Using mind mapping to help students organize ideas for their writings at Tri Huy Center= Ứng dụng thủ thuật sơ đồ tư duy giúp học sinh tổ chức ý tưởng cho bài viết tại Trung tâm Trí Huy. M.A. Thesis Linguistics: 601401

STUDENT DECLARATION
I declare that this study is original and has not been submitted for assessment
elsewhere.
I declare that this study is my own work and does not involve plagiarism or collusion.
I give my consent for the electronic version to be examined by relevant plagiarism
software programs.
I have made a photocopy or electronic copy of my study, which I can produce if the
original is lost for any reason.

Dated: January 5th, 2017

Signed: NGUYEN THI NGOC ANH

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper would not have been completed without the support of many people, to
all of whom I am profoundly indebted.
In the first place, I would like to express my very deep gratitude to my supervisor,
Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Van Do, who has allowed me to carry out this research and
guided me patiently during the process of accomplishing this graduation paper.
In addition, I would like to give a special thanks to all of my lecturers at PostGraduate Faculty, who instructed and gave us a great number of precious lessons
serving as basic knowledge to carry out this research.
Besides, I would like to say thanks to all of my classmates at Post-Graduate Faculty,
who willingly assisted me in terms of spirit and shared previous experience, which
helped me avoid drawbacks and shortcomings during study process.
Last but not least, this graduation paper could not be achieved without the support
and encouragement of all teachers of English and my dearest students at Tri Huy
Learning Center. Thanks to all of them, I could conduct the research without facing
up to any severe difficulties.

Although I have made my greatest efforts to finish this graduation paper, I believe
that there are many shortcomings remaining. Therefore, I hope there will be critiques
and suggestions for the completion of this graduation paper so that it will be useful
for me, the readers, and the further researchers in the years to come.
Ha noi, January 5th, 2017
The Writer
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh

ii


Abstract
This is a classroom action research aimed at identifying whether the use of Mind
Mapping strategy was effective in improving the students’ writing achievement. In
addition, the second purpose of the research is to describe the process of teaching
writing through Mind Mapping. The research was conducted over six lessons at Tri
Huy Learning Center (THLC) in the academic year of 2016 – 2017 and the target
population consisted of 30 students in Grade 10. The paper-based questionnaires were
delivered to students to explore the situation of the research problem. Informal
interviews with the students were then conducted to get their ideas about applying the
new teaching and learning method. During the lessons, it did not seem to be difficult
for students to follow the teaching-learning process. In particular, they showed their
excitement and interest in the lesson. Employing the data analysis, the writer comes
to a conclusion that students at Tri Huy Learning Center can improve their writing
skills through mind mapping.
Keywords: Mind Mapping, Writing, Writing Skills,…

iii

Table of Contents
STUDENT DECLARATION …………………………………..…i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………..….........ii
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………..……....iii
TABLE OF CONTENT ……………………………………..…...iv
LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………...........vi
INTRODUCTION …………...…………………………….……..1
1. Rationale of the study ………………………………………..………....….…...1
2. Aims of the study …………………………………………………………….…3
3. Research questions ……………………………………………………………...3
4. Scope of the study ………………………………………………………..…......4
5. The Significance of the Research ……………………………..……………......4
6. Methods of the study………………………………………………………..…..4
7. Thesis Organization…………………………………………………………......5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………........…..6
1.1. Writing ……………………………………………..…………..……………...6
1.1.1. Definitions of Writing ………………………………..…………………..…..….....6
1.1.2. Definition of Writing skills …………………………………………………...........7

1.2. Mind mapping ……………………………………………………..…........….9
1.2.1. Definitions of Mind mapping……………………..……………………….……..…9
1.2.2. How to create mind mapping …………………………………………………..….11
1.2.3. The Use of Mind mapping in classroom ……………………………………....….17
1.2.4. The difference between mindmapping and modeling for teaching writing.............18
1.2.5. Theoretical background…………………………………………………..……......19

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY………………………...….…21
2.1. Research setting……………………………………………….....………..….21
2.1.1. General description of Tri Huy Learning Center (THLC) and the teaching and

learning of English……………………………….………………………………….....…21
2.1.2. Teachers of English and students at THLC ………...…………………….….....…21
2.1.3. The materials……………………………….…………………………………...…22
2.1.4. The Setting of Time………………………………………………………….…....22

