A study on using mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students at hung vuong high quality school

HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

BUI NGOC ANH

A STUDY ON USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING
VOCABULARY TO GRADE 1OTH STUDENTS AT HUNG VUONG
HIGH QUALITY SCHOOL

B.A. GRADUATION PAPER
Field: English Teaching Methodology

Phu Tho, 2020


HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

BUI NGOC ANH

A STUDY ON USING MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING
VOCABULARY TO GRADE 1OTH STUDENTS AT HUNG VUONG
HIGH QUALITY SCHOOL
(Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng sơ đồ tư duy trong dạy từ vựng cho học sinh
khối lớp 10 trường Phổ thông Chất lượng cao Hùng Vương)

B.A. GRADUATION PAPER
Field: English Teaching Methodology

Supervisor: Vu Thi Quynh Dung, M.A

Phu Tho, 2020


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This thesis could not have completed without the help, encouragement and
support of a number of people who all deserve my sincere gratitude and
appreciation.
First of formost, I would like to express my deeper gratitude to my
supervisor – Ms. Vu Thi Quynh Dung for the valuable guidance and
encouragement. She greatly inspired me to work on this paper. My graduation
paper cannot come to end without her effort to read it again and again to find out
the problems and support me in all stages of the research and writing this study.
I am also very grateful to some English teacher at Hung Vuong High
Quality School, who has been wiling to answer my questions and have given me
valuable advices and suggestions on the research “A study on using mind mapping
technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students in at Hung Vuong High
Quality School” and on the completionof my research.
I owe sincere and earnest thankfulness to all the students of the classes 10B
of Hung Vuong High Quality School, who have been the enthusiastic participants
in my study. They provide me valuable information by completing the conveying
as well as answering survey questionnaires and doing tests. Without them, my
action research could not been completed and successful.
In the end, I would like to show my big gratitude to my family and friends,
who have constantly inspired and courage me to overcome difficulties to complete
this study.
Finally, a special word of thanks goes to my readers for their interests and
comments on this study.
Thanks for all!

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ABSTRACT
Based on the assumption that the more teachers know about brain science,
the better prepared they will be to make instructional decisions.
Mind Map is a powerful tool to learn vocabulary. Language is an important
device and a very beneficial means for human being to communicate with other
people. In order to communicate fluently, learners must have a large vocabulary
stock.
This study objective is to test the feasibility of using Mind mapping
technique to grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School. The
researcher carried out the experiment by teaching English and gives two tests for
students. The experiment phase continued for 3 weeks.
The participants of this study were 21 students at class 10B. Prior to
experiment, participants of class 10B were given a pre-test in order to test their
vocabulary stock. Having introduced the mind mapping technique to members of
class 10B (21 students) and finished the experiment period, a post-test was
administered to measure the effect of the intervention for students. The data were
gathered through pre-test and post-test.
The comparison between the pre-test and post-test scores reveals a
significant difference in vocabulary test. The results indicated that the students
after experiment have higher scores. The results manifested that the mind map is
effective to use in teaching vocabulary in class 10B of Hung Vuong High Quality
School.


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TABLE OF CONTENT
PART 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1
1. Rationale of the study........................................................................................ 1
2. Previous studies ................................................................................................. 2
3. Research purposes ............................................................................................. 6
4. Research questions ............................................................................................ 6
5. Research method ............................................................................................... 6
6. Significance of the research .............................................................................. 7
7. Research scope .................................................................................................. 7
8. Research design ................................................................................................. 8
PART 2: CONTENT ............................................................................................. 9
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .............................................. 9
1.1. An overview about Vocabulary ..................................................................... 9
1.1.1. Definition of vocabulary ............................................................................. 9
1.1.2.Aspects of vocabulary ................................................................................ 10
1.1.3.Techniques used in teaching vocabulary ................................................... 12
1.2.An overview of Mind Mapping technique .................................................... 14
1.2.1. Definition of mind mapping technique ..................................................... 14
1.2.2. Classifications of mind map ...................................................................... 15
1.2.3. Parts of mind map ..................................................................................... 17
1.2.4. Steps for making mind mapping technique .............................................. 19
1.3. Relationship between Mind Mapping technique and vocabulary teaching. 21
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................... 22
2.1. Setting of the study....................................................................................... 22
2.2. Subject of the study ...................................................................................... 22
2.3. Participants of the study ............................................................................... 22
2.3.1. Students ..................................................................................................... 22
2.3.2. Teachers .................................................................................................... 23
2.4. The current textbook English 10 .................................................................. 23

