior high school(2011)clearly pointed out that junior high school English teaching should develop students' comprehensive reading ability,and let students cultivate good reading habits and enhance extensive reading interest.English reading has always been regarded as an important criterion to measure students' English competence of comprehensive language application.However,under the traditional English reading teaching method,students cannot apply what they have learned to reading effectively.Most teachers focus their attention more on knowledge and less on students' reading habits and reading experience within limited time in English reading teaching classes,it is difficult to improve their reading ability and achieve the desired teaching effect.Therefore,this research has applied mind map to English reading teaching in junior high school,trying to verify the following hypoyheses:1).Application of mind map in English reading teaching can improve students' reading comprehension ability;2).Application of mind map in English reading teaching can cultivate students' reading habits and have a certain effect on students' reading experience.In light of the existing research results,a 19-week experiment was carried out.90 students from two parallel classes in the second grade of a Junior High school in X city,participated in the experimental study.48 students in the experimental group were instructed with mind map method in English reading teaching while 42 in the control group were instructed with the traditional teaching method.The students of the two groups completed the pre-test and the first questionnaire survey in the first week.The experimental teaching was conducted from the second week to the eighth week,and the first post-test was conducted in the ninth week.From the 10 th week to the 18 th week,the experimental teaching was continued,and then the second post-test and second questionnaire along with a semi-structural interview with nine students from the experimental group were conducted in the 19 th week.The major conclusions are drawn as follows:(1)Application of mind map in English reading teaching can improve students' reading comprehension ability effectively.There existed significant difference in English reading comprehension scores between two classes after the application of mind map.And to the author's surprise,students' reading speed is also obviously improved;(2)Application of mind map in English reading teaching can optimize the teaching process,cultivate students' good reading habits and have a positive effect on students' reading experience.So as to improve students' reading literacyThe research provides a certain reference for future research in the field,especially in reading literacy.And gives the English teacher an efficient reading teaching method and practical suggestions for pedagogy.