2.2. Research Methodology ………………………………..………………..…...22

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2.3. Participants …………………………………..…………………………...….23
2.4. Implementation of the Action Research ………………………………….….23
2.5. Research design ………………………………………..………………….....24
2.6. Data collection instruments ……………………………………………...…..27
2.6.1. Questionnaires ………………………………………..……………….……..…....27
2.6.2. Informal Interviews ……………………………..……………………….……......28
2.6.3. Student’s writing samples………………………………………………..……......28

2.7. Data collection procedures…………………………………….…………......28
2.8. Data analysis procedures ………………………….………….……….…......29

CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…………..….…...30
3.1. Results of Survey questionnaire …………..……………………..…….....….30
3.1.1. Figure 1 - Interest towards mind mapping ……………………………..…….…...30
3.1.2. Figure 2- Usage of mind mapping ……………………………………...…….…..31
3.1.3. Figure 3- Anxiety in preparing the test ……………………………..………….....32
3.1.4. Figure 4 - Using mind mapping to write a lot of topics…………………………...34
3.1.5. Figure 5 - Relating new information to the old………………………………..…..35

3.2. Informal interviews ………………………….……..………………….…….36

3.2.1. The first question……………………………………………………………….....36
3.2.2. The second question ………………………………………………………………36
3.2.3. The third question………………………………………………………………....37
3.2.4. The fourth question……………………………………………………………..…38

3.3. Findings and discussion ………………………………………………..……39

CLOSURE………………………………………...……………..41
1. Conclusion ……………………………………………………...………….….41
2. Difficulties during the study process …………………………………..……...42
3. Suggestion…………………………………………………...…………….…...43
3.1. To Teacher…………………………………………………………………..………43
3.2. To Students …………………………………………………………………………43
3.3. To further researchers ………………………………………………………………44

REFERENCES …..…………………………………..…...………I
APPENDICE
Appendix A: Questionnaire ……………………….…………………………..…III
Appendix B: Questions for Informal Interview ……………………………….....IV
Appendix C: Lesson plan Sample ………………………………..………………VI

v


LIST OF TABLE
Table 1: The schedule of the action implementation…………….25

LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 1 - Interest towards mind mapping ……………..…….…30
Figure 2- Usage of mind mapping ………………………….…..32

Figure 3 - Anxiety in preparing the test ……………………..….35
Figure 4 - Using mind mapping to write a lot of topics…………36
Figure 5 - Relating new information to the old……………….…37

vi


INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
It can’t be denied that writing as well as other language skills plays an important part
in language teaching and learning process. Without writing, the learners do not know
how to write even informal letters to their relatives, birthday cards for their friends or
Curriculum Vitae helping them apply for jobs. More seriously, great works of
literature, scientific reports, famous learning skill books, as well as textbooks cannot
be recorded and transmitted from generation to generation. Like other skills, writing
is considered one of the most significant connecting devices which help us exchange
information, communicate, and update news or events occurring throughout the
world every day. Only with a double click will we receive thousands of results
relating to what we want to know under written form in a very short time, even less
than one second. Due to the importance of writing skill, people have a tendency to
show more concern about this issue and make attempts to find out a lot of different
new approaches and techniques to meet the learner’s need. Accordingly, the questions
of which is suitable to most of the learners and how to teach writing effectively are
catching a mixed variety of attention from not only linguistic professionals but also
learners all over the world. Nevertheless, many language learners claim that it is too
difficult for them to write in another language and they regard it as the most
complicated language skills to be learned, in comparison with other language skills.
Heaton (1988: 135) asserts that “Writing skills are complex and sometimes difficult
to teach, requiring mastery not only of grammatical and rhetorical device but also of
conceptual and judgmental elements”. Therefore, if learners want to master writing

skill, they need to master both grammatical norms and have ability to use correctly at
least 2000 word families.
As a matter of fact, in addition to being full of grammatical mistakes and lacking
vocabulary and structures, another serious problem emerging in Vietnamese learners’
writing skill is that many of them do not know how to organize or arrange ideas for
their writings. They often write all possible ideas in their mind using their own