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2.5. Data collection instruments .......................................................................... 23
2.5.1. Survey questionnaires ............................................................................... 24
2.5.2. Tests .......................................................................................................... 25
2.5.3. Classroom observations ............................................................................ 26
2.6. Research procedure ...................................................................................... 28
2.7. Data analysis…………………………………………...…………………..30
CHAPTER 3: CURRENT SITUATIONS .......................................................... 30
3.1. Data analysis of the result from survey questionnaire before experiment... 30
3.1.1. Current situation of students’ learning vocabulary ................................... 30
3.1.2. Students’ frequency of learning vocabulary ............................................. 31
3.1.3. Students’ methods in learningvocabulary ................................................. 31
3.1.4. Problems the students encountered when learning vocabulary ................ 32
3.1.5. Students’ techniques used in learning vocabulary .................................... 32
3.1.6. Students’ perception in learning vocabulary by using Mind mapping
technique ............................................................................................................. 33
3.2. Data analysis of the result from classroom observations ............................. 34
3.3. Data analysis of the result from pre-test ...................................................... 36
3.4. Discussion .................................................................................................... 37
CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 38
4.1. Mind map application in teaching vocabulary (Experiment) ...................... 38
4.1.1. The first week of experiment (from March 23th to March 29th, 2020) ... 38
4.1.2. The second week of the experiment (from May 4th to May 10th, 2020) . 38
4.1.3. In the third week of the experiment (from May 11th to May 17th, 2020) 39
4.1.4. In the fourth week of the experiment (from May 18th to May 24th, 2020)
............................................................................................................................. 39
4.2. Data analysis of the result from survey questionnaire after experiment…..42
4.2.1. Students' attitude toward learning vocabulary with mind maps…………42

4.2.2. Effectiveness of using mind maps in vocabulary teaching and learning...43


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4.2.3. Challenges in learning vocabulary with mind maps……………………..44
4.2.4. Students' opinions about using mind maps in teaching and learing
vocabulary…………………………………………………………...…………45
4.3. The results of post-test ................................................................................. 42
4.4. Comparison of the pre-test and post-test ..................................................... 44
4.5. Evaluation..................................................................................................... 46
PART 3: CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 47
1. Summary and conclusion ................................................................................ 47
2. Implications ..................................................................................................... 48
2.1. For teachers .................................................................................................. 48
2.2. For students .................................................................................................. 48
3. Recommendation............................................................................................. 48
4. Limitations of the study .................................................................................. 49
5. Suggestion for further researches .................................................................... 50
REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 51


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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1: Major aspects of vocabulary .............................................................. 10
Table 3.1: Students’ methods in learning vocabulary ......................................... 31
Table 3.2: Problems the students encoutered when learning vocabulary ........... 32
Table 3.3: Students’ opinions about the benefits of using Mind mapping technique
in learning vocabulary ......................................................................................... 33

Table 3.4: The result of classroom observation .................................................. 35
Table 3.5: Number of test in score level according to pre-test results................ 36
Table 4.1: Benefits of using mind maps in learning vocabulary……...……..…44
Table 4.2: Students' opinion about using mind maps in teaching and learning
vocabulary………………………………………………………………...……45
Table 4.3: Number of tests in score levels according to post-test results ........... 46
Table 4.4: Number of tests in score levels according to pre-test and post-test
result………………………………………………… .................. ……………..47


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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: Network tree ..................................................................................... 16
Figure 1.2: Event chain ....................................................................................... 16
Figure 1.3: Cycle concept map............................................................................ 17
Figure 1.4: Spider concept map .......................................................................... 17
Figure 3.1: Students’ perception towards the important of vocabulary .............. 30
Figure 3.2: Students’ frequency of learning vocabulary ..................................... 31
Figure 3.3: Students’ techniques used in learning vocabulary ........................... 32
Figure 3.4: Students’ perception about Mind mapping technique ...................... 33
Figure 3.5: Skills that students use Mind mapping technique ............................ 34
in learning vocabulary ......................................................................................... 34
Figure 3.6: The percentage of score levels according to pre-test results ............ 36
Figure 4.1: Students' interest toward learning vocabulary with mind maps…...43
Figure 4.2: Students' opinions about the effectiveness of using mind maps in
teaching and learning vocabulary………………………………...…………….44
Figure 4.3: Challenges in learning vocabulary with mind maps…………….....45
Figure 4.4: Number of tests in score levels according to post-test results ......... 43
Figure 4.5: The percentage of score levels according to pre-test and

post-test results. ................................................................................................... 45


