A Study On The Application Of Mind Map To Students’ English Reading Literacy Development In Junior High School

Developing students’ English reading literacy,including English reading abilities and English reading character,is the objective of English reading teaching in junior high school,which is up to the requirements of new curriculum reform.However,under the impact of exam-oriented education,English teaching in junior high school is not satisfactory in English reading.Previous investigations reveal that most teachers pay attention to the development of students’ English reading comprehension abilities under the grammar-translation method,but ignore the improvement of their reading character.Reading character,which is the main research point,is comprised of reading habits and reading experience.Mind map,proposed by Tony Buzan,is an outline involving words and images,which offers English teachers a new concept for reading teaching.With mind map,teachers pay more attention to the thinking process of students and focus on the visualization of knowledge of the students,which is conducive to the development of students’ reading character.Consequently,mind map is a useful tool in students’ English reading learning.Based on the schema theory,knowledge visualization theory and constructivism,the thesis intends to investigate the effects of mind map on students’ English reading literacy in junior high school.The thesis-writer chooses two parallel classes in Grade 2 of a junior high school as the research subjects(one as control class and the other as experimental class).The research questions are:l)What effects does the application of mind map have on students’ reading comprehension abilities?2)What effects does the application of mind map have on students’ reading character?The author uses tests and the questionnaire on reading strategies to explore the changes in students’ reading comprehension abilities.Sig(2-tailed)is 0.946(P>0.05)in the pre-test and Sig(2-tailed)is 0.045(P<0.05)in the post-test,and Sig(2-tailed)is 0.859 in the pre-questionnaire and Sig(2-tailed)is 0.025(P<0.05)in the postquestionnaire,both of which prove that the reading comprehension abilities of students in the experimental class are enhanced with the help of mind map.Meanwhile,the questionnaire on students’ reading character is adopted to observe whether students’reading character can be brought positive changes.Sig(2-tailed)is 0.871(P>0.05)and Sig(2-tailed)is 0.048(P<0.05)in terms of reading attitude,Sig(2-tailed)is 0.933(P>0.05)and Sig(2-tailed)is 0.048(P<0.05)in terms of reading habits,which implies that the introduction of mind map to English reading classes contributes to developing students’ reading character.Moreover,semi-structured interview is carried out to know how students in the experimental class feel after the experiment and their suggestions for future research.To conclude,the application of mind map to English reading classes in junior high school is helpful to develop students’ English reading literacy.To be specific:1)applying mind map to English reading is of great help to promote students’ reading comprehension abilities.That is to say,mind map does good to update students’ reading strategies,and is beneficial to enhance their reading achievement in English examinations;2)introducing mind map to English reading classes contributes to developing students’ reading character.Specifically,mind map is conducive to the formation of good reading habits,the stimulation of reading interest and enthusiasm and the promotion of positive changes in reading attitude.