1


experience in those given topics without outlining. Occasionally, they also write what
they understand about the topics in Vietnamese employing a lot of Vietnamese
common words, then translate into English, and regard it as perfect version. By this
way, they use Vietnamese way of thinking to perceive the topics in another language
without understanding anything about that of native speakers. Nevertheless, it may
take time to choose the most beautiful words and complicated structures, which
accidentally make them forget time pressure required in writing process. In addition,
choosing the wrong words in translation process is unavoidable and simultaneously
they have difficulty in finding English equivalent terms as well. In fact, they are
learning English; therefore, they need to follow British or American straightforward
way of thinking. Their writings will not be appreciated by foreign examiners in
international standard exams like IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC and so on because of
lacking control of length as well as time and using a large amount of difficult and
strange vocabulary. Another point is that traditional teaching methods are commonly
used in English classes in Vietnam. Teachers usually supply students with particular
topics and some vocabulary cues and ask them to write the content. From my own
experiences, teachers mainly focus on spotting grammatical mistakes that students
make and asking for corrections without paying attention to teaching them how to
organize the content, because they believe this is the best way to improve students
writing skills. Accordingly, students begin to be mistaken that the greatest written

assignments are those which contain the fewest grammatical mistakes instead of
having good content. Nevertheless, it becomes further noticeable by some teachers
that the students’ results in writing assessments which rely heavily on correctness of
grammar and spelling only were not a true measure of students writing abilities. As a
result, students begin to face up to difficulties in developing their ideas and producing
meaningful text, focusing more on the mechanical structure of the written piece.
To deal with it, many new techniques and strategies have been applied, and they have
soon become phenomena in learning and teaching writing process. And, mind
mapping strategy is one of them. According to Tony Buzan, mind mapping is the

2


most excellent tool helping mind to think regularly (Buzan, 2006:4). He claims that
not only Mind Maps show facts, but also show the overall structure of a subject and
the relative importance of individual parts of it. It helps students to associate ideas,
think creatively, and make connections that might not otherwise make (Tony Buzan,
2010). Using color pencils, pictures, images connected by flexible lines may enable
learners to become more creative and pay more attention to writing lessons.
Moreover, mind mapping can also help them narrow their given topics, generate and
develop ideas more logically, not just listing all the things they have in mind without
any certain orders. To specify, it is one kind of teaching method that can be
considered effective in writing activity and may raise learners’ motivation with visual
illustration in order to upgrade their skills and get better achievement. On account of
the case above, the writer selects to conduct a research entitled “Using mind
mapping to help students organize ideas for their writings at Tri Huy Center”
with a view to finding out the improvement of this technique. The author chose
writing skills as a choice of doing research because of the fact that writing is the same
importance as any other skills. In addition, there have been a lot of researches carried
out to measure the effectiveness of using mind mapping in teaching Listening skills,

Vocabulary, and Reading skills; therefore, the author wanted to put more efforts into
writing skills with a view to helping her own students improve these skills. Last but
not least, students at Tri Huy Learning Center mainly focus on grammatical rules and
sometimes forget to develop other skills, which leads to their inefficiency in language
skills. Those are the reasons why the author made a decision to select writing skills
as a theme of the study.
2. Aims of the study
This study aims at:
1. Finding out the improvement of writing skill of students at Tri Huy Learning
Center (THLC) in the academic year of 2016-2017 through mind mapping.

3


2. Describing the process of teaching writing through mind mapping to
students at THLC and making some suggestions on how to apply this
technique in teaching and learning writing as well.
3. Research questions
In order to address the aims of the study, the researcher can formulate the problem in
this research as follow:
1. To what extend does mind mapping improve writing skill of students at Tri
Huy Learning Center (THLC) in the academic year of 2016-2017?
2. How is the process of teaching writing skill using mind mapping to students
at Tri Huy Learning Center (THLC) in the academic year of 2016-2017?

4. Scope of the study
First of all, due to the limitation of time and resources, the study could not cover all
aspects in writing teaching and learning. It only focused on the use of mind maps as
one technique to teach writing. Regarding the population of the study, students at Tri
Huy Learning Center were the participants and respondents to trial lessons, survey

questionnaires, and informal interviews. In details, survey questionnaires were
delivered to 30 students and 6 out of these students chosen randomly were involved
in informal interviews.
5. The Significance of the Research
The writer expects that the research can prove the effectiveness of mind mapping
technique in applying to teaching and learning writing process. The researcher also
hopes that the research of using mind-mapping strategy in teaching and learning
writing skills will be beneficial for both teacher and students.
-

For the Researcher: The researcher will understand more about the effectiveness
of using mind mapping strategy improving students’ writing skills.

-

For the Teacher: This research can enable the teacher to motivate students in
learning writing by using visual illustration and help them create a link
between the given topics and their background knowledge.

4


-

For the Students: This result can motivate the students to take interest in
learning process, know how to generate and organise ideas logically.