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PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Nowadays, in the Industrial Revolution 4.0, English has become more and
more dominant around the world. English helps students gain success in every
subject at school. By learning English, students are expected to be acquainted with
themselves, their culture and other culture. No one can deny the importance of
English, which is a global language in the modern social and one of the main ways
to communicate and interact with other people around us. It may not be the most
spoken language in the world, but it is the official language of 53 countries and
spoken by around 400 million people across the globe.
In order to keep pace with the development of society, we are demanded to
master in English because it is a key to open the door for scientific and technical
knowledge which is need for many fields. English is also essential to the field of
education in Vietnam. It has been considered as a compulsory subject in the
curriculum of all states school and learnt by Vietnamese people as a mean of
communication. Apart from four skills and some components, vocabulary is one
of the most crucial ones in language learning. It is an essential part of the English,
which is important for communication, reading, speaking, listening and writing.
Wilkin (1972) states that “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without
vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. Or according to Mohammadi & Shakouri,
“Without knowledge of words, understanding sentences or passages is not
possible” (2016, p.1166). Vocabulary is one of the most important aspects in
mastering English because the ability of the students to read or comprehend the
subject is relatively determined by their vocabulary. In this case, we must
emphasize that vocabulary plays a key role not only in reading but also in speaking,

writing, and listening.
English vocabulary constitutes a challenge for English foreign language
teaching and learning. Most students spend a lot of time studying English
vocabulary, but the result is often frustrating and unsatisfactory when so many


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students learn vocabulary by rote memorization, which is boring and dampens
students’ enthusiasm for learning. Besides, the teaching method plays a crucial
role in helping students retain vocabulary. Therefore, it is desirable to find an
effective tool to help students learn English vocabulary.
One strategy can be used is mind mapping. It is a thinking tool that, based
on divergent thinking, builds up a structure of knowledge for each target word by
associating it with other related words or concepts. Thus, recalling of one
vocabulary word will prompt the other related items. It also incorporates words,
pictures, color, images and graphics, making learning information a vividly visual
format. Mind maps and diagrams allow students to clarify their thoughts by
categorizing and grouping related ideas as Thornbury (2002) says, “Acquiring a
vocabulary requires not only labeling but categorizing skills”. With mind maps,
each new piece of word students put into their head automatically “hooks on to”
all the vocabulary already in there. The more these grappling hooks, the easier
learners hook out the vocabulary they need. The mind mapping technique can help
present vocabularies learned and to be learnt in a logical and related matrix.
Thus, the study entitled “A study on using mind mapping technique in
teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students in at Hung Vuong High Quality
School” is conducted as an attempt to enhance vocabulary teaching and learning.
Hopefully, this reasearch could make a call pay due attention to the vocabulary
learming of Hung Vuong High Quality school’s students.
2. Previous studies

2.1. In the world
Riswanto and Puta (2012) in “The use of mind mapping strategy in the
teaching of writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia” conducted research in
Indonesia on the appropriateness of the mind mapping strategy while providing
training in writing. The pretest and posttest disparate groups were designed by the
researchers. The study was carried out in the town of Bengkulu and 234 students
of the first year of SMAN 3 were the population of the study during the academic


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year of 2011-2012. A total of 66 students were selected as a sample and divied into
two groups. The writing test was conducted in order to collected data. Results
showed a compelling distinction was present in the writing acomplishment of the
students taught in the use of the strategy of mind mapping. Hence, it is evident
from this study taht writing achivement of students can be enhanced through the
application of the mind mapping strategy.
Regarding the research matter of teaching vocabulary with mind maps and
diagrams, the writer could find one related study named “Teaching vocabulary
through mind mapping technique to the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 15
Palembang” by Yusuf Effendi (2004), a student of University PGRI, Indonesia.
The research question of this thesis is “Is it effective to use mind mapping
technique in teaching vocabulary to the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 15
Palembang?”
There are some similarities and differences between this thesis and the
writer’s study. First of all, the similarity of these two is that they have the same
independent variables and mind mapping techniques in Buzan’s principles.
Secondly, both used true-experimental research method. However, Yusuf’s thesis
based on Posttest Only Random Control Group Design, and this study based on
the Pretest-Posttest Design. Therefore, the most distinctive difference is that in

Yusuf’s thesis, there was only one vocabulary test to test students before the
treatment and after that. In this study, there were three vocabulary tests, including
one pretest and two posttests. The reason for having three different tests is to
ensure the reliability of the tests. The three tests had the same language items but
different test items so that the vocabulary proficiency and learning progress of
students were evaluated most exactly.
Al Naqbi’s (2011) in “The use of Mind Mapping to develop writing skills
in UAE schools” carried a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of mnd map at the
pre-writing brainstorming stage under exam condition. Actually, her primary
purpose was not to aim to the high results of the students, yet she aimed to help


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students in planning and organizing ideas in writing. After conducting the
research, she found that students’ thinking and cognitive skills were developed and
students became better in organizing ideas, activating their background
knowledge. This proved that mind map has a powerful effect on students in prewriting stage and it was worth teaching this technique to EFL students in classes.
Maestas & Croll (1985) carried out a study on the effects of training in story
mapping procedures on the reading comprehension of poor readers. It was found
that there was an increase on the students’ability to answer comprehension
questions and increased tendency to maintain story mapping component in their
story recall. The result of aforementioned studies indicates that mind mapping
tecnique can help improve students’ reading comprehension ability, especially
poor reader. The present work, thus, adopts the use of mind mapping techniques
to improve the poor readers’ reading ability at Rajabhat University, Songkhla. In
addition, an effort is made to investigate the students’ attitude towards the use of
mind mapping techniques to enhance their reading ability.
2.2. In Vietnam
Dang Thanh Diem (2011) researched about “ Using mind maps and

diagrams to teach vocabulary for first year mainstream students, faculty of English
language teacher education” with the aims at figuring out whether the techniques
work to teach vocabulary at Division I. The study began with the literature review
on vocabulary teaching and application of mind maps and diagrams in teaching
vocabulary. Then the paper-based questionnaires were delivered to students to
explore the situation of the research problem. After that, the true-experimental
method was applied in data collection procedures to fulfill the second aim of the
research. The findings of the study indicated that mind maps and diagrams were
applicable and effective to teach vocabulary at Division I. Therefore, the
techniques were suggested to be exploited more in the context of teaching
vocabulary for first year students.


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Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (2013) researched about “Enhancing the efficiency
of the presentation through the use of mind mapping for K8 major English students
in Hung Vuong University” with the study aims at the researching and valuating
the use of Mind Mapping in enhancing the efficiency of a presentation. They use
pretest and posttest to survey the current situation then the point out the effective
of using mind map in presentation for students. The result is quite satisfactory
because the number of students getting low reduces considerably. The marks of
posttest are improved. It makes the study more successful.
Do Thi Van Trang (2016) researched about “Using mind map to improve
vocabulary knowledge for the first year English language teaching education
students of FLF at HPU2” with the study aims at investigating the common ways
of learning vocabulary and their difficulties in studying vocabulary; introducing
the mind mapping technique to the first year English Language Teaching
Education at HPU2 as well. First, to learn about the current ways of learning
vocabulary, the survey questionnaire was conducted with 48 students of K41

English Language Teaching Education. Second, pre-test and post-test were done
to appreciate the quality of vocabulary studying among these students before and
after the treatment during five weeks of the second semester of the 2015 – 2016
academic school years. Last, the classroom observation also was used to find
whether students like the technique. Based on the results of these methods, the
difficulties of students in learning vocabulary have been found out as well as mind
mapping technique was introduced received positive responds from students.
These above reasearches study about using mind map in teaching and
learning and also have provided valuable information indicating that use mind
maps to help students improve skils such as writing, presentation and learning
vocabulary. Moreover, those studies investigated the effectiveness of applying
mind maps in teaching and developing skills above.
However, there is no research about using mind maps to improve vocabulary
for grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School. So, the author will


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choose research about this issue with hope that this method can help the students
learn vocabulary more effectively.
3. Research purposes
The aims of the study consist of:
- Exploring the current situations of teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students at
Hung Vuong High Quality School.
- Designing and applying activities with mind-mapping technique in teaching
vocabulary to grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School.
- From the findings of the paper, the writer wants to evaluate whether it is possible
to apply mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10th students in
at Hung Vuong High Quality School.
4. Research questions

There are three research questions, based on the focused objectives of the
study accordingly. They are:
1) What techniques in teaching vocabulary have been used by the teachers of
Hung Vuong High Quality School?
2) How to use mind maps in vocabulary teaching and learning effectively?
3) How effective is the mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade
10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School?
5. Research methods
- Theoretical research method: The author researches the related documents
to give some knowledge about vocabulary, definition and features of mind maps
and mind mapping technique.
- Investigating methods: The researcher uses survey questionnaires for
students and teachers, tests and classroom observations to investigate the real
situation of using mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary to grade 10 th
students in Hung Vuong High Quality School.