6. Methods of the study
An action research was conducted so as to achieve the aims mentioned above. The
study was limited to only 30 students in grade 10, who are studying English at Tri

Huy Learning Center. In the first place, Mind mapping technique was applied in the
existing classes, and after that, students were given questionnaires so that they can
take down their ideas about the new technique they have been taught. Besides,
interviews with some of them were carried out to get more information in order to
support the study.

7. Thesis Organization
In order to have guidance for writer in writing the thesis, the writer needs to set up
the organization of the thesis writing as follow:
Introduction
The introduction gives readers a brief overview of rationale for the study, aims of the
study, research questions, scope of the study, significance, methods of the study as
well as an overview of the study’s organization.
Chapter I of the study is Literature Review. The writer presents theoretical
background of the study involving some basic knowledge of writing, writing skills,
mind mapping in general and mind mapping in teaching writing in particular.
Chapter II gives the readers description of participants, data collection instruments,
implementation of the Action Research, research design, data collection procedures
and data analysis procedures.
Chapter III explains about the data analysis of the interpretation that discusses the
result of the study.
The closure includes some key points of the study as well as some recommendations
for further studies

5


CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Writing
1.1.1. Definitions of Writing

There are many different definitions of Writing proposed. According to Raimes
(1983: 3), writing plays an important role in communication when the other person is
not right there in front of us, listening to our words and looking at our gestures and
facial expressions. Al-Mutawa and Taisser (1989) also expand definition of writing
that it is a complex cognitive activity which requires several following elements:
Complete acquisition of the Alphabet; Understanding how letters combine to form
words and the relationship between the word and its meaning; Knowledge of the
mechanics of writing: speaking, capitalization, punctuation and other writing
conventions; Mastery of the most frequent rules governing the structure of sentences;
Ability of combining sentences to build an effective paragraph and combining them
to produce essays; Formalization with transitions to achieve coherence. From this
context, Bell and Burnaby (1984, cited in Nunan, 1989, p 36) provide their
explanation for writing that it is known as an extremely complex cognitive activity in
which the writer is required to demonstrate control of content, format, sentence
structure, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and letter formation. Beyond the
sentence, the writer must be able to structure and integrate information into cohesive
and coherent paragraphs and texts. Another definition comes from Byrne (1997: 1)
that writing is considered the use of graphic symbols which are arranged according
to a certain convention to form words and sentences. Besides, he also states that
writing is not merely the act of arranging graphic symbols; but in writing people
produce a sequence of sentences arranged in a particular order and linked together in
a certain way. From the statement above, it can be clearly seen that writing work
follows a gradual stage from a simple use of graphic symbols to a complex
arrangement of sentences based on certain rules and conventions. This is also
supported by Scrivener (1994: 157) who gives a statement that writing work in the
classroom falls on a continuum from copying which focuses on accuracy to free

6

writing which concentrates on fluency. From previous elaboration, it can be
concluded that writing is the act of expressing ideas or thoughts in communication
using graphic symbols which are arranged based on certain rules and conventions.
1.1.2. Definition of Writing skills
Based on Heaton (1975: 135), writing skills are sophisticated and sometimes difficult
for inexperienced teachers to teach, requiring mastery of not only grammatical and
rhetorical devices but conceptual and judgmental elements as well. The varied skills
are divided into five main components listed as follows:
-

Language use: The ability to construct correct and appropriate sentences;

-

Mechanical skills: The ability to use accurately peculiar conventions to the
written language such as punctuation and spelling;

-

Treatment of content: The ability to think in a creative way and develop
thoughts, including all relevant information;

-

Stylistic skills: The ability to manipulate sentences and paragraphs, and use the
language in an effective way;

-

Judgment skills: The ability to write in an appropriate manner for a particular

purpose with a particular audience in mind, as well as the ability to select,
organize and order relevant information.

In addition, Matthews, et al. (1985: 71) states that writing skills have several specific
skills that are grouped under five headings as follows:
-

Graphical or Visual Skills: including some following sub headings: Writing
graphemes refer to the use of letters of the alphabet, in upper or lower case as
appropriate, joined in the standard way; Spelling: As a result of the first
language interferes, students may apply the phonetic conventions of their
native language to spelling English words; Punctuation and capitalization: Here
students need to pay more attention to the fact that conventions differ among
languages, for example, in English in a numeral with at least four digits, a
comma is inserted after every three digits, counting from the right, but in

7


Vietnamese a dot is used instead; Format refers to the layout of a letter, or
memo which differs from one language to another);
-

Grammatical skills refer to the students’ ability to use a diversity of sentence
patterns and constructions.