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- Mathematical statistical method: It focuses on presenting, analyzing,
caculating the data collected from survey questionnaires and observation to get the
final results.
- Experimental method: This method is used to find out about the
effectiveness of using mind maps in teaching and learning vocabulary. Experiment
is to verify by using mind map as tool to learn vocabulary grade 10th students at
Hung Vuong High Quality School. The research carried out the experiment to
comparison then to evaluate the feasibility of using mind map as an instrument in
vocabulary teaching and learning.
6. Significance of the research
6.1. Scientific significance

Conducting this study firstly helped the researcher obtaining a
comprehensive understanding about using mind maps in teaching and learning
English in general and in improving vocabulary in particular.
6.2. Practical significance
This reasearch is carried out with the hope that it can apply mind maps to
enhance vocabulary for grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality
effectively. With a new methodology, mind maps will draw the students’ attention
by using pictures, color, images and graphics.
In addition, the research also helped the teachers of English use mind
mapping technique to teach new words more effectively and successfully, which
make the lesson meaningful and interesting, help students to get the best results in
vocablary learning and many others.
7. Research scope
Mind Mapping is a useful method and applied in many fields that cannot be
mantioned all. Due to time constraints, instead of studying in a large context, this
study only focuses on small context of grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High
Quality School. The author would research the current effectiveness of using Mind
Mapping technique to promote student’s vocabulary.


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In this study, Mind mapping technique was used in Unit 8: New ways to
learn (Getting started and Reading), Unit 9: Preserving the ennvironment (Getting
started & Reading).
8. Research design
The study consists of three main parts
Part 1: Introduction
Presenting the overview of the study including the rationale for the research,
previous studies, research problems, research questions, significant of the

research, the scope of the research as well as the outline of research.
Part 2: Content
This part consists of 4 main chapters
Chapter 1 – Theoretical background: Focusing on theorical background of
the study, the overview of vocabulary and Mind Mapping technique, and
relationship between mind mapping technique and vocabulary teaching.
Chapter 2 – Methodology: Discussing about researching objectives, method
of the study, instrument, data collection and data analysis of the study
Chapter 3 – Current situations: In this chapter, the author has to make some
major findings, analyzes and discusses the data collected from classroom
observations, interviews and results of pre-test in details to find out the problems
of grade 10th students at Hung Vuong High Quality School in teaching vcabulary.
Chapter 4 – Experiment and Discussion: In this chapter, the researcher
applies Mind mapping technique to teach vocabulary. Then, the author delivers
the post-test, analyzises and compares the data collected from pre-test and posttest. After that, the researcher will evaluate the effectiveness and limitations when
using Mind mapping technique in teaching vocabulary.
Part 3: Conclusion
In this part, the researcher gives summarization about major findings of the
study. This includes the conclusion of the whole study, implications,
recommendation, limitations of the research, and provides suggestions for further
studies.


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PART 2: CONTENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This chapter focuses on providing an overview of theoretical background
relevant to this study including vocabulary in teaching and learning, mind mapping

technique and the relationship between vocabulary and mind mapping.
1.1. An overview about Vocabulary
1.1.1. Definition of vocabulary
Regarding vocabulary, agreement on its definition seems to be difficult as
each scholar and linguist or even each English learner has his own set of ideas to
come up with the precise definition of vocabulary. Thus, there have been many
differences in defining it.
According to Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Online,
vocabulary is defined as:
a) all the words that a person knows or uses
b) all the words in a particular language
c) the words that people use when they are talking about a particular subject
d) a list of words with their meanings, especially in a book for learning a foreign
language.
Hornby (2000: 1331) descibed vocabulary as “a list of words in a language
with their meanings”, which is common with the third and fourth meanings from
the definition of the dictionary. Besides, “Vocabulary is knowledge of words and
words meanings” is defined by Fran Lehr and his associates (2004).
Richards and Platt (1992) pointed out that vocabulary is a set of lexeme,
including single words, compound words, and idioms. While, Ur (1996) argued
that vocabulary are the words teachers teach in a foreign language. It is evident
that each set of vocabulary can make up for more than just one word, but it
combines into a single meaning.


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Hatch & Brown (1995) stated that vocabulary refers to a list or set of words
for particular language or a list or set of words that individual speakers of language
might use. In other words, vocabulary is a collection of words that used by one’s

as mean of communication.
To conclude, there are numerous ways to understand the concept of
“vocabulary”. From all the above discussions about it, we can understand
vocabulary as a list of words that teachers and learners use in the process of
teaching and learning English as a foreign language as well as their usage to
understand the productive skill and receptive skill.
1.1.2. Aspects of vocabulary
Basically, before digging deeper in techniques to teach vocabulary, it is
required to define clearly the matter of what to teach. Thus, what it means to
“know a word” becomes another complicated issue.
Knowing a word involves knowing 1) a great deal about its general
frequency of use, syntactic and situational limitation on its use, 2) its underlying
form and forms that can be derived from it, 3) the network of its semantic
features and 4) the various meanings associated with the item (Richards, 1976
cited in Ghazal, 2007).
Table 1.1: Major aspects of vocabulary
Categories
Form

Spelling
Pronunciation
Grammar
Collocation

Description

Example

What a word look like.

t-e-a

What a word sounds like.

[ti:]

Change of forms

Sink => Sinking

Restriction or how words

Make trouble but

can be used together.

do wrong


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Denotation

Aspects of

Connotation

meaning

Formality

The core meaning that refers Nightfall: the close
words to the real world.

of the day

The additional meaning that

Excuse in She

shows people’s emotions

made an excuse for

and attitudes towards what

being late has a

the word refers to.

negative meaning.

Whether the word is

Thank you vs.

appropriate to use in certain

Thanks

context.

Bright, clever,

Synonym

Antonym

Words that mean the same

smart, intelligent,

nearly the same.

etc.

Words that mean the

Rich vs. Poor

opposite.
Hyponym

Words that serve as specific

Bus, car, lorry, etc.

examples of the same
concept.
Word Building

How a word is created.

Ultra-modern,
Super-hero

(Source: Ur, 1996)
Table 1.1 is to describe the major aspects of vocabulary that can be taught
to students by Ur (1996) adapted in ELT Methodology II Course Book and
Recommended Readings (pp.81-87). Those divisions of vocabulary by Ur cover
all aspects presented by other scholars.
Schmitt (1995: 86) also presented a list of the word knowledge types that
native speakers typically possess, which should be achieved by the learners of


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English. As cited in Dastjerdi (2010), they are 1) a word’s spoken form, 2) a word’s
written form, 3) a word’s part of speech, derivative forms, and grammatical
patterns, 4) a word’s collocations, 5) how frequently a word is used in a language,
6) the many stylistic constrains which determine if a word is appropriate in a given
context, 7) a word’s conceptual meaning, 8) a word’s semantic network of
associations.
So, knowing a word is not just simply know its equivalent in one’s mother
tongue but there are a lot of aspects to cover. It is difficult for teachers to present
new vocabulary and provide as many aspects as possible. Similarly, learners also
encounter hardness to build up their own vocabulary with the sufficient perception
of all aspects. But after all, the important in learning vocabulary is not knowing a
word, but remembering it and then using it. In the next part, the explanation of
how vocabulary is remembered is presented.
1.1.3. Techniques used in teaching vocabulary
Commonly, there are several techniques concerning the teaching of

vocabulary. However, there are a few things that have to be remembered by the
most English teachers if they want to present a new vocabulary or the lexical items
to their students. It means that the English teachers want students to remember new
vocabulary. Then, it needs to be learnt, practiced and revised to prevent students
from forgetting.
1.1.3.1. Visual techniques
Concerning with the visual techniques, Gairns and Redman (1986) as cited
by Maria, (1999:12) said that “there are three forms of visual techniques: relia,
pictures, and mine or gestures.” Relia means using a variety of real-object brought
by the teachers or students in the classroom. It can be also applied to remember
written material. Students can act out what they read, or associate physical
sensation with specific words found in reading passages.
Refering to ideas mentioned above, Klippel (1994:115) implies that mine or
gesture is useful if it emphasizes the importance of gestures and facial expression


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on communication. At the essence it can not only be use to indicate the meaning
of a word found in reading passages, but also in speaking activities as it stresses
mostly on communication.
1.1.3.2. Verbal techniques
This technique pertains to the use of illustrative situation, synonyms,
opposites, scale, definition and categories. More specifically, Maria (1990:3)
divided verbal techniques into four parts:
a. Definition and illustration sentences: this technique the English teachers are
expected to introduce a word in English through the use of other word in the
same language.
b. Synonyms and antonyms: Synonyms and antonyms are especially important in
building new vocabulary because learners are able to know vocabulary.