-

Expressive or stylistic skills refer to the students’ ability to express precise
meanings in a variety of styles or registers. In order to do this, they will not

only have to be able to select appropriate vocabulary, but appropriate sentence
patterns and structures for the written medium as well.

-

Rhetorical skills is the students’ ability to use linguistic cohesion devices such
as connectives, reference words, ellipsis, and so on, so as to link parts of a text
into logically related sequences.

-

Organisational skills are similar to those involved in rhetorical skills above, but
here they concern with the organisation of a piece of information into
paragraphs and texts. This involves the sequencing of ideas as well as the
students’ ability to reject irrelevant information and summarize relevant points.

Therefore, it can be concluded that writing is defined as the act of expressing ideas
or thoughts in communication using graphic symbols arranged based on certain rules
and conventions. The rules and conventions are related to the aspects of content,
organization, word choice, language use, and mechanics. Aspect of content is
discussing the ability to think creatively and develop thoughts, excluding all
irrelevant information. Organization is the logical order of sentences presented in
order that the arrangement of the sentences makes sense; it involves unity and
coherence. Vocabulary is the ability to select and use wide range of proper words,
and idioms. Language use is the ability to apply sentence structure and other
grammatical features. Mechanical aspect is related to the ability to use correctly those
conventions peculiar to the written language, counting punctuation, capitalization,
and spelling.

8

1.2. Mind mapping
1.2.1. Definitions of Mind mapping
According to Budd (2004), a mind map can be defined as a graphic organizer in which
the major categories radiate from a central image and lesser categories are portrayed
as branches of larger branches.
Alamsyah (2009) also gives a definition of mind mapping (or concept mapping) that
it involves creating a central idea and search new and related ideas which radiate out
from the centre. From the central idea that is made, and then finding connections
between ideas, you are mapping knowledge in a manner that enable you to understand
and remember new information. Mind Mapping is one of the useful techniques
helping you learn more effectively, improving the way that you record information,
and supporting and enhancing creative problem solving.

To use Mind Maps

effectively, make sure you print your words, use different colors to add visual impact,
and incorporate symbols and images to further spur creative thinking.
Besides, Hedge (1998: 30) states that making a mind map is a strategy for note-taking
before writing; in other words, scribbling down ideas about a topic and developing
those ideas as the mind makes associations. As a result, it can be clearly seen that
mind mapping can give students a way to deal with writing assignments at the first
stage of generating and organizing ideas.
Hayes (1992: 203) states that through mind mapping students turns random thoughts
into patterns that can be written down and developed. Students become increasingly
motivated to complete a writing task when their ideas emerge in organized forms. It
can be seen from the next figure that in mind mapping ideas presented in a radial,
graphical, non-linear manner, so mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to
planning and organizational tasks freely. Even though the branches of a mindmap

represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts

the

prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more
linear visual cues. This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to
enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular

9


conceptual framework. From the above elaboration it can be concluded that a mind
map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and
arranged radially around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate,
visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem
solving, decision making, and writing.
Mind Maps were popularized by author and consultant, Tony Buzan. He used a twodimensional structure, rather than the list format conventionally used to take notes.
In “The Mind Map Book”, Tony Buzan (2000:59) presents the idea of mind mapping
as “an expression of Radiant Thinking and is therefore a natural function of the human
mind. It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking
the potential of the brain”.
Based on Tony Buzan’s point of view (2002), mind mapping is defined as a graphic
representation of ideas, usually generated via a brainstorming session. It presents the
ideas generated around a central theme and how they are interlinked. It is considered
a tool mainly used for stimulating thought. He realized that the education system
primarily emphasized on the left brain strength, which involves in the use of
“language, logic, numbers, sequence, looks at detail, linier, symbolic representation
and judgmental characteristics”. The mind map can be applied to many different
aspects of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will improve human
performance.

In “The Ultimate book of Mind maps” Tony Buzan (2005) also mentions A Mind
Map is “the whole-brain alternative to linear thinking. It reaches out in all directions
and catches thoughts from any angle. Also, it is the easiest way to put information
into your brain and to take information out of your brain – it’s a creative and effective
means of note-taking that literally ‘maps out’ your thoughts.”
Buzan (2007:103) also states that “Mind Mapping is a creative thinking instrument
which reflects natural work brain. Mind map enables the brain to use all pictures and
its association in radial design.” From this point of view, we can come to a conclusion
that when we use mind mapping by making a keyword or main topic we can also

10


produce the relationship with other ideas related to. Furthermore, we can free our
mind to generate everything in our brain in order that a lot of ideas will be
automatically more and more improved. Consequently, it would make us easier in
constructing a text from those related ideas.
From these above definitions, it can be easily understood that mind mapping can
enable learners to think creatively, generate ideas, and make connections between
them, take notes, develop concepts and ideas, and enhance memory (Buzan, 2000). It
is considered a powerful tool that can help teachers to improve students’ visual
thinking ability by assisting with managing thought, directing learning, and making
connections (Stephens & Hermus, 2007). With visual illustration, it is a great way to
introduce an overall topic, generate and group certain ideas and make it clearer to see
the relationship between them, increase students’ involvement with lively images,
and get thoughts down quickly. Using the mind mapping technique gives instructors
the freedom to express ideas and show interrelationships between concepts and
content in a very visual and nonlinear structure that benefits their students (Ruffini,
2008). Deep, surface and nonlearning are tangible measures of learning that can be
observed directly as a consequence of concept mapping (Hay, 2007). The mind

mapping strategy can be used to explore not only almost any topics in writing but
also used in every kind of writing such as narrative, descriptive, recount, persuasive,
argumentative, essay and the like. Besides, mind mapping can help leaners avoid dull,
linear thinking, jog their creativity and making note taking fun. Having an organized
display of information from the outset of the writing process may help some students,
as it is more easily converted into a draft, whereas in brainstorming, the random
recording of ideas might lead to problems with the structure of students' texts.
1.2.2. How to create mind mapping
a. Steps to create mind mapping
There are a number of ways to create Mind mapping, both by hand and by computer.
The following steps are based on Tony Buzan’s structure.
Step 1: The Central Idea – the subject of attention

11


The central idea is the starting point of the Mind Map and represents the given topic.
The central idea should be in the centre of the page and should include an image
representing the Mind Map’s topic. This draws attention and triggers associations,
because our brains respond better to visual stimuli.

Step 2: Basic ordering ideas (main branches)
Surrounding the subject of attention are the basic ordering ideas (main branches).
They are the key concepts or terms within which a large number of other concepts
can be organized. The basic ordering ideas should extend far enough from your
central image in order to avoid over-crowding the page and confusing information.
An important principle of Mind Mapping is using one word per branch, which can
spark off a greater number of associations compared to using multiple words or
phrases. One word per branch also works well for chunking information into core
topics and themes, triggers connections in your brain and allows you to remember a

larger quantity of information. Also, pictures or images can be used to help recall
information better. More importantly, the branches should be bold, bright, colorful
and labelled memorably and clearly.

12


Step 3: The branches (sub-branches)
The branches are categories within the basic ordering ideas and they contain
subordinate sub-categories. Keywords, images or pictures and different colors should
be used to represent the concepts and to make sense of your Mind Map. Your
completed Mind Map should be bright, visually bold, aesthetically pleasing, ordered,
meaningful to you and inclusive of interrelationships between topics.

b. The Mind Map laws
The Mind map laws are intended to increase, rather than restrict, your mental
freedom. In this context, it is very necessary to avoid confusing order with rigidity or
freedom with chaos. In fact, true mental freedom is the ability to create order from
chaos. The Mind map laws will help you to do exactly this. They are divided into the
laws of technique and the law of layout.
 The laws of the technique
The laws of technique consist of using emphasis, using association, being clear and
developing a person style.
Use emphasis
Emphasis is one of the major elements in enhancing memory and creativity. All
the techniques used for emphasis can also be used for association and vice versa.
The laws below can enable you to achieve maximum and appropriate emphasis in
your Mind Maps.
-

Always use a central image: An image can trigger numerous associations in
your brain and is effective as a memory aid. Besides, it is attractive on my
levels. It attracts you, pleases you and draws your attention to itself. If a

13


particular word is used as the central of your Mind Map, you can make it into
an image by using dimension, multiple colors and attractive form.
-

Use images throughout your Mind Map: Using images whenever possible can
enable you to create balance between your visual and linguistic cortical skills
and enhance your visual perception.

-

Use three or more colors per central image: Colors stimulate your memory and
creativity, which helps you avoid the danger of monochrome monotony. They
add liveliness to your images and make them become more attractive.

-

Use dimension in images: Dimension makes things “stand out” and whatever
stands out is more easily remembered and communicated.