Synonyms are words that have the same meaning as the unknown in a given
sentence. There may be signals that identify the presence of synonym for the
readers. They could be or, commas, dashes, and colons. Meanwhile, antonyms
are words that have the opposite meaning of the unknown word in a given
sentence. Signals which identify the presence of the antonyms for reader are
instead, although, but, yet, and however.
c. Scale: This technique is the presentation of related words in scales that include
the combination of both verbal and visual techniques, for example, in term 32 o
Celsius, the degree sign is the visual.
d. Explaination: This technique explains the meaning and the use of a foreign
word in the foreign language itself.
Talking into account the points of technique presented earlier, it seems that
there are several similarities of program for teaching vocabulary development
skills to be recognized by Brown (1994:367). He offered some techniques for
teaching vocabulary skills, among those are:
a. Determine the goal of teaching, such as:
- To improve the reading vocabulary skills of students


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- To teach students word-building skills
- To teach students to guess word meanings from contex clues.
b. Get student to make word building: that is derived from suffixes, prefixes, and
roots.
c. Definition clues, which comprises the parentheses and footnotes, and
synonyms and antonyms.
d. Inference clues: these clues have three types, such as example, summary, and
experience.
Based on the quotation above, it can be said that the English teachers, before

applying those techniques, should know the level of students’ competency and the
goal of teaching in advance, particulary on teaching vocabulary. Also, they should
be able to lead the students to learn a new word or some words clearly. In relation
to the employment of verbal techniques, of course, the English teachers have to
regard the length of time and the English textbooks used.
1.2. An overview of Mind Mapping technique
1.2.1. Definition of mind mapping technique
Buzan ( states
that a mind mapping is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal
key to unlock the potential of the brain. It is visual map of ideas, laid out in a radial
format around a central thought and it involves a unique combination of imagery,
colour and visual-spatial arrangement which is proven to significantly improve
recall when compared to conventional methods of note-taking and learning by rote.
It needs imagination and association to activate our brain in remembering
something.
Based on DePotter and Hernacki as translated into English (in
Abdurrahman, 2008:153), “Mind mapping is the use of whole brains technique by
using the visualization and other graphic infrastructure to make an impression”.
Besides, mind mapping is one of techniques which can make the students more
enjoyable and interesting in studying vocabulary.


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According to Martin as translated into English (in Trianto, 2009:158) mind
mapping is a concrete graphic illustration which indicates how a single concept
related to other concept in the same categories. Mind mapping is a pattern which
at least consists of picture, symbol and colour that will not just help the students
to understand the vocabulary knowledge but also make the students feel good,
enjoyable and attract their brain which at last leads them to have interest in mastery

vocabulary knowledge.
Mind mapping is a pattern which at least consists of pictures, symbols and
colors. It is a concrete graphic illustration which indicates how a single concept is
related to another concept in the same categories.
A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the
center, to which associated ideas, words, and concepts are added. Majors
categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of
larger branches. Categories can represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items related
to a central key word or idea. To use mind maps effectively, make sure that print
the words, use different colors to add visual impact, and incorporate symbols and
images to further spur creative thinking.
1.2.2. Classifications of mind map
Trianto (2009:160) describes that mind mapping can be distinguished into
four kinds, namely: network tree, event chain, cycle concept map, and spider
concept map.
1.2.2.1. Network tree
The main ideas made in a quadrangle and other words written in the
connection line. It is suitable for visualization:
- a cause and effect relation
- a hierarchy
- branch procedure
- technical terms which can be used to explain some correlations.


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Figure 1.1: Network tree
1.2.2.2. Event chain
The event chain can be used for giving an accident order, steps in a
procedure, or steps in a process. It is suitable for visualization:

- some steps in a process
- some steps in a linier procedure
- an accident order.

Figure 1.2: Event chain
1.2.2.3. Cycle concept map
In this concept map, the accident combination has no final result. It is
suitable to show a correlation how a combination accident is interacting to produce
a group of result repeatedly.