-

Use synaesthesia (the blending of the physical senses): Wherever possible,
words or images referring to senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and

kinaesthesia (physical sensation) should be included in your Mind Map.

-

Use variations of size of printing, line and image: Variation in size is one of
the best ways of indicating the relative importance of items in a hierarchy.
Expanded size adds emphasis, thereby increasing the probability of recall.

-

Use organized spacing: Organized spacing increases the clarity of the image,
helps in the use of hierarchy and categorization, leaves the Mind Map “open”
to additions, and is aesthetically pleasing.

-

Use appropriate spacing: Leaving the right amount of space around each item
gives your Mind Map order and structure.

Use association
Association is the other major element in enhancing memory and creativity. It is
the integrating device that our brains use to make sense of our physical experience,
the key to human memory and understanding. Having established your central
image and your Basic Ordering Ideas, the power of association can take your brain
into the depths of any subject.
-

Use arrows when you want to make connections within and across the branch
pattern: Arrows automatically guide your eye to connect one part of a Mind

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Map with another. They can be uni-directional, multi-headed, and varied in
size, form and dimension. They give spatial direction to your thoughts.
-

Use colors: Selecting specific colors for coding purposes or for specific areas
of your Mind Map will give you faster access to the information, will improve
your memory of the information, and will increase the number and range of
your creative ideas.

-

Use codes: Color codes and symbols can be used to enable brain to access
information more frankly and clearly, by making instant connections between
different parts of the Mind Map. Codes could consist of ticks and crosses,
circles, dots, underlinings or triangles.

Be clear
Perception can be veiled by obscurity of phrase or writing. If you scribble your
notes, they will hinder rather than help your memory.
-

Use only one key word per line: Each individual word has thousands of
possible associations. Placing one per line gives you associational freedom,
like giving a limb extra joints. Important phrases are not lost.

-

Print all words: Printed letters have a more defined shape; therefore, it is easier
for your mind to create better association. Printing also encourages brevity,
both upper and lower case letters can be used to show the relative importance
of words on your Mind Map.

-

Print key words on lines: The line not only provides organization and neatness
improving clarity and aid recall but also encourages further connections and
additions.

-

Make line length equal to word length: This law makes it easier to put words
near each other, which can help facilitate association and include more
information in your Mind Map.

-

Connect lines to other lines: Connecting the lines on your Mind Map enables
you to connect the thoughts in your mind.

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-

Make the central lines thicker and organic: Through emphasis, thicker lines
immediately signal to your brain the importance of your central ideas. Also,
the organic, curved lines add more visual interest.

-

Make your boundaries “embrace” your branch outline: When a boundary line
“hugs” the outline of a completed Mind Map branch, it defines the unique
shape of that branch. This unique shape can then assist the memory of the
information containing in that branch. In addition, these shapes can become
pictures and have obvious mnemonic advantages.

-

Make your images as clear as possible: External clarity encourages internal
clarity of thought. A clear Mind map will also be more elegant, graceful and
attractive.

-

Keep your paper placed horizontally in front of you: The horizontal
(landscape) format gives you more freedom and space to draw your Mind map
and is also easier to read than the vertical (portrait) position.

-

Keep your printing as upright as possible: Upright printing gives your brain
easier access to the thoughts expressed.

Develop a personal style:
The more unique our Mind Maps reflect the unique networks and patterns of
thought in our individual brains, the more our brains will be able to identify with
them. So as to create a truly personal style, every Mind map you do should be

slightly more colorful, slightly more three-dimensional, slightly more imaginative,
slightly more associatively logical and slightly more beautiful than the last.
 The law of layout
Use hierarchy: The use of hierarchy and categorization in the form of Basic
Ordering Ideas enormously enhances the power of your brain.
Use numerical order: If your Mind Map is the basis for a specific task, such as
a speech, an essay or an examination answer, you will want to communicate your
thoughts in a specific order, whether chronological or in order of importance. To
do this, you can simply number the branches in the desired order, even allotting
the appropriate time and emphasis to each branch if necessary.

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1.2.3. The Use of Mind mapping in classroom
It has been stated that mind map can give learners assistance to begin writing
assignments. In fact, many students have difficulties in dealing with writing, and most
of them find getting started the most difficult part of writing. Hayes (1992: 203) gives
a statement that mind mapping can reduce difficulties in starting writing assignments
by giving students an organizing strategy to get them started. He also explains that
ideas are freely associated and written out without any pressure, thereby reducing
tension and resistance often associated with writing. The product of the prewriting
activity is an organized cluster of thoughts, which enables students to stay on task
when they write. Sufficient preparation must be made before teacher requires the
students to apply the mindmapping. Buzan states that teacher must do specific
preparation including try to map the material to uncover any potential problems. The
teacher’s diagram can also serve as a model against which to assess group work.
Complete procedure of the employment of mindmapping in the classroom by Buzan
is as follow:
-

Describe or demonstrate the process to the students;

-

Divide the students into groups which consist of four students;

-

Present the central concept/material that the students must graph;

-

Ask the groups to brainstorm, writing a list of terms and phrases that express
core concepts and supporting details;

-

Ask the students to start sketching out the diagram;

-

Deliver any necessary suggestions to the groups while they are working;

-

Ask them to developed the main concept by adding some new ideas and
relationships as they construct the map.

The following is procedure of the employment of mind mapping in the classroom by

Hedge (1998: 30).
-

Students are given a main topic at the centre of the board. They note down all
the things associated with the main topic which come into their minds and
share with each other about what they have done.

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-

And, teacher gives some explanations as well as suggestions if necessary.
Ideas are elicited from the students when they suggest things, and a mind map
is made collectively on the board as the ideas suggested in order that students
can see how to draw out aspects of the topic and subgroup items. This step is
based on the reasoning behind mind map that is not to think in a linear way,
but explore the topic by moving between its various aspects.

-

Branches are then drawn and added as the students suggest new ideas or add
ideas to already established aspects. The end result is a map with a number of
subtopics or aspects radiating from the central topic (main topic) and with
further points added to these.

-

When the map is reasonably full, teacher leads a class discussion on the best
order in which points could be presented in a composition. Alternative writing

tasks are then can be proposed: ask students to prepare a piece of writing using
the mind map on the board, elaborate it in their own ways or ask students to
choose other topics and draw up their personal mind maps for their own topics.

1.2.4. The difference between mindmapping and modeling for teaching writing.
Writing is a complex work of language. It involves some aspects like grammar,
spelling, punctuation, and organization. To be able to produce a good work of writing,
students need to be given chances to learn how to write well. They also have to be
given more opportunity to explore their creativity in arranging their ideas, the
organization of their writing works. In mind mapping, ideas are presented in a radial,
graphical, non-linear manner; mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to
planning and organizational tasks. Though the branches of a mind map represent
hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of
concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues.
This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect
concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework.
Consequently, it gives students broad chances to brainstorm and develop their ideas.
Furthermore, mind mapping uses not only verbal feature but also pictures and
symbols, which is inline with human brain’s attitude in perceiving and retrieving

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information. Human brain perceives and retrieves information nonlinearly and it also
processes information not only in the form of verbal but also in the form pictures and
symbols. Therefore, it can be assumed that mindmapping is very effective to increase
students’ writing achievement.
1.2.5. Theoretical background
a. Review of related studies worldwide
In this research, the writer takes several previous researches. The first research to be

considered my reference is the one carried out by Susiani with her research paper
entitled “The Use of Mind Mapping To Improve English Achievement on Reading
of The Second Year Students of MTS Al-Ittihad Pabelan in The Academic Year Of
2008/2009”. In her research, she found the psychological factors affecting students
in learning process such as motivation and interest. To improve motivation and
interest of the students, she utilizes mind mapping to deal with the problem and
improve students’ achievement. Although this thesis and the writer’s study
effectiveness of using mind mapping on two different aspects of language, they both
give the first priority on the point of improving students’ motivation. It can be easily
seen that students’ learning motivation is one of the most important elements deciding
how effective the technique is when applied to teaching and learning process. No
matter how good a method is, it cannot be successful without students’ attention and
interest.
The second study the writer would like to mention is the action research done by Ita
Kurniawati entitled “Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery through Mind
Mapping Strategy” (Classroom Action Research at the Second Year Of SMP Negeri
2 Polanharjo, Klaten in the Academic Year of 2010/2011). The purpose of her
research project is to find out students English achievement on vocabulary using mind
mapping method in the classroom. Although this thesis focuses on improving
student’s vocabulary, the writer finds some similarities between this one and the
writer’s study. First of all, these two both use action research as the method of study.
Besides, this thesis also presents the procedure of mind-mapping strategy on teaching
vocabulary, which can be a reference for the writer to answer the second question in
research question section